More metal work

As promised here are the other pieces I made this weekend, more pierced copper! First up is another hammered heart necklace, this one has a jump ring in the centre rather that a bail on the back.  I love to use my hammer and bash away and I also love the texture it gives.

 

Next is a little apple which was fun to cut and helped me practice my curves along with the heart.

And last but not least, one of my faves, a little house!  I love houses and I love seeing them in jewellery.  I would really like to do a series on houses but more like little 3D houses made from silver clay, something for the future no doubt.

At the moment I am practicing a lot with copper sheet and hope to start using silver sheet in the near future, as it is expensive I want to make sure I am not going to destroy it first!

Riveted

I made this new necklace, I think it is pretty cool! My first go at riveting too.
It is 2 copper pieces, the first with my pierced design and the second I have oxidized and attached underneath so the patina shows through the design.  It is quite a heavy piece so I think I need to experiment a bit more when my new supplies arrive.

Happy weekend all :)

More toppers & beads

I have been working like mad to get this set of cake toppers finished, the customer loves in the States and it was a last minute order so I was very conscious of the time. Finally finished today and in the post.  This set seems to include everything but the kitchen sink! :)

I also got around to turning these older beads into necklaces and have got them listed now.  They are polymer and all findings are sterling silver.  I think I may have blogged about these beads a while back when I made them.  Even though green is my favourite colour, the blue and brown necklace has to be my fave.

Something new

While working on my cake toppers I have managed to squeeze in a little jewellery making too :)
I have made another guitar pick necklace made from precious metal clay and also a pair of earrings using my own handmade polymer beads and ear wires.  I like how the earrings turned out so I will definitely being making those again with some new colour combinations.

Both can be found in my Etsy shop now :)

I have a new friend!

Check out my brand new mannequin head! how cool is she, I think I love it! I even drilled holes into her ears to model my earrings. The pictures are a bit dull as I have taken them this evening with no natural light but I cant wait to take pics of her wearing all my earrings for my Etsy shop. A great idea I think when customers don't like to see earrings being modelled on an actual person. I just need to buy her a wig :)

Weekend Deals

Its that time of year again, black Friday, cyber Monday. To celebrate this holiday I am offering free worldwide shipping in my Etsy store and I will be gradually adding more pieces over the weekend ready for cyber Monday. So if you are looking for some awesome Christmas pressies, you know where to go :)

Im Back

After being ill for the last 2 weeks and being away visiting my sister for her graduation, I am now back working away, yay!
I have a couple of photos to share, one is a daisy ring I made for myself from PMC, which I love and I thought turned out really well. I also have a pic of the cake topper I made for my sisters graduation cake.
Now I need to get cracking on my charms for the EMC charm swap, I have decided to make mine from Copprclay combined with silver, just need to wait for the supplies to arrive now!

Bronz Clay & Cake Toppers

I only really have one half decent photo at the moment of my new bronzclay pieces. Its the same design I have already done in silver, it turned out "o.k".

My first batch of bronzclay went wrong as I mess up the firing schedule and the pieces came out like the clay was still in the plaster dry stage. My second attempt was much better, I had to fire the pieces overnight for a total of 10.5 hours at a very slow ramp speed. I then made a third lot and managed to reduce the time down to just under 9 hours and the pieces turned out well on that firing too. The pieces I made were pretty simple I just really wanted to test the firing schedule first of all so now I can crack on and design some new pieces in Bronze.

On another note I have reopened my cake topper website, Hunters Designs, to start taking orders again and you can find it here

New Work

Hello blog followers!

Well I have had a very productive last couple of days, it feels like I have made lots of new things this week, all of which are up in my Etsy shop now. I also made my first pair of earwires which I am excited about because now I can make more earrings, yay! I also had a sale yesterday which always completely surprises me. It was a brand new item which I only listed in my shop the day before so I was very impressed, heres to lots more!

Books I'm Reading

I thought I would write about some new books I purchased that arrived today and yesterday.  I am looking to learn more about working with sterling silver and learn some metal smithing techniques especially soldering.  I got Tim Mc Creight's book "PMC Techniques, Hot & Cold Connections"  I have a had a browse through and it looks really good and informative.  I also bought Jinks McGrath's book "Jewellery Making- A Complete Guide For Beginners" and also Joanna Gollberg's book "The Art & Craft of Making Jewellery"  The latter I think is not really for the beginner, well it looked a little complicated for me anyway but it is nice to browse through and look at the gallery photo's. Jink's book I think will be a good start as it is more for the beginner after flicking through I am looking forward to having a more in depth read and giving a couple of the projects a go.

My thoughts on art clay silver (PMC)

So this post is mainly for Holly, I hope you are reading! :)

I haven't been working with silver clay for very long.  I remember I kept seeing "art clay silver" for sale on the website where I used to buy my polymer clay but I never really took any notice of it.  I just clicked on it one day and read about this clay that once it had been fired would turn to pure silver, a higher silver content than sterling, I thought wow!

I booked myself on a intro to silver clay course and loved it, I then saved up went and completed my level 1 in art clay.  Believe it or not I never touched silver again at home until February this year one I bought my kiln.  I saved up for my kiln as I didn't want to torch fire.  You can get the same results with torch firing but you can melt the clay if you get the torch flame too hot, or you could not fire it long enough and it could become brittle.  Silver clay is expensive and I didnt want to mess it up.  

So you could say I have only really been working with it now for about 4 months and I love it! It is totally different from working with polymer clay for a start I have found that I need to think in advance what I am going to make as the silver clay just dries to quickly so there is no time for messing about!  With polymer I used to just sit there and fiddle about until I came up with something that I like, I cant do that with silver clay.  There is also silver paste also know as "slip" this stuff is the best thing, you can buy the paste but there really is no need as all it is is watered down silver clay.  Or I would just buy the one pot then you can just keep topping it up with bits of clay that have become hard or the sanded off bits from when you have been sanding in the dry state.  The best thing about silver clay is that you can fine tune your piece once it has dried before firings,  sanding with either a file or fine sand paper.

I could go on and on about silver clay as there is lots to find out and learn so if you are curious, definately give it a go.

Tomorrow

My thoughts on PMC coming tomorrow, watch this space :)

I was going to write this post tonight but its late and Im feeling the tiredness so I shall leave it for the morning.  Meanwhile here is some serious eye candy from the very talented Mango Tango, enjoy! 

Art clay post earrings

Art clay post earrings
Originally uploaded by ✭Lou✭

Some new earrings which I made the other day. These ones I am going to keep myself as they need refining a little but I am going to make some more for my shops so look out for those. I have also been oxidising some older pieces, you can check them out in my flickr stream.

The Earrings

New earrings by Revonav
Originally uploaded by ✭Lou✭

I said I would post a photo of my earrings from Revonav so here they are. Love them soooo much!
I havent made anything that new lately I have just been experimenting with some bits. I may have a couple of photos up tomorrow on flickr but I am not sure yet.
Other news us that we are moving again on the 14th April which means I have to get all my clay packed up so that will stall me for a couple of days or so but hopefully not too long. Too much packing to do and not enough time! 

Some more pendants & other news

Here is another of my new Art Clay pendants which I really love.  The is made by backfilling the silver with polymer clay, it works really well I think.

I have listed this in my Etsy shop along with some others too.  I have also opened a shop over at Folksy.com I have listed the same 3 silver pendants that are in my Etsy store as the design I have used can be easily replicated.  Folksy is another Etsy type site for all handmade products and it is U.K based, yay so prices are in Sterling for all the U.K buyers out there.

I hope to have some new earrings in the shop over the weekend as I am experimenting with paper clay at the moment so watch this space!

New Work

Art Clay Silver & Black Polymer
Originally uploaded by ✭Lou✭

I have finally got round to making some silver clay pieces and got the chance to use the kiln.  I have made 3 things so far and I think they have turned out really well.  I have a few more ideas using the same style as above which I am going to try out this afternoon.  When I have made a few more pieces I will get some in my Etsy store.

The above piece combines Art Clay Silver and Polymer clay and I love this combination especially with the black clay, it really stands out.

I had a little trouble photographing the pieces due to the reflections so that is something I need more practice on I think.

O.K back to the clay room! 

Soon....

My new kiln will be here.  Im just waiting for the shipment to get delivered, its due at the end of this month but Im on holiday from 26/2- 12/3 so hopefully I will have it in time for when I return.  I cant wait to get it as I have been longing for a kiln for some time now to take my work in a new direction!  I was lucky enough to do my art clay silver first certificate last year which means I can teach Introductory courses If I like, I think I have already mentioned this in a previous post around about the time I did the course.  I also get a 20% discount on art clay which is worth doing the course in itself I think.  Eventually I will do my second certificate but I need to do a bit more silver clay work first to get back into the swing of things.

I also want to try the new bronze clay as you can get a lot more clay for your money too, so heres hoping my kiln arrives soon!

On my Wishlist

OMG I love , love , love these earrings!  They are by David of Revonav and they are at the top of my favourites list right now.  Made from sterling silver and polymer clay with garnets.  I am hoping that 1, he will ship these to the U.K and 2, that they are still in his shop when I get back from my holiday because I will definately be treating myself if they are!

David is also a member of PCAGOE (polymer clay artists guild of etsy), go check out his shop its awesome.

Work In Progress

Here are some new pendants I have been working on today all ready for the oven.  I am loving the kelly green and black combo!  I am not sure if I wll make them into necklaces yet or if I will just keep them as pendants. I think I will decide tomorrow.
Work In Progress
Originally uploaded by ✭Lou✭