Stacking rings

I've been having a ton of fun with these simple stacking rings lately. I'll hopefully post a tutorial soon (I just finished taking the pictures for it!)

You can find these stacking rings available in my Etsy Shop

Weddings are coming

Just a very quick update on what I'm doing at the moment:

The first wedding ring in a his/her set. It's comfort fit, which means the inside of the ring is curved to feel more comfortable on the fingers. I've spent... About an hour cleaning up this casting, and I've taken it to a pre-polish.

I'll tackle the actual polishing tomorrow.

Carnelian

Just another quick project to get off my bench:

This idea has been percolating for quite some time, and I actually wanted to do a cuttlefish casting for the top. Lacking space and cuttlefish, I settled for a hammered half circle.

Spent a rainy afternoon polishing my hammers (the finish on your hammers will transfer to your metal!) and banged these out in about an hour.

Fiber and Metal

This has been kicking around my bench for... well.. actually... about a year now.

I found these awesome felt balls at That Bead Lady, and I had to have them because they were a mixed lot of really fantastic fall colours... My favorite!

I assembled the frame by myself using nickel silver (filing angles is still hard for me), and I used a sterling silver pin from Stones and Findings. I'm quite liking the idea of combining materials, mostly thanks to my Mom. I'm probably going to hang it on a sterling box chain.

Most of my work lately has been stringing.. so I'll hopefully get some pictures of that uploaded soon.

Off-Kilter

I've been a tad behind on my jewellery work lately. I'm up with my parents at Many-Hues, so that's putting a bit of a dent in my jewellery time.

This is my latest Etsy listing. It's a quick, lightweight necklace that I love wearing at the office. I tried it out as a reminder to myself that I don't have to make everything symmetrical! Jewellery is allowed to be off-kilter, and I'll have more fun making it.

The next piece I'd like to make is a modification again, I'll be adding a setting to a pre-existing component. Can't wait to get home to work on it!

Till then though, check out what we're doing on the land here!

This necklace can be purchased on Etsy

Brandy Opals

I honestly forgot how much fun it is to make your own earring hooks. There's so much design freedom!!

Brandy Opals - Ooo La La

Fat Pinkie for scale

Generally, use a 20 - 18 gauge wire for earring hooks. 18 gauge can be uncomfortable for some, but I've sold over 500 18 gauge hooks and not gotten a single complaint, so it can't be that bad!

Tumble in a tumbler to harden them up. Don't forget to use a cup burr on the ends so they're nice and smooth in your ear.

Simple Earring Studs

I've been very bad and I haven't gotten a lot of jewellery work done. The stuff that I've finished, I've been lazy about and haven't photographed.

Well, I finished this lovely earring set:

I'm quite happy with them! They're a pretty decent size, 15x20mm, and are almost feel non-existent when you're wearing them. They're a very unique shape, and I've gotten a lot of compliments on them when I've worn them around the city!

I adore these earrings.. I feel like they really demonstrate that you can make unique, lovely jewellery using just about anything, including pre-formed components.

I bought these soldered rings from my work, and added my own studs to them. It wasn't a headache to make, it went quickly, and I got a lot of bang for my buck. How can you really have anything to complain about at that point?

I have them listed here:
Blackmaille Jewellery

I need to remember to keep it simple. If I don't keep it simple, it doesn't stay enjoyable.

Fidgety Projects

I am finally nearly finished a project that I've been thinking about for quite some time.

This is a basic spinner ring that's been growing in my mind for quite some time. I simply made a 10mm wide band ring (I just kept hammering the texture until it fit my finger properly). Once I had it fitting nicely, I measured the diameter and made a copper band that fits nicely over it. I had to stretch it a little just to make sure it would spin freely over the silver.

Now that the two parts fit together well, I have to use a dapping punch to slightly flare the edges of the silver so the copper won't slip off.

I don't have a dapping punch.

So tomorrow, I'm going to the hardware store to see if I can locate a large ball peen hammer. It's not perfect, but sometimes you really have to make due with the tools you have.

Maybe now I'll have a ring to fidget with instead of biting my nails. Here's hoping!

Digging through the bench

I don't know why I feel like I haven't accomplished much this weekend. I finished this little piece:

This is a sterling silver ring with a small copper accent. It's my first attempt into more 'delicate' jewellery. I can't really afford the silver for ring blanks, so I've had to get a little creative with the materials that I had. This ring is made from 14GA wire that I put through my rolling mill. I flattened it to a thickness of 1mm, and a width of about 1.5mm. The copper came from some wire I bought at the hardware store (They're starting to get used to some random red head coming in and buying random electrical and plumbing supplies). The leaf was purchased at work, Stones and Findings.

I also managed to finish off a project my Dad and I started last week:

It started out like this

Turned into these

Will be sold looking like these

 So I'm quite happy that was finished. I also made a copper bracelet, but that's really just a quick bangle, nothing special to post here.

Thoughts from the weekend:

• Don't be afraid to melt things. Yes, it didn't work. Yes, it might sit around in your drawer for a few years. Yes, you'll find something to use it for.
• Don't be afraid to use what you have. You don't HAVE to go shell money out on silver plate, you can improvise with the more affordable materials that you have.
• Using tweezers to hold things together for soldering ISN'T cheating. If it works, who cares how you got there.
• If you've been wishing for a particular tool/play thing/animal for years, just go out and buy the damn thing.
• Even though I see other people's jewellery online and think 'wow, thier stuff is so much nicer then mine', I have to remember that I still have a skill that 90% of the rest of the world doesn't.

Perspective. It makes life a lot easier.