tumbled tigers eye ring

This ring is made out of a stone I bought on impulse after my first jewellery course.

After I bought it the uneveness of tumbled stones seemed a little daunting to attempt setting. So they have been sitting in a peanutbutter bottle above my workbench for over a year.

Finally I was brave enough to try something. After reshaping it a little.

find the original stone

I have also textured my resin and sterling heart earrings

copper cuff

I confess I bought a book that is not jewellery related but it is a Silversmithing book.

What can I say christmas is coming and it has some awesome ideas in it

This is a cuff that I made step by step out of the book.

A great day out

Penny and I had an awesome day on Friday.
Penny had run out of silver. To order sterling silver plate or wire you need to wait 2 - 3 weeks for your order to be made up. Being an artist Penny couldn't wait that long. - So after phoning around she managed to contact the refinery who put her on to a local jeweller - Terry - who was willing to let us use his rolling mill to make our own plate.
I was not going to let Penny have all the fun so I went along for the ride.
First we went to the refinery to pick up the silver. Fine silver granules are so pretty. Sterling silver granules arent that pretty. We were thrown a little when the woman behind the counter asked us if we wanted sterling silver with indium or just normal sterling silver. Apparently Sterling silver with indium in it doesnt tarnish as quickly as sterling with copper.
There weren't enough sterling granules for both of us (yes I wanted some too) so I bought fine silver granules and Penny bought half sterling and half fine silver. We bought copper to add to our fine silver and then on to our next stop. Where we learnt that Terry doesnt add copper to his silver because of the fire scale - he adds brass instead. So we only turned Pennys sterling granules into plate.
I was surprised at how quick the process took I was prepared for a couple of hours work.
All in all the whole day was so educational and I still have my pretty sterling silver granules which I am saving for the day I get my own rolling mill. Because now that I have silver granules I need a rolling mill even more then ever.

pierced pendant with resin background

One of the things I need to work on is my piercing.

This was my piercing practice piece.

I drew the motive on my pc. glued it onto my copper sheet and drilled and sawed it out.

Then I made metal frame out of copper and soldered a small bit of tube to the frame. I wrapped clear packaging tape around a piece of glass and stuck the pierced piece to the back of the glass. I then placed my frame on the top of the piece of glass on the tape above the pierced piece so that I could see where to place the three little tubes.The three little tubes needed to be exactly above the 3 holes I had driilled as I intended to rivet my pierced piece to my resin piece.

I then filled my frame with resin, let it set, cleaned it all up

and riveted the piece together then cleaned it all up again and oxidised it.

That is cutting a very long story short.

This piece was a real challenge for me to complete as I came across obstacles in nearly every step.

a square clasp

Finally I have made a clasp for Steves bracelet.

I wanted something masculine and I didnt want to buy a clasp because I always think a bought clasp looks wrong after all the effort that goes into making a chain.

So I made this one out of sterling silver tube.

another teachers present

I think these are made with carnelian stones -the stones have bands of colour so they could be agate. I never really know.

They are made with sterling silver the with a border of twisted copper and silver wire.

After twisting the wire I pulled it through my square draw plate.

blue earrings

Here are a pair of earrings I made for teachers presents.

I think they look better in reality.

I was told that the stones were chalcedony so I came home to look it up only to realise that chalcedony is such a broad term so I am really none the wiser. I wish the information was more specific.

sterling and resin hearts

These still need a little cleanup.

and I may teture the flat part. but I love the way they turn when you wear them and show you all different "faces" to them.

30 november 2007

I decided to texture the face of these I am very happy with the way they turned out.

quick pearl earrings

I made these the morning before a show.

They were meant to be quick but nothing is ever "quick" with me.

I made the head pins myself. I forgot to check that the wire went through the pearls before I made the headpins. so they never fitted. So I then had to draw down some wire so that it would go through the pearls and make more headpins.

I made the chain and ear hooks too. I would have soldered the chain but I ran out of time.

A resin bracelet

I am still playing with resin.

I bought polyester resin and a catalyst from the hardware store. I tested it out on this.

I got a lot of bubbles on one link but other then that I love this resin.

It sets quickly but not too quickly.

Steves bracelet.

It was my nephews 18 birthday on the 23rd. I have made this for him using 1mm sterling silver wire.

I havent put a clasp on yet because I am trying to think of a clasp that will masculine and hand made I would hate to put all the effort in and then use a bought clasp.

Onyx Pendant

This pendant was made to wear to a ball at Michaela and James's school.

quick earrings

sterling silver, corrugated copper and opal?

green earrings

These earrings are made out of copper, sterling silver and resin.

The 3rd attempt at filling these earrings with resin was succesful.

Needless to say I learnt a few things when making these earrings.

1. I need a thicker frame - the circles kept changing shape and I spent a lot of time reshaping them.

2. The frame needs to be stuck onto clear packaging tape - not brown packaging tape.- The sticky brown stuff on the brown tape sticks to the resin and makes a mess.

3. The resin that takes longer to set is worth the wait. - The resin in syringes seems to set with a oily look at the top. and I couldnt sand that resin.

4. You need to sand by hand.

5. longer setting resin is a lot thinner then the 5 minute stuff and tends to run under the frame even though the it seems to be sealed. I used the 5 minute stuff just on the edges this seemed to work well but that part of the pendant didnt sand nicely. next time I will try sealing it with super glue.

I sold these earrings to a lady named Sally I hope she loves wearing them.

Silver resin and copper earrings

These earrings are for a friend who tells me she has elegant refined taste.

I think (from what she wears) this friend has a cool funky style I tried to combine the 2.

Copper Silver and resin.

Elegant yet funky????

a new toy

I took Michaela and James pocket money shpping yesterday.
And I found a new toy for me.
Its really cheap and nasty, doesnt even have a name and I dont think it will last long.
I think it is for corrugating paper. So I thought that I would buy it and see if it would corrugate metal
IT DOES.
very thin metal.
perfect for adding a little dimension to some of my designs.

3 stone pendant

This is my newest creation.

The colours are not quite right in the photo I will have to work on that.

The large stone is a flourite It is a clear purplish colour with very subtle lines.

The green stone is adventurine

And the little stone is a dark blue (dyed I presume) chalcedony (according to the seller) also clear.

copper cabs

I made these a while ago.

click here for the story

woven bracelet

I started making this a long time ago.

My plan was to make chain like this out of silver but they are so time consuming and use an enormous amount of wire I dont think that they would be really cost effective to make.

My Rock

I bought this smoky quartz from bid or buy.

Its ginormous.

I love it.

horse pendant

A special gift.

hinged bracelet

As you can see I am going through a learning phase at the moment. I thought the best way to master hinges was do a whole lot of them.

playing with rivits

As I have said before I really battle with tube rivits. So when my husband brought some copper tubing home from the aircon guy. I thought it would be perfect to practice these skills.

I drew the tubing down - from about 6mm outer diameter to 2.5mm.

It does help that the tube is seamless and the walls of the tubing is quite thick.

I stuck it in my vinegar atmosphere for 2 days - I really like that green - and sealed it with a clear spray on varnish.

vinegar patina

A while ago we were discussing patinas in a forum conversation. I decided to try the vinegar recipe on this piece of copper that I had textured previously. I then forgot about my experiment. So it must have been a couple of months before I rediscovered it. - stunning.

I was a bit irritated with myself because the whole piece was the light green / turquoisy colour before I started messing with it. I have sprayed a light coat of clear vearnish on it to preserve whats left.

I am trying to get the same colour on some copper "cabs" that I have made. My problem is that I am too impatient to wait a couple of months to get the colour I want.

hollow heart earrings

These were inspired by my hollow heart pendant

beach glass pendant

I have spent the last couple of days making this pendant.

It started off as a pair of earrings using the round adventurine stone.

But the one bezzle was too small and after a lot of filing stretching pulling and tugging I gave up and decided to make a pendant with the other bezzle, which fitted perfectly.

The beach glass was on my inspiration wall and the colours went well.So I started to make a bezzle for the beachglass. The bezzle was too high so I sawed of a bit. The sawed off bit seemed to frame the glass quite nicely so I did another 90 degree turn and made the claws and added some balls.

bid or buy

Is it worth it?
I needed a few gems so that I could practice my new gemstone setting skills.
So I went onto bid or buy to see if I could purchase some at a reasonable price.
Of the 4 purchases I made I am only really happy with 1 purchase.
The final straw being a tanzanite I recieved today from TFM.
The stone is definitely not as blue as the photo and there is an obvious chip in the stone.
I realize that I never paid very much for the stone so I could not expect very much. But what would have happened if the bidding for the stone had gone higher would the seller still have sent the defect stone?
Does the seller justify a horrible stone because I never paid very much in the first place?
Was I bidding on this stone all along or do they keep their rejects for cases like this when only one person bids on their products?
In all the cases I checked the sellers ratings and they get brilliant ratings.
Am I expecting too much?
The blue stone I received last week was replaced with 2 citrines - so I believe the guy when he says the first stone was never sent by him - then where did it come from? where did my stone go?
Then in the same parcel was a tourmaline with a chip in it. Can you believe it? Surely if you are fixing up an order that went wrong you wouldnt make a customer even more unhappy by sending them a chipped stone.
Are stones without chips just something that doesnt happen? Why dont these people get bad ratings if this is the kind of thing they are sending out. Is it the same as the blue stone / citrine saga where the guy demands that I change his rating?

An answer to my question came in the form an email from TFM
Good Day

My add clearly stated that the stones are selected from a large group and therefor the quality may differ... I will send you a replacement one free of charge if that is okay with you... I am really trying to achieve 100% positive ratings on bid or buy, so if this appeals to you, please change your rating, i will send the stone this afternoon. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Kind regards.
Rico

I have recently tried bid or buy again and have received two beautiful stones
The first an octogan shaped heliodor from top drawer.
and a beautiful spiderweb turquoise cab from gem zone I am extremely happy with both purchases.
I have decided not to change my rating and told him not to send a new stone.

more earrings

Here are two pairs of earrings I made.

Avoiding the pave project I still have waiting for me after my course.

I ordered a faceted citrine from bid or buy - Talitha and this blue thing is what I received I know the photo of the stone was bad but really this is ridiculous. I also ordered another citrine from gemwizz what a stunning stone.

I am back

I am back after my jewellery course. What an awesome course thanks Chantal you are the best.
I have so many new skills my brain hurts
And so many more needs that there is a huge whole in my purse.
I was the only one on course who didnt have a proper hanging motor and so I rushed off to buy one today (you cant set stones without them) only to get home and discover that it has a foreign plug grrr.
After going to 4 different electric supply shops looking for an adaptor I decided to cut the plug off and put a SA plug on.
Its not working.
I am so frustrated. I will have to wait until Monday to change my new toy.

Anyway I am not quite finished with all my projects but here are a few pics.

Another course

This all happened so fast.
I am so excited. I am going on a course on Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday and maybe Friday depending on the school situation in this crazy world (long story not fit for a jewellery blog).

I want to thank Penny for being so efficient and organising it you are a star.

hollow heart

This is not what it started out as.
I am starting to think that copper has a mind of its own.

earrings

I am really excited about these.

They are the first earrings I have made for myself as I only had my ears pierced 3 weeks ago.

It was really hard to make a bezzle for the little stones

I have a lot more respect for jewellers who work with tiny stones.

I may need to practice on the little ones as even these are a tad too heavy. Will I get used to it?

another ring

I love this stripy stone.
and I love rings
so I made this ring for me.,

mosaic mirror

I havent had much time for jewellery lately as we are renovating and everything is upside down.

I made this for our upgraded ensuite bathroom.

Mothers Day Pendant

Well this sort of designed itself. It started off as one thing and ended up as something totally different.

I got quite frustrated as I was unable to solder the bezzle completely and have finally decided that I need a bigger torch.

The little kitchen one just did not cope with the large pendant.