9/52 - Midnight Garden

This week my challenge piece is another wand pendant. This one is blue goldstone. It has lots of lovely sparkly bits in it, especially when the sun hits it. Blue goldstone is in fact a man made material, and this wand is nice and round in shape, and super shiny!! It was a real problem to photograph!! I started off on white in the light tent, but not much sparkle! I normally photograph in a tent to avoid reflections, but as the sparkle didn't come up very well I went for some photos in natural light on a dark background as well. You'll have to put up with the reflections on those!! :)

Goldstone was first made in Murano, Venice in the seventeenth century, if you are interested you can read more about it here. I decided some nice glass beads would be the perfect combination to go into the chain and I knew I had some Murano glass beads that might match in well. I'd seen them only recently, but do you think I could find them!! Of course after a while of searching it becomes a challenge in itself! They had to be somewhere, and I wasn't giving up!! 

When I eventually found them they were somewhere I had already looked, not in the sort of bag I thought I was looking for, oh...and they were totally the wrong blue after all that :) Oh well...

In the process of searching though I found a few lampwork beads by Izzy Anderson of Flame and Glass, and they matched in very well. The chain is a mix of handmade links, commercial chain and the aforesaid beads wire-wrapped.

The top of the wand cap has the same design as around the sides, and it is finished with my Joy logo on one side, and three little faux rivets on the other side.

I was pleased that the shrinkage worked out really well on this. At the moment the wand is firmly in place with just a friction fit, but I will remove it to send the piece for hallmarking. I'll add a touch of glue when I refit it for added security.

It was fun to consolidate two of the techniques from my earlier challenge pieces, the wand setting and the beaded chain. I will be doing more faceted wands in the future - they are harder to do than this round one was!! :)

Have fun!

Joy x

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3/52- Moon Gazer

This weeks challenge piece is a fine silver locket, made using Art Clay Silver. It is enamelled and set with 2mm stones, and also has 24k gold keum boo details. I've called this Moon Gazer.

This is a piece that has been in my mind for a while. On Facebook we have a group called Metal Clay Europe, and we run challenges. The theme of the current challenge is The Sun, the Moon and the Stars. Being one of the admins of the group I am not allowed to enter, but if I was this would be my entry!! :) (BTW if you want to enter the current challenge you have until 31st Jan '15!!!)

The front panel of the locket swings to open...

...and inside are a few hidden gems ;)

It is deep enough to hide something special. At one of the shows I did last year someone suggested my lockets were perfect for keeping a TicTac or two close to hand!! I guess you can keep anything secret in a locket! :)

It is quite small, measuring just 24mm wide by 30 mm high plus the bail.

Finally I added a handmade silver chain. I used to make lots of chains but always left them bright shiny silver. These days I patinate almost everything I make to bring up the textures and make them more pronounced. (Patination is a process of making the piece dark all over, and then polishing back up for the desired effect.) 

It was a logical step to start patinating my chains as well and I am loving the results!

While making this locket I was also working on a new stone setting technique which lets me set stones quickly and easily. I shall be doing more experimenting with that!! 

I realised this week that everything I've made so far this year has been very restrained on the colour palette. When I mentioned that on Facebook several people commented that they liked the results! So you never know, maybe 2015 will be a more colour limited year for me (but I'm sure a few  rainbows will appear sooner or later!!).

Have fun!

Joy x

Blackbird Locket

 I have often been asked if I make lockets, and while I have made a couple in the past, more recently I haven't.

So I had a good think about what sort of lockets I wanted to make and this is the end result! 

This Blackbird Locket is quite small, the heart shape measure approx 26mm x 20mm. It is made in fine silver and the bird is enamelled (black obviously :) ). The stones are lab garnets and are 2mm in diameter, and then there is a little 24k gold decoration just to finish it all off.

I was quite chuffed with this when I finished it yesterday! :D

 

The back has a sunburst design and my little Joy logo.

 

The front swings open and is held closed by a little magnetic clasp. Inside are a few more 'hidden' garnets.

I'll be making some more little lockets very soon, so watch this space! 

I'll also be teaching this project in the future.

Have fun!

Joy x

Modern Medieval Earrings

So, yesterday I showed you some colourful things!

These are my new design, a range I am calling Modern Medieval.

Here is a WIP shot of the pieces made in fine silver clay waiting to be fired in the kiln at 820C.

  

As they fire for an hour or so the binders which were added the the powdered silver burn away, the pieces shrink a little and I am left with pure fine silver. 

Here they are fresh out of the kiln (cooled first of course!) :)

At this point the silver looks white and the next stage is to polish them up to nice and shiney, and then enamel them.

Until finally we have lovely earrings!!

One pair just had to be rainbow!! 

 

 

The lovely red and black of these have a real Gothic feel.

 

And this pair have 24k gold dots around the edges, and wonderful green and blue enamel. I called these Pretty as a Peacock!

 

These earrings are now up for sale on my website and also in my Etsy shop.

I am really happy with this new style and Im working on matching pendants and also lockets.

I'd love to know what you think of them!

Thanks for reading...

and have fun!

Joy x