Charm necklace, done!

Just a quick post to show you my finished charm necklace.

Each charm was made by a different member of the EtsyMetal team and I love it and can't wait to wear it soon. :D

EtsyMetal charm swap update

The charm swap is complete! This one was a bit delayed in finishing but the end result looks amazing.  I am still waiting to receive my charms (any day now!) and I am so looking forward to getting them and opening them one by one.

As Su from Quercus silver said
                                 "I had a very lovely peaceful half hour with some fresh coffee, Christmas music on the radio and a mince pie while I opened each one in turn. EtsyMetal charm swaps are an occasion to celebrate."

Indeed they are and I can't wait!

As I haven't received mine yet, I borrowed this photo taken by Vic from Experimetal, how cool do all the finished charms look?

I have a chain ready, I am going to put them all on and wear them as a charm necklace!
We all made extra charms, one charm will go into the EtsyMetal shop and the other will will go on a bracelet with all of the other charms and be sold with some of the proceeds going to charity.

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival

Welcome to our EtsyMetal monthly Blog Carnival!

Blog Carnival is about a group of our members sharing their experience on a common topic

When I was in my early 20's I used to be a bit addicted to lifestyle magazines.  Cosmo, OK, Grazia, pretty much anything really that gave me my daily dose of celeb gossip, silly stories that happened in the bedroom and endless relationship advice;  I spent a fortune!

Thankfully I outgrew my addiction and if I could read only one now it would have to be a jewellery magazine f course!  I have only read Lapidary Journal which I liked, just a pity it is not very thick.  If anyone has any recommendations on other jewellery/metalsmithing magazines I would love to hear about them. :)

Check out other members choice of magazine:

Laura Jane Bouton

Beth Cyr

SilentGoddess

Evelyn Makarsky

Deborah Lee Taylor

Tosca Teran

EtsyMetal blog carnival- Why do you make jewellery?

This is a tough one! I think I naturally progressed onto making jewellery from when I was making my cake toppers; I had a lot of polymer clay lying around and thought I could do something else with it.

This was my first attempt about 7 years ago, don't laugh, I thought I was cool *snort*

I made some pretty ugly things to be honest as I was teaching myself and didn't really have a clue.  Eventually I decided I wanted to work with metal so I started using metal clay.  I remember when I did my first bit of soldering, it was soldering some posts onto my little paint palette earrings and then sheet metal was the next step.

I still make jewellery because I like to experiment, I like to be able to cut out intricate designs with my saw and see how far I can push myself.  I love getting the feedback when a customer likes my work and this spurs me on to think of more designs.  I still have a lot left to learn and rings are my next challenge, I must conquer them! :)

I am not sure if this has really answered the question properly but I didn't think I have a specific answer, I do it because I love the materials and challenges and putting a smile on somebodies face.

Other members of the EtsyMetal team have answered this question too:

1. Cynthia Del Giudice
2. Laura Jane Bouton
3. silentgoddess
4. Beth Cyr
5. Tosca Terán
6. Nodeform
7. Mary Anne Karren
8. My Precious Studio
9. Deborah Lee Taylor
10. Anne Walker
11. Andrea Ring
12. Gracebourne Design
13. Evelyn Markasky
14. Inbar Bareket
15. Jewellietta
16. Abella Blue

EtsyMetal charm swap 10

I took part in the 10th EtsyMetal charm swap and my charms are complete and shipped off.  I am now waiting to receive 20 charms back all from different members of the team, I can't wait!
Here are some pics of me making them, hope you like them :)

If you are interesting in a charm, you can also purchase one from my Etsy shop too.