Cinnamon Jewellery

I was very thrilled to see on Wednesday that I was "the chosen one" on Lori Anderson's blog giveaway! The book Hot Connections Jewelry by Jennifer Chin will soon be winging it's way across the ocean to my front door. I can't wait. Thanks Lori!

I had a message from a customer via my Etsy shop  a couple of days ago asking if I could make a necklace to go with the lavender enamel earrings I listed recently. After several messages to and fro we agreed on a design so I made a start yesterday enamelling several different sized discs. All went smoothly I'm pleased to say! The design is  for three of the discs to hang from a sterling spiral pendant link connected to a disc either side and the discs connected to a chain.  I'm going to crack on with it today and as soon as I've oxidised the silver and polished it up I'll post a photo of the finished necklace :D

The latest edition of Bead magazine came out last Wednesday (20 July) and I'm really pleased to say I have two projects in this issue! One is a spiral copper wirework bracelet with turquoise jasper you can find on page 30 And the other is a project on oxidising copper and sterling silver called "Playing With Patina" on page 68 which I don't have a photo for! It's the third time I've had a project in the magazine and I still get excited when I see it in print :D

Mastered cold connections and wanting to go the way of the torch? Pop over to Lori Anderson's blog Pretty Things  for a great review on Hot Connections Jewelry by Jennifer Chin. Plus there's a chance you could win yourself a copy of the book!  Leave a comment and increase your chances of being the winner by blogging and facebooking it! The winner will be drawn on Tuesday 26 July

I'm very pleased to say a selection of my jewellery is now being sold on the lovely Suzanne Porter's website Suzanne Porter Boutique . Suzanne lives in Darlington and after leaving school took a   two year course in Art & Design at Darlington College of Technology where she found her love of designing and making clothing. In 2008 Suzanne graduated from Teesside University/Cleveland College of Art & Design, with a BA (Hons) Fashion Enterprise. Suzanne launched her clothing label in April 2009 and has been growing strong ever since. She recently started her website where she sells clothing which fuses classic style with modern touches. Her website also stocks a range of accessories including handmade jewellery, hats, fascinators and bags.   Cinnamon Jewellery  on Suzanne Porter Boutique Printed Rose Collar Dress

As every enamellist no doubt knows enamelling can be very unpredictable! You never know for certain that something is going to turn out the way you hope. Most times it does but sometimes....well..... it doesn't. I've not had time to do any enamelling lately so last night thought I'd make a start on a couple of pairs of simple flat disc earrings - one opaque and one transparent with opaque on top. The counter enamelling (enamelling the back) went fine and after pickling and cleaning the pair to be enamelled with transparent enamel I made a start on the first layer this morning. No problem there .........until I picked up the first disc from the trivet and put it down to cool and it didn't lie flat! Looking at the back I could see this huge carbuncle had developed when I was firing the front - something that's never happened before. You sometimes get the odd bump or pit appear due to contamination but when it's on the back it doesn't matter too much.......

I've definitely gone a bit hoop crazy in the last few days! I bought some copper washers from eBay a while ago and fancied doing a bit of wirewrapping with them. "Bit" being the operative word - I love the elaborate swirly wirewrapped jewellery people make but I'm not sure I could manage it myself without a lot of swearing :D Rummaging through my bead boxes in search of beads to go with the copper hoops I remembered these strangely shaped pearls I've had for years.....flat on the bottom and rounded on the top, all in pretty pale icy colours - pink, green, gold, blue, peach and a funny peacock greeny-grey which are perfect for wrapping to the copper washers. So I was off! I fancied adding some sterling wire to these for contrast and actually remembered to oxidise it first - I always have trouble getting sterling to oxidise well when it's in contact with copper. Then I thought I'd make some in sterling silver so I cut some...