New ellipses …

I collected some new castings in the week and finally got them onto my bench today. I made the original copper models of these, looking at pictures I took of the shapes of little fishing boats moored out in a harbour.

There’s a very definite stripe that runs through the centre, on a curve, which I think I’ll put a bright, burnished edge onto once it’s all cleaned up and joined together.

Until then, here’s an idea of what it will be like when it all comes together:

Casting Patterns

Masters and Castings

Castings

Studs

Necklace pieces

New shapes ….

I’ve been sketching new shapes for a while now and have finally had a little time before my holiday to put them into metal. I’m pretty happy with the initial experiments and I’ll set to work on them again when I’m back …

Beautiful Seaside basics …

I’ve been feeling the need for things to be a little simpler lately. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my new Beachcomber pieces but I also like wearing neat, simple everyday jewellery that can handle a tough week in the workshop and doesn’t need to be taken off when you get in the shower, still half asleep, in the morning.

And, for that matter, it’s nice to have jewellery that you can sleep in.

So a couple of months ago I made myself these:

and I haven’t really taken them out since. Sure, I’ve changed them for more special or dressy occasions but they’ve always gone right back in again after.

They’re silver and lightly reticulated, meaning that they’ve been heated to the point where the silver just begins to turn liquid – then cooled off to preserve the wonderful, slightly rough texture that that leaves behind:

It burnishes up to a lovely, warm glow that looks soft and natural.

I’ve put a small range together:

Simple pendants in silver (with a red gold accent):

Stacks of bangles, also silver with a red gold accent:

and rings (silver and red gold):

which I’m testing myself – they wear beautifully and feel really summery!

You can find the whole range right here

Press form practice #3 …

Once the resist dried out I threw those little test shapes in to etch:

and I’m rather pleased with the results that I got:

Facebook Finds #1

Facebook steals hours of your life. Snooping through old acquaintances photographs at 3am is something everyone does but no one talks about. Right?

Recently though, I’ve started using my Facebook time a little more constructively by exploring Facebook pages. Pages allow businesses and organisations to have a kind of Facebook profile and stay in touch with people interested in what they do. Folksy has done some super articles on how to use them to promote your handmade business (like this one here) and I’m really starting to love mine.

This recent exploration has turned up some lovely, lovely things that I thought I’d share:

1.

Bekki Churcher here is from Glasgow and her gorgeous, almost fragile looking work is inspired by urban decay – she uses some beautiful textures to evoke the broken buildings that inspire her and her ‘geomatric granulation’ is especially wonderful. It reminds me of Ruth Tomlinson somehow crossed with Elaine Cox …

2.

Hannah Livingston is based in Edinburgh and her fascination with hidden secrets and quirky little containers makes her work beautifully intricate and utterly tempting. Many of her neat little lockets contain folded paper – forming a story of your own just that’s just waiting to unfold.

3.

Rebecca Little is another Glasgow resident whose work is both deceptively simple and fiendishly clever – as the best things often are. Delicate twists in precious metals are all lined up neatly to form textile like structures that would, I imagine, flow through your hands rather nicely and defy the solid, mathematical look of them.

I’ll keep hunting through Facebook in the small hours – though if you’ve got a suggestion for a page you love do leave me a comment!

Follow Friday : The Night Sky

I woke up yesterday morning at 4.30am.

There was no particular reason for this, I guess that sometimes your brain can just decide ‘yep, you’ve had enough sleep now’ and wakefullness is forced upon you. It’s all terribly unfair.
But, as I lay in bed, slightly frustrated that I’d beaten the alarm by 3 hours, I noticed the stars.

I used to stare at the night sky a lot as a child. It seems that I’ve just been too busy lately. Isn’t that sad?

Right now I can’t recall what was so important that I couldn’t just take a minute to see something as big and beautiful as the sky.

So this collection is all about the stars in the hope that you’ll find a minute or two just to stare for a while …

Constellation Earrings by Lolariera

Constellation Earrings by GraceHandmadeJewelry

Leo Contellation Necklace by MiniCyn

Cassiopeia’s Crown by COGnitivecreations

Top Left: Constellation Earrings by Lolariera

Top Right: Constellation Earrings by Grace Handmade Jewelry

Lower Left: Leo Contellation Necklace by MiniCyn

Lower Right: Cassiopeia’s Crown by COGnitivecreations