A present for a friend

I am now at that age where my friends are turning 40.  Yes, I'm 40, good guess!  It was my oldest friend's 40th last weekend, 2 weeks before the event I suddenly realised I needed to buy her a present.  She's not an easy person to buy for... I decided something handmade would be more suitable.

I'd been thinking about an idea of making a pendent using 3 different size circles.  I cut them out of 1mm thick sterling silver sheet using a circle punch.  The mid-sized circle was left blank.  The larger and smaller circles were texturised before punching them out.

The smallest circle is patterned using a centre punch and hammer to make tiny indentations.  The largest circle was rolled through the rolling mill with a skeleton leaf.  I adore this pattern and have it in mind for some future makes.  As the pieces had burrs after punching, I had to file and sand to clean them up.  The smallest circle got a stick soldered to the reverse and the larger two had holes punched through.

This "stick" (a piece of 0.8mm round wire) was inserted through the other 2 circles, then I just used the round nosed pliers to make a bail before filing and sanding the edge.

It was really hard to take photos as I had put it in the barrel polisher, meaning it's very shiny!  I've just put it on a bought trace chain, also in sterling silver.  

This was a pretty quick make.  When I told my tutor my plans, she said I could get it done in half a session.  It actually took me a session and a half, but I work really slowly and do rather a lot of talking and eating!

Oh, and yes, the friend liked it!

Silver triangle

I know my silversmithing posts aren't very popular, but I do want to keep this blog as a journal for me too, so I'm going to post about it anyway!  Also, I love this piece, I'm so proud of it.

I posted about my copper triangle at the end of last year.  I then went on to make one out of silver and I'm in love with it!

This is a hollow form.  It's made with 0.8mm sheet silver, cut and soldered together and then filed to remove the joins.  The top piece has been textured by rolling it through a mill with a piece of fabric.

After finishing, I drilled a hole across one of the points to string it.

The back was polished to perfection, but I've worn it a lot and it's become marked already!

I strung it on a pre-bought sterling-silver chain.  I think it works perfectly with the design.  Now I just need to string the copper version...

domed pendants

This was something I was making in Silversmithing class last year.  I was going to post about it when I finished it, but I never actually finished it and don't know when/if I'll come back to is, so I'm posting it now for posterity.

These were to be domed pendents.  They are hollow forms.  They were made by annealing sheets of 1mm copper and cutting discs out with a disc cutter.  I then put them into a doming forming and hammered them to create the curve.  A tiny slot is filed out on one of them for each pair, on either side.  This is to make it easier to drill them later.

One is placed on top of another, with solder in between.  This is the difficulty.  Balancing 5 pieces of tiny solder, then lowering the lid on without any of the solder moving... It frustrated me so much I almost cried!  I have some silver circles cut out ready to make domed pendents, but they will have to wait until my skills improve!

Copper triangle

It's been ages since I showed you anything from my silversmithing classes.  I was working on some hollow domes, but I couldn't get them to solder together and gave up.  I will go back to them at a later date, when my head is a bit better.  

I moved on to a different hollow form, I chose a triangle.

This is the copper prototype.  Silver is expensive and it can be worthwhile having a go in copper first, especially as I love copper and wear copper jewellery too.  It started with a long thin piece of copper (5mm thin, about 8cm long) that I had to score very heavily.  I pulled it round and soldered the join.  This was then soldered to piece of sheet copper  which I had run through the rolling mill with a piece of lace to imprint a pattern on it. 

The second side was soldered on - you can see the solder really well in this picture.

The sheet was pierced with a saw close to the edge, then the filing began.  And continued.  And continued.  And then out came the sandpaper... I still have some way to go!

I have now started on the silver version, thinking I'd do some sanding over Christmas, I took some photos to show you the beginning of the process, but they were on my old phone...  I will show you again when both pieces are completed.

more finishing

As I mention, a lot, I've not been crafting much outside the classes I take with mum, but I have been doing something, I've been finishing a few things off.

I made these enamelled copper pieces at the Manor House hotel, 2 years ago now.  You can see the original post http://thecraftersapprentice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/manor-house-enamelling.html.  They have been lying in my jewellery WIP box ever since.  I'd open it, look at them, put them back and forget about them!  This time I took them out so I wouldn't forget and they sat on the table for a couple of months instead!

I made each one a different pendent, using various pieces of chain I have.  I often buy fancy chain at craft shows and this seemed a good use for it as it can overwhelm a beaded pendant.  I've forgotten how to spell pendant again.  I could have made kumihimo or beadwoven straps for them, but I quite like them simple.

In my last finishing post, I showed you that I'd finished this goldwork piece.  I had to order an embroidery hoop for it as I wanted a 4" hoop but only had 3" or 5" ones at home.  Then it took me an age to decorate it as I wanted to paint it but couldn't find my paints anywhere.  I still can't find them and, as I'm sitting here typing this, I remember where I put them!  Too late now.  I decopatched it instead.

I chose red, gold and silver papers and stuck then down in the same order each time.  I'm not sure if this will damage the embroidery, but then it's hardly a heirloom piece and I don't have any heirs anyway!

Finally, I finished these pieces.  I made a really long red kumihimo cord, then cut it into two.  I threaded a bell flower on the necklace piece and made the other piece into a double-wrap bracelet.  I'd be nice with some charms on it so I may add to it at some stage.  The necklace on the right was actually made by my friend Kerry, but the ribbon was too long.  I'm short and very chesty and long necklaces looks stupid on me and are probably dangerous with the way they swing!  I shortened it by a few inches and added new ribbon clasps.

Now I just need to buy some red clothes...

Finishing things off

It will come as no great surprise, after reading the post title, that I've been finishing things off.  I have various projects half finished lying around all over the house.  The majority of them are so very nearly finished, they just need a little something adding, but I never get round to doing it.  I have more jewellery items almost finished than anything else.  I was sick of moving a load of pendents I'd made round the house, so I decided I was going to finish them.  

I'm not sure I've ever shown you this before.  I can't find a post about it anyway.  It's made from two Luna cabochons placed back to back.  I have no idea what they're made from but they feel kind of rubbery and the glow to them is incredible.  The pattern was from a magazine and it wasn't until I got going that I realised my cabs were smaller than the ones in the pattern. 

I finagled it anyway, it's it's just been sitting waiting for me to thread a chain through.  Yes, really, that was all that needed doing!

I took loads of photos as I was trying to get the full effect of the Luna cab.  The beads that form the bezel are delicas.

Do you think that's enough photos of this one piece of jewellery?  No, just one more?  OK...

The next pendent only needed a chain putting through it too.

You can see the original post here.  I haven't been sitting on this one for long at all, I only made it in June this year.  Or rather posted about it in June this year, so it could have been made in May or even April!

The next one, I'd forgotten I'd made!  I went down a slightly different track here, using a suede cord to hang it from.

The colour just matched so well.  The picture above is very dull, the one below is much better.  You can see the original post here, I posted about it in September 2015 so it was made sometime in the couple of months before September.

Again, I took loads of photos, but all had their various plus points and none of them were perfect!

Finally, I added more chain.

The original post is here, these Herringbone Bell flowers were made around October 2015.  A single green one.

A triple blue one, and there is also a single red one but I had to make a different kind of hanging for that and it's not quite finished...  I hope it doesn't end up back in the WiP pile for another 6 months!

Good going, I just need to keep up the momentum!

beadwoven flower

Since I've been off sick, I haven't done much crafting, so a class at The Bead Shop Nottingham was good for me, it meant I actually made something.

It was a beadweaving class using a crystal rivoli (the sparkly bit in the centre), number 11/0 seed beads and mini duos.  I used two colours of the duos.

As ever, it's hard to get a good photo of sparkly jewellery, but this will have to do!  Instead of showing you one good photo, I'll show you several mediocre ones.

It was a fun pattern and quick and easy to do.  The bezel is in right-angle-weave rather than the usual peyote so it was nice to learn a new bezelling stitch.

This is a photo of the back so you can see what the back of the rivoli looks like.  As you can see, it's pointed, I'm not sure why, perhaps that makes it easier to capture in a bezel than if it were flat backed?  I now need to decide what to string this on, I think I perhaps need to make a bead-woven necklace.

Cloud with a silver lining

I'm getting towards the end of my first term of silversmithing and I haven't had much to show!  Piercing out shapes is quite quick, soldering is quite quick, but filing, sanding and polishing is not!

This is the second piece I've made.  I hammered a sheet of 1mm silver with the round end of a hammer to create a nice texture, then I pierced out a cloud shape.  I'm afraid my photos aren't great.  The top one shows the colours well, but the second one shows the texture which I just couldn't capture before.

Nor did I think to take a photo of the back! I've soldered a little arch on the back, the chain is threaded through the arch.  I drilled 3 holes at the bottom.  I then made my own headpins by heating the end of a piece of wire in a torch flame until it balled up.  I added a crystal and and wrap-looped them onto the cloud.

I am VERY proud of this piece and I'm pleased to say that I've had quite a few compliments whilst wearing it!

I'm currently working on a bracelet and hope to have that finished to show you soon.  I've signed up for the next term which begins in April.

Dichroic glass

Wonderful mum found a new craft class venue, between both of our houses in West Bridgford, Nottingham, a little town with great cafes for a coffee or afternoon tea after a day's workshop.  The classes are held in a beautiful little handmade shop - Locally Produced for You.  The tutor was Katherine from number8glass.

We went to a dichroic glass workshop.  I've worked with glass before, but not dichroic glass.  I'm not really sure what dichroic glass is, other than it's pretty, sparkly glass!

Above are the before photos.  The tutor had lots of squares and rectangles of glass.  She would then cut the dichroic pieces to the size and shape we wanted, or round the edges by nibbling at them with grozier pliers.  Once she found out I just to do glass work and have even made a stained glass window, she passed the cutting mat and cutter over and told me I had to cut my own!  I'm pleased to say I hadn't forgotten what to do.

The top one is a square of black glass with three pieces of dichroic glass on top, and three glass rods on the top right.  The bottom one is a square of white glass with a square of green dichroic and a square of flowery dichroic, then I added some green frit on the left hand side.  

I love the black line around the green glass which is just what happens with this kind of glass.  Oh, I should probably say that the picture above and the one below show the two pieces after they'd been fired in the kiln.  The green frit didn't come out too well.

I really like this one, it's very rounded and tactile.  The photos don't really do them justice, they are so hard to capture due to the sparkle.

This one is a brooch.  I used blue glass in two shades.  The lighter blue one has some silver confetti on top, and that's sandwiched in with a piece of clear glass.  

I like the way this one came out too.  It's certainly very unusual!

Finally, this one is a piece of black glass and a piece of white glass sitting on a white base.  I used a piece of dichroic (it's clear with holographic squares on it) on the top.

We had a brilliant day.  I really enjoyed playing with the glass and designing pieces of jewellery.  I really do have to get myself a kiln at some point!

herringbone bell flowers

If I'm being totally honest, I can't remember when I went to this workshop at The Bead Shop Nottingham to make herringbone stitch bell flowers.  It was within the last month, but I can't remember if it was the same day as the Luna cab, or a different day.  So many workshop, I'm getting confused.

We thought these were lovely when we saw them published on the website advertising the workshops, and we registered straight away.  They're made with size 11/0 seed beads, with pearls as top caps and pearls and crystals on the dangles, though the green one has green seed beads on the dangles as none of the crystals or pearls went very well with the colour.

We had plenty of time in the class and the pattern isn't that difficult, so I set to making one larger flower and two smaller ones (larger and smaller than the red and green ones above).  I'm thinking of making these into a pendent together.  Of course, I need to add some crystals and pearls and finish them off, but I'm going to play around and see if I can get them to sit nicely together.

You know what?  I'm going to write a post about all these FIFFS projects I've got going on. Maybe that will push me to finish them off - most of them have only a few minutes, less than an hour, to get them done!

Silversmithing

Mr CA and I went on a fab silversmithing workshop ran by the local college at a local venue The Textile Workshop.  Yes, you read that right, Mr CA came with me!  It's his first time to one of my craft classes but it's something he's fancied giving a go for a while and we have talked about it in the past.  I found this class on the Textile Workshop's website and as it was £38 per person for a 2-day course (excluding materials) there was no way I was passing it up!

It was a great class, the tutor - Lisa Pearson - was brilliant and we both enjoyed it.  Mr CA will be my beautiful assistant, demonstrating the various stages we went through to make these rings.  (I made these rings, Mr CA made a masculine one for himself).

We started with 2mm silver wire which we bent around a ring mandrel and hammered with a rawhide mallet to get it to the correct size and a perfect circle.

As there was an overlap, we used a piercing saw (like a hacksaw) on a bench peg to saw the join between the overlaps to make our ring bases.

This is what you come out with after that stage:

Then comes the fun bit - soldering!  The join is painted with flux which is a liquid that helps the solder to run.  A tiny pallion of hard solder was added to the join and then you use a blowtorch to melt the solder into the join.

It is quenched in cold water, then placed into pickle - an acid-based liquid heated to 60 degrees centigrade - to burn off the fire scale.  It's then rinsed in cold water.  Then it was time to file to get the joins lovely and perfect.

It was about this time that I became so engrossed in what I was doing that I forgot to take many more photos!  At this stage you could hammer the ring with a ball pein (round) or cross pein (wide and short) hammer to create a texture.  I did that on 2 of my rings.  I forgot to say at the start, we were making a set of 5 stacking rings, though I quickly discovered my fingers are too stumpy for 5 rings, so I made a set of 2 stacking rings to be worn with 1 spacer, and a single ring to be worn with 2 spacers.

I cut out these shapes from 0.8mm silver metal sheet using the piercing saw we used to cut the rings.  It was quite tricky and fiddly but I didn't cut myself.  I hammered some dots on one of the flowers (that's what they're supposed to be!) and for a tail of the bunny using a centre punch which is a spike you hit with a hammer.  There's a lot of hammering in silversmithing!

I shaped the flower using this.  This is a doming block and the doming punches to use with it.  I put the flowers into the concave slots, then hammered the punch on top to create the curves.  I made a couple of silver balls by just heating a small piece of silver, then soldered these into the rings.  The ring tops were then soldered onto the bases using easy solder, pickled and rinsed.

The penultimate step is to clean up the rings using needle files and them emery paper of various grades until the rings are as perfect as you can get them.  As you can see in the above photo, the soldering process leaves them white.  We put them into a barrel polisher and they came out all sparkly!

Here are the spacer rings with the bunny, can you see the light glinting off the spacer rings?

I had a bit of time left, so I used a piece of copper to cut some circles using a circle punch, then domed them in the doming block.  I drilled top and bottom, except for one which was just drilled at the bottom.  I plan to do some enamelling on them and turn them into a pendent.

I also used some more 2mm wire to make necklace connectors.  I spiralled them using pliers which was really difficult as the wire was so thick.  I then ran them through the rolling mill which flattens them.  I have plans for these, hopefully I'll show you before too long.  I also pierced out the heart, though I didn't have much time for finishing it properly.  I think I'll texture it, then I can use it in a piece.

Well that was a long post!  It was a brilliant class and I WILL be doing more silversmithing!  I'm on the waiting list for an evening class, but I also intend to do some at home... watch this space (but not too soon, you know how it takes me an age to get to anything!).  This class was also responsible for pulling me out of a depressive episode which just shows the power of craft!