Monday, September 28, 2009

jingle jangle silver charm bangles





So here are my finished charm bangles in sets of three or five.

The colours of the stones appear to be a little random but I like them that way. I am using headpins I have also made myself - the soldered end looks so much better than looped wire.
The diameter of each bangle is approx 7 cm but will vary by a fraction.

Price details are on the website.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

the excitement is mounting

On the ARTSYD website... the artists have their own little writeup in the studio section.

Gotta be happy with that.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

cast lace pendants




Antique lace from a NSW county fair dipped in wax and cast in sterling silver.

I've welded little silver rings to the lace then onto larger, forged silver circles to make pendants.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

wedding jewellery





My niece is getting married so naturally I offered to make her jewellery.

She has a lovely formal but simple long gown - peachy, honey tones with an all over pattern. I always think that pearls are best and simple simple simple rather than statement pieces.

So I made her a selection. I hope she chooses the wraparound bracelet - this is my favorite and imagine it on your wrist on honeymoon at a beach.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

jingle jangle silver charm bangles

I've finished hammering my bangles.... I just need to add gemstones

Got a new shipment in today of some rough garnets, coral and frosted quartz. The garnets look like rough red diamonds. I think they are beautiful but I'm guessing they might be an acquired taste - will post more pictures when I'm done.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

cast sterling silver gum leaf pendants






I finished my cast silver gum leaf pendants. I re-thought the original, hammered versions and changed them to sit on two hoops: one small which interlocks with a larger circle, giving the pendant a natural swaying movement.

I have decided against adding any stones to these pendants. I prefer to keep them as is - the elegant shape of the gum leaves can speak for themselves.... any addition would make the piece too fussy.

Am thinking leather thonging rather than chain.

Any thoughts?

I put some on the mf website here.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

and it's card time again

"Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow"



"...and a kookaburra in a gum tree"


OK, it's only September and I'm already making Christmas cards... you're thinking I'm either a Christmas lover or super organised...

Neither.

However, I am applying for a couple of seasonal markets around Sydney to sell jewellery, scarves and such so made up some card samples - hopefully they will catch an organiser's eye.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

forged silver circles: pendants and rings


This week I've been concentrating on jewellery - more specifically, on silver smithing stuff.

Just in time for the Australian summer.



I'm a huge fan of the forged silver circle. It's such a feminine shape and fits so well with some rough or smooth pebbles. Look a little closer and you can see I've made the headpins for the beads. These look so much nicer than looped silver wire ends.

They're slightly kooky because I let the silver melt and form its own shape.

The chains are different lengths and thicknesses - chosen to suit the stones.

And on Wednesday we got our silver cast results back in our little community collage course.

A big 'wow'. The lace came out spectacular and who'd have thought star anise would be so cool - cast as is - without dipping in wax?

The gum leaves were a little disappointing - the thick coat of wax meant that the finer leafy details were lost so I've hammered these a little to thin them out a little more but also to strengthen the silver.




And finally got around to making stack ring sets. Does one bead add enough bling or should there be more?

My favourites are the rings - these carved wax and cast silver rings originally had little flowers on them - but they fell off before they were cast. Never mind, I thought these were pretty though him indoors said "Very impractical".