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

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

Having Fun With A Tucker Tool Shot Plate

I first came across these cool Tucker Tool dies in a Soham Harrison video on YouTube a while ago and immediately loved the decorative balls you could make with them. Then I realized you could only get them from the US and they were a bit hard to get hold of. Monsterslayer.com seemed to be permanently out of stock and another site I found that stocked them didn't reply to my email asking if they posted to the UK.....so I sort of forgot about it for a while.

Then I noticed Monsterslayer.com did have them back in stock and in a moment of over-indulgence ordered one knowing full well the postage was going to be quite high and that I'd have import VAT plus Parcel Force's stupidly high {even higher than Royal Mail's} handling charge on top. So it worked out to be a pretty expensive bit of metal.

You may have noticed the scratches on the plate in the photo......it didn't arrive like that - they were caused by me and a ball burr. But more of that later.

I started by melting some bronze scrap into balls and merrily hammered the first one in one of the holes on the shot plate.

It got stuck....

 So I tried using a fine silver ball to see if that worked any better. That got stuck too. It's recommended that you hammer a nail set or something similar into the back to prise the ball out. I used a centre punch but it wouldn't grip the metal and came out again. I hammered it in again and again but it just wouldn't stick into the metal. I then cut the excess off with a saw {which is why the back is flush with the plate in the photo} and tried heating the whole plate in the hope the silver and bronze would soften and I'd be able to get it out that way. That didn't work either. 

I was now beginning to think this purchase may have been a very expensive mistake! I decided to have another go and yes that ball got stuck too! 

                        The two holes in the back of it are from the centre punch in an attempt to get it out.

 My next attempt did work. The bronze ball was a bit mishaped to begin with which is why it's not perfect and there's a bit of a dent in the top but I'm just grateful it worked!

 I didn't hammer it as hard this time and it came out all by itself. I tried adding a bit of oil to the plate to help and things did improve as I got used to how hard and how many times to hammer the balls. I did manage to produce a few in bronze and fine silver that are usable. 

Then I watched a great YouTube video by Leslie Villarreal that shows how to use the shot plate and how to get the bloody balls out afterwards - I really wish she'd posted it a couple of weeks ago :D 

After watching it I feel more confident in what I'm doing and will have my oil and nail set ready for action next time I have a go!

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

It's Been A Bit Of A Bronze Week

I managed to get a couple of pairs of bronze earrings finished last week that I photographed at the weekend and I also had a custom order for some bronze stacking bangles so it definitely has been a bit of a bronze week.

The bronze stud earrings above are made by melting bronze wire into pebbles then flattening the pebbles to create off-round and oval organic-looking shapes. After forming them into concave bowl shapes I tidied up the edges then paired them up and soldered them together with a fine silver ball for decoration and contrast.

I oxidized these then cleaned them up a fair bit so the dark areas are just in the crevices.

I also made some simple oval bronze earrings with an etched pattern and a turquoise jasper bead added to the earwires for a bit of colour.

I still find bronze a bit unpredictable compared to copper where liver of sulphur is concerned but I do love the golden brown colour you get when it does behave nicely and oxidize evenly :D

I also made a set of skinny bronze bangles with stamped letter disc dangles.

These were for a custom order and the initials stand for the names of the customers children. Not my usual thing as stamping letters in a straight line isn't a natural gift for me {!} but I can manage one letter!

I'm planning on making a set of leaf vein texture bangles using flattened 3.5mm {7g} wire very soon. My bronze bangle selection is a bit limited at the moment and needs more variety and as I'm getting more used to working with bronze and it's little quirks I feel a lot more confident in adding a few new designs. Watch this space!

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

An Eventful Morning And Silver Bangles For Hallmarking

What was supposed to be a quick half hour trip out in the car yesterday morning to post an order and pop into Tesco turned into an hour and a half and ended with me walking home........

As I turned into the car park at Tesco the car made a very loud bang and there was the smell of burning rubber. After checking under the car and staring at the engine for a bit - I had no idea what I was looking for but it seemed like the right thing to do - I ended up at the garage via a nice roadside recovery van man being asked if I'd gone over a pothole. I hadn't when it happened but all the other potholes that I hadn't managed to avoid in the past had obviously done their worst and cracked the front coil springs. I must have hit a little bump or something and the springs both snapped causing the car body to drop onto the tyres at the front. Luckily the tyres weren't damaged. I was really impressed with the service I received and the speed that everything was fixed and I now know what coil springs do...... :)

Anyway...enough waffle about cars and that sort of stuff. I mentioned in my last post that I was in the middle of making some thicker gauge sterling silver bangles that would be sent off for hallmarking. I've been a bit reluctant to make heavier sterling items because of all sorts of things - the higher cost, the faff of having to get them hallmarked and how complicated the hallmarking pricing system was but as you can see from the photo I've now got over that! Some help from fellow jewellery maker Claire of Dragonfly Lane has made me see it's nothing to worry about and the London Assay Office has simplified the pricing for hallmarking which also helps.

I've made 18 bangles of various designs and even got my stamps out! They aren't completely finished yet as some of them will be oxidized once they've been hallmarked but it was really enjoyable just making new things without any limitations in weight or design. I'll be sending them off next week and then avidly waiting for them to get back to me so I can see what the hallmarks look like. That might sound silly to some people but I'm sure there's a lot of jewellery makers who understand my excitement at seeing those small but very important stamped marks on my jewellery for the first time.

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

The A To Z Of Me

Photo: Leo Reynolds on Flickr {Creative Commons}

I thought I'd do an A to Z of me this time. I've seen several of these on other peoples' blogs - some funny, some very deep and meaningful....I thought I'd keep mine light ☺ 

A is for Andrew - the name my Mum was going to call me if I had been a boy. Spencer Tracy was a popular film star around the time I was born hence the name she chose when I turned out to be a girl.

B is for Blondie. I loved Blondie when I was at school. I recently watched a documentary about the band on TV and they really were so good in their day and I love their early albums. I loved them right up until they did Rapture then The Tide Is High and that's when I stopped buying their albums. I still can't stand that song! They are still touring and have dates for this year in the UK.

Photo: Kevin Dooley on Flickr {Creative Commons}

C is for Chocolate! Oh how I love it {probably a little too much recently though}. I have a friend who doesn't like chocolate which I find, frankly, too weird.

Photo: Alex on Flickr {Creative Commons}

D is for Denmark. I'm a great fan of all of the Scandinavian series that are very popular in the UK. My current favourite is 30° in February (Sky Arts 1), which now means I'd love to visit Denmark, Sweden and Norway!

E is for exercise. I've never been particularly sporty but I currently swim three times a week, try to go for a good walk regularly and have recently bought myself a skipping rope. Skipping is a really good way of getting fit and 10 minutes skipping is supposed to be equivalent to 30 minutes running. My aim {eventually} is to skip like a boxer.........not a seven year old child :D

F is for fear. My fear of deep, dark water. I remember jumping into a seawater swimming pool on the beach in Bude in Cornwall when I was on holiday as a child, then freaking out a bit {a lot} because I couldn't see what was in the water beneath me! In my head there were all sorts of creatures below me who would drag me under the water at any moment. I'm pleased to say they didn't.

  

 Bude sea pool...see what I mean?

Photo: Summerleaze Sea Pool by Chris Beach

G is for guitar. I started having lessons when I was at junior school and used to go every Saturday morning to a music shop in Preston where a nice man who was disabled and drove one of those turquoise invalid bubble cars taught me. I learned to read music {something I've now forgotten how to do} but my heart wasn't in it and when it came to a choice between horse riding and guitar lessons you can probably guess which one I chose ☺

H is for my height. It's 5'7" or 170.18 cm.

I is for icecream! I love it although I don't eat it that often. I tend to always go for chocolate but am also partial to any kind of caramel/praline flavours and love Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra.

Oooh, icecream!!

                                                             

J is for jewellery of course! I make it which means I also obsess about it......a lot.

K is for kabanos, a smoky Polish sausage made from pork or turkey. My Mum used to put it on pizzas she would make from scratch. It's very tasty and quite apt as I had a Polish great, great Grandfather. 

Photo: Katharine Shilcutt on Flickr {Creative Commons}

L is for left-handed. I made the choice when I was learning to write to use my left hand. Up to then I would write with both hands and also do mirror-writing. My Mum asked which hand I wanted to write with and I chose the left. I only write with my left hand, everything else I do right-handed. My poor brain must be so confused!

M is for Marmite. I detest the stuff. Definitely a hater :D

 N is for northern accent. I lived in Preston in Lancashire for 16 years before defecting to the south east and still have the accent 29 years later.

O is for online. I sell online therefore I am online several times everyday. I would be lost without this other world I inhabit. It would mean I'd have to go out and talk to people...aaaargh!

P is for Porth Curno in Cornwall, a favourite place of mine. White sandy beach and turquoise sea....beautiful!

Photo: George Thomas on Flickr {Creative Commons}

Q is for quizzes. Ooh, I love a good pub quiz. They are a lovely combination of using your brain and relaxing at the same time.

R is for Radiohead. I was aware of Radiohead in the 90's but always thought they were a bit dull and depressing to listen to and I was very much an Oasis girl at the time. I have now become a big Radiohead fan and absolutely love them.

S is for super power. If I could choose one it would be time-travel. I have thought of another good one though - the "eat as much chocolate, chilli-coated peanuts and biscuits you like without getting fat" super power. Yes, I like that one.

T is for Toronto in Canada. We lived there for three years when I was younger. I was almost five when we came back to England but I do remember lots including the snow in winter, going to Niagara Falls and playing on the shore by Lake Ontario. I also remember a holiday we took to Cape Cod in Massachusetts in the US when I was three or four.

         Me and my Mum in the late 60's Cape Cod.

U is for under-ripe bananas! I love bananas that are still a bit green and will not eat a banana with black spots. They taste weird.

V is for vinegar. I do not like the taste or smell of vinegar and don't put it on my chips. Strangely, I do like salt and vinegar crisps though.

W is for weird crush. I have one. It's....oh do I have to.........alright then it's......Greg Davies. The comedian. He sometimes makes me cry with laughter with some of the things he says.

Photo: Isabelle Adam on Flickr {Creative Commons}

X is for X-Factor. I hate it with a passion. I dislike any of those singing "talent" contests and decided about three years ago never to waste any more of my life watching them.

Y is for yoghurt. My favourite yoghurt ever is Sainsbury's Greek Style Honey yoghurt. I eat it almost every day with fruit. It's lovely.

Photo: Sainsbury's

Z is for {Frank } Zappa. I saw him perform in Brighton in the late 80's. That was an experience. I had a bad stomach that night unfortunately and spent quite a bit of the time in the toilet but I do recall seeing lots of blokes wondering round in curly wigs and flowery dresses......

Photo: Heinrich Klaffs on Flickr {Creative Commons}

Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.