Set a Cab a Month - January 2020

Eye'll Protect You © Joy Funnell

A new year and a new Challenge!!

Last year I did the Make a Ring a Month challenge and I loved it.

This year I'm doing a Set a Cab a Month challenge. 

I decided to do this as I have loads of cabochons I've accumulated over the years and I seldom make any pieces using them.  😮😉

I posted onto Facebook about it and apparently I was not alone!!! 😂

So I started a Facebook group for the challenge and said did anyone want to join me and amazingly the group is already nearly 350 strong!!!

Yes, there are a lot of hoarders out there just like me!!! Here's just a few of my pretties!!! 

I have to admit this month has been busy and I've very much left making this to the last minute. Today is 31st January and I'm  typing the start of this blog post while the piece is in the kiln firing to save a bit of time later!!! 😁

I did at least have an idea in mind so this today I got cracking. 

I have this beautiful little Ocean Jasper cabochon with a really lovely single orb on it which has been just screaming eyeball at me ever since I got it....which is apparently nearly 5 years ago now I've checked back!! 😆

I made a bezel using wire to go around the stone and then embedded that into some textured clay and cut out an eye shape.

Once it was dry I added a thin snake of wet clay around the bezel ...

...and while it was still wet I textured the clay.

I rolled out two more snakes of clay to go on each side of the eye. 

Here's a little tip for you metal clayers. If you want two snakes to be exactly the same thickness roll them both at the same time 😉

Then I laid the snakes on each side and used a ball headed burnisher to impress some indents. 

I made a little bail to complement the pendant. 

Then I refined everything up and joined the bail, so now it was ready for firing!! :D 

 After firing I polished the piece up. Then I enamelled it, patinated it, re-polished and set the stone!!

PHEW!!

I love the Evil Eye, Lucky Eye, Protective Eye symbolism so I called this piece

Eye'll Protect You 

😉😅

This is the back, with my Joy logo of course!! 😊

All in all I'm happy with it. One of the things I really want to do this year is to combine enamelling with stone setting...

...so that's one down!!!

I'll try not to be so last minute next month!!! 😅

Until then...

Have fun!

Joy x

Bird A Month 4/12 - Copper Birdie

For my April Bird a Month I made another little sculpture. This one is made from copper using Art Clay Copper. He is not a particular breed! He measures approx 34mm from beak to tail by about 20mm high.

I do like the colour of the copper but I also find that working with copper does not really agree with me. It irritates my hands even when I use a protective lotion like Gloves in a Bottle.

I think it will be back to my first love of silver for me ;-)

March Challenges - Bird a Month and Four A Month

As I am rather behind on my challenges I have doubled up one piece so this is my Bird A Month and my fourth item for my Four A Month.

The piece above is a fine silver pin made using Art Clay Silver with enamel. It is called Blackbird and Sakura. My inspiration came partly from a song my good friends Lynne Glazzard's father, Jim Glazzard. Not surprisingly the song is called Blackbird :)

You can listen to it here.

The theme for my March For A month was flower pins. They are all fine silver and enamel. I started off with a purple flower ...

then a Blue Flower...

then I made the Mothers Day Flower Pin ....

and finally the Blackbird and Sakura. So here are my Four a Month for March altogether.

I have enjoyed making pins and will do more of them. I think I prefer them to brooches.

If you would like to learn how to enamel check out my workshops. May is Enamel Fusion month and you can read about enamelling workshops being run around the UK on the Guild of Enamellers website.

Flowers for Mothers Day

Instead of buying flowers for Mothers Day this year I thought I would make some! :)

My Mum has a lot of my jewellery - what a surprise! As I have been making some pins recently though, and she has not yet got any of those, I made this as a pin brooch.

It is fine silver with enamel made using Art Clay Silver. It is a nice size but the flowers were still a bit fiddly to enamel. Good job I always use a magnifier!

The reverse is just a plain texture with the pin set into a flower shape and my Joy logo.

Hopefully I have included enough colours that it will go with most things!! ;-)

I think Spring has sprung!!

A Colourful Life

This is why I so love colours and textures!......

Tomorrow is my first fair of the year. It is only a small one in Bexhill on Sea but it should be fun. It is organised by a local community association and as well as the craft stands they are doing a big fair trade promotion with all the refreshments side so it should be fun.

I have been making more stock as I was a bit low on the smaller items. Above is a photo of pieces made in the plain silver.  Add a bit of enamel and a liver of sulphur patina and hey presto!

Now doesn't that just brighten up your life? :)

If you are interested in learning how to zing up your jewellery with some colour check out my enamelling workshops. There is a link at the top of my blog and I would love to meet you.

I have more exciting news coming soon about classes as well.

Watch this space.... :)

Bird a week 29/52 - Nestled In

Another week, another bird :)

A rainbow birdie nestling down to roost. This is a fine silver pendant made using Art Clay Silver. The bird and the spirals are added using my Enamelled Accents technique, then I have added some 24k gold and patinated it.

The reverse is set with a 3mm CZ and, of course, my little Joy logo! I really love this texture on the back so you can expect to see this again soon :) 

And the Haiku to go with it...

Fading sunlight glow

Night time fast approaches

Nestled in to roost

 

 

Double Cupcake Delight

I really wanted to do something different with my cupcake beads that I bought from Laura Sparling so I decided to make my own solid silver little cupcake box using Art Clay Silver and use the bead as the little handle on the lid. Cute eh? Perfect for keeping tiny treasures in. What do you think. Is it a bit too OTT on the cupcake side :)

Blowing my own Trumpet!

Carnevale Venezia

Phew, I just got back from the Guild of Enamellers annual conference. I had entered work to be judged and am very excited to say that I was awarded Craftsman status. So now I can put C.G.E. after my name (Craftsman of the Guild of Enamellers). How posh eh! I had to make six pieces of work and I think the Venetian Carnival mask above was my favourite. I have posted a couple more of the pieces here here as well. They were all made using Art Clay Silver and Enamel.

Autumn Leaves

Lime Soda Fizz