What a week !

Hi Everyone
Another week has flown by and I'm struggling to remember what Ive done this week. Looking back each day - it looks as if Ive had a great week. Ive started developing new packaging, made the long awaited gold clay, found a new wire technique and devised some new beads for about 40 new pieces - wow ! I'm almost impressed. It just shows how reflecting on your own successes can give you a 'lift'

The down side is that Ive still got to finish all these pieces. My weakness is definitely moving over from initial design /production stage to final finishing. Each item is being finished to a high standard using my 'quality list' (22 Jan blog). The finishing takes lots of time and often I come across issues as I go, as a result it's slow progress. However, my skills are improving. Both the practical process but also the design process is affected. It's quite clear to me that design is so important and is influencing production after each new piece.

On a related issue, I came across a great tip on a site called Jewellery Making Daily and specifically this tip Here. It's to do with making ear wires from scratch. It's an obvious approach when you have a go and I'm not sure why this hasn't occurred to me before - take a look - the photos are great. From my own experience, I understand how difficult it is to make two hooks the same and if you get it wrong it's very difficult to right the error. This process takes out the anxiety. I will always use this technique in the future.

Here is my first effort - I need to file the long ends and I notice a little problem with the right hand hook which needs smoothing out. My plan is to try and 'ball up' the short end to hold a bead.



This metal is a non tarnish brass and I'm not sure how this will work out. I'm hopeful it will work well. I will share my results next week.

Another site I often visit is this one Celia Fago Blog. Celia has some amazing work going on. She works with metal - mainly silver (I think).
One item which particularly caught my attention is this small book charm on a necklace. The site goes into great detail about how she works. It's a fascinating insight into her work. Her work has given me an idea of trying out something of my own. It's in the design stage (in my head) at the moment. I will develop my idea on paper and share here when I have something.



Have a great weekend.
Bye for now.

Thanks for reading.