Twist Away - Fine Silver & Copper Balled Wire Findings

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by a fellow jewellery maker who regularly buys my handmade findings (you know who you are Lindsay!) if I could make some double ball ended silver wires like the dragonfly kisses made by The Dragonfly Company. I'll be honest I'd not heard of the website or Lynne Senior who sadly died recently, but ordered some fine silver wire and made some. My buyer wanted a particular (ish) length which I got to eventually - knowing how much wire gets eaten up when you form the ball means you can then work out what length to cut the wire

 Fine silver is best to use as it forms nice smooth balls compared to the pitted, rustic look you get with sterling silver. They are used by twisting and wrapping into designs inbetween beads and also can be twisted once and dangled from loops if so desired. I might use some myself one day! In the meantime I quickly twisted some copper wires between jade beads to use as an example in my shops

Copper and fine silver versions are available in my Etsy shop now!

Hearts Aplenty! Valentine's Day Jewellery

With Valentine's Day fast approaching I thought it was time to write my first blog post of 2013. I can't believe my last post was on the 15th of December! I've been busy jewellery-wise recently "doing" hearts. I have a couple of heart templates which I made use of as I'm no artist drawing-wise and earrings tend to have to be matching!
Here's some of the hearts I cut -

I started off using my jewellery saw as that's the proper way to do it but, oh, I don't know, it just takes so damned long to do that I changed to using my Xuron shears with no ill-affect on the metal. I cut straight across at the top of the hearts then used my triangle file to file the "v". After filing and sanding the hearts were ready for the next stage. The hearts at the top were going to be enamelled, the larger etched hearts were to be adorned with a silver ball rivet and the smaller one's textured and dapped and stud posts soldered on.

There's something very satisfying about making studs - their small neatness possibly...... or it could be that they're just easy to make maybe!! I do enjoy making them though.

Another thing I've been doing recently is etching! I love it and now can't stop buying stamps to use with Stayz On ink for etching on copper. I think I'll have to write a post about it soon.

 

These enamel heart pendants and earrings were so difficult to photograph and get a true colour. I think the slate background had a lot to do with it and they would probably look better using a lighter colour for the background. I'll hopefully get round to it when the weather brightens up...sometime in June probably!

These sterling silver hammered and stamped heart studs are my favourites. "One day" I shall maketh myself a pair :D  Everything will be in my Folksy and Etsy shops very soon.

That Christmas Feeling - Spice Biscuits!

I am slowly getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Watching Nigel Slater on the TV last night, who has to be my favourite TV chef for his calmness and sheer gorgeousness of what he cooks, I suddenly knew I had to make some Christmas spice biscuits!

So I trundled off to Sainsbury's this morning which wasn't half as busy as I thought it would be (just wait for next weekend!) to buy the ingredients and cookie cutters I needed. I had to make do with hearts as the snowflake cutters were all gone.

I used Nigel Slater's recipe (see below) and ended up with three baking sheets of biscuits in different heart sizes.

 I decorated them with cinnamon icing in a ....let's call it "abstract" fashion with artistic industrial size blobs for added interest....... more is definitely more where I come from :D

They taste delicious (I've eaten three so far) and make your house smell beautiful!

The Recipe

70g butter

80g light muscovado sugar

2 tbsp treacle

250g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger (I put in two)

1 egg yolk

3 - 4 tsp milk

1. Cream butter and sugar

2. Beat in treacle and egg yolk

3. Add flour, spices and baking powder which have been sifted and mixed thoroughly beforehand

4. Add milk until dough resembles pastry and knead gently

5. Roll out thinly, cut out shapes and spread out on baking sheets

6. Cook at Gas Mark 4/350F/180C for approx 12 - 14 mins

7. Cool and decorate with water icing