A little Christmas inspiration from Etsy

New pieces in progress

A sneak peek....

Nest Necklace

.....new pieces I shall add to my online shop very soon.

Nest Earrings

Ideas ideas ideas!

Ideas are like buses, nothing for ages then they all come along at once!

Oh Dear...

Well, my poor blog and my good intentions have suffered the consequences, and have had to take a back seat while I've been working on commissions and jewellery that will pay the bills. Its such a shame, I was doing so well, but at least I was distracted for happy reasons.

This blog has been so good for me and for stirring up ideas that I'm going to keep it going, but it will be more of a 'this is what I'm up to at the moment' blog.

And with that in mind, this is what I'm up to at the moment.....

......embarking on a clean-up of a very messy but industrious workbench.

I'll be posting more interesting photo's of what I'm working on very soon, but if you look very closely, you can make out a silver tiara in the middle of this one somewhere!

Day 85

So after being away on holiday for a while, I come back to my poor neglected blog empty handed, there was no way I could make a piece every day whilst camping in the wonderful Scottish highlands, although I did try ( resulting in a ring made of the wax off an Edam cheese and a stick on brooch made of moss) but rather than add a lot of pieces I'm less than proud of, I've decided to continue with day 85 from today....

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...and this is day 85's piece, a ring made using a piece of sandstone found on a beach and silver, inspired by the wonderful landscapes I've been camping in.

Day 84

Day 83

I may have been slightly influenced by all the Easter eggs that  haunt me on every supermarket trip at the moment, some buttons, made by hand drawing intricate patterns on plastic.

Day 82

Today's offering is a long necklace made from fabric tape. I wanted to embroider into it as well but....tooo tired.....need sleep. That's a project for another day.

Day 81

Leaf buttons, made from sterling silver, and backed with white cold enamel.

Day 80

 erm...I might have to open a button shop.

These buttons are made using hand drawn illustrations of Chinese lanterns.

Day 79

Day 78

So buttons are my new thing! Here are some more for day 78's piece, diamond shaped with a different Crane picture on each one.

Day 77

 

....more buttons...

Made by hand drawing the pattern onto plastic.

Day 76

Some buttons I made for day 76, using a hand drawn motif on plastic.

Day 75

Day 74

A necklace for day 74. Made from hand drawn plastic fragments, felt and velvet ribbon.

Day 73

My little tribute to the first signs of spring....

Made from silver and silk.

Day 72

For Day 72, some silver and enamel earrings to match the ring I made on day 48. I love earrings that are a slightly odd pair like these, partly because I'm always checking out what jewellery other people are wearing and its such a nice surprise to discover someone wearing odd earrings.

Day 71

Day 70

A brooch made from a piece of schist rock (I think) I found when I was visiting Roy Bridge in the Scottish Highlands a couple of years ago.  I am one of those people who has to collect rocks, shells, bits of glass at the seashore and shards of broken pottery, I can't help myself. I spend most holidays with pockets weighed down with rocks!
This rock has a wonderful velvety sheen to it and I wanted to make it precious.  I used silver wire and granulation for the setting.

Day 69

I've been in awe of some paper cut artists I've stumbled across recently, such as Peter Callesen and Helen Musselwhite.    I've made paper cut pieces and used the patterns on metal for years but there is something so magical about transforming a plain piece of paper into something beautiful just by cutting or folding.

Here is my recent paper cut effort made into a brooch. I used paper and silver for the pin. 

Day 68

Today's piece is a bracelet with a hand drawn leaf pattern on tracing paper and sewn with red cotton thread.

Day 67

Earrings made from plastic with a hand drawn and coloured pattern and a silver post.

Day 66

Today's piece is a bracelet made from tracing paper and ribbon, wonderfully low tech.

Day 65

Here is a little peek into the making of day 65's piece, an oxidised silver pendant with a single pearl. I tried not to get too much of my very messy workspace in the photos!  This design is indulging my love of ornate silhouettes and giving it a contemporary twist.

Day 64

I had a little relapse with the shrinking plastic today, I haven't been able to make any plastic pieces recently as my oven broke leaving me unable to shrink! (notice I'm less bothered about being able to cook in it.)
I had this 'already shrunk' piece hidden away, and cut it to shape to make this ring.

Day 63

This bangle was great fun to make, made a complete mess of my workbench with PVA glue and tissue paper! and as everyone knows, more mess = more fun...right!?
I used a metal cutout pattern to get the embossed effect on the tissue paper, and then added a silver wire by sewing it in place.

Day 62

I made some little studs for day 62, experimenting with granulation again in sterling silver. I quite like the fact that each earring is odd as well.

Day 61

A little experiment with texture for today's piece, using silver granulation. I also used brass wire in this piece for some contrast.

Day 60

A very simple ring for today's piece, made from silver with a single pearl in a claw setting.

Day 59

A little necklace to compliment day 58's ring. Made using old book pages, tissue paper and silver.

Day 58

I'm sure I started this blog saying I didn't often make rings, well, I've certainly changed my ways, I love making rings....and wearing them. This one for day 58 is made from old book pages, coloured tissue paper and silver wire.