Cinnamon Jewellery

I thought I'd put my newly-learned bezel setting skills to the test and start making earrings with stones. It's a technique I've been itching to learn for a long time but I'll be honest the prospect of making a "proper" start on bezel set jewellery did daunt me a bit. There's so much that can go wrong - melting your bezel, the cab not fitting, getting to the point where everything is finished and you "just" have to set the stone and then you go and scratch it beyond repair with your bezel pusher......I've done that once (so far!) I have a bezel roller and a bezel pusher and a burnisher and all three of them have the potential to ruin all your hard work in a second by scratching the stone! I've now started using a peg I took apart and filed and sanded to round the top edge to set my stones. They're not the most ergonomic design being a bit short to hold but they work fine and don't scratch metal or stones if I slip. I...

Oh my goodness I was so excited when we finally got round to bezel setting at my Tuesday night silver jewellery course! It was really the reason I enrolled on the course and a technique I've been wanting to learn ever since I started making more metalwork style jewellery. I even bought some copper bezel wire from an Etsy seller several months ago with the idea of teaching myself. I thought about it then chickened out, reasoning that it looked quite technical and precise and I'd probably fair better being shown by a teacher! First we had to choose a stone. Alison the jewellery teacher was going to order them from Kernowcraft so after deliberating for a long time at home (I'm good at that) I choose a pretty 10mm round prehnite cab. When she came to order it at the class they were out of stock (course they were!) so I chose kyanite instead as the blue colour looked lovely. I made the ring band with D shaped silver wire then came the fiddliness that is measuring ...

I decided to deactivate my Facebook account today. I'm hearing a few sharp intakes of breath as some people read this I'm sure. I didn't decide to do it due to any particular problems I've had on Facebook, more cancelled due to lack of interest (on my part). I opened the account when I opened my Folksy shop as that was what people in the know said you should do when you start a business. And then of course I felt very inadequate because I didn't have hundreds of likers so I joined in the link love thing that was going on at the time and gained quite a few. Great, all these people interested in my jewellery..........except the majority weren't the slightest bit interested in what I make and just did the link love thing in order to gain more likers themselves. Not to be unfair, there were quite a few people who did genuinely like my jewellery and who would comment and like stuff I posted and some have become internet friends and customers which is great. B...

It's funny how stumbling across something as you wander around the internet sets you off on a new project. I was looking for storage for my bedroom and found a website called Ikea Hackers where people have altered items bought from Ikea. There was a post on how someone had pimped their Ikea Moppe mini drawers to resemble those library card storage drawers that are so expensive to buy now. I found the blog post by Kristine of The Painted Hive which explains how she did it and I was inspired to have a go myself! First I had to buy the drawers. There isn't an Ikea near Eastbourne, well there are stores at Lakeside and Croydon but they're a bit far unless you want to make a day of it. Blessed will be the day they open an Ikea in Brighton! I'm afraid I am an Ikea virgin and have yet to set foot in a store with all their things of loveliness I can only drool over from afar. So I bought the drawers on Amazon instead....... I sanded the unit to smooth the untrea...