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Showing posts from August, 2016

New Rolling Mill Texture Cards

Several months ago I swore off using texture cards with my rolling mill after some pretty unimpressive results with copper and silver sheet. The last lot of patterns I bought were from a different supplier than usual and left me feeling that using the cards wasn't a good idea anymore - the imprinted patterns were so faint.  Then a friend told me that Tracey from Rolling Mill Resource  on Etsy had a GoFundMe page as she needed to raise funds for a new laser cutter machine. In return for pledging a certain amount of money she was offering double the value in texture cards - so $50 would buy you $100 worth of texture cards. Ooh, very tempting, especially as she was promising lots of fab new designs. So I gave in to temptation and paid $50 {about £35} then waited a few weeks until Tracey had her new laser cutter and had listed her new designs. I then spend ages choosing my designs.  And here they are...  Aren't they lovely? I chose a lot of the smaller complete sha

Making A Synclastic Bangle

I wrote a blog post a while ago where I practised making a mini synclastic bangle  using a pair of synclastic pliers and dapping punches. I thought it was about time I made a proper sized bangle! If you're wondering what on earth a "synclastic" shape is it's where the surface curves towards the same side in all directions or in the case of my bangle rather than having a flat profile when viewed in cross-section it's domed. Or if you still don't understand it...just look at the photo :D I started with a strip of copper that I'd added a stripe pattern to... Once it was soldered and the join tidied up I rounded it on the bracelet mandrel and sanded both sides to get them flat. I cut the strips of copper sheet myself so they are inevitably a bit wonky to start with but it's easy to sort out once the bangle is soldered. I decided to make a medium size bangle and cut the length longer than normal to allow for the decrease in the ins

New Copper Bangles With Silver Wrap Bead

I had a break recently and took the opportunity, once I'd caught up with lots of other things, to make some new stuff. I wrote a post a while ago about making metal wrap beads  in copper with the thought of doing a sterling silver version and that's one of the things I did in my break. I had the idea of having a set of three bangles with three beads on just one of the bangles and the other two plain with a hammered finish. Then I decided it would look a bit more contemporary {to me anyway!} to have just one bead on each of the three bangles. I started with some silver sheet I put through the rolling mill until it was about 0.25mm thick. I used the wrap bead template I made myself...... ...and cut three lengths for the beads. I used the smaller size this time. I made three bangles using 3.25mm copper wire that I textured with a hammer. I then flowed some solder onto the the silver sheet on the side that would later become the inside of the bead. Then I

I Won Something! An Ultrasonic Cleaner.

Back in May this year the jewellery supply website Cooksongold  ran a month long "lucky dip" competition where they had a prize draw for each day of the month. I entered quite a few of them as there were some lovely prizes on offer.  I had bookmarked the competition results page so I could check if I'd won anything when they listed the winners on June 16 but completely forgot about it until the beginning of July. So I checked and was thrilled to see I'd won an Ultrasonic cleaner ! Then I noticed I'd missed the claim date by two days and read that if prizes weren't claimed they would do a re-draw and send it to someone else. Oh noooo! I emailed Cooksongold anyway and they said it wasn't too late and that they'd get it in the post in the next few day. Yay! So it arrived and I unpacked it... The contents of the box can be seen on the side of the box in the top photo - the cleaner, two plastic trays, a plastic stand for two CDs plus a p