Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - It's 2015!

Photo: Richard Wezensky on Flickr {Creative Commons}

First things first - Happy New Year!! Here's hoping it will be a good one for us all.

The title of this post is from a song by Soft Cell from 1981. That was the year I left school and it was one of my favourite songs of that time. It made me think of seeing in the new year and saying farewell to the old.

I've been looking back at my posts through 2014 and I think one of the biggest turning points concerning my jewellery making was the decision to put a garden shed in what was already a pretty small backyard and turn it into my workshed or "shed of wonders" as my friend Nicki describes it.

This photo was taken shortly after I moved in to the shed in April 2014 when there was sunshine and it was warm enough to leave the door open.....At the moment I'm using an electric radiator in the shed which is ok and does take the chill off but it can get pretty cold in there at times, although a spot of soldering soon warms the place up and I have been known to turn off the radiator and open the door at times even when it's cold outside ☺

It's changed slightly inside now as new tools and other stuff have appeared - a flexshaft to replace the Dremel, a new disc cutter, things have been attached to the walls so I can hang other things from them, another of those red Ikea storage drawer units.... I also replaced the small very rickety table I used to make my findings on with a proper desk which is so much better. The plant in the photo {on the shelf} couldn't cope with the cold and kept dropping it's leaves like confetti when I was soldering so it's been replaced with a cyclamen which does likes the cold. I've just about used up all the space in there on the floor and walls so I don't think I'll be adding anything else very soon. Although......

And so what will 2015 bring jewellery -wise?

My word of the moment is bronze. It's not a metal I've taken much notice of when it came to making jewellery or findings but after whipping up a few bangles using 2mm round bronze wire yesterday I was delighted with the result. The natural shiny colour of the bronze is beautiful, similar to rose gold in my opinion and nothing like that ugly yellow tone you get with brass. Apologies to any brass lovers but I just don't like it for jewellery.

{Bronze bangles in their natural shiny state - the pink colour reflected in the metal is from my bright pink camera! Must buy a silver coloured one next time.....}

I'm very much a lover of oxidized copper and silver but I do really like the colour of the bronze in it's normal shiny state. I made these bangles to find out how the bronze behaves when soldering and being shaped and hammered. I'm glad to say it's very much like copper but needs a bit less heat for soldering. I haven't attempted to oxidize it yet but I do know it takes LOS just like copper which is good to know.

After a bit of research on Etsy I've found that there's not that many people selling handmade bronze findings which got me thinking.....and ordering some 20g bronze wire!

I'm planning on adding bronze bangles and findings to my Etsy shop in the next few weeks. I'm currently having a break from my shop and website so I can catch up with things and get some new stock made. This time of year always makes me want to get organized and act on ideas I've had but never had the time to get round to actually doing. So despite the cold weather and chilly shed working conditions I'm really looking forward to what 2015 will bring ♥

An Alternative To Jump Rings And Some New Enamel Pendants

Until recently I've always used jump rings to attach my enamel pendants to a chain. Enamel is great but some of the methods of attaching things to other things commonly used in jewellery, in other words cold connections and soldering can be a bit tricky when combined with it. It is possible to solder and rivet enamel pieces but not without some difficulty. So....I just used handmade jump rings and always felt vaguely dissatisfied with the final look.

Then I realized I could use my wirework experience and make my own bails! Why has it taken me so long to think of this? Who knows! I must have been thinking of "other things" (that means chocolate).

I made some new pendants last week, two with pierced out detail and finished them with a cold connected wire bail. 

Very simple in design - a length of 16g/1.2mm sterling round wire hammered at both ends and a hole drilled in the centre of the flattened areas. Tidy up the ends and bend into a loop then squeeze the ends gently so they sit close to the pendant on either side. Line up the holes then thread a balled up piece of 22g/0.6mm wire through and wrap around the loop to secure then trim and gently squeeze in the end. Oxidize and polish. Ta Dah! 

I think the bail makes the pendant look much more "finished" and is a vast improvement to a jump ring. You could also use this method to connect a smaller enamel piece to a large silver piece too. I'm also thinking that a small silver disc or decorative silver spacer would look nice sat between the ball and the front of the loop.

I'm just going to have to make some more enamel pendants and try!

•••♥•••

Lists, The New Year And Things I Really Like

Photo : Nigel Howe on Flickr

Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope 2014 proves to be a good year.

Like everyone else, the end of the year makes me think about what I've done over the past year and what I want to do in the new year. It's also a time I makes lists. I make lists all the time as they make me feel organized but the start of a new year is the time for lists. I currently have two lists on the go: a "to buy" list......

and a jewellery "to do in 2014" list....

Click on the photos if you really want to see what I've written!
I've made a good start on the "to buy" list and I'm now waiting for lots of nice packages to arrive through the post. One thing I have come to realize over the past year is that I have developed a bit of a thing for stamps. My stamp colection now has it's own box to live in. I started buying them to use for etching copper and have also started using them to decorate my jewellery packaging. I use flower stamps and a "thank you" stamp on a tag I attach to gift wrapped jewellery and I also started using them to prettify the PIP boxes I use for posting jewellery in the UK. The boxes are brown and a bit boring so I now stamp them on the back and inside with various designs. They look a bit more interesting now!

When I was browsing recently for "stuff" I came across a lovely craft website called Sticky Tiger. It's a really nice looking site and you can find a large variety of craftiness there such as stamps (really?!), haberdashery, jewellery making things, papercraft and packaging. Their selection of stamps is a bit different from the norm and there are some at very reasonable prices.I bought a few new ones just after Christmas which arrived last Saturday (28th Dec). I also found a couple of sites that sell Indian wooden carved stamps similar to this one from Etsy shop Indian Beautiful Art.

I bought a few of those too from Rainbow Silks......well they were only £2.50 each! I'm hoping they will work well with Stayz On ink for etching copper.

I have lots of ideas for new jewellery in 2014 (see list!) Since I started making jewellery "properly" I've become a bit of a multi-tasking fiend. I can't bear to have nothing to do and often have three things on the go at once. I never got round to making anymore enamel cabochons so that's something I must do plus start using up the stone cabs I have. My handmade findings need an overhaul and those that don't sell well retired and new designs added. I'm already thinking about Valentine's Day and things to make with hearts. My strange new love of sawing and piercing also continues (strange because I used to hate it!) so some pierced design pendants will probably appear at some point during the year.

I also have my rolling mill to play with and a bit of tidying and sorting out to do so from where I'm standing I think 2014 is going to keep me very busy one way or the other!

And Relax...........

photo courtesy of Andy Beal Photography

www.govisithawaii.com

After what has felt like weeks of making made to order bangles and findings, deleting items sold on one site from the other two sites they are also listed on, packing orders and printing postage labels, walking to the post box, and dealing with queries, the Christmas rush is now over..... or at least it will be when I get one last bangle made and in the post by the end of today. This has been my best Christmas selling-wise so far. My copper and silver bangles have been a big hit so I'm so glad I had a go at making a bangle in jewellery class last year when I didn't know what else to make!

Now it's just the pre-Christmas induced twitchiness of "can you tell me when my order will arrive?" type of queries to deal with. I've had three so far and after reassuring the buyers that their item should turn up soon and asking them to be patient (nicely) two have turned up and the other (in France) hasn't got back to me since so hopefully the item has arrived.

 I understand the buyers' anxiousness completely and try to put myself in their shoes when replying to their messages. Buying from a small independant online seller can be a risk at times but the majority are hard-working, honest people who are over-joyed to share their creations with their buyers. I know I am.

To mark the start of getting back to doing "normal" things instead of having my head full of all things jewellery, I went out with friends yesterday for Christmas lunch. We went to a buffet style Pan Asian place called Cosmo in Eastbourne. It's very popular and you can eat as much as you like. We did take full advantage of that and began with some starters like battered prawns, sesame toast and satay chicken. Then we hit the hard stuff and went for beef in black bean sauce, chicken with cashew nuts, Thai-style pork, egg fried rice and lots of noodles. I finished with a slice of chocolate cake.  They also had a chocolate fountain! I was in heaven and had to restrain myself from putting my head in it a la Dawn French in The Vicar of Dibley! I did try a couple of marshmallows dipped in it though. Delicious. The diet starts in the new year...... :D

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!

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

A Little Etsy Love

                                                                     

                                                       

Thank you to Nancy of A Little Etsy Love for featuring my Etsy shop on the blog yesterday

And remember it's still 10% off everything in my shop til end of Dec 2012!

  
  

 

Coloured Copper Headpins

A new variation on my copper ball headpins - coloured balls! The headpins are made with a torch, pickled, trimmed, oxidised and cleaned up, tumbled and then the fun begins. I painted the ball ends with different coloured patina inks and sealed with a coat of varnish

 Multicoloured - like mini balloons on sticks!

I found a sponge pan scrubber very useful for sticking the headpins into to let them dry. I think they're really sweet and a great way to add a bit of colour. You could twirl them to make dangling tendrils or make a wrapped loop at the top to make little dangles or just use them as good old headpins!

Available in turquoise, green, lilac, pink and mixed colours and currently being added to my Folksy and Etsy shops

 .................now i just need to make some for myself :D

All Together Now!

After taking up Folksy's offer of their Plus account recently I've decided it makes sense to combine my two Folksy shops and move my handmade findings into my jewellery shop.
So..................after spending rather a long time (let's just say it was most of Saturday) copying and pasting descriptions from one shop to another, my new combined jewellery and findings shop is finished. I even relisted a load of jewellery too to get the front page of my shop looking like a jewellery shop again. I'm liking the Plus account very much!

As for the tediousness of doing it all I know Folksy are working on speeding up the listing process but dear God! At the same time as listing my findings/waiting for pages to load, I managed to a) edit 25 photos, b) use my Bigshot to cut out a load of mini envelopes and c) fold and glue most of said mini envelopes together.

Sterling Silver Headpins

After a few requests recently I've now started selling sterling silver headpins. Up to now I've only done earwires in sterling thinking the price for headpins would make people think twice but it seems people are prepared to pay a bit extra for something handmade.

So I've now added bright and oxidised 2 inch sterling silver ball and hammered headpins in 20g/0.8mm, 22g/0.6mm and 24g/0.5mm.

I've now finished adding them to my Folksy, Etsy and eBay shops!