Cinnamon Jewellery

Enamel Heart Fest ! Valentine's Day Inspiration

2012-01-29T14:52:00.000Z

I've been a bit obsessed with hearts lately...........what with Valentine's Day coming up

Been busy with my saw and copper sheet and enamel powders creating these colourful cuties

Sawing mostly definitely is not my favourite thing but I did manage not to break any blades this time! And felt relatively calm and relaxed while I was doing it :D

Here's a selection of enamelled heart earrings and pendants all available in my Folksy and Etsy shops....

Here's a custom order in progress - the customer (a lovely lady called Jill who's just about to start enamelling herself) recently bought a pair of large raspberry enamelled hearts and asked if I could make her two pairs in royal blue. I'm not exactly sure what royal blue looks like (!) but used Aqua opaque with Prussian Blue transparent on top and Jill loves the colour so now I just need to make the earwires to finish them off ♥

Handmade Findings Now On Etsy!

2012-01-17T16:27:00.000Z

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

2012-01-09T10:12:00.001Z

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 ♥

Madam, Was Your Chicken Left Unattended?

2011-12-12T20:14:00.000Z

The Scene :

The kitchen, Sunday evening just after CountryFile

The Victim :

Left-over barbeque-style chicken breast, cooked for Sunday dinner, covered with foil and secured on kitchen worktop

The Crime Scene :

The Suspect :

Name:

Eddie

Age:

Distinguishing Features:

Rips in both ears

Slight swagger when walking due to a back leg injury as a kitten

Known Aliases:

"monster"

"satan's cat"

"he's evil that cat"

"monkey"

"eddiekins"

Previous convictions :

1. The taking and carrying upstairs to the bedroom of a packet of fish taken out of the freezer to defrost for tea

2. The scoffing of a bowl of grated cheese left out on the kitchen worktop ready to go on top of the pasta for tea. Two incidents.

3. Due to a strange fruit fetish, helping himself to some sliced strawberries left in a bowl on the kitchen worktop

4. The purloining of small items from the bathroom, namely a sponge and a mini bottle of bubble bath, which were carried downstairs and abandoned in the hall

5. The ability to make small tins of Vaseline simply vanish to be found several months later under the bed. His current record for this is five.

Verdict :

Guilty.........very!

New Earrings

2011-11-23T10:07:00.000Z

I've got that mellow relaxed feeling at the moment, knowing I've got the next two days off work. But it does mean I'm working this weekend though........

My plans for tomorrow (Weds) are to make a start on a project for Bead magazine that needs to be in by December. I know what I'm doing it's just taking the step-by-step photos and the weather issue! It's meant to be a bright day tomorrow so it should be full steam ahead (camera battery on charge as I write!)

I managed to get all of my new earrings photographed last week which is always a relief. Here's some of them.......

These green enamel ovals have been hanging around for a while then I suddenly thought those pretty pink and green czech glass nuggets might go ok with them!

Dogtooth Amethyst and sterling silver hoop earrings made as part of my last Bead project

I twisted the copper wire for these using my Dremel

I'm planning on making more of these in other colours.....

I had fun stamping these copper discs even though I have to do it on my knees on the kitchen floor! The table I work on isn't sturdy enough and you end up with a shadow when you try and stamp on it so everything gets moved to the kitchen ~ hammer, bench block, copper, stamps...... plus at least one cat wondering what the hell I'm doing!

New Look Folksy & A Featured Item!

2011-11-19T16:11:00.000Z

After a few teething problems yesterday trying to access the newly relaunched Folksy site - I had to install Firefox due to problems with IE8 closing the page, I managed, about an hour later, (wasn't impressed!) to get to see my new improved shop.

I do like the new look but think it's appalling that there were so many bugs on relaunch day............

Anyway, it was nice to see a pair of my enamel earrings in the Featured Items section on the front page, which takes up the entire front page now!

Here's the rest of the lovely items chosen for the page :

All The Reds - Folksy Featured

2011-11-11T16:33:00.000Z

It was a lovely surprise earlier when I went to sign into my Folksy shop to see my red enamel poppy earrings as part of the current Featured items on the homepage!

There's some really lovely stuff on there at the moment with a red theme. Definitely worth a look!

New Stockists And Catching Up

2011-11-09T10:04:00.000Z

I've been busy recently making stock for two new stockists! I gave myself two weeks to make 22 pairs of earrings including earwires and oxidising and polishing them all and did it in just over a week working in the afternoons when I'd finished my part-time job. Am I the only one who likes to get things done and out of the way rather than have it hanging over me?!

Here's some of the enamel stuff cooling on my soldering block.

That is NOT our carpet!! It's the doormat by the back door where I took the photo cos it was nice and bright. Good forbid anyone should think that grubby, cat-hairy delight was gracing the entire floor :D

All the earrings were dutifully packed up and sent on their way and can now be found in ArtFully Made, a lovely gift shop run by Tamsyn Simmonds at 14 South Street, Wellington, Somerset and at Good Girl Designs, a shop run by Nicola Hunt at Area One, 2 Old Dairy, Twitter Lane Waddington, Clitheroe in Lancashire.

Catching Up

I've since been trying to catch up and add some new stock to my Folksy shop. I took almost half of it out of the shop for a wholesale order recently and I'm slowly getting there! I have a pile of earrings (14 pairs!) sat waiting for the sun to come out from behind this awful grey sky we've got at the moment. Thurday is looking good in the south east this week so fingers crossed.

Here's a few pairs I did manage to photograph before the grey gloom descended :

Tip: Don't buy a hot pink camera if you're going to photograph shiny things....seemed like a good idea at the time......

copper....

copper & enamel.....

more copper......

experimenting with transparent enamels.....

It's Amazing Where Your Jewellery Can End Up!

2011-10-27T09:08:00.000+01:00

A couple of months ago I received an email from Liv at the Wildfowl and Wetland Centre at Arundel in West Sussex which is about an hour's drive from me, asking me if would be interested in a wholesale order for the gift shop at the centre.

After setting up a meeting where I took some of my jewellery to show the manager, Liv and another member of staff and agreeing terms, I waited to hear if the Wetland Centre's head office would agree to them placing an order. They did and a few weeks later I received an order for 40 pieces!

Fantastic, I thought, I can do that! I've just started a new job but hell, I can do that! It took about 2 weeks altogether as most of the pieces are oxidised plus making all the earwires and oxidising and cleaning those up too but I did it. I did take some stock from my Folksy shop to save time and experimented with using a radial disc polisher on my Dremel to clean up some of the oxidised pieces (it worked and saved a lot of time!) and finally everything was ready.

Just a few of the oxidised pieces waiting to be cleaned up!

All bagged up and ready to go followed by a big sigh of relief!

I'd love to show some photos of the Wetland centre too but unfortunately they're copyrighted so I'd better not. I'll be honest I had no idea there was a wetland centre in Arundel. I've been there several times and it turns out the centre is a bit further along a road from The Black Rabbit pub I've visited quite a few times :D

Raspberry Enamel Heart Earrings

2011-10-09T16:23:00.000+01:00

It's a fairly bright day today so I thought I'd catch up on some photographing. I managed to get 5 pairs of earrings done and I've just finished editing them including these raspberry pink enamel hearts.

I cut the hearts myself from copper sheet - I don't enjoy sawing metal if I'm honest but I am slowly getting better at it! After filing and sanding the hearts and punching the hanging hole I enamelled the back then enamelled the front with two layer of mauve opaque before adding some transparent raspberry ontop.

I love the effect you get with transparents over opaques. Transparent enamels do need to be washed before using them over opaques to help get rid of some of the "bits" that sometimes contaminate the enamel and leave imperfections in the final result. I've become a bit obssessed when I use my washed transparents and always check them to see if there's any black bits, bits of hair or wire wool in them before using them as once they're fired any bits thats show up cannot be removed - most frustrating!
I'm glad to say these turned out ok : )

Caught In The Act

2011-10-02T11:23:00.000+01:00

Charlie my cat that is with his strange rubber fetish.............

He likes to rub against the rubber mallet I use to whack bits of metal with whenever he gets the chance.

He also loves the smell of bleach.

Funny boy : )

New Projects In "The Vintage Issue" Of Bead Magazine!

2011-09-21T20:11:00.000+01:00

The Oct/Nov issue of Bead magazine (out 21st September) features two of my projects!

The theme was "autumn" so I thought antique copper, greens and oranges would fit the bill and came up with a pair of hoop-style wirework earrings with swarovski crystal elements beads in olivine and crystal copper. The earrings are finished with a pair of handmade hoop earwires.

The second project shows how to make the hoop earwires plus another pair of simple earwires.

I also made a sterling silver version with amethyst beads

The vintage edition looks to be pretty interesting!

A Distinct Lack Of Interest

2011-09-21T10:49:00.000+01:00

That's how I'd describe my mood concerning my blog recently. Not because I don't enjoy writing stuff - I do, it's just "other things" have been on my mind.

I started a part-time home carer job recently after 18 months of working as a private carer doing a few hours a day so working for a company again feels a bit weird. There've been a few starting hiccups - not knowing when I would get my days off, cocking up my worksheet then expecting me to work 7 days a week without any notice (er, no!) and the inevitable Saturday night "can you help us out, someone's gone off sick" phone calls. After previously working for another care company for five years sometimes doing 15 hour days without a proper break I vowed when I left never to work nights again so the answer to those phone calls is a definite no! I work mornings and that's it :D I am enjoying the work though and the people I go to are lovely.

On the jewellery front (much better than work!) I've been experimenting with soldering. Nothing earth-shattering, just basic stuff like soldering rings and sweat soldering. I think if I ever fancy a go at bezel setting and more advanced stuff I definitely need to go to a class. I also had a go at solder inlay after seeing it in one of the many books I've bought recently on soldering! I love the idea of using solder to create a design in the metal. The top photo and the one below show earrings I've made with solder inlay. The earrings below were a complete pig to photograph because of the shininess and the reflection from my very pink camera :D

I stamped a design into the metal, flooded it with solder then sanded off the excess to reveal the design. I'd recommend getting a Dremel/flexshaft for this unless you want to spend hours filing and sanding! I'm going to make some more solder inlay designs soon.

I practised my sawing for these heart earrings (not my favourite thing) but practice makes perfect. I'm planning on sawing some more hearts to enamel this weekend too.

Soldered hoop with lampwork bead - I've read that sometimes the beads can crack from the heat as you solder the hoops closed but these worked ok. I positioned tweezers next to the bead to act as a heat sink and just concentrated the heat near the top. I like this design so will probably do it again!

Soldered copper hoops with Czech glass coin bead. I used the stamped design to cunningly hide the solder join :D

New Fold Form And Torch Enamel Earrings

2011-08-23T08:59:00.000+01:00

I posted recently about experimenting with fold forming and enamelling - creating a definite division in the surface of the metal then enamelling both sides a different colour as seen in these disc earrings below

Well I've been playing around with the idea again and made two more pairs this time leaving one side of the fold bare copper. I used transparent enamels over opaque - you can achieve some lovely colours that way.

A bit fiddly but that's all part of the fun :D

Raspberry transparent over ivory

Turquoise transparent over lichen green with a sprinkle of seafoam

Budding Metalsmiths! Great Videos Worth Watching On YouTube

2011-08-21T09:16:00.000+01:00

I love browsing YouTube for tutorials on jewellery making techniques. At the moment it's soldering and in my search for helpful videos to watch I've come across some stinkers - you know the one's I mean where you can't see what the person is doing because their hands are in the way, or it's just a series of photos advertising their jewellery or the one's where they don't speak and just play some weird music instead...........

So I was really happy to find a series of videos (30) from Nancy LT Hamilton, a US jewellery maker, that are a joy to watch. You can see and hear her clearly, she knows what she's talking about and she's funny too. Plus she has a workroom to die for!

Nancy covers subjects including all about solder, fancy rivets, how to saw, annealing metal, how to make a ring plus some handy tips. So if you're a budding metal worker who's dying to know how to create a flush rivet or how to make your own fancy twisted wire I'd definitely recommend watching her videos :D

Enamel Experiment

2011-08-04T08:29:00.001+01:00

I was browsing the forum on Barbara Lewis's Painting With Fire ning group the other night and saw a photo a member had posted showing how to fire an opalescent enamel correctly. He'd used what looked like a chasing on air fold formed copper disc and looking at it set something off in my brain!

I liked the idea of having a definite break in the surface of the disc which would make enamelling it in two different colours slightly easier than trying to achieve a gap or straight line by my, at times, rather shaky hand :D

So I got the disc cutter out and my torch and mallet and started playing. Made the fold, miraculously pretty well centred I have to say, into the pickle, a quick clean up then started playing with the enamel powders. I really wish I'd taken some photos along the way.......

After counter enamelling I used a small piece of card (a Moo minicard actually!) to cover one side of the front of the disc then sifted the nut brown onto the other side, carefully cleaning up any stray bits of enamel with a small paintbrush then fired it. I did try to sift both colours at the same time to start with but soon realised that wasn't a good idea - some of the seafoam got mixed with the nut brown and I had to abort and start again.

A quick clean up inbetween (enamelling isn't quick) then I sifted the seafoam and fired again. Repeated the whole process with another coat and this was the result...

I decided to pickle the discs again to remove the firescale then oxidised them to black and added some long sterling earwires with a matching czech glass bead.

It got me thinking about other designs.........like how having the fold running top to bottom slightly off centre to allow for the hanging hole would look pretty cool or just enamelling one side and leaving the other plain, textured or stamped which I would oxidise later.

I've certainly got lots of ideas buzzing round my head now. I'll try and remember to take some photos next time too :D

Finished!

2011-08-01T08:52:00.000+01:00

The commission I had last week that is.

Not the best photos I've got to admit but my customer was happy :D

The necklace and earrings will be winging their way to Virginia this morning :D

I Won!

2011-07-29T16:00:00.000+01:00

I was very thrilled to see on Wednesday that I was "the chosen one" on Lori Anderson's blog giveaway!

The book Hot Connections Jewelry by Jennifer Chin will soon be winging it's way across the ocean to my front door. I can't wait.

Thanks Lori!

Work In Progress

2011-07-27T09:43:00.000+01:00

I had a message from a customer via my Etsy shop a couple of days ago asking if I could make a necklace to go with the lavender enamel earrings I listed recently.

After several messages to and fro we agreed on a design so I made a start yesterday

enamelling several different sized discs. All went smoothly I'm pleased to say!

The design is for three of the discs to hang from a sterling spiral pendant link connected to a disc either side and the discs connected to a chain.

I'm going to crack on with it today and as soon as I've oxidised the silver and polished it up I'll post a photo of the finished necklace :D

Two New Projects In Bead Magazine

2011-07-25T08:26:00.000+01:00

The latest edition of Bead magazine came out last Wednesday (20 July) and I'm really pleased to say I have two projects in this issue!

One is a spiral copper wirework bracelet with turquoise jasper you can find on page 30

And the other is a project on oxidising copper and sterling silver called "Playing With Patina" on page 68 which I don't have a photo for!

It's the third time I've had a project in the magazine and I still get excited when I see it in print :D

Soldering Book Giveaway at Pretty Things Blog!

2011-07-23T15:22:00.000+01:00

Mastered cold connections and wanting to go the way of the torch? Pop over to Lori Anderson's blog Pretty Things for a great review on Hot Connections Jewelry by Jennifer Chin. Plus there's a chance you could win yourself a copy of the book! Leave a comment and increase your chances of being the winner by blogging and facebooking it!
The winner will be drawn on Tuesday 26 July

New Stockist

2011-07-12T08:47:00.000+01:00

I'm very pleased to say a selection of my jewellery is now being sold on the lovely Suzanne Porter's website Suzanne Porter Boutique.

Suzanne lives in Darlington and after leaving school took a two year course in Art & Design at Darlington College of Technology where she found her love of designing and making clothing. In 2008 Suzanne graduated from Teesside University/Cleveland College of Art & Design, with a BA (Hons) Fashion Enterprise. Suzanne launched her clothing label in April 2009 and has been growing strong ever since. She recently started her website where she sells clothing which fuses classic style with modern touches.

Her website also stocks a range of accessories including handmade jewellery, hats, fascinators and bags.

Cinnamon Jewellery on Suzanne Porter Boutique

Printed Rose Collar Dress

Unpredictable Enamel

2011-07-04T10:48:00.000+01:00

As every enamellist no doubt knows enamelling can be very unpredictable! You never know for certain that something is going to turn out the way you hope. Most times it does but sometimes....well..... it doesn't.

I've not had time to do any enamelling lately so last night thought I'd make a start on a couple of pairs of simple flat disc earrings - one opaque and one transparent with opaque on top. The counter enamelling (enamelling the back) went fine and after pickling
and cleaning the pair to be enamelled with transparent enamel I made a start on the first layer this morning.

No problem there.........until I picked up the first disc from the trivet and put it down to cool and it didn't lie flat! Looking at the back I could see this huge carbuncle had developed when I was firing the front - something that's never happened before. You sometimes get the odd bump or pit appear due to contamination but when it's on the back it doesn't matter too much........but this! I normally just fire the counter enamel to orange peel stage so it's still fairly bumpy so I didn't really notice anything untoward before I fired the front but there was obviously something there that really shouldn't have been and it must have been something fairly big!

To be honest I quite like the effect but the chance of reproducing it on the front of a piece is probably very unlikely! I'd love to know exactly what caused it so if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Hoop Crazy!

2011-06-27T08:31:00.000+01:00

I've definitely gone a bit hoop crazy in the last few days! I bought some copper washers from eBay a while ago and fancied doing a bit of wirewrapping with them. "Bit" being the operative word - I love the elaborate swirly wirewrapped jewellery people make but I'm not sure I could manage it myself without a lot of swearing :D

Rummaging through my bead boxes in search of beads to go with the copper hoops I remembered these strangely shaped pearls I've had for years.....flat on the bottom and rounded on the top, all in pretty pale icy colours - pink, green, gold, blue, peach and a funny peacock greeny-grey which are perfect for wrapping to the copper washers.

So I was off!

I fancied adding some sterling wire to these for contrast and actually remembered to oxidise it first - I always have trouble getting sterling to oxidise well when it's in contact with copper. Then I thought I'd make some in sterling silver so I cut some discs with a slightly off centre hole and added a pink pearl......

Then I made a matching pendant.....

The copper earrings with the pink pearl also have a matching pendant which is ready and waiting for it's copper chain, currently winging it's way from the States. I just need to make a fastener for it and oxidise it and then it will be set free in my Folksy shop with the others!

Definitely going to make myself a pair of these......

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

2011-06-24T08:40:00.000+01:00

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

Blog Interview On Charlotte HupField Ceramics!

2011-06-21T15:01:00.000+01:00

Check out Charlotte's blog Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics for an interview about me and my jewellery!

Charlotte does regular blog interviews with us creative types and I think she's done a really good job.

Thanks Charlotte :D

New! Handmade Sterling Silver Earwires

2011-06-21T08:39:00.000+01:00

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

I Wish I'd Done It Sooner...............

2011-06-17T14:20:00.000+01:00

No, not get a tattoo, dye my hair pink or climb the south face of Dolly Parton.....I'm taking about changing my broadband supplier!

I've been with Supanet (don't go to Supanet, never go to Supanet!) for quite a few years and didn't have any problems with them until late last year when I started having problems getting a connection. Using the landline or just picking up the phone and putting it down again worked ok for a while then I lost the connection altogether - yes the dreaded flashing light on the modem. So I rang Supanet's "technical support", an 0800 number thank God, to be told to change the filters and get BT to check the line. The new filters didn't make any difference and the line was fine according to the nice man I spoke to at BT. Supanet also said they would contact BT and ask them to do some further checks - "ring BT tomorrow and they'll tell you if they find anything wrong" they said. I rang BT the next day to be told they hadn't heard anything from Supanet....... One "technician" suggested I try something, wished me good luck and put the phone down on me! Very helpful.

So after several more phone calls to Supanet and having to wait 15 to 20 minutes every time whilst they played the most God-awful music I've ever heard before I actually got to speak to someone (a different person every time so I had to explain the whole thing every time) we decided to try a router. The router arrived (eventually) and didn't make any difference. At this point I was starting to lose the will to live and just couldn't face ringing "technical support" again so with the help of an early Christmas present from my Dad I acquired a laptop and used a dongle ( a nice pink one) to get online.

My dodgy connection eventually sorted itself out (how it did that if it's not a problem at Supanet's end I'd love to know?) and was fine for about 5 months. Then about a month ago it started again. I changed the filters again, unplugged things, plugged them in again but no, it wasn't going to work. Enough I thought! Even though I've still got several months of my contract to go I've just got to get away from them before the frustration makes me kill someone! So I rang Supanet and said I wanted to cancel my contract to be told by a supervisor it's a problem with my filters and changing them would sort it out! No it won't I said through gritted teeth and then rather brusquely asked him to work out what I owed them and send me the MAC code (they didn't, I had to ring up and ask for it over a week later). Then they sent me an email asking me to send the modem back or send a cheque for £10 for it which I swore at (you can **** off, I think were my exact words!)

I now possess a shiny black BT Home Hub - absolutely no problems with my connection and the best bit - the lights are all blue and don't flash! And it's cheaper than Supanet so as far as my broadband connection goes, everything is fluffy kittens and marshmallows at the moment. I just wish I'd done it sooner :D

Here's a nice picture to make up for all the writing :D

A New Shop On Folksy And Feeling Scared!

2011-06-10T09:08:00.001+01:00

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!

A Bit Of A Featured Thing Going On!

2011-05-30T14:08:00.001+01:00

There's definitely a featured thing going on at the moment - a pair of my earrings on fellow Folksy seller Linda's blog Uniquely Yours, one of the Featured Sellers on Folksy for the next two weeks (I'm thrilled about that, does it mean I've "arrived"?!) and a request for a feature on Handmade With Passon UK, a handmade directory and blog run by Crystal Clarke.

I'll have to start wearing dark glasses when I go to Sainsbury's at this rate................... :D

Silver-Filled Wire ~ An Affordable Alternative To Sterling

2011-05-27T08:40:00.000+01:00

Browsing through the latest edition of Step By Step Wire Jewelry the other night I saw an article that mentioned silver-filled wire. I'd heard of gold-filled wire but not silver. I read a bit more and discovered silver-filled wire is pretty new and sounds like a great alternative to the much more expensive sterling silver wire.

So how is it different to silver plated wire I thought? Silver-filled has a thicker coating of sterling silver bonded to a copper or brass base. It can be hammered, oxidised and tumbled just like sterling and I should imagine it's less likely to wear off like plated wire can. I'm liking it more and more! Another plus is if you can wear sterling silver jewellery you'll be fine with silver-filled too.

I've just ordered some 20g from Etsy shop Cigarbox Supplies and at £4.36 for 19.5 ft it works out a hell of a lot less than sterling. I contacted another Etsy seller who uses it and asked her opinion - she loves it and said it behaves just like pure sterling wire. I'm not sure if it's available in the UK yet (probably not, maybe in a year or two!)

I can't wait for it to arrive so I can experiment and see for myself! Watch this space for an update in a week or two!

*Photo courtesy of Cigarbox Supplies

Tickled Pink With A Ray Of Sunshine :: Etsy Treasury

2011-05-21T14:20:00.001+01:00

Tickled Pink With A Ray Of Sunshine ☼

A very pretty pink and yellow Etsy Treasury I'm in! A big thank you to Adoruhbulcreations!

pink roses photobistro $3.50	Distressed Teardrop Earrings... janedean $10.00	Yellow and Pink Large Dahlia... strandedtreasu... $45.00	The favorite Cowl neck hood ... BessetteArt $39.00
Blushing in Pink ouma $840.00	Zohara-AAA Lemon Quartz,Pink... vanini $495.00	Embroidered Organic Silk Pin... BobkaBaby $55.00	Enamel Daisy Flower Earrings... CinnamonJewell... $29.00
Candy Stripe Warm Pink Gin... sandypaws $18.00	Yellow Flower Peach Pearl Sp... smilesophie $23.00	Rosette Bobby Pins Pink and ... Brydferth $18.00	Yellow and pink felt necklac... Feltik $45.00
Yellow and Pink Felted Heart... larsandaddie $10.00	Sweet pink and yellow blooms... vintagebroochc... $46.00	Big Pink Cardigan LoveandKnit $125.00	Bright Yellow Baroque Swarov... FizaDesigns $16.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Just Photographed!

2011-05-10T14:54:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd make the most of our continuing freakishly good weather, although we may get rain in East Sussex tomorrow so they say which is kind of more like it, and photograph the last few pairs of earrings I've made. I hate taking photographs so am always relieved when it's over!

A couple of sterling pairs, a riveted copper disc pair and a pair of torch enamel discs.....................

Sugilite jasper, freshwater pearl and silver disc

Turquoise jasper and sterling silver

Riveted copper discs with green impression jasper

Opalescent green (which looks blue!) and opaque enamel discs

Foldform Copper Heart Earrings - My First Attempt!

2011-04-28T08:44:00.000+01:00

I'm slowly teaching myself some more basic metalwork techniques. I love making wirework jewellery and torch enamelling but I think I'm at my happiest when I'm hammering bits of metal and playing with my torch!

I recently bought a new metalwork jewellery book - Mixed Metal Mania by Kim St. Jean. It's a very good book with an informative tool section and easy to follow instructions and covers some basic techniques including soldering, riveting, forging, foldforming and reticulating. Her jewellery style is quite rustic - something I find hard to do being a bit of a shiny neat freak but I'm sure I'll learn to "let go" eventually!

I've seen foldforming before and did have a quick go at it a while ago but the copper sheet I had was too thick and I also tried to do it without annealing the metal (stoopid!) so talk about making life difficult!
The book has several projects which use foldforming including a brass foldformed heart pendant which inspired my copper heart earrings. I already had the copper heart blanks - sent to me by mistake from beaducation.com when I ordered flower blanks (!) but as they are 24g they are perfect for foldforming.

I started off by annealing the hearts to soften the copper then after quenching and drying folded them diagonally and hammered the fold flat. After annealing again I used an old kitchen knife to open up the hearts then flattened them using a mallet. After pickling to remove the firescale and a bit of a scrub with wire wool I used a center punch to add some texture to the fold then added a bit of detail ( I like my little details!)with a couple of fine silver ball rivets. This is something else I've just worked out how to do - use a nail punch with a concave end to support the silver balls as you hammer the rivets on the other side. You need something to hold the nail punch upright - I use one of the holes in the block my dapping punches live in. The nail punch is actually stuck in there now from the hammering but at least I'll know where it is!

I finished and photographed another foldform pair of earrings yesterday. The discs had been sat on my table waiting for inspiration and it finally came in the form of antique copper flower beadcaps and pale green chrysotine rondels. Now I know how to rivet beads and things onto metal there will be no stopping me. These are still quite shiny shiny so I'd better get working on my rustic side!

A Recent Commission & A Thank You Note

2011-04-20T08:56:00.000+01:00

I very rarely make necklaces, preferring to focus on earrings and the odd bracelet, but recently a buyer contacted me to ask if I would make a necklace to match the stamped copper and green pearl earrings she bought for her Mum a couple of weeks ago. Of course I said yes!

She gave me pretty specific instructions for the design which was great and does make life easier. It was basically to match the design of the earrings with a copper chain. The pure copper chain I already had was a bit thick so I offered to order a finer one (most likely from the States) but in the end we decided to use some antique copper chain that I could order from a UK site (still took a week to get here though!)

I was a bit worried that the chain would be too dark but when I sent the photos to the buyer she said her Mum loved it so I went ahead and listed it in my Folksy shop.

Here are the original earrings the buyer bought for her Mum

Yesterday I received a sweet thank you note from the buyer's Mum saying how much she liked her necklace and that she though my jewellery was gorgeous! I thought it was so nice of her to take the time to send me a note. She also wanted to know how much the pair of earrings on the business card I sent with the necklace were then promptly got her daughter to buy them for her as well!

All in all yesterday was a good day!

Wire Artists Gallery On The Wireworkers Guild Blog

2011-04-01T09:25:00.000+01:00

Author of the Wireworkers Guild blog Linda Jones, wirework jewellery maker, magazine contributor and author of several jewellery books, has posted a gallery of photos of wirework jewellery made by the guild members on her blog.

It features a selection of necklaces like the one pictured on the left by Sally Pitman, bracelets, earrings, rings and tiaras. It's lovely to see the variety of wirework styles out there and also nice to see a pair of my copper earrings included too!

Sue Mason-Burns

Wendy McClean

My copper and turquoise jasper earrings now happily residing in Londonderry with Colleen of Folksy shop Clover Jewels

Purplelicious

2011-03-29T14:36:00.000+01:00

Purple has been my favourite colour for as long as I can remember. When I was younger I had a dark purple carpet, purple flower curtains, lilac walls and a purple bedspread in my bedroom - I loved it!

When it comes to buying beads I'm always drawn to the purple ones and sometimes have to tell myself no. I didn't manage it when I saw these dyed purple freshwater pearls on Lima Beads though and ended up buying them! They are lovely, quite small (5mm) but a real electric purple and very shiny.

I decided they would look great with oxidised sterling silver so I made these disc earrings last week using my new larger size disc cutter, slightly thicker sheet silver than usual (the price of silver these days!) and the pearls. I cut a hole in the disc slightly off centre then texturised and domed them, added the pearls, into LOS, cleaned and polished and ready to be photographed.

I always find silver a bit tricky to photograph due to the reflection - they can turn out too bright or too grey depending on the angle but a bit of trickery with a piece of white card, which in other words means me holding said piece of white card at different angles to reflect some light onto them, normally sorts it out! I think they're rather glamourous and they will be appearing in my Folksy shop later today.

Beaducation Giveaway - National Craft Month

2011-03-24T20:10:00.000Z

Beaducation.com are having another wonderful giveaway to celebrate National Craft Month!
Included in the giveaway are copper, sterling silver and gold-filled blanks, mini nuts and bolts for cold connecting plus hole punch pliers and chain.
All you have to do is visit the Beaducation blog and leave a comment! Simple! You can also enter more than once by Twittering, facebooking and blogging about the giveaway.

The winner will be chosen at random on 28 March so there's still time to enter!
Good luck!

Featured! Folksy Top Picks

2011-03-19T14:56:00.001Z

It was a nice surprise to see one of my enamel pendants in Folksy's Featured Items on their main buying page today!

They have a gorgeous bright selection of items with red as the theme to coincide with Red Nose Day yesterday and there really are some lovely things in the selection - we're a talented bunch on Folksy! ♥

Being Approached For Wholesale - The Good And The Bad

2011-03-17T15:04:00.001Z

Every now and then I get a message through my Folksy shop or Artfire shop asking if I sell wholesale. Yes I do and I'm happy to discuss my terms with the sender.
There's just one catch - as it's a potential business "contract" I really do expect the initial inquiry to be business-like and professional.

Here's an example of a recent wholesale inquiry -

are you doing wholesale? if yes please let me know.I will buy. email ---------

That's it, no contact name, no other information! Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence does it? I normally ignore this type of inquiry but I did reply pointing out more info and a contact name would be helpful and not surprisingly no reply was forthcoming.

In complete contrast I was contacted by a fellow Folksy seller just before Christmas asking if I sold wholesale. She gave me information about where she would be selling my jewellery and a link to the the gallery so I could check it out. I know I don't have any control over what people do with my jewellery once they've bought it wholesale but it was nice to be given the information. Needless to say the wholesale sale went ahead.

So a few tips for anyone who wants to buy wholesale from online handmade sites -

Find out the seller's name - it's usually in their profile or at least use their shop name to address them!
Give a brief explanation as to why you want to buy wholesale and an idea of quantities
Give a contact name

It's easy to feel the potential wholesale buyer is doing us a favour but in fact it's the other way round - they have an opportunity to buy unique handmade items at a discounted rate to no doubt sell on for a reasonable profit - the least they can do is approach a seller in a professional manner - they may find doing so will result in more success :D

Torch Enamelling - What I've been Up To Recently!

2011-03-14T10:56:00.001Z

I've admired enamelled jewellery for a while now and not too long ago did a blog post about Etsy seller tekaandzoe and her wonderful kiln enamelled creations. I didn't think at the time that it was something I would ever be able to do as the cost of kilns plus lack of space would be a problem for me.

That wasn't until I saw an advert for a torch enamelling tutorial from US jewellery supplies website Beaducation by Steven James. It's a great tutorial showing the basics on how to torch enamel on copper. Of course I bought it! I then spent hours scouring the internet for more information on torch enamelling, where to buy the tools I'd need and of course the enamel powders. There are quite a few UK sites selling enamelling supplies and tools but as usual I found the US sites had more choice (why do we always lag behind?) I bought some enamel powders from a couple of UK sites to begin with - Cookson Gold have a good selection but bear in mind the leaded enamels have to be sent by courier which costs £11!

So armed with my prepared copper discs, a not very suitable trivet (I've since bought two much better one's from Thompson Enamel), a small kitchen sifter as the proper enamel sifters I'd ordered hadn't arrive yet (patience is a virtue I know!) and a few opaque enamel colours I nervously "had a go".

My first attempts were amazingly fine which surprised me, just one colour on flat copper discs, although I was slightly alarmed when the red enamel powder turned black on contact with heat (that's normal!) and that was it I was hooked! As I read somewhere recently - enamelling isn't difficult to do it's doing it well that's the hard part.

What I've learned so far :

• You must wear a particulate mask when using powder enamels - some enamels contain lead, arsenic, cadmium and boron - not the sort of stuff you want to be inhaling

• You can use a butane torch for enamelling - it works fine for small pieces

• Yes you do need to counter enamel (enamel the back) your pieces. Copper and enamel expand and contract at different rates when heated and cooling down and counter enamelling the copper helps stabilise the tension between the two reducing the chance of warping and cracking

• Transparent enamels do need to be washed if you want to use them over other colours otherwise they can appear cloudy. You can get away without washing them if you're using them directly onto copper though

• A fired piece that appears fine at first can fiendishly change after a couple of minutes, hours, days or weeks! Cracks, pits, tiny hairs that you didn't see at the time of firing and black spots can appear which can be very frustrating

• If you see a black spot in the enamel as you're sifting don't hope it will "blend in" and not show when the piece is fired, it will!

• Enamel pens (available from Thompson Enamel) are not very easy to use

• Two thin layers are better than one thick one

I'll stop for now but I could go on for much longer! Below are some of my fledgling enamel jewellery designs, I'm still finding my way and having fun experimenting. I'm pleased that some of my enamel pieces have sold which always helps when you're trying something new and wonder if anyone will actually like it! I'd love to hear from anyone with enamelling tips or anyone who's thinking of having a go themselves :D

Ivory and Coral Flowers

Purple and Lavender Discs

Opaque over Transparent

Seafoam Green and Chestnut Brown Flowers

Seafoam and Nut Brown

Terracotta and Sterling Disc

My Latest Artfire Collection - Enamored By Enamel

2011-02-25T15:11:00.000Z

I've just made this lovely Collection on Artfire featuring handmade enamelled jewellery - my new obsession!

Enamored By Enamel

Curated By: cinnamonjewel...

ArtFire.com

Handmade Jewelry

You'll Never Catch Me Copper! Artfire Collection

2011-02-20T14:03:00.001Z

A lovely copper jewellery Artfire Collection by Artfire seller DLC Welch featuring a pair of my lampwork and copper leaf earrings!

Youll never catch me copper....

Curated By: dlcwelch

ArtFire.com

Vintage Fashion

Purple Delights from Folksy!

2011-02-18T08:24:00.004Z

A selection of gorgeous purple items for sale on Folksy right now!

Click the shop name to be whisked straight there!

Purple Orbit Bracelet by Nithria

Purple Collection by My Garden Of Photos

Quilted Purple Needlebook by Tillyfloss

Lavender and Purple Torch Enamelled Earrings by Cinnamon Jewellery

Ceramic Pendant Necklace by picciolo

Bead Destash On eBay!

2011-01-23T08:59:00.000Z

I finished my mega bead sort out a couple of weeks ago (thank God!) and now I currently have several listings of beads on eBay.

Most of them start at 99p as I just want to get rid if them so if you're after some bargains it might be worth checking out.

Items listed include Swarovski hearts, rondels and bicones in various colours, mixed shape Hematite beads, lampwork beads, lucite flowers and a few semi-precious beads. The listings end Monday night ~ find me on eBay here

New Earrings Project In Bead Magazine

2011-01-19T14:18:00.000Z

Issue 28 of Bead magazine is out today and features a variety of lovely projects including my green freshwater pearl and sterling silver wirework earrings on page 45!

I forgot to take a photo of the finished earrings before sending them off to the magazine for photographing so here's a couple of the step-by-step photos I took plus a copper version of the earrings

New Year New Designs!

2011-01-12T19:06:00.000Z

The New Year has inspired me to come up with some new earring designs. I'm going great guns at the mo - full of ideas and feeling like there's not enough hours in the day at the moment! I've even made a stock of ball-end earwires and headpins with my new torch ready for when I'm making earrings which is very unlike me, I usually make them as I need them.

I love my new torch but I'm still at that "slightly scared of it" stage which I'm sure will soon pass! It's soo much better than using the ring on the gas cooker and means I can ball the end of copper wire now (the flame on the cooker isn't hot enough). Here's a selection of what I've made so far soon to be listed in my Folksy and Artfire shops. I've also just finished oxidising some heart inspired earrings ready for Valentine's Day - I said I was going great guns!

Copper and riveted Sterling Silver Spiral

Swarovski Pearl and Sterling Silver Wirework

Lampwork Bead and TierraCast Violet Leaf Charm

Freshwater Pearl and Sterling Silver Disc

Copper and riveted Sterling Silver Discs

Bead Sale!

2010-12-29T09:19:00.001Z

I made a start on the mammoth task of sorting out my bead boxes the other day.
I currently have seven bead boxes so keeping all my lovely beads tidy and sorted is quite important, what a shame it doesn't actually happen! I start off with good intentions but new arrivals fail to find a proper home and stay in the bags for months until I do a "sort out". At least I've made a start now and listed 13 lots yesterday in my Folksy shop.

I'm pleased to say all of the semi-precious and the abalone shell beads have sold already but I still have some pretty beads and a TierraCast SP toggle going for very reasonable prices!

Having a sort out does have it's up-side ~ All those gaps I'm going to have in my bead boxes by the time I've finished will just HAVE to be filled! Bead shops here I come :D

~: Still for sale :~

Small Lucite Flowers

Large Lucite Flowers

Mixed Glass Heart Beads - great for Valentine's Day!

Mixed Hematite Beads

Lampwork Glass Beads

TierraCast Toggle Fastener

Bought On Folksy!

2010-12-14T11:28:00.002Z

Selling my handmade jewellery on Folksy is great fun and gives me the opportunity to browse the many fabulous shops on the UK's best handmade selling site.

I've been busy recently on the Folksy spending front and here's what I've been buying..........

A Macintosh-style copper mirror from The Owl And The Pussycat

I've had my eye on this for a while and after a good few weeks of sales decided to treat myself!

Oilcloth purse from Luvlii - very handy to keep some of my jewellery pliers in

English Yew Wooden Bottle Stopper from Diggi Woodturning

A Christmas present for my Dad!

Polymer Clay Wee Westie and Hedgehog Beads from the very talented Kirsten of QuernusCrafts

A present for my Auntie (hope she doesn't check out my blog and see this!)

Very pretty Golden Bird card from Lilly's Night Garden

Embroidered Notebook Cover from the lovely Fiona of fionaT

Folksy Front Page!

2010-12-09T15:21:00.001Z

It was a nice surprise to see a of pair my earrings in the Featured Items on the front page of Folksy yesterday.

There's a lovely selection of jewellery there at the moment and my Turquoise Lampwork and Sterling Silver earrings featured quickly sold (thank you Folksy!)
They've now been replaced with another pair of my earrings - this Sterling Silver abstract design pair

I'm Loving........Liver Of Sulphur XL Gel

2010-12-06T11:12:00.001Z

Noticing my supply of Liver of Sulphur chunks was running low recently I thought I'd better order some more. I've found getting hold of the chunks quite hard recently so I was interested to see my usual supplier Joy Funnel of ArtClayUK on eBay was now stocking Liver Of Sulphur XL Gel.

It's a stable gel form with an extended life hence "XL" which is ideal as the chunks tend to lose their effect after a couple of months and must be kept away from moisture. I've used the liquid form of Liver Of Sulphur once before which is available from Kernowcraft in the UK, £2.95 for 10ml but found it wasn't very economical and the results could be a bit patchy, so I was interested to see how I would get on with the XL Gel.

The XL Gel from ArtClayUK costs £6.95 for 30ml and comes in a plastic bottle with a nozzle top. I tend to oxidise maybe five or six pieces of jewellery at a time (I can't face polishing up more than that at once!) and the tiniest amount will give the desired results - I take the top off and dip just the end of a knife into the bottle then dissolve the gel on the knife in the hot water and that's plenty to get a dark grey colour on the Sterling Silver.
So despite the XL Gel being a bit more expensive than the chunks and liquid form I can see it's going to last me much longer so is more economical in the long run AND less messy than the chunks!

Sterling Silver oxidised and polished

Lost Connection and New Earrings

2010-11-30T10:58:00.000Z

Last Tuesday one of the things I dread happened and I lost my internet connection. Not a good thing when you sell online and especially at this time of year! A phone call to my ISP informed me "everything's alright our end, you need to get BT to check your line". BT checked the line - it was fine so I reinstalled the modem drivers (yet again) but still no connection. Another phone call to my ISP and they suggested replacing the microfilters - "they only cost a couple of quid" the man said, actually they cost £10.99 each from Comet so needless to say I didn't buy them!
So after yet another phone call to my ISP they said they would send me a new modem - which still hasn't arrived!

In the meantime I had people I needed to email so resorted to using my mobile to get on the internet. Oh my God - how slow! Fine if you've got three other things to do at the same time as waiting for a page to load, they were taking at least five minutes. I did manage to relist an item in my Folksy shop - it took an HOUR! And that was just relisting!

I'm now online again with a shiny new laptop (early Christmas present, thank you Dad!) but I've got to admit I prefer my pc, the picture quality on the laptop is rubbish - all the photos on sites like Folksy are blurred and pixelated so if anyone has any ideas how to improve them please let me know! In the meantime I will continue to wait impatiently for my new modem to arrive..............

New Earrings
It was lovely and bright yesterday so I took some photos of the new earrings I made recently (before my tripod broke!) soon to be listed on Folksy and Artfire.
On a lighter note I did get a nice surprise in the post on Friday - a £200 tax rebate!

Dogtooth Amethyst and Sterling Silver Hoops

Botswana Agate and Sterling Silver

Green Freshwater Pearl and Sterling Silver

Dogtooth Amethyst and Sterling Silver

Go Handmade This Christmas - Nature Lover Ceramic Necklace

2010-11-21T09:46:00.000Z

Are you looking for something different to give this Christmas? Fed up of the mass-produced stuff on the high street? Why not give handmade!

Giving handmade means your gift will be unique and original, made by a skilled crafter who loves what they do.
Show your love and give handmade this year!

Nature Lover Ceramic Necklace by Go2Girl on Artfire

Kila, the artist behind Go2Girl creates earthy, handmade original necklaces, bracelets, earrings and accessories. Her designs are inspired by nature.

Christmas Gift Ideas - The Folksy Festive Sampler Online

2010-11-19T15:22:00.000Z

The Folksy Festive Sampler is now available to view online and what a lovely surprise to find one of my copper bracelets on the front cover!

There are lots of handmade lovelies to be found in the Sampler and on Folksy so if you're stuck for what to buy this Christmas and fancy something unique, original and handmade why not take a look below

Folksy Christmas Gift Guide - Winter Warmers

2010-11-17T11:49:00.000Z

A mini Christmas Gift Guide from Folksy - the place to buy handmade in the UK

Winter Warmers

Woolly and velvety goodness to keep you toasty this winter!

Hot As Hell Fire Scarf from Mrs Bee

Orange Slippers from Clicking Pins

Red Long Winter Socks from Legyviel In Rivendell

Orange Rose Fingerless Gloves from Lynwoodcrafts

Woollen Socks from From Roberts with Love

Handpainted Silk Velvet Scarf from BlueBoxStudio

Orbital Inspiration!

2010-11-08T09:58:00.001Z

Looking through my Blog reading list the other day I visited wirework jewellery maker Linda Jones' blog The Wireworkers Guild where I found a tutorial taken from one of Linda's books for her Orbital Rings.

I liked the idea so thought I'd have a go at my own variation of the design.

I used 22g (0.6mm) copper wire as it's easier to wrap and using a thick felt tip marker pen wrapped the wire five times around the pen to create the hoops.
Instead of wrapping the wire all the way round the hoops I wrapped it three times at the top, made a hanging loop then wrapped three times at the other side before trimming the wire and tucking in the end at the back.
I used the other end of the wire to make a few wraps at the bottom of the hoops for balance then trimmed the end and tucked it in at the back.
As the hoops were a good size I had enough room in the centre to add a green opal bead which attaches in the gap left by the hanging loop and dangles in the centre of the hoops. I decided not to hammer them as I didn't want the flattened look then oxidised them (of course!) and attached copper earwires.
I'm really pleased with the end result and the fact they are pretty easy to make. I'm planning on making a Sterling Silver pair possibly in 20g (0.8mm) next!
I've just listed this pair in my Artfire shop and they will soon be listed on Folksy too.

Salmon Pink! New Artfire Collection

2010-11-05T15:00:00.000Z

A very pretty new collection on Artfire that includes my Rhodonite with Pyrite and copper wirework earrings!

Curated by Sandeeknits

PINK SALMON

Curated By: sandeeknits

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Christmas Gift Guide - Cool Bracelets For Cool Girls

2010-11-04T11:57:00.000Z

It's that time of year again! The Christmas spending frenzy is about to begin so why not make life easier and shop online at Folksy - the UK's increasingly popular online place for all things handmade?

If you're looking for unique and original presents this year for your "cool girl" you may like these...........

Charm Bracelet from Silver and Stone

Scottie Bracelet from SpoiltPig

Turquoise Jasper & Sterling Silver Bracelet from Cinnamon Jewellery

Button Bracelet from Realicoul

Autumn Leaves Charm Bracelet from Putting On The Charms

Woodland Nymph Copper Bracelet from Wire Moon Jewellery

Stunning Lampwork Beads By Art By Lisi On Artfire

2010-10-28T19:58:00.001+01:00

Browsing Artfire yesterday I came across a fabulous shop selling handmade Lampwork beads made by Lisa of Art By Lisi. The bright and colourful photos drew me into her shop where I discovered a large selection of beautiful and very covetable beads.

Lisa lives in Florida and discovered lampwork beads after picking up a copy of Bead and Button magazine back in 2002. She learnt all she could about them, bought the equipment and hasn't looked back since!

As well as selling on Artfire, Lisa also has shops on eBay and Etsy. She regards the day she picked up that copy of Bead and Button as a blessing and I've got to say I agree with her!

After much deliberation I bought a set of these Terracotta Turquoise beauties below. How gorgeous are they??!

To see more visit Lisa's Artfire shop : Art By Lisi

New Earrings

2010-10-25T18:43:00.000+01:00

It was such a lovely bright and sunny day today I thought I'd make the most of it and take some photos of the earrings I finished at the weekend.

I'd got busy with my disc cutter again and made two copper pairs, a riveted Sterling Silver disc design and a pair with mint glass rondel beads and handmade Sterling Silver beadcaps! All oxidised and polished up while I watched the Man Utd game on Sunday!

I'm Featured In Bead Magazine!

2010-10-21T11:09:00.002+01:00

One morning way back in May I was amazed to see an email from Jean Power, the previous editor of Bead magazine. She'd spotted my jewellery on Etsy and asked if I would like to be featured in the Winter Sparkle edition of the magazine. She also asked if I would do a project with the possibility of regular projects in the future! I was absolutely thrilled as this was one of the things I was hoping to achieve in 2010, although I did think I'd have to do it the hard way and approach the magazine myself!

The Winter Sparkle edition features all things sparkly and I decided to make a pair of Swarovski crystal wirework earrings for the project.

I've never done a project before so making the earrings for the project was interesting! I made the first one then started the second, stopping at each step to take a photo, doing a bit more then stopping again to take the next photo. It was a bit nerve-wracking and I worried that the photos wouldn't be good enough but I managed it! Then I had to write up the step-by-step instructions, plus tips, alternative ideas, etc. A lot of work but well worth it.

The feature asked all sorts of questions about me and how I got into making jewellery. I had to re-photograph some of my jewellery I wanted in the feature and send them to the magazine to be included plus a (hideous) photo of me.

The magazine now has a new editor Chloe Menage and I've just sent off my next project for Issue 28 - a pair of pearl and sterling silver wirework earrings. I wasn't quite so nervous this time!

Issue 26 came out on 20 October and you can find me on page 45! There's even a small photo of my project earrings on the front cover :D

New Tools New Jewels!

2010-10-18T13:38:00.001+01:00

A couple of months ago I suddenly developed an interest in stamped metal jewellery. After reading Lisa Niven Kelly's book "Stamped Metal Jewelry" I went on a spending spree and bought myself some metal stamps, a disc cutter, hammers, a dapping set, sheet copper and Sterling Silver and hole punch pliers!
I also managed to get a security stop put on my debit card due to all the online purchases I was making but a quick phone call to the bank soon sorted that out - very embarrassing when you're trying to pay for your shopping in Tesco!

So armed with my new toys and after teaching myself how to rivet I've been making some new jewellery. I've discovered I love circle designs and abstract holes and I have a bit of a leaning towards the geometric. I haven't gone down the stamped names on bits of metal route yet, I know it's very popular but it doesn't fill me with much creative joy to be honest, I prefer to let my imagination run free!

Here are some of my new designs - most are available in my Folksy and Artfire shops

Folksy Blog – Wire Work Jewellery :: Inspiring Creativity

2010-10-12T09:10:00.000+01:00

Folksy Blog – Wire Work Jewellery :: Inspiring Creativity

Sellers! Have You Seen This Fantastic Offer on Artfire?

2010-09-18T14:31:00.000+01:00

Yes! Artfire are offering sellers a Pro Account for just $5.95 (approx £3.80) a month! The current price for a Pro Account is normally $15.95.

The Artfire Group Deal opened earlier this week and once a minimum of 20,000 people have signed up it will go live.
It doesn't matter if you have a basic account or Pro Account at the higher monthly subscription already - you can still apply! New members can also apply!

$5.95 is all you will pay each month and there is no limit on the number of items you can list. The benefits of having a Pro Account include : incoming url tracking, Studio design, your own Artfire blog, gallery, shop sections, collections and lots more. There's a limit of 50,000 reduced rate Pro Accounts available so don't hang around!
Click here - Artfire Group Deal for more info and to sign up.

Folksy Friday - Tights For Sore Eyes

2010-08-20T08:50:00.000+01:00

Are you suffering from dull, colourless legs?

Then look no further than new Folksy shop

Tights For Sore Eyes

Drawn by the clever name and funky photos, I decided to find out a bit more............

Recently opened, Tights For Sore Eyes is run by Scotland-based Danni and Nikki McWilliams. With backgrounds in fashion design, marketing and fine art Danni and Nikki set about combining their individual passions to create tongue in cheek fashion and art for legs everywhere

Each pair of tights is screen-printed by hand in a variety of cool colours including vanilla, mint, red, green and baby pink. With designs including Mr Moustache, Winged Diamond (with Swarovski Crystals) and Grape Toxicity, your legs need never feel in the shade again!

Find out more about Tights For Sore Eyes by visiting Danni and Nikki's BLOG

Lampwork Bead Giveaway!

2010-08-14T14:54:00.000+01:00

Visit lampwork bead maker Laura Sparling's blog Beads By Laura for a chance to win a set of her lovely blue, green and purple nuggety lampwork beads!
Just leave a comment by 7pm August 18 to enter. Blog or tweet about the giveaway and get two chances to win!

Folksy Friday - Cats!

2010-08-13T14:34:00.000+01:00

This week's Folksy Friday is all about CATS!

Mel Croft Illustration

Quernus Crafts

The Sunroom

Jessica Woodhouse

Northfield Primitives

Millicent

Gazania - By The Power Of Macro!

2010-08-12T16:00:00.000+01:00

Inspired by a post on Red Bird Jewellery's blog recently I took my camera out into the garden (who am I kidding, it's a yard, not a blade of grass in sight!) yesterday and took some quick close-up photos of a beautiful orange Gazania.

I was really surprised with the results as I use a normal point and shoot Canon digital. Just think what you could do with a super-dooper bells and and whistles type affair!

Introducing Gordon the Gazania

I love the contrast of the vivid orange and the greeny-grey at the base of the petals

Another Sterling Silver Destash!

2010-08-11T16:06:00.000+01:00

I finally finished sorting out my silver box recently.

It's full of Sterling Silver findings that I used a lot when I first started making jewellery but as the style of jewellery I make has changed a lot of it just wasn't being used anymore. So rather than the findings just sitting there I thought I'd set them free!

I've listed them in my Folksy shop - all at very good prices!

2mm Sterling Silver round beads

3mm Sterling Silver round beads

4mm Sterling Silver crimp covers

3mm Sterling Silver crimp covers

Enamel Bead Giveaway!

2010-08-07T16:03:00.000+01:00

Check out Eve's blog Jems Direct for a chance to win one set of these beautiful torch-fired enamel beads.

To enter the giveaway become a follower of Eve's blog, leave a comment and post on your own blog about this lovely giveaway!

The winner will be chosen tomorrow - 8 August.

Good Luck!

Folksy Friday : Turquoise

2010-08-06T09:45:00.000+01:00

Folksy Friday

Today I am mostly feeling Turquoise

Dive into the blue with these beautiful finds from Folksy

Northfield Primitives

Book Review: Stamped Metal Jewelry By Lisa Niven Kelly

2010-08-05T11:43:00.001+01:00

Lisa Niven Kelly is the founder of Beaducation.com, a wonderful website for jewellery supplies and online step-by-step video jewellery-making classes.

I've seen her work featured in several magazines - Bead & Button, Step-by-Step Wire, Beadwork and Art Jewelry, so when I decided to try my hand at stamped metal jewellery her new book was the obvious choice.

With sections covering materials and tools, basic metalsmithing techniques and getting started stamping, this book is a very good starting point. A 33 minute instructional DVD is included with the book showing the techniques covered. Learning how to rivet is now my new favourite technique!

There are 19 projects in the book with instructions on how to make a variety of stamped pendants, rings and bracelets, including designs by jewellery makers such as Janice Berkebile, Tracy Stanley and Connie Fox.

The book also includes a resources section covering basic wirework techniques and a supplies source.

Whether you just want to produce beautiful personalised stamped jewellery or fancy letting your imagination run wild with your own unique designs, I would recommend "Stamped Metal Jewelry" as a starting point for learning this cool jewellery-making technique.

Stamp photo courtesy of Beaducation.com

Coming Soon To Artfire - "Collections"

2010-08-03T20:10:00.000+01:00

Artfire are currently testing their newest "gadget" called "Collections".
Similar to Etsy's Treasuries, Artfire's Collections will allow users to browse the site and select items that catch their eye by clicking a button on the item page which will then be added to their Collections page. You then give it a title and set it free!

Easier than doing an Etsy Treasury as you won't have to look for the item url AND the shop owners whose items are picked will automatically receive an email letting them know! Other people can see, rate and leave comments for each Collection and they will be used on the Artfire frontpage. Fab!

It's still in the testing phase at the moment with the Artfire "mavens" doing the testing to find any last minute hiccups but will be unleased on the rest of us very soon. How fab!

I was lucky enough to have three of my items chosen for three collections so far. Thank you StitchnTyme, ShinyAdornments and Drunkenmimes.......................

Sunday Showcase! hello gorgeous On Folksy

2010-08-01T15:34:00.001+01:00

Sue Hodgkinson is the founder and designer of Folksy shop hello gorgeous

A change in personal circumstances in 2007 caused Sue to have a "light bulb" moment and start making jewellery. She takes immense pleasure in creating individual pieces and devotes her time and skill to making sure only the finest quality jewellery is presented.

All Sue's designs are made with the finest components available - Sterling Silver, Bali and Thai Silver findings and beads, semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals, lampwork and glass beads and are sourced from amazing artists all over the world. Each piece is individually hand-crafted and promises to give as much pleasure to the wearer as it has given to Sue as she created it.

I asked Sue a few questions...........

Why do you make jewellery? Why not knitting or taxidermy?
I make jewellery for a number of reasons... it calms me - having to concentrate clears my mind of all the “fluff” that’s milling around in my brain! I also like to see something “come together” and the excitement of knowing someone will be wearing a piece I created and enjoy it just as much!

Who would you most like to make a piece of jewellery for?

I am happy just creating but, if the opportunity came knocking, I would love to create for Marilyn Monroe, Eva Longoria-Parker, David Beckham {not sure what I would create for him, but just to have him stand in front of me would be AS exciting!} Creating a piece or a range of jewellery for a family wedding would be simply awesome too!

What's your favourite gemstone?

There are SOO many gemstones out there which I am still learning about but I LOVE the Agates because of the variations in colours in any one stone and Jade, oh! and Jasper... and turquoise....and quartz.....and onyx.....and ooooo too many to pick just one!!!

Do you have any online bead shops you particularly like and would recommend?

YESS!! Semi Precious Beads (http://www.semipreciousbeads.co.uk/) is SUCH a fab place to visit, they have a HUGE range of gemstones to choose from at VERY reasonable prices and they are based in Devon!

I also love Palmer Metals (http://www.palmermetals.co.uk/) I have been so impressed by the quality of silver beads/findings ordered and also the speediness of delivery, a BIG thumbs up!

What's the best part of making your own jewellery?

Having a group of beads turn into something you can drape around your neck or on your wrist and show off to the world, secretly knowing that YOU created them when people are looking!

Now for the silly question........

Of the three people listed below which one would you -
a. Marry
b. Run off to Bognor for a dirty weekend with
c. Push off a cliff ....................

1.Wayne Rooney
2.Gordon Brown
3.Norris from Coronation Street

If this was my only choice then I would quite happily push them ALL off a cliff and enjoy my own company!! ;o)

☼ I think Sue chickened out with that question......if it was me the first two would go over the cliff and as for Norris, well, a nice pub lunch would be as far as it went!

Visit Sue at :
hello gorgeous design Blog
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter

Etsy Treasury - Copper Is Cool!

2010-07-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

Two more pairs of earrings from my Etsy shop were included in Etsy Treasuries this week!

This one was chosen by Robin of Etsy shop MadAboutYarn. She loves copper and chose a few of her favourites. I really like the Rock Star bangle and the " .... loved" pendant. Thank you Robin!
I really must do one of my own ........

Simply Gorgeous Enamelled Jewellery

2010-07-20T13:40:00.000+01:00

Browsing Etsy recently my eye was caught by a very colourful pair of earrings. On further investigation I discovered they were enamelled copper made by Michelle of Etsy shop Teka & Zoe, named after Michelle's two Chihuahuas.

Michelle is based in Gardnerville, Nevada and loves to fuse, pound, stamp, etch and wrap metal and now also enamel it too.......Enamelling is the process of fusing glass to metal then kiln firing it to achieve the beautiful results you can see here.

Michelle describes her jewellery as colourful, modern, organic and casual. There's one word she forgot......... G•O•R•G•E•O•U•S!!

Sterling Silver Headpin Destash!

2010-07-16T10:36:00.003+01:00

Just a quickie to say I've just listed some 2" Sterling Silver 24g headpins in my Folksy Shop for a bargain 30p a pair.

I had a mini destash yesterday and found them looking all sad and rejected in my bead box. I tend to use thicker gauge wire these days so I've decided to offer them up to good beading homes.

Available in 10 and 20 pairs so ideal if you just need a few or fancy a change from silver plated headpins and at 30p a pair they are cheaper than lots of places I checked out on the internet!

~♥Available here ♥~

Another Etsy Treasury!

2010-07-11T10:39:00.000+01:00

Checking my emails this morning I saw I had a message from Etsy seller Pam of P W Originals telling me she has picked a pair of my earrings for her Treasury "Im Feelin' In The Pink" ~ a lovely pick of pinks and greys. What a nice way to start a Sunday!

Check out Pam's shop for her very pretty handmade purses, totes and cushion covers.