On The Bench!

It’s been a long time since I wrote about what I’m working on so here we are!

One of my newer designs are the “Reed” rings. These rings feature beautiful faceted gemstones surrounded by individually handcrafted “reeds”, inspired by the banks of the river.

“Reed” rings featuring smokey quartz, aquamarine and citrine.

I’m adding a couple of different gemstones to this collection ~ pretty Amethysts…….

Such a delicate colour….

And, of course, lovely Labradorite with such fabulous flashes of blue…..I can’t resist a Labradorite, I may have to keep one of these for myself!

Once complete, these will be heading off to the Assay Office for hallmarking then off to my lovely photographer for some stunning images.

I’ll be adding to this collection this year, what gemstones would you like to see?

Workshop Wednesday!

Normally Wednesday's are when I show you what I've been up to in the workshop in the past week. This time of year is a little different, you'll find me curled up with my laptop, coloured pens and a note book, planning the upcoming year....what shows do I want to do and apply for, what direction do I want to take the business, what new things do I want to learn etc etc

This year, I'm using a planner from The Design Trust called DreamPlanDo to really focus on where I want to go and it's fabulous! No, I'm not getting paid to say that, I really do love this book! It is specifically for creative businesses, ideal as most creatives are great at having an idea and running with that until another idea pops into their head ~ then they drop the original one without completing it and run with the new one! Just me?? :-D

So while everyone in the house is still sleeping, I creep downstairs, grab a mug of tea and my coloured pens (I do love coloured pens) and begin....and I love how it's going so far.  Did you know that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down? Even more if you share these goals with like-minded people.....

Best keep writing then!

Workshop Wednesday....Just a Couple of Days Late!

So this week I have taken on a challenge set by my lovely husband! His birthday falls within days of Christmas so thinking of presents to cover both can be really tricky.  Husband has always loved a boiled egg or two for breakfast so has tasked me with making him an egg cup for birthday/Christmas.  This involves using skills that I don't yet possess so I have enlisted the help of someone who does!

And so we begin with a 75mm diameter disc of fine silver......fine silver is 99.9% pure and is softer than Sterling Silver (which is 92.5%) and therefore easier to shape.  My two tools for the job are a wooden bossing hammer, this looks like a wooden pear, and numerous blocks of wood that have a circular bowl shape set into them of various sizes and depths.  The silver disc is then hammered so the edges are bought up.  It's a bit difficult to describe so hopefully the pictures below will help!

.......and this is where we're at so far! It doesn't look quite like an egg cup yet but it's getting there! I'll update again next week :-)