A little tool

I have been wanting a disc cutter and doming set for aaaages so when i saw this one on sale at Cooksons I had to get it! It arrived today and it is so tiny it's quite funny.

I would say it is perfect for some of my little post earrings and I will be giving it a go soon, watch this space.
:)

Stuff I really, really want, part 2

I think I add things to my Etsy favourites everyday, there is just too many nice things out there!  I thought I would do my faves in jewellery this time around.

So this week first up are these super cute earrings from vickiorion.  I love the pink and green together, 2 of my favourite colours for sure.  Unfortunately they just sold :(

 

 Ruby & Zoisite Earrings by vickiorion

Next is this amazing charm bracelet from the etsy metal team.  The members who participated each made a charm for this piece which can also convert to a necklace.  Oh how I would love this :)

 Etsy Metal Charm Swap 6 Bracelet By the EtsyMetal Team

I love this quirky modern earrings by AntiGenre, very unique.

 Egg Earrings By AntiGenre

Finally, I LOVE this dog tag necklace by drakonaria and it's quote, how cute is the little chocolate and donut detail? love it!

Balanced Diet....By Drakonaria

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!

Hello World..

..Wow, I haven't seen this page in a while.  So I started working full time about 2 months ago and it is tiring!  I forgot what it was like to work full time, ha!  Since I started I haven't been very creative, mainly as I have been too tired after work and there is always too much too do at the weekend.
Also I have been quite addicted to reading, I got myself one of those new kindles from Amazon and I love it!

I have no more cake topper orders to make so now is the opportunity to make more jewellery, watch this space!

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.

Out of the Kiln

Here are some new pieces out of the kiln and in my Etsy shop already.  A little collection of cherry blossoms.  I love them we have lots of cherry blossom tree's here where we live, so pretty.

I carved a little stamp and made this, the branch I made ages ago and was wondering what to do with it:

I then made some post earrings from the same tiny stamp:

Finally I made a bigger stamp to sit on its own on a necklace and this is the one I am going to be using for my EMC charms in copper with an additional bead component.

I hope you like them all :)

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 new books!

I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to most things especially books and especially crafty books.  I have lots and lots to do with jewellery making and polymer clay. One day I hope to have a big library room to store them all in on big tall book cases. :)

This Christmas I received another four to add to my collection!

Jewellery- Fundamentals of metalsmithing by Tim McCreight.  I am currently teaching myself some metalsmithing techniques such as soldering so I love this kind of reference books.


Polymer Clay- Colour inspirations by Lindly Haunani & Maggie Maggio.  I work with polymer clay a lot with both my cake toppers and my jewellery and this books has lots of exercises to help you get comfortable with colour mixing and combination's etc.


Dolls' House- Shops, Cafes & Restaurants.  I love miniatures and lately I have been geting quite interested in Dolls' Houses so this was a welcomed present.

The Polymer Clay Cookbook by Jessica & Susan Partain.  I love miniature food and for dolls' houses and this is something I want to try and make at some point.  Jessica & Susan have an Etsy Shop
called Inedible Jewelry which features some amazing pieces, I own the bacon and egg post earrings, love it!

These should keep me busy for a while.  Speaking of books, today I downloaded my first Audio book "The Road" by Cormack McCarthy.  Even though I have a lot of books I don't have that much time to read them as I always feel I should be working on new designs instead so now I get the best of both worlds.  Working while "reading" :)

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!

Foredom flex shaft

I would like one if these, please thank you :)

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.