Findings Destash!

The mood struck me (and it doesn't happen very often) to have a bit of a sort out of some findings I've had for years and don't use. So I dug some pretty silver metal filigree beadcaps, connectors, Bali Silver spacers and sterling silver toggle fasteners out and photographed them while we still have this glorious sunny weather.

Very satisfying! I've just finished listing them in my eBay shop

Apologies for the blurry photos - Blogger strikes again!

Handmade Findings Now On Etsy!

I've finally gotten round to listing my handmade copper and sterling silver findings in my Etsy shop!

I've been making my own findings for a couple of years now and noticed the distinct lack of handmade earwires and headpins, especially in pure copper, that were available to buy in the UK. So I thought I'd start selling them............

I opened another shop on Folksy - Cinnamon Jewellery Findings in June 2011 and a findings shop on eBay about the same time and I'm pleased to say the sales from these, particularly eBay, tick over nicely keeping me busy and have made sure I've definitely got my money's worth from my torch and tumbler!

So I decided to try them out on Etsy where there's lots of US sellers selling handmade findings but not that many UK sellers. I've had several findings sales on Etsy already so fingers crossed they will prove to be popular!

Sterling Silver earwires - oxidised

Fancy antique copper headpins

Hammered antique copper discs

Folksy Featured - Handmade Supplies

A nice surprise this morning - my handmade copper headpins are featured on Folksy's homepage  in their "Handmade Supplies" Featured items!

Lots of lovely stuff to look at including some cute fabric covered buttons and handmade lampwork beads. Got to say my favourite is the ceramic raku button ♥

Silver Filled Wire Earwires.........At Last!

I've finally done something with the silver filled wire I bought a while ago - made some basic earwires! I've just listed them in my findings shop on Folksy and my eBay shop Cinnamon Jewellery Findings (did I mention I had an eBay shop? It's a bit of an experiment really).

I had planned on making headpins too but couldn't work out why I was struggling to make a decent start to a spiral then realised the wire was half hard and I'm used to working with dead soft in sterling!

I'm finding the half hard quite hard to work with (ok for earwires though) - spirals look lumpy and when I tried to make a swirly rosette at the end of a headpin the wire actually snapped! I thought about buying some dead soft silver filled but the price plus postage would mean the end cost would be pretty close to sterling so I knocked that idea on the head.............

Anyway, I've made some hoop style and hook style earwires - nice and shiny and a pretty decent price too :D

New! Handmade Sterling Silver Earwires

I've just added some handmade sterling silver earwires to my findings shop Cinnamon Jewellery Findings on Folksy!

Two pair sets of ball end and hoop style in bright or antiqued (oxidised) finish. Made with 20g/0.8mm sterling wire and tumbled to work-harden and shine up lovely!

The jury's still out on the silver-filled wire - it didn't oxidised very well, had a yellowish tinge because of the copper even when cleaned up and I'm not sure about seeing the copper when you file the ends of the wire. Although I suppose it would darken over time so would be less noticeable. Hmmm...... maybe I'll give it another go.

Here's some more sterling earwires in the meantime :D





A New Shop On Folksy And Feeling Scared!

Now that I make the majority of my own findings to use in my jewellery I very rarely look on the internet to buy them. One of the things I did used to buy were pure copper findings before I got myself a bigger and hotter torch - a mini butane torch is just about hot enough to ball 20g copper that's if you don't mind standing there for 10 minutes waiting for it to happen!

I used to get frustrated at the lack of places online in the UK that actually sell pure copper findings - there's lots of "antique" copper, the base metal coated in an antique colour coating stuff but not that much in pure copper that's oxidised in liver of sulphur so................... I thought I'd start making and selling antique pure copper findings myself!



I've just opened my 2nd shop on Folksy called Cinnamon Jewellery Findings, selling ball headpins and earwires, fancy headpins and earwires, copper discs and dangles plus sets of 3 or 5 pairs of headpins and earwires just waiting for beads to be added! The majority are antiqued (oxidised in liver of sulphur and polished) but there's also a small selection of bright copper and rosy ball findings too.

I'm planning on making some findings using silver-filled wire too, once I've experimented with it. Apparently it's very similar to sterling wire to work with and can be hammered and oxidised, so if they look ok they will go in the shop too. I might list some pure sterling silver findings also but the price of sterling at the moment may put people off!

I'd forgotten how scary it is when you open a new shop - those big fat zeros on the right - no sales, no feedback, wondering if anyone will visit, buy, tell me I've not gone completely mad! I've SEO'd my listings to death and was pleased to see one of the first items listed already showing up on Google about three links down, when I searched for handmade antique copper findings UK earlier today ( not bad!)

Will they sell? Who knows? I know there's a market for them so we'll see. There's always eBay!