Is this success ?

Hi Everyone
I'm hoping for a slightly more successful day today. I spent all my spare time, yesterday, trying to solder my little bits of metal onto the much planned earring shapes. I had limited success and ended the day feeling very frustrated and a little confused as to why I repeatably failed. I'm aware that trying to solder different size wire and different metals is not straightforward but ....... ? I feel unable to explain 'the problem(s)' KEY to finding a solution !
Ive decided to go back to basics and when all else fails - buy a book about it.

However, back to the here and now, this is what I ended up with :



It looks OK but I need to check the strength of the wire attachment. I ended up making a wire with a flattened, balled end. I thought this would give me a good area for soldering. The next photo shows the 'bead' part after many, many attempts at fixing the extra bar. I'd abandoned the silver thinner bars by this stage. This bar is another copper piece.


I'm not sure which side I like ? - the attach side or the other. I will keep looking at it. I'm favouring the 'other' at the moment.









If the piece is strong - I will be thrilled. I will do some cleaning up but I do like some of the fire patina and will be careful I don't loose it all.

All I need to do now, is make another to match !

Thanks for reading.

New metal designs

Hi Everyone
A bit of a lazy start to my day today. Ive tried hard to get organised but without much success !I'm distracted by the Winter Olympics ! Their are some fantastic 'not to be missed' events going on throughout the day so, I will be dipping in and out.

Ive have spent a little time experimenting with some copper and silver and eventually managed to 'ball' a little piece of silver. I need to finish a piece to be completely satisfied with progress ... but I'm pleased with my confidence levels while working with metal.
Here are a few samples of the work for today. Ive cut some copper and added a few silver pieces and will add a stud to the design.



I cut a few lengths of copper and tried out two shapes for the design. I like the cross over version and will keep it simple with a single ear post.



This is how I started with the round wire. I'm not sure how thick this is ? But it's quite chunky. I shaped the wire and hammered the shapes. I like the way the metal shapes are slightly organic. I'm keen to develop a necklace and perhaps a broach with this design.


This is the second stage after hammering. The right hand shape is hammered and shows how much the shape has stretched.



I hope to finish a pair of earrings or even two.
Here's a quick look at my 'balled' silver. Not sure why ? but I'm so pleased with myself for making this.




Not sure what else I'm going to achieve today. My day is rapidly disappearing. Although, I need to sort some pickling out to clean up my metal finish.

Thanks for reading.
Bye for today.

Wire Experiments

Hi Everyone
It's a bit late in the day to be announcing that it's half term holidays ! I forgot to mention this last Friday. Usually, life is rather hectic during holidays and I take time off. This week, I'm part time. I've not done any work today, we have been shopping/lunching out !!!

I'm going to paint a little and play a little with metal over the week. My plans also include making some wire based items similar to this design :



However, this evening, I'm going to fiddle with some metal to make some earrings. I shared a project last week about created a clay version of a design I liked. Here it is for reference :


I'm going to try out a copper version. I'm also going to turn the clay version into a silver colour with some silver leaf finishing. Not sure how this will work but the gold clay experiment was not brilliant, I'm hopeful plan B will be better for this design.

Hope to show any progress tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

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.

Gold Clay Experiments

Hi Everyone
Well, some progress was made yesterday. I did mix some gold clay as planned. I also managed to produce a sort of version of the metal earrings I shared yesterday. I have more work to do on the initial structure and I'd like to try and find a way of improving the design and adding some findings. The clay has hardened so I will drill some holes. I think, I will add some more wax paint to give more of a shine.




The next few photos show the initial mixed gold clay. The first picture shows gold flakes mixed with plain white Fimo. It's a subtle effect. When the clay is turned into beads, the result is quite good and I do like it. Disappointing, the picture is not showing just how good it is.


The next photo is white clay mixed with gold metalic wax paint. The paint mixes well and gives more of a glow than a deep gold colour. The metallic elements of the paint are peppered all over the tile and dry very quickly into a light dusting powder. This powder does keep mixing into the raw clay and results in a varied way, concentrated in areas. I quite like the effect and again, the beads are pretty and subtle.


Both methods are limited in terms of gold impact, however, I do like the effect overall. Here are a few images of the beads I produced.



The very shiney beads in this photo were gilded and then baked. The second beads (in the same photo) had the wax metallic paint added onto the surface of the raw clay and then baked.


I shaped a range of small, shapes and textured some of them. I also added more paint and gilded some parts.














Gilding direct is my favourite application. I may try more gilding on some of these beads before I decide on how I will use them for specific items of jewellery. My next dilema is what metal to use for findings. I like to use silver but I'm not sure it will work in all cases. I don't have a problem with mixing gold and silver as a rule but I think the right metal needs to be identified for a particular item. I need to work on a few options and experiment.

Thanks for reading.

Bye for today.