It's been a while but.....

I have been busy busy busy, so much to do so little time to do it in. I have been learning some new stuff, and have really got into the silk making and incorperating it into my jewellery. Just a quick glimpse for you in some of the following photographs of some cuffs that I have been making.

Well its called silk paper, but its creating a material really, and wow I can see this going into all sorts of directions its really addictive to make. I have also been making felt in all sorts of colours and have used this as the base for the cuffs, and again made in all sorts of colours. I have stitched all the layers together and then added other textures of material - ribbons and "stuff" then added fresh water pearls which I seem to have in abundance, and which i prefer as they provide anything but a uniform shape. i have used some uniform "round" pearls as well. Also added lots of silver items some brought and some made, also glass and various crystals. all in all u think they look quite effective....well I like them anyway. I plan on doing lots more with the silks and wool, making lots more paper/material to incorporate into my crafts as you can add all sorts into the process such as metals, natural items such a leaves, threads etc the options are endless. I have also been making some pure silver buttons so i plan on using them as the clasps and of course I may blog it all soon...when I get time to get sorted with some photos.                                                  

2010......

and so to 2010 and what it will bring. I am sure more learning and creativity which is always good. As for 2009 which I am so pleased is now been and gone I have learnt to listen more to my inner self as sadly the people who are “a wolf in sheep clothing” can be dishonest and sadly spiteful, but hey its people like that as they say “what goes around comes around”. And so in 2010 I am going to spend more time with real friends not the fair weather ones that pass by and take what they want and not contribute anything.
In 2010 I intend on drawing up a grand master plan, prepare the ground work, have a backup plan and be ready to deal with the problems as they arise, which I am sure some will come along, failing all that just have some fun and create lots.
Life is for living, loving, learning and sharing with the ones that matter, so hopefully I will at least get some of that done, and oh yeah take my nephews to see Mickey in Orlando…well its me that wants to go really ;0)…..so good luck to all in 2010 and have some fun it can’t all be work work work.

Forgot...something totally different

something requested as a commision for an xmas gift, took hours and lots of swearing I'm afraid as it's was a nightmare to make...please remind myself not to make one of these ever again - mixed blue and some silver bugle beads, silver seed beads and black crystals

Playing with my silver clay

Just some bits I have made for myself. I needed an excuse to play with my silver clay for some practice, as I have 4 workshops booked in the coming weeks and also I wanted to try some new techniques. The square pendant has no centre, the items were added between the back and front panel/layer, which took an age to make with lots of breakages!!! along the way. My greatest friend who is an utterly awesome salsa dancer inspired the lady to the left, it was also a move on from a previous “lady” I had made, just thought I would take this one stage further. It doesn’t photograph very well, but it does look pretty cool in the flesh, her dress does have a lot of texture and movement

Need to practice lots more, so may be back with some more bits later!!!!

commissioned xmas gifts

This is a sterling silver piece that I have been commissioned to make for an xmas gifts. The stone is a moon stone, set in a silver bezel. I based it on evening fairies dancing around the moon. The pendant has been reticulated and small silver balls made and soldered on. The mesh is also sterling silver. The fairy is also silver, but I have "aged" her to give the piece depth

garden goddess bracelet

made for a recent competition - silver bracelet using my art clay, made the individual parts, the built up onto a scrolled background of silver, it is very heavy, used around 45g of silver. The chain is made with black leather thongs, which is sturdy and comfortable. my design has copyright so please respect this!!

great to spend time with wondeful friends

great night out in the heart of Italy

have been playing with my silver

I have been playing with some silver, I have a zillion things I need to complete, but I got this idea in my head for the silver so I had to do it.
I wanted a very 3D effect so i made a cork clay form, and then partly surrounded it with the silver clay, filled the area in the middle with syringed silver, then fired it, after cleaning up and doing all the usual things you have to do to prep it. I then used 3 silver dragon flys and placed them in the middle of the charm and then filled the charm with a resin. The finished item is pretty heavy, but effective....well I like it and i have another zillion ideas to expand on this one





The pendant here is based on Arab Egyptian type houses, cant think of the name...the ones built into the sand/rocks you know which ones I mean - anyway I like the finished item

And then I had wanted to experiment with some of my paper silverclay - well that didn't go too well, it didn't do what I wanted it to do, so rather than waste it as it is rather expensive. I ended up just folding it and layering it onto some silver I had used a texture sheet on, not very exciting i know but at least i didnt waste the silver. I need to have a long think about the paper silver stuff.


And lastly a wee photo of the lid of the jewellery box that i altered with clay and stuff's!!!

So where the Gordon Blimey Bennett have you been...................

some WIP stuff that I thought I had better get round to finishing as I now have the perfect wall to place it.

I had managed to force myself an age ago!!!!! to buy a load of canvases, and had started here and there, well finally four of them are now finished.

The main picture with all four canvases does look rather odd in the photo, but honest the do look pretty cool all together... well i think so and that's the only person who's meant to be happy I suppose. I have used all sorts, clay, lots of paints, grunge board, beads, glass, stampes, UTEE, metal, you

name it, its on there somewhere. Its all very 3d and taxtile which was the main aim. So I am happy now they are hung so onto the next project to be finished.....

Well I have a couple of things....to be honest LOADS of things started that need finishing, but I will plough through them when the inspiration takes me, but dont seem to get any of that at the moment

To start with I this totally awesome wooden plate that I purchased at a knock down price from a craft fair. The chap selling it said he couldn't sell it as no on wanted it as it had too many cracks in it.....not for me. I LOVE natural woods, so had this idea in my head of what I wanted to do with it. I plan on it being like a wood setting with the little people around and about. I have started with my premo clay. I plan on adding some natural materials using Paverpol and bits and piece's, but have not yet found the right bits, so I have decided to hang it in any case so it get's used to being hung LOL, also will make me make certain I finish it.

The next thing that needs finishing is a huge wooden mirror.....so wait and see... mind you I'm probably rambling on to myself, so it will only be me seeing how that turns out hey ho.

Ok as promised, but my bro is gona kill me.....

My photography is getting worse by the day, I can take photos of anything other than stuff that I need to do and is important. I should be soooooooooo ashamed as by brother is one awesome professional photographer - so will kill me to see the crap photo's I am taking, even with the help of a thousand clicks from photoshop nothing is saving me at the moment hey ho!!!!!!

Right as promised the necklace that I have redone - well the chain really. I made the silver heart a couple of weeks back using my Art clay, cork clay and kiln. I then put this onto a choker cable necklace, wore it for a couple of days and really did not like it. So decided that I needed to change the chain, and this is what i came up with.

I threaded 3 chains, two with silver beads, and one with silver and glass no 15's and then weaved them through the beads, and have to say I really like it now so that's the main thing. Interestingly two people I didn't know today commented on my necklace saying it was really unusual and one was a bloke who reckons his girlfriend would love it, so that's cool.

Way back in my ramblings I posted the Paverpol project that I started - the tin foil man. Well he has a name now - David and he has progressed, and I suppose he is Angel David as he has grown wings - sadly the photos really are totally crap and it really really does look better in the flesh as they say.

I have covered him with materials soaked in the Paverpol, sadly what I found out was that the "Bronze" Paverpol doesnt go Bronze unless it is on black material, but hey you live and learn. The wings were made from a bit of a Eureka moment. Anyways I hope you like him so far. I think he still needs a bit of tweaking but will get there. This has given me other ideas of what I want to do next with some canvases so as they say watch this space.... or not ;0).

A bit of tat and some more silver

Well I finally finished/ish the altered tin challenge, I say "ish" because I am really not happy with the lid of the tin, so I need to do some work on it,

I have lots of stuff going on at the mo and a zillion things I need to get sorted , so I think the lid may have to wait in a que to get finished - maybe by then I would have a clue as to what I can do

Well my silversmithing class seems to be going great guns and I am really pleased with what I have made so far. My latest project is an unusual shaped pendant that I faniced making. I thought you may - or may not ;0) - like to see some WIP piccys.

I took my sheet of silver, cut - and trust me by hand its ruddy hard work - out four sqaures that were 3by3, and then made even more work for myself as I then cut the centre out of each one - again ruddy hard work mmmmm I am sure it would have been less painful on my hands if I had popped to the local jewellers haha.

Anyways I then annealed and bent - ooppps sorry carefully shaped - three of the sqaures to bend up in an uniform manner - well sort of, slightly organically shaped on the middle one ;0)

Then I soldered all four together, but allowing a gap at the top for my chain to go through - how I did this is top secret!!!!!!! worked it out all on my own and it works really well so well chuffed.

Next I made a bezel for my moon stone to then set this in at the stop - hey presto done - have one more class before the Easter break and then I am going to have to think of what I want to do next. I want to be able to do hinges and rivets in silver so need to come up with something that uses that so I can learn how to do them properly.

just some wee bits I have been making.....

Of course I have had to play around with some of my silver art clay and my kiln. So this one is a nettle leaf - found one nettle in my perfectly kept garden ;0). I have antiqued the piece at the end to just lift the colour and so its not shiny shiny silver

This is a cork clay mould that I made and then covered in silver art clay, it doesn't show up very well on the photo, but i have etched into the clay, and again it needed to go into the kiln to fire as i have used cork clay. I have soldered on a finding to the back and it makes a great looking pendant - I plan on doing another one but making a brooch with an unusual backing...won't give to much away!!! but no nicks it won't be for your birthday as I am sure you don't deserve it

and finally a ring that I have made on my silversmithing course. I am totally chuffed to bits with this one.

I cut and shaped the ring out of a sheet of silver, made the bezel for the stone setting soldered that to the ring and then set the stone - an opal - into the ring. I'm not into the shiny shiny silver so have made it look more "brushed" looking, but have drawn the line just this time and have not antiqued it!!. hope you like them.

Right lots more piccys to come later in the week as I have two full days to play - can't wait.

What have I been up to....

Well sadly work seems to have got in the way, which means I have not been around much at all, and also not managed to play with my stash. But I have managed to squeeze in some silver work and a couple of necklaces that i have done as gifts.

They consisted of some crystals and hours of beading, and of course also playing with some silver clay to make the hanging round pendant necklace to the left.
The Silver clay ones look much better in the flesh, I used tiger tail to hang them from, so they became floating necklaces



I have just started a silver smithing course in the evenings, which I am thoroughly enjoying. I am 3 weeks into making my first "real" silver ring, from a sheet of sterling silver. I managed to hold off for a whole two weeks before feeling the need to buy all the tools and gadgets for silversmithing, but suddenly found myself online. I will post the silver ring once it is complete, I am hoping to finish the setting the stone this week. The ring is complete and the bezel that I am setting the stone is done - all by hand from a sheet of silver - so exciting.
Well all my tools turned up, and some sheets of silver as well, so it would have been rude not to have a play. The pendant to the left I have started, and was cut,bent and shaped out of a sheet of silver. I am not sure it is finished as yet, i'll wear it this week and see how I feel, and then decide if I want to add more. I have a zillion and one ideas of where i want to go with this, just need to find the time to finish ones started, let alone start any new projects.

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Just to show the last of..................

....the bits and bobs that I have been making while i have been off work. I now need to go out more often to wear all of the pieces that I have made, mind you saying that I have made a lot for presents and so I don't feel quite so guilty!!!!.

OK so I have been playing with the "paper" version of the ArClay, with some good and some really not so good, and some totally pants results. I have 1 1/2 sheets left and they really are not cheap, and also very small. They are only 7.5cm by 7.5cm so not a lot to play with, and not a lot before you make a mess of it!!!. I have just found a great way to roll the clay even thinner. I've never come across this idea in any of the books i have read or things i have read on the tinternet, it was from a happy accident, as most great eureka moments are, so I am pleased about that.

So this batch of jewellery has been created with lots of stamps, one mould slightly adapted, lots of badger balm and of course my new kiln. Which was great - and now I understand how to do a basic "fire" I'm away, and no stopping me.

The patchwork one to the left - I am really pleased with as I covered a twig with silver paste and then dried it, then built the hanging around it, so when I fired the piece the twig burnt away leaving a hollow twig/tube to thread the necklace through. Also the paper clay hanging with the tree, it looks really nice on, i need to work on this idea more as i want to take it in a different direction, and I have lots of ideas.

Well sadly I am having to go back to work on Monday that two week break seemed to go ohhh to quickly, maybe if I had managed to get out of bed earlier in the morning I may have had more time.

Well here's to a great new year and new idea's and new projects and a new diet boo!!!

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