Cinnamon Jewellery

The mood struck me (and it doesn't happen very often) to have a bit of a sort out of some findings I've had for years and don't use. So I dug some pretty silver metal filigree beadcaps, connectors, Bali Silver spacers and sterling silver toggle fasteners out and photographed them while we still have this glorious sunny weather. Very satisfying! I've just finished listing them in my eBay shop Apologies for the blurry photos - Blogger strikes again!

Just before Christmas I decided to have a go at making some jewellery with copper clay. This medium fascinates me - I love the scope it gives you in shape, texture and design I'd read that it was possible to fire copper clay with a torch which was great as I don't have a kiln. The distinct lack of definitive f iring times for copper clay using a torch should have made me think about it a bit more! The brand I used recommended at least 7 minutes for small pieces...................... I tried and tried with my propane/butane mix torch to sucessfully fire my small and not very thick pieces to a fully sintered stage - where the clay has changed structure and become 100% copper. Up to 15 minutes plus on most pieces and did it work? No it did not! Being used to working with sheet copper and feeling slightly suspicious of the look of the fired and cleaned up clay pieces, I took my pliers to them and managed to snap every single piece quite easily, revealing a very thin layer of ...