Cinnamon Jewellery

I went through a hoop phase a couple of weeks ago when I just had to make some hoop inspired jewellery. I quite often get these urges - sometimes it's for enamel, sometimes it's etching, it just depends. I'm currently in the grip of a hollow form phase but I'm having to wait for supplies before I can go any further which is a bit annoying but does serve to make me think about it a bit more before diving in! I wanted to continue my bezel setting practice so I added cabochons to the hoop earrings and pendants. I stamped a circle design onto the hoops and added a jump ring at the top then pierced out the part of the hoop in the centre of the jump ring to make a cute hanging hole. The glass cabochons are from a Turkish shop on Etsy and are lovely!  They remind me of jelly sweets. Tip! Put a piece of aluminium foil behind the glass cabs before setting them. The foil gives them a luminous glow in the light and avoids the backs of the bezels darkening an...

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...