Cinnamon Jewellery

Here's the first batch of enamelled discs I made a couple of days ago that are slowly being listed on Etsy . Doing 36 at once was fun - I normally do about 4 - 6 at a time when I make enamelled stuff for jewellery but once the counter enamelling was done the best part of adding the colour went well and was quite relaxing to be honest, very therapeutic! Here's a few photos of some of the discs....... Having made the very important decision as to which colours to go for ( I have quite a few!) I had to decide on size and quantity. I went for packs of 6 small 11mm discs with one hanging hole and packs of 4 discs slightly bigger at 13mm with two holes for now. The 6 disc packs feature 3 colours from the same colour group and the 4 packs 2 colours. The colours aren't set in stone and can be mixed.  The backs of the discs are counter enamelled in black which stabilizes the enamel and copper and prevents cracking and each disc is enamelled with two layers of ...

I've been pretty busy recently with findings orders and copper bangle orders - some of them from my website which is slowly picking up buyers thank goodness (patience is a virtue!) So now they're done and I've got a bit of time I thought I'd better get some earrings made for my shops. I decided I like the spotty look you get with nail varnish and etching so I went for some spotty silver and copper studs first .......... Then I used some more etched copper I've had waiting in the wings until it found it's true vocation in life..... in other words a couple of pairs of simple, quick to make earrings! Then I felt all hoop inspired and made a few pairs of silver hoops with added lampwork and ceramic flower beads. I do love a hoop :D So now that I have a few new items to add to my shops and website over the next week I can relax and get on with the next thing that's running round my brain which is........

I made my first copper bangle at college night class a few months ago as I had some thick gauge copper wire and I wasn't sure what to make so thought a bangle sounded like a good idea. Here's my first attempt... I soldered the coils on at home but before I did that I made a nice lot of noise at college hammering the bangle to give it some texture. Hammering's fine, it's just the noise it makes when you hammer a bangle on a metal bracelet mandrel! I didn't make anymore at college as I thought the hammering noise was probably annoying the others in the class...... I did carry on making more at home though once I'd got my own bracelet mandrel. The ringing noise created by the hammering on the mandrel really grates, drives my cats a bit mad and I'm still waiting for my neighbour to ask if I'm running some sort of foundry or something. I tried putting a sock over the mandrel with the bangle on top of the sock but it didn't make any difference an...

Do you read Beads and Beyond jewellery magazine? If so turn to page 55 in the September issue to see a little spotlight feature mentioning this blog as their Blog Of The Month! I was contacted by Jo of Beads and Beyond a couple of weeks ago and asked if they could feature my blog. Of course I said yes :D Another mention, this time in a Glossi  online magazine publication created by Leah Curtis owner of Beady Eyed Bunny . Leah's online magazine called The Beading Glass features her own work, step-by-step jewellery tutorials and jewellery and findings by other artists. She kindly featured my etched copper flower charms  in the magazine this time. You can take a look at Leah's magazine by clicking the link below... Click to view The Beading Glass on GLOSSI.COM I don't know about you but the prospect of publishing my own mini magazine is something that makes me feel quite excited. I've already signed up to Glossi! I know I'd love ...

A few weeks ago I received an email from Nathalie who works at Kernowcraft . She said she'd been doing "geeky" things and had noticed several views to the Kernowcraft website that she traced to my own  Cinnamon Jewellery   website. I do have a page on my site where I've listed several of the places I buy my supplies from with links and did mention that I buy cabochons from Kernowcraft. As a thank you Nathalie very kindly suggested that they include one of my pieces of jewellery on their Gallery of Jewellery Ideas page. I was thrilled to be honest and thought it was really nice of her! I chose my silver hollow form pendant with turquoise cabochon and I noticed today it's there in all it's glory! You can find the Gallery by clicking the "Jewellery Making Tips" link in the top navigation bar on the Kernowcraft website........ I took a screen shot of it too (can you tell I'm excited?!)

I know how to torch enamel and I know how to bezel set cabochons so I thought it was about time I put the two together! I've been thinking about it for "ages" and last week I actually got round to doing it. I started small (of course I did, I like to make life difficult!) and made four 9mm cabs from copper. The enamelling was a bit tricky and Klyre Fire was called for so the enamel powder stuck to the front of the cab and didn't slide off. I discovered it was better to gently (very gently!) dry the klyre fire using my torch than let it air dry as it is very easy to knock the cab once the klyre fire is dry and watch the enamel slide right off. I got there in the end and produced two dusky pink and two sea green enamel cabs. I was then slightly paranoid that they would crack but as they are formed (domed) and counter enamelled for added stability they were fine. I had to be a bit more careful than normal when it came to handling them and when I set them as t...