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

Ring a Month 2019 - September

This is my ring for September.

The theme was 'Finish It'

This is Rainbow Nova 😊

My first question for this month was what shall I finish??? 

I had a good look around and I did have two rings that were unfinished, but as they were both really close to being done I decided I wanted to do something that was more of a challenge! 

Instead I looked around at the various bits and pieces I had and decided to use up some of these discs to make a stone setting to go onto a ring. 

First I played around trying out different designs to go onto a ring band.... 

...and once I had a bit of an idea I started to refine each disc and turn it into a stone setting using drill bits and stone setting burrs.

This is the design and choice of stones I settled on. 

My original plan was to fix the settings directly onto the ring band so I made a wide plain ring....

...then I added a texture and refined the shape up.

Then I had a change of plan!! 😂

I decided to make the stone settings into a separate piece to sit onto the ring band. This was a first for me, a variation on a theme so to speak!! 😉 

I've made lots of this type of setting before but I've never made a curved one to fit onto a ring band, normally I make them flat. 

I adjusted the ring band so the stone setting would sit with the smaller stones sitting out wider than the band, so my very wide band was now much narrower (and I have a nice heap of ready powdered clay for reconstituting!!😂) .

I was really pleased with the result! 

The setting fitted nice and snugly against the ring band.

Advert Alert!!! 😉

If you want to know how to make a ring with a multiple stone setting and texture wrap check out my Pazazzy Rings CraftCast workshop!! 

OK, advert over - lol

Then I set the stones into their settings as they would all be fired in place. They range from 2mm to 5mm. The green stones are nano and the blue are lab sapphires, the rest are CZs. 

Super pretty rainbow colours!! 🌈

I've tried various methods of firing rings with stones in and my current favourite method is to sit the ring upright supported loosely by ceramic fibre wool. If you use this method be sure to allow room for the shrinkage so don't pack the centre of the ring with wool. As the ring fires there's a bit of distortion from the weight of the stone setting but it's super easy to correct on a ring mandrel. 

I think this one is a keeper!! 

My Rainbow Nova is on my finger sparkling away as I type 😉😊

I have to admit I did make this one with me in mind so I added a nice spirally texture around the ring band!! 

 If you are interested in having a similar ring made for you just let me know!

So we are now 9 rings out of 12 made!! 

The year is flying along. 

Until next time...

Have Fun!!

Joy x

Pazazzy Rings CraftCast Online Workshop

Ring a Month 2019 - August

Here is my ring for August.

The theme for the month was

'Under the Sea'

This is Cephalopodicus Funnelli 😉

I had a lot of fun making this ring. As soon as I saw the theme I had an idea as I'd also just acquired a new tool and I was keen to play!!! 

So I started out making the band for the ring which was a tapered snake of textured clay.

Then I drilled out the larger end to make the shell hollow. This was so the actual creature could live inside it's shell 😄 

Next I added the arms using little textured snakes of clay. Most cephalopods had 10 arms, so 10 it was. I fitted each one into the shell and squiggled them around a bit...

...then I made some little tiny ammonites to snuggle up. I used a stone setting burr to make a seat for a 3mm stone in one of them...

...and it was cuddled up in the arms.

Then I set the stone in place and also added a nice green eye. Unlike most cephalopods Cephalopodicus Funnelli is fairly unusual in that it only has one eye 😂 

Finally I added another little ammonite on the side of the shell.

Then the ring was all ready for firing. 

Here's a little video of it before it was fired.  

After firing the ring was polished up and patinated to bring up all the nice textures. 

I was lucky that I manged to find an actual photo of Cephalopodicus Funnelli in the sea to photograph my ring beside!! Although it isn't to scale!! 😉😂

So if you are a metal clayer then you are probably wondering by now what the new tool was that I used to make this ring? 

Well I am super excited by these and I've made a video showing you the tools in action because I'm absolutely loving using them.

The good news is that they'll be in stock at Metal Clay Ltd in the very near future!!! 

I've very much enjoyed the Ring a Month 2019 challenge this month. 

I do hope you enjoy my videos!! ;) 

Until next time...

Have fun!

Joy x

Ring a Month 2019 - July

Here's my ring for July.

The theme for the month was Movement.

I started out thinking about some kind of mechanical movement. A spinner ring maybe? Well I make those and teach them anyway so that wasn't going to be much of a challenge. I couldn't think of any other kind of movement that I wanted to try but at the time I was busy making Tiny Critters!! Aha...a ring with some kind of creature that showed movement could be fun to make! 

Then it was a case of what sort of critter. The animal had to be showing movement so I thought of a hare at full stretch with it's ears back. The legs could be attached to the ring shank. 

Now at this point things got a bit more interesting.... as always I started to Google images to give myself ideas for the shape of the creature...and you know what...I couldn't find any hares running full stretch with their ears back! There were loads of statues and paintings in that pose, but in the photos the ears are upright. Now seriously...that was not going to make a very good design for a ring with the ears stuck straight upwards was it!! lol 😂 Can you just imagine!!! 😉

Then I saw a photo of a hare jumping down with it's head raised looking up so that it's ears were more backwards towards the body - perfect. I would apply a little artistic licence as to how far back the ears went (so they touched the body 😉) and I was good to start making😊

In my quest to use up some part made pieces on this challenge I started out with a part made D ring that I'd been making earlier in the month while teaching. 

I got to work with a file adapting the shape and roughing it up a bit.

My little hare needed something to jump off so I made a little log and fixed it to the ring band...

...and then added some grass like texture to the top part of the ring. 

Next I made my little hare. Here he is sort of finished, but I didn't think he was quite right, then I realised I'd made his head a bit too long...

...so I carved it back a bit and reshaped it, then re-carved the nose onto it. This worked much better to me. So I attached him onto the ring 😊

All in all I was very happy with him, BUT to be fair it was not going to be the most practical ring to wear!!! I liked the idea that he could also be admired as an ornament if he wasn't being worn, so I made a little stand. 

It was very simply made from three pieces. I thought the curved legs would echo the shape of the ring shank and the top texture repeats the grass on the ring. 

The ring just sits nicely into the slot...

...and the ring can sit upright or at a slight angle so you can see the hare better. 

I then fired the ring and the stand and finished them off 😊

Now...what to name the ring. I enjoyed making this one so much I decided on

Jumping for Joy

😂

This wasn't the all that easy to get a good photo of, so I decided to make a little video of the ring too :D 

I've really enjoyed this months challenge and can't wait to see what August will bring us!!

Until then...

Have fun!!

Joy x