Thursday 24 December 2009

Adventures in Jewellery Making The Final Week





I have completed my tiny castles bracelet and have been wearing it ever since! It is a break down of views of various castles that I have visited in the past few months including the Tower of London, Hever Castle, Scotney Castle and Leeds Castle completed with research into castles from various books from the library. It has taken hours to cut out the castles and drill tiny holes so that they can be linked together. Setting the little stones was a bit of a challenge because they are only 3mm. This is a very intricate business and takes lots of patience! I had to set the stones by hand because I didn't want to damage the castles by clamping them in a vice. I had an enormous sense of achievement when I wire wrapped the beads and linked everything together. I've had a lot of compliments about it and I can't wait to make more castle related jewellery. They have just the right sense of history and magic to them.

Saturday 5 December 2009

Tiny Fox and Rabbit Stacker Rings...


These tiny fox and rabbit rings are my first rings made entirely in my flat out of the jewellery maker's studio! I have sawn the little shapes out by hand and then polished them and soldered them to a hand formed wire ring base. The rusty russet and sooty black of the fox was a complete accident and is due to the oxidisation process when heating the silver. I think it's kind of perfect though! I hope to make lots of little whimsical rings that can be layered up to create a completely individual look for the wearers.

Little Castles...





These are my finished Little Castles rings in copper and sterling silver.