Enamelling Fun

This week I have been making earrings and here are some that are now finished. As you can see they are mostly enamelled so I have been having fun playing and blending colours.

Here is a quick description of each pair.

Sapphire Nouveau, fine silver and enamel earrings with sterling silver earwires.

Raspberry Ripple, Fine silver and Enamelled Accents with sterling silver earwires.

Emerald Nouveau, fine silver and enamel with sterling silver earwires.

Rainbow Nouveau, fine silver and enamel with sterling silver earwires.

Cobwebs, fine silver on sterling silver earwires (NO ENAMEL!), just in case you think I always enamel everything :)

Sea Swirls, fine silver with Enamelled Accents and sterling silver earwires.

I have some more to finish and some nice new pendants to photograph.

This lot are already up in my Etsy shop and I will add them to my website this week along with the other things. 

Sakura

I was delighted to learn that my chain Sakura won First place and was voted the Viewers Choice in the Metal Clay Today Challenge! Very exciting:)

The chain is fine silver made using Art Clay Silver and is entirely joined at the clay stage before it is fired. The stones are lab rubies. It opens at the front on the right.

If you have subscribed to Metal Clay Today and seen the latest issue you will also see that my work is featured in the gallery pages. Here is a sneaky little preview if you have not yet signed up:)

There is still time to get the great value premium package to Metal Clay Today including an exclusive rubber stamp designed by Gordon Uyehara!

What will you learn in 2012?

Eye, eye, what's all this about then?

2012 is already into February. Amazing, where does the time go. In my diary though I am already putting things in through to November, it will be Christmas again before I know it!

I love teaching workshops so it is very exciting to see my diary filling up with bookings. If you are thinking of coming for a workshop with me do get in touch. There are still plenty of available dates and the workshops can be tailored to what you want to learn. You can find more details at the top of my blog and on my website.

As well as teaching my own workshops here in Hastings I shall also be teaching around the UK this year.

In March I will be at the world renowned Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery in the deep South West of the UK. I shall be teaching two Masterclasses there.

The first is Discoidal Rings. These stunning rings have lots of exciting techniques to learn and we will be playing with nice bright enamel colours.

The second is Joyful Jewellery, making fun pieces in silver clay and learning how to add colour and character to turn them into truly unique pieces. The eyes in my photo above are all from Joyful Jewellery pieces, this is my latest cover photo on my Facebook Timeline.  Enough to make you go cross eyed!

If you are thinking of coming on one of these workshops don't leave it too long to book, pop over to the MCSJ site and have a look now :) I would love to see you there.

More about the other workshops soon .....

I did head this post - What will you learn in 2012 - and I am planning to make sure I learn more as well.

In May I shall be going to Craftworx in Yorkshire to attend Terry Kovalcik's workshop. I am really looking forward to it.

No matter how much we know there is always so much more to learn ;-)

Four a Month -1- Have a Heart

You may recall at the beginning of the year I said I was going to undertake two particular challenges.

 One was my Bird a Month, and thank you to all those who have posted photos so far. Even if you have not there is no time like the present to start!

The other was the Four A Month Challenge. Here are my first four pieces for that challenge and they are (as I am sure you will notice!) all hearts!

All four pieces are fine silver made using Art Clay Silver. The earrings above have lovely red Enamelled Accents hearts.

I made this one with a fine silver snake shaped into a heart.

These have lab rubies fired in place in the fine silver, and finally..... my favourite of the four. A fine silver heart with an enamelled scroll design below.

I really enjoyed making all of these and in fact they have gone off to a shop in London for sale.

So now it is February and time to start the challenges again :)

Long Time, No Post!

I know, I know, it has been too long since I last posted and I do apologise for that :)

January turned out to be a lot more hectic than I expected. I have been teaching and making and lots of exciting things are in the pipeline.

 

If you already subscribe to Metal Clay Today you should of already received an email telling you about the  a premium service and if you sign up now you will get a free rubber stamp by Gordon Uyehara!!!  - definitely well worth it so pop over to the website and make sure you don't miss out.

 

While you are there have a look at  the link to the latest Metal Clay Today Challenge (or click here) and vote for your favourite piece.

 

I entered!!! :) I won't tell which is mine so just vote for the one you like best :)

 

(Hopefully that might be mine!!!)

 

I shall be posting more often through February and if you are taking part in my Bird a Month and have not yet posted your bird don't forget the end of the month is drawing nigh:)



Bird a Month 1/12- Peace Bird

My first bird of 2012! I know some people had expected my last Bird a Week entry to be enamelled so to make up here is a reversible lentil bead style pendant with enamel on both sides!

It is made of fine silver using Art Clay Silver and has Enamelled Accents on one side with a rainbow dove of peace.

On the reverse is a bright enamelled rainbow sunburst and it is set with three tiny 1.5mm cz stones and my Joy logo.

I have been trying to decide whether to continue my little Haiku poems for this year or not. Any thoughts?

I would quite understand if you have had enough  of them...!!! ;-)

2012 Challenges!

It is the last day of 2011 so it is time to tell you about my challenges for 2012.

I know from the emails and comments I get that a lot of people have enjoyed the Bird a Week challenge, me included!,  so I have decided to carry this forward and make it into a......

 Bird a Month Challenge

I would love as many people as possible to join me in this challenge.

It does not matter whether creating is your living or your hobby or even if you have never done anything creative before. It can be in any medium (I may experiment a bit myself!), just create one bird every month and post it into the Bird a Month flickr album I have started. Pop over there now and join the group. I do hope you will join me for the year.

I have also signed up for a second challenge for 2012. Lora Hart has started a Four a Month challenge which I think sounds great fun.

The wonderful thing about challenges is that they are personal to you. There are no prizes, it is just for the pleasure of saying, yes, why not, I can stretch myself a bit and do that. The satisfaction of finishing is immense, believe me. You can combine challenges together, make things that you are going to sell or give away, or just for your own pleasure.  There are no real rules.

So make that decision today and please join me. You never know where it will lead to! ;-)

Happy New Year

Joy xx

PS The two photos are things I made as presents before Christmas, I just thought I would sneak an extra bird into the year and I hope you like the cute guinea pig earrings!