Cinnamon Jewellery

Around the World Blog Hop The idea behind the blog hop is for creative bloggers to write a post based around a couple of set questions. Their answers offer an insight into their creative thoughts and processes. The blog 'baton' is then passed on to a fellow artisan and so the trip around the globe gathers pace. I was very kindly asked by Heather of  Little Ram Studio  on Etsy to continue the hop. Heather and her husband Gary create delightful lino cut prints of British wildlife, dogs and beautiful landscapes. You can read Heather and Gary's Hop post on their lovely blog Studio Tales . What am I working on? I've recently become very interested in using resin in jewellery after watching several videos by Jennie Milner  , a US jewellery maker. Her work combines metalwork, art and resin and the result is colourful and fun jewellery. I'm very drawn to colour in jewellery so once I found out you can colour epoxy resin whatever colour you l...

All of the enamel studs I had on my website have found a new home in Australia so it was lucky I'd made a start on a few new pairs a couple of weeks ago to replace them. I mixed up some new opaque colour blends which I've christened rather grandly Apple, Denim and Amethyst. I've only just come up with the name for the purple mix - it was formerly just called "the purple one". Sounds a bit like Prince.☺ I also made some copper leaf studs using a leaf stamp design that I etched onto the copper then cut round and soldered sterling silver posts to the back. Very simple but cute. These and the enamel studs are soon to be appearing in my Etsy shop and website . As it's my birthday next Friday (17th) I decided to treat myself to some new rings. I used 2mm square sterling wire for the first time ever and I really like the look of it. I'm now thinking of making some silver bangles using the square wire........ I used a lovely labrad...

To continue my current tiny obsession with torch enamelling and decorative things you can do with your enamelled jewellery, I thought I'd experiment with sgraffito. The word sgraffito means "scratched" in Italian and according the the Encyclopedia Britannica is "a technique used in painting, pottery and glass which consists of putting down a preliminary surface, covering it with another, then scratching the superficial layer in such a way that the pattern or shape that emerges is of the lower colour" A friend sent me a copy of a bracelet tutorial {thanks Debs!} by  Angela Gerhard  who creates the most beautiful enamel jewellery decorated using sgraffito. I'd love to post a couple of photos of it here but I remember doing an enamel treasury on Etsy a while ago and seeing a little note on her shop page about her photos being copyrighted so I will respect that - although if you Google her you'll see lots of her jewellery photos everywhere! I ...

Being a jewellery maker I love watching jewellery making videos, and especially learning new tricks that I can use on a technique I'm familiar with. A video I watched recently was  Further Explorations In Jewelry Enameling: Kiln Fired Liquid Enamel And Sgraffito With Susan Lenart Kazmer . I don't enamel with a kiln but the techniques covered are still relevent for torch enamelling. It's a great video full of new ideas and Susan Lenart Kazmer is a likeable teacher. One of the techniques covered was giving enamel a matt finish using Etchall etching cream. I've seen how lovely enamel jewellery looks with a matt finish and have always been intrigued with it and have thought of trying it myself in the past. The video showed how easy it was to achieve so I went on the cyber hunt for Etchall cream. I found some on ebay for £34 and another etching cream called Armour Etch. I really wanted the Etchall brand so started Googling it until I found some at a much more sensibl...

I've been playing again! I posted recently about trying some of the enamel decals I ordered a while ago and being a bit unimpressed with the results. Well I tried again and ordered some more decals, this time just in simple black designs rather than designs in colours. Previously the coloured decals I tried were a bit of a disappointment due to the colours losing their brightness during printing and fading after firing. I uploaded my designs in PDF format to  Fotoceramic  and they then worked out the cost and sent me a PayPal invoice. I received the decals two days after payment which is pretty good service. Here's one sheet of the decals I ordered... I ordered 6 of each design so I now have nearly 450 decals {Carried away? Me? Never!}  The total cost was £35.05 so they work out at about 8p each. You can create your own designs, use text {which is a great idea} or purchase digital graphics that allow commercial use. So after counter enamelling and fir...

I do seem to have a bit of a poppy thing going on at the moment. My poppy bangle sets are proving to be quite popular - I had several made to order sets and singles to make  last week and I sold the silver poppy studs I made too!  So to carry on the theme because I like the shape I made a couple of pairs of simple enamel poppy earrings too. They are pretty easy to make once the enamelling is done. The balled sterling wire is threaded through the hole in the centre of the poppy then bent at a right angle before being bent up over itself to form a loop at the back that stops the  enamelled poppies from flopping forward when the earrings are worn. The wire is then curved into an ear hook and finished. I made the poppies in minty green and mauve and another concave disc pair in bitter green... I was thrilled to see my new order of decals arrive today. The designs look really sweet and a bit clearer than the last lot so I'm hoping to have another go w...