Featured In Making Jewellery Designer Profile!

Issue 84 of Making Jewellery magazine came out last week and as a MJ contributor it's my turn to be featured in the Designer Profile section!

I had to answer 8 questions asking things such as - What made me take the plunge to start selling my jewellery/What are the challenges of working with enamel and If I wasn't a designer I would be...

There's some nice photos of my jewellery too.

I look a bit hot and bothered in my photo - for some reason I thought it would be in black and white so didn't worry about editing the rosy cheek thing I had going on before I sent it off :D

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Using Enamel Cabochons In My Jewellery

I know how to torch enamel and I know how to bezel set cabochons so I thought it was about time I put the two together! I've been thinking about it for "ages" and last week I actually got round to doing it. I started small (of course I did, I like to make life difficult!) and made four 9mm cabs from copper.

The enamelling was a bit tricky and Klyre Fire was called for so the enamel powder stuck to the front of the cab and didn't slide off. I discovered it was better to gently (very gently!) dry the klyre fire using my torch than let it air dry as it is very easy to knock the cab once the klyre fire is dry and watch the enamel slide right off. I got there in the end and produced two dusky pink and two sea green enamel cabs.

I was then slightly paranoid that they would crack but as they are formed (domed) and counter enamelled for added stability they were fine. I had to be a bit more careful than normal when it came to handling them and when I set them as they are a bit more delicate than stone cabs. I used my wooden bezel pusher - a customised peg in other words - to set them and it worked out fine. I made a copper and silver heart pendant using the zentangle etched copper I made recently and a pair of sterling silver disc earrings with the green enamel cabs.

I've yet to decide what to do with the second pink cab but at the mo I'm thinking a silver pendant.........maybe!
I enjoyed making both of these pieces and can feel myself slowly getting more confident with my soldering. I love that making my own enamelled cabs means I can make virtually whatever colour I want. Next time I'll make life easier and go bigger and will probably take photos too :D

The Perfect Wire Gauge For Hoop Earrings

I think I've found the perfect wire gauge for hoop earrings - 2mm. This is just my opinion and probably many would disagree! But..................I've made hoop earrings from various gauges from 20g/0.8mm (big no there, way too flimsy) to 1.5mm and 2mm definitely feels just right. It forms sturdy feeling hoops that don't bend out of shape but aren't too heavy so are nice and comfortable to wear.

I've always loved hoop earrings and I am wearing a pair right now. I've often seen the handmade hoops made from 20g/0.8mm wire with the hammered bottom section and thought they looked cool. These are the one's where you form a loop on one end and the hook on the other end of the wire. I did make a pair a long time ago but soon realised that they were much too flimsy and would easily bend out of shape as you tried to fasten them. I tried the same in 18g/1mm which were a bit sturdier but the 1mm wire was too big for the holes in my ears and actually hurt to wear so that idea was shelved. Reluctantly.

I've made various hoops since with complete hoops and separate ear wires and have always felt vaguely dissatisfied with them. They were fine but still not quite robust enough for what I wanted so when I made some hoops from some 2mm sterling wire I bought recently I was really pleased that they turned out how I wanted.

I made three different designs - one with a copper and silver etched disc dangling from the bottom ~

The second pair has a small silver heart that I cut out from sheet and soldered to a backing of copper before soldering to the bottom of the hoop. Making the heart was fiddly, I seem to have this perverse desire to make very small things and make life hard for myself! The ring clamp I sometimes use to hold things for filing wouldn't grip the tiny hearts so I did a lot of fumbling and managed to file part of my finger while I was finishing them :D

The wooden box is one of two I picked up from a local discount store. They were plain pine so I decided to stamp and stain them. They were sitting on the table when I was photographing the earrings earlier today and I thought they might be ok for the "dangle" shot so I tried them and I think they look alright and a change from the usual bright green vase/leather pen holder I normally use. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with the boxes, what I'm going to put in them or even where I'm going to put them but I like them!

 The third pair of hoops have a leaf shape in etched silver soldered to the bottom. The etched silver sheet was only 24g/0.6mm which would have been a bit thin on it's own so I soldered it to a base of 20g/0.8mm and trimmed the edges. Soldering the jump rings to the top was a bit stressful as I still struggle with the small fiddly bits but it got better after the first one. There was only a little bit of swearing this time.........

More Bezel Setting Practice And Hollow Form Earrings

I wanted to do a bit more bezel setting to improve how long it takes me to do. I am getting quicker at it, really! I sometimes "waste" time cleaning/ filing/sanding bezels up then change my mind about what I'm going to do with them and realize I will have to sand them again after another lot of soldering. Oh well :D

I thought I'd try decorating one of the bezels by stamping. I wasn't sure if it would work as the bezel wire is pretty thin at 0.3mm so I stamped fairly lightly. I didn't want to risk stamping too heavily and the bezel splitting and I also left a gap where the join was going to be. I think it worked ok with these simple turquoise cabochon earrings.

I stamped in the gap I'd left after soldering but not directly over the solder join. I think the stamped effect looks "right" with the turquoise.

I'm currently practicing making hollow form pendants in copper and will move onto silver in the next couple of days. I love the 3D look of hollow form pieces - they look so solid but are lovely and light.
I made a pair of simple hollow form earrings in copper recently before I started on the pendants. Simple as in a domed disc soldered to a flat base which is then trimmed and finished.

The pendants I'm making consist of a frame plus a smaller frame in the centre which are soldered to a flat sheet on both sides. The middle of the smaller frame is pierced out after the first side is soldered and the edges are trimmed at the end. They are a bit tricky to solder to make sure the solder join is complete all the way round on both sides and around the smaller frame in the middle but I'm getting better and will post about them as soon as I've made a couple in silver.

I soon discovered when I made these earrings that it's important to make sure you rinse all of the pickle out of them. You need the hole to prevent the piece from exploding when you solder the earwire (or anything further) onto them but that also means they get full of any liquid you put them into! I find leaving them to soak in clean water and bicarb for 15 minutes after I take them out of the pickle does the trick.
I've also started using hard sterling wire for the earwires instead of dead soft and find it is a bit sturdier for this type of earwire despite being annealed when it's soldered and it worked out slightly cheaper than the dead soft which is always a good thing!!

Silver Jewellery Course and New Earrings

Next Tuesday night (25th Sept) I will be starting a 25 week silver jewellery class! I found out about it last year a couple of months too late but this year miraculously remembered about it in time and enrolled a few weeks ago. It was quite expensive but covers all those lovely techniques I either can't teach myself/am too scared to try myself or just really need an expert to show how to do it properly.

I know it definitely covers etching (yay!), soldering, stone setting, enamelling and ring making. Some of it I will know how to do but a lot I won't so I'm really looking forward to getting started. Slightly nervous too but once I've got over the "which building is it/who are all these strange people/where's the toilet" stage I know I'll be fine :D 

Finally got round to photographing a few pairs of earrings today - I was in one of those let's get organised and do the things that actually need doing and not spend all day experimenting with new design ideas moods, and the weather was perfect too.

The pair above are handcut flowers enamelled and wire wrapped to copper washers. I'm going to try the same idea with some soldered copper hoops (when I make them) for a more delicate version ......soon.......... :D

These are two copper discs rolled through my Bigshot with a Vintaj design (deco etch) folder then domed and pinned with sterling wire.

Sheet copper stamped with my favourite circle design then the earrings cut out and finished. I painted turquoise patina ink over the top and sanded back to reveal the design then oxidized and tumbled for just 15 minutes to it didn't take too much of the black off. Dark and a bit different.

New Copper And Silver Earrings

I've been playing with my Bigshot and the Vintaj design folders again. I've decided to rechristen them "design" folders rather than etch folders as the end result looks nothing like an etched piece of metal!

I used 20g copper sheet annealed first to soften it then rolled through the Bigshot. It goes through fine but my cutting pads are suffering a bit and now are both bowed in the centre. Completely useless if I want to use my envelope dies so I guess I'll have to buy some replacement pads soon......

I made a simple pair in sterling silver too. I cut the shape using Xuron metal shears - very impressed with those and they save having to get my saw out and the ridiculous small plastic stool I have to sit on for piercing as the table is too low to use a normal chair!

I also did a bit of simple soldering and made these bead and hoop style silver earrings. Can you tell how much I love these czech glass rondelle beads?!