Chain! Chain! Chain!

We have been having our bathroom and toilet re-done this past 2 weeks so I have been attached to the house!!  Having builders in with all that entails can be very stressful and even though our guys have been great I have missed my personal space.

So what better to offer escape than having to concentrate on chain maille.
I really enjoy wearing maille bracelets especially if they are made from aluminium jump rings which are so light that you can create quite chunky looking pieces that weigh almost nothing.
My first piece is a byzantine weave using gold and silver tone with a touch of bright purple. It is so cheerful and catches the sunshine so well. I love wearing this one, it has a summery feel and will make super holiday jewellery.

For the second one I made my own jump rings from a lovely green wire and a copper wire. I didn't have exactly the same gauge in copper as the green so I doubled up the rings which has made quite  feature.
This is inverted round weave and the rings are 5mm ID which is a good size to work with.

The final piece is again byzantine weave in a much smaller diameter jump ring in rich copper and was quite tricky to manipulate but has resulted in a very delicate bracelet which is a rich colour.

Just so you know the bathroom is now complete - well, I have to paint the new plasterwork next week once it is all dried out and the woodwork will need a coat of white. The new shower is amazing and after having no doors on the loo, the privacy is wonderful!!

Getting all Posh

I occasionally enter one of my pieces to the Jewellery Maker TV Wall of Fame where over the course of the week about 50 or so pieces are chosen to be shown on the show. Every entrant is entered into a weekly draw and about 2 months ago I won £100 to spend.

It's really hard when you have money burning a hole in your pocket to know what to choose. Finally I decided to buy some of their more expensive strands - they call them Gems of Distinction. I really enjoy making jewellery but I don't do wirewraping, silver smithing or fine gem setting so tend to buy jasper, agate, quartz etc rather than the more precious gems.

However with these winning I invested in a few better quality strands especially as I have some birthdays coming up.

My business partner Helen is 50 this month and adores emeralds. I couldn't afford - nor did I trust myself with - a good strand of emeralds but when I saw these gorgeous green quartz rondelles so beautifully faceted and such an amazing colour - in fact the colour of emeralds - I couldn't resist.

Helen needs dainty jewellery - she is only a tiny person. She also likes little drop earrings with a bit of movement. So I created some earrings and a dangle necklace. It isn't a long pendant it is quite high up, again her preference but looks very pretty.

I also found these beautiful sky blue topaz graduated, faceted drops which are such a delicate colour. I have really only sorted and re-strung them with tiny silver seed beads in between to separate the drops so that each one is displayed to the best.

they look amazing close up

More Summer Brights

In my last post I was wondering if there was scope to create a matching necklace to the juicy charm bracelet. 
Often when I am pouring I try to recreate a certain colour or mixture and get frustrated because I just can't quite get it right.
This time because I had used pretty much unmixed colours apart from a tiny bit of clear to make everything a little less dense in colour and a touch of mica powder to add a shimmer I was able to reproduce virtually the same colours.

So I poured just a couple of the periwinkle flower and three large leaves, then I realised that the mould had a tiny leaf which I thought would really balance a necklace.

I did think was going to be hard to pour without spilling everywhere because it was so small - UTEE is not the easiest medium to control but apart from one reject I was able to pour quite a few tiny leaves to complete the set.

I then had a rummage in my stash for some purple toning beads and found some lovely blackberry coloured faceted glass in a deeper purple. Perfect!

I added a matching silver toned chain and here it is......

a close up shows the detail

here are the two pieces together

Summer Brights

After all the hot weather at last a cooler afternoon so that I have been able to get the melt pot out for a spot of jewel enamel UTEE creating
I wanted to make a really bright bracelet to go with a summer maxi dress that has so many colours but with a strong purple and lovely green.
UTEE is great for summer jewellery because it is so lightweight. It is great to take on holiday especially in a hot climate.
So here it is....

I used Crafty Notions Jewel Enamel (UTEE) in amethyst and peridot

The mould is from a Martha Stewart woodlands set.

I have also used a turquoise mica powder to highlight the texture features on the flowers and a light gold mica powder for the leaves

in this close up you can see the delicate detail of the flower mould

am now wondering if a simple charm cluster necklace might look good with it

Summer Fun

I have been playing with alternatives to gemstones for a while now and have discovered another fun medium to try. Air dry paper clay!
This moulding clay can be used in push moulds or to make beads and embellishments for cards etc. It is unbelievably lightweight and although not as easy to work with as polymer clay because it dries out quickly, if you keep it in a sealed bag with a damp paper towel it will be fine.
There are only a few colours - white, brown, yellow, red and blue but from these you can make a whole range of colours - in fact that is where the fun starts - mixing your own colours. There is no mess, your hands don't get stained, it's like play dough for grown ups!
I chose to make beads which probably was not the simple  task I had assumed but was very satisfiying.
I created a range of pastel colours which I then rolled into beads and made holes though them. I left them overnight to dry and by morning they were quite firm but not hard - they had a gentle squish to them. I wasn't sure whether this was what I should have so left them another day but indeed the gentle very slightly soft finish was  right. I decided to give them a satin glaze which has sealed the surface. Then I strung them onto beading thread with silver toned spacers. The result is an ultra light fun necklace for summer.

close up of the paper clay beads

the finished necklace

TRUE BLUE

I have been struggling to produce a really true Santorini blue with my UTEE jewel enamel and the melt pot. I have created some lovely teals and greens and turquoise but that wonderful deep blue has been quite illusive.

However I have discovered alcohol inks which give a wonderful clear colour and so I set up some experiments to find that blue.
As I was starting with clear base which can go amber after a while when heating I decided to use small amounts which can be quite tricky so rather than use the whole melt pot I used small foil pie trays with different amounts of ink in each

It didn't take too long for the UTEE to begin to melt

and it was easy to top up and dilute the deep blue

I used a range of silver bezels to create some great shapes

Once cooled the UTEE will easily pop out of the bezel which can be used again

this one is made in the large hearts bezel with a portion of texture added while still warm

I also poured onto texture mats and cut some discs for pendants

I then created a bright fuchsia pink

and a deep ruby red

Using the pie trays meant I could make very small amounts of colour and indulge in some colour mixing

Once everything was set I used gilding wax to highlight the textures

I am very happy with  these results.

The discs will be made into pendants on seed bead threading and the other shapes will have bails glued on.

watch this space for the results

More subtle shades of Jewel Enamel UTEE

I have had the melt pot out quite a bit recently experimenting with paler colours with a transparent or translucent finish.
I created some simple shapes and wanted to make them into something. I have created some buttons using a soldering iron to melt the holes although as yet all my experiments have not really done justice to the UTEE so I have done lots of taking part in the last week. You can't drill UTEE it is far too brittle so either melt a hole or glue on a bail unless you are a wireworker and you could wrap a piece.
I have also unearthed my seedbead spinner which I really enjoy using. I adore the range of colours seed beads come in and have been using them to thread onto rather than using a chain.
Today I had to be up very early and the light was great so I finished off the seedbead work and took some photos.

Copper feather pendant
this was created using clear in the melt pot and then a small amount of copper added
the mix was poured onto a texture tread and cut out
a mix of amber toned seedbeads completes the look

subtle shimmer purple puffy heart
this is a dusky mauve with a very subtle shimmer which gives an inner shiller type effect

Lilac feather texture pendant
again this is a texture pour finished with  double row of white, clear and lilac seed beads

the original faux sea glass pendant
this is the one that started my experiments.

These pieces are so lightweight they are perfect for summer jewellery