Cinnamon Jewellery

Next Tuesday night (25th Sept) I will be starting a 25 week silver jewellery class! I found out about it last year a couple of months too late but this year miraculously remembered about it in time and enrolled a few weeks ago. It was quite expensive but covers all those lovely techniques I either can't teach myself/am too scared to try myself or just really need an expert to show how to do it properly. I know it definitely covers etching (yay!), soldering, stone setting, enamelling and ring making. Some of it I will know how to do but a lot I won't so I'm really looking forward to getting started. Slightly nervous too but once I've got over the "which building is it/who are all these strange people/where's the toilet" stage I know I'll be fine :D  Finally got round to photographing a few pairs of earrings today - I was in one of those let's get organised and do the things that actually need doing and not spend all day experimenting with ...

I've been playing with my Bigshot and the Vintaj design folders again. I've decided to rechristen them "design" folders rather than etch folders as the end result looks nothing like an etched piece of metal! I used 20g copper sheet annealed first to soften it then rolled through the Bigshot. It goes through fine but my cutting pads are suffering a bit and now are both bowed in the centre. Completely useless if I want to use my envelope dies so I guess I'll have to buy some replacement pads soon...... I made a simple pair in sterling silver too. I cut the shape using Xuron metal shears - very impressed with those and they save having to get my saw out and the ridiculous small plastic stool I have to sit on for piercing as the table is too low to use a normal chair! I also did a bit of simple soldering and made these bead and hoop style silver earrings. Can you tell how much I love these czech glass rondelle beads?!

I saw these cute machine-made (I'm not proud!) antique bronze tone heart charms and thought the design would lend itself to a bit of titivating with patina ink so that's what I did. They are a nickel-free base metal with an antique bronze tone coating, hollow on the back with a hanging loop top centre. Very sweet and would look great as a simple pair of earrings or added to a necklace or bracelet design. Sold in packs of four in my Etsy and Folksy shops!

You know when you look at your shop frontpage and think there's something missing? Well my Folksy shop has been looking, well, a bit colourless recently. My item photos are quite colourful but my banner was a bit dull and needed some work. I remembered a pair of "traffic light" earrings I photographed last week made with colourful czech glass beads I bought from Lima Beads . I've been after the gorgeous pistachio green colour for a while and did see some on Etsy but thought I'd check at Lima Beads and they had the exact colour plus some lovely mustard yellow and an orangy-red in the czech glass so I bought them straight away! I loved the three colours together so made a pair of earrings with some copper discs and used one of the photos to whip up a new banner. Much more colourful! I took a lot of photos last week because we had sunshine in the UK - yes summer made a brief appearance again and now I just have to edit them all!

A new variation on my copper ball headpins - coloured balls! The headpins are made with a torch, pickled, trimmed, oxidised and cleaned up, tumbled and then the fun begins. I painted the ball ends with different coloured patina inks and sealed with a coat of varnish  Multicoloured - like mini balloons on sticks! I found a sponge pan scrubber very useful for sticking the headpins into to let them dry. I think they're really sweet and a great way to add a bit of colour. You could twirl them to make dangling tendrils or make a wrapped loop at the top to make little dangles or just use them as good old headpins! Available in turquoise, green, lilac, pink and mixed colours and currently being added to my Folksy and Etsy shops  .................now i just need to make some for myself :D

Since buying a Sizzix Bigshot recently for embossing metal I've suddenly discovered the world of dies. Dies are wonderful things you can use with your Bigshot, Cuttlebug, etc to cut out all sorts of lovely things including envelope templates. I also discovered the world of scrapbook paper. I love patterned paper and most things stationery. I used to love going into WH Smiths each year to buy my new pencil case, pens, rubbers and pencils for the start of the new school year (that was quite a long time ago!) and I still like buying stationery stuff even if I don't really need it! I thought I'd use my Bigshot to make some mini envelopes so after trawling the internet for a suitable die and picking up a scrapbooking pad from The Range I ventured into papercraft. I've got to say it was a nice change from metal and beads and really therapeutic to do. The folding and glueing is my favourite part and I loved seeing these cute little envelopes take shape. It then struck...

 I posted recently about practising using my Bigshot to emboss metal and now I have some finished earrings to show! The copper "pansy" earrings above started life as copper discs that I used a Vintaj Deco Etch folder on to create the pretty flower and petal effect. The end result with the etch folders gives a more stamped look than etched to be honest but I do like it and have bought a couple more of the etch folders since. The petals were created using a file then the flowers were sanded and domed and the bead and earwires added. I could've used my saw to cut out the petal shapes but decided to sit in the sun and file industriously for 15 minutes instead! Purple lampwork earrings with the same flower design Serpentine beads with copper teardrop earrings Embossed Copper Disc earrings That flower design again this time in stud form!                  ...