Cinnamon Jewellery

It's that time of year again and I've been MIA for the last couple of weeks as far as writing blog posts is concerned. After a slow start {and a little bit of complaining to friends on my part} my Etsy shop and website got really busy with lots of bangle orders and quite a lot of earring and findings sales too. It's great but I'm always a bit relieved when it's over and I can put my shops on holiday. I already have lots of ideas for new jewellery for next year and despite enjoying the break I'm already  feeling some metalwork withdrawal symptoms so I'm not sure how long I will be able to stay out of my jewellery shed! Wishing everyone who reads and comments on my blog a very Merry Christmas!  The fact that you are reading my jewellery ramblings is very much appreciated :D Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

So just why is there a bottle of Tabasco on my jewellery bench? Am I a secret Bloody Mary drinker having a crafty snifter everytime I hear a Pearl Jam song on the radio? Unlikely as I hate tomato juice. I do like Pearl Jam though {and vodka}. No it's there because I needed it for a recent custom order. The buyer contacted me asking for something in copper with a heart to fit over a bottle of Tabasco. It was for his {copper I presume} anniversary and his wife likes Tabasco so he wanted to combine the two. I thought that was sweet. I originally had an idea for a decanter style label in copper with a copper chain attached so it could be hung on the bottle but then the buyer sent me this drawing.... .....which made life a lot easier! He did also offer to send me a catering size bottle of Tabasco to work with - his wife really likes Tabasco - but I told him I could work ok with the normal size and set to work. First I cut out a heart shape from textured copper sheet. ...

I've had some time recently to catch up with all those little jobs that tend to be pushed aside when I get busy. One of them is reviewing what jewellery I have for sale and making new stock to fill any gaps. Well one of the gaps I noticed was copper studs - they are fairly low in price so tend to sell quite quickly and I hadn't had much chance to make any new pairs. So I made some more! Studs are a good way of using up small pieces of metal sheet and I have a lot of those, especially etched and embossed copper sheet. I went for a variety of shapes - square, triangle, flower and teardrops. I do love a heart stud and they do sell well but my plastic heart shape template is a bit weird. The point at the top of the heart shape always comes out slightly off centre when I use a felt tip or scribe to mark the heart shape on the metal. I press that part down to stop the pointy bit moving but it nearly always comes out a bit off and can mean a lot of filing to get the two hear...

In my last post  I mentioned that I'd been busy finishing a batch of sterling silver bangles so I could get them sent off to the London Assay Office for hallmarking. Well I did just that and got them back last week. After finishing them {they always come back a bit out of shape and with a couple of scratches when they've been hallmarked} and oxidizing the bangles that needed it, I finally got round to getting them photographed.  I made a few new {to me} designs including this hammered "bark" texture set using flattened 6mm and 4mm round wire. I got busy with the masking tape for this bangle... Creating this texture involved cutting very thin strips of masking tape then sticking them to the flattened silver before rolling it through the rolling mill. The textured areas are where the tape was and the raised smooth sections were the bits without any tape. I like this texture!  I was going to try to achieve the look by wrapping 20g/0.8mm wire aro...

My recent break a few weeks ago gave me the chance to make a few new pairs of earrings and a couple of new bangle designs. I didn't go for anything too tricky with the earrings - I really wanted to use up some of my etched and patterned silver and copper and some of the {way too} many cabs I have at the moment! I also made a couple of pairs of enamel earrings. The above pair are made from copper sheet etched with a nail varnish resist to create a drop pattern. I used some half-drilled pearls that I sanded on the bottom to make them level then set them in fine silver bezels. I also made some copper and carnelian earrings using some more etched copper. I made both pairs with a stud fitting just for a change too.  I also experimented with a wooden background as I fancied a change from the usual slate I use but I'm not sure about it and will probably go back to slate next time. I do like the weathered wood look for a background but finding ...

One of the joys I've found with making bangles is the infinite variety of designs you can make. I use a lot of copper for bangles and up to fairly recently most of my designs have been made from round wire that I've hammered. It wasn't until I had a custom request for a "bark" texture bangle in sterling {think flattened shape with hammered line marks} that I made my first flat bangle. Having a flat surface gives you more options for design so I decided to try some etched patterns on the flat style bangles. I started with lengths of the round copper wire which I annealed to soften it then rolled it through the rolling mill until it was flat enough for what I wanted to do. I then annealed the flattened wire and straightened it on a steel block before cutting it to size and filing the ends flat The bangles ready for soldering. After soldering the bangles, cleaning up and shaping them the next step was to apply the resis...