Cherry Ripe

A few weeks ago I bought some lovely little cherry charms in a gold colour. I knew I wanted to make a charm bracelet for spring but couldn't think what else to add.
Then I bought a great mould for lips - I was intending them for hair clips but realised they would be great fun as charms made from UTEE jewel enamel so it was time to get out the melt pot.

I needed to make a really bright red so used just a couple of drops of red melt ink in clear UTEE and for fun added bright red glitter

the lips mould is very flexible and makes four at once which speeds up the process

I embedded short gold ball headpins to roll down

when I carefully heat polished the lips the glitter became even more BLING making the lips look quite juicy

I hand made a two by two chain for the bracelet and added the charms

I decided that it needed a contrast colour so found some flat black onyx faceted discs

I had three lips left and did think about earrings but finally decided on a long chain with a fully loaded dangle on the end

cherry lips charm bracelet and necklace

I had some jewel enamel left and had left it to solidify in the melt pot.  I returned to the pot and heated it up to try a couple of experiments.  I had bought some vintage steam punk effect keys and clock faces quite a while ago and not really thought of a project. I decided to see what they would look like with UTEE poured over the back surface to show through. 

I managed to pour just to cover the clock face but the key spread a bit so before it got too cold I used a sharp blade to cut off the excess and then carefully used the heat gun to neaten it up.

the final small bit of red I used in one of my lovely figured heart moulds and when cold used gold gleam wax which I buffed up once set.

Added Bling!

I have a Facebook friend, Michele, who shares my jewellery making passion and loves experimenting with alternative media.
Together we have been working with jewel enamel UTEE and trying to push the boundaries of our skill and experience.
Last week Michele began to add craft glitter to her pieces with amazing results.
Craft glitter is not the classroom stuff of Christmas cards - it is very fine, made from a lightweight iridescent polymer that often changes colour with heat. This makes is easy to use with jewel enamel but as you will know if you have used UTEE the temperature is very hot ( 140C) which can distort the particles causing them to clump.
Following Michele's experimenting I had to try some myself so armed with mini taster pots of  lovely colours I spent a Saturday morning experimenting.

As Valentine's day is looming I thought I would try a red puffy heart with red glitter added to the pan - disaster - it was obviously too hot and just formed a gunge clump!
Next I decided to use a white powder that already has glitter in it so added a swirl - disaster - the white was so opaque that it over powered the red and made a sickly pink with very little glitter showing.
Romance be blowed!  By the way nothing is wasted - all scrap can be recycled!

I cleaned out the pot and chose blue - deciding to add a small sprinkle of glitter to the mould rather than the pot. This time success!

this lovely puffy heart has two colours of glitter-a blue and iridescent white

I have added a brooch pin to the back deciding to leave the simplicity of the heart

Next I went for spring colours and chose a light turquoise with peridot green, lightly swirling the two together so that they didn't mix but marbled. Again I added the glitter to the mould

this face mould reminds me of the Easter island statues

the puffy heart with green glitter added to one side

I still had some melted enamel in the pot so used a silver bezel to pour into

this time as I heat polished the surface I added a small amount of green glitter to the soft enamel

To finish my session I used a new colour Apatite Green which is probably more sludge green with dark gold undertones. So I decided to make a heart charm bracelet with gold findings.

I wanted to grade the colour from green to gold so after pouring two hearts I added a small amount of clear and let it begin to turn amber then poured again. The next pour I added a little gold which really began to alter the colour and then for the final pour it was almost all gold.

At the mid point of the colour transition I dipped a pair of earrings and with the final colour I poured a simple circle to be made into a brooch

I think this type of glossy finish simple jewellery is  my style.

Working on a piece like this gives me great satisfaction.