Thursday 8 January 2015

My tortoise emerges

...no not a real one but my pendant I made in my silversmithing class. At the end of last term I finally managed to finish my tortoise. My regular readers will remember that at the end of the summer term I got as far as setting the stone and then we broke up for the summer. I worked on a couple of projects which I will share soon and fitted in setting the amber stone in between times.


If you would like to see how he was created have a look at the link here

So to set his stone "shell" I needed to use the setting tools and setting wax

I melted some setting wax and pushed him into it to keep him firm whilst I used the setting tools to slowly push the bezel edge around the stone. This takes a lot of patience care as if too much force is applied the bezel splits and too little and the stone can fall out.
Here he is with the bezel safely pushed around the stone.
I then spent some hours finishing and polishing him  and then I was able to attach a chain ready for wearing.
Here he is all ready to wear.................


I am really pleased with how he turned out and he gets lots of comments when I wear him. 


To take these photos I had to use my light tent and yes you can guess who got in on the act
Hmmm this looks a bit like my Billy
any chance of getting out of the way fella......
who me.......
thanks Billy ;0)



So from me and my photography assistant (not) I hope you enjoyed seeing my finished pendant.

I would like to enter my tortoise into the following challenge

Country View use something new to you I have used lots of new silversmithing skills to make my tortoise; mould making for the limbs which were then made in silver clay, creating a bezel and stone setting amber, which is very delicate and took a lot of care not to damage in the making.

So for today my card had to feature some kind of creature and this is what I am sharing, such a sweet little pup! It was a card for a man so I needed to keep the background quite grungy.

I made the inky background with distress inks and some embossed stencilling using my Cheery Lynn heart die as the stencil.
I placed them on the card and added embossing ink and then clear powder you can just see the shine on the bottom left heart
The sweet image is a freebie from All dressed Up who have such cute images. The butterfly is Cheery Lynn as is the small heart.
I coloured the image with my Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencil. The stamped tag sentiments are  LOTV.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

All dressed up anything goes
Natalie and Amy all things new my new is the lovely silver card, my digi and the Stickles glitter.
Noor!UK with love
Inspiration Journal fresh start my fresh start is to try to improve my male birthday card making.....I think that I have achieved it with this card, it's cute without being too cute and I love the inky background I made.
Crafty boots out with the old in with the new my in with the new is to make my own stencil using the my Cheery Lynn heart die.
Cute card ThursdaysWhat's new ...mine is the digi, silver card and the Stickles glitter.
Creative Inspirations finished with a bow
I love Promarkers new beginnings I am using my new silver card, digi and Stickles
Simon Says Stamp something new my new is making my own heart stencil using my Cheery Lynn heart die
Crafty ribbons let's get sentimental

I would like to welcome my recent new followers, it's great to see you joining me on my creative journey here at Jane's Journal. I also want to thanks my loyal followers who come back here every post and leave such kind comments. I really do love reading every single one. Huge hugs to you all.

Bye for now,

Jane x

16 comments:

  1. Awe your tortoise is amazing Jane, I do love amber , it really is a very unusual pendant, I'm sure you do get lots of comments because it's certainly eye catching! Love it. :)
    Cute little puppy image on your card too although I'm sure Billy wouldn't be very interested in him! ;)
    Happy Thursday my friend, we have sunshine and the most amazing blue sky today.
    V x

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  2. I love you tortoise, you have quite a talent there, it was very well done. Fab card too, great distressing and cute little image. Thank you for sharing your work with all of us at Crafty Boots Challenges.

    Dionne

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  3. I remember that tortoise Jane! It has turned out lovely, what a beautiful pendant! I love Billy in the "Who Me" photo, what a cutie. Your card is nicely done for a guy, great puppy image! Hope your week is going well. xoRobin

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  4. Lovely to see your tortoise finished and that Billy is still up to his antics. I also love using the CL dies as stencils.
    Julie x

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  5. Love your finished tortoise, Jane, a beautiful bespoke piece of jewellery! As for Billy, I think he just likes the limelight!
    Another fab inky creation too - I forget to use my dies to their full potention, so it's nice to have a reminder of different techniques! Hugs, Lisa x

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  6. Wow, Jane.. that tortoise turned out fabulous! What a treasure and sure to become a family heirloom. I adore Amber. Bravo!! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  7. That tortoise is fabulous and super cool that you made it yourself. Great card too - love the background. Thanks for joining in with Crafty Boots Challenges this time.

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  8. Fabulous card and design love your tortoise. Thank you for joining us at I♥Promarkers challenge good luck Ginny x

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  9. This is a really lovely card! Thanks for playing at Creative Inspirations! xxx

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  10. Love, love, love, LOVE it!! Of course I'm a little partial to turtles in the first place, but even so :) I enjoy your jewelry lessons. I'm never going to do it myself, but seeing your process makes me appreciate the finished products even more.

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  11. Wow Jane you take my breath away with your amazing jewellery and the tortoise is sheer delight. Thanks for sharing it at CVC and for showing your sweet pup card too. Happy New Year and huge hugs. xxx

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  12. You are so talented Jane!
    I love your Tortoise (I thought you were using chocolate for a second ;)
    and Your card is beautiful as well!
    Thank You~

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  13. I love your pendant! So pretty and love the stone color. Thanks so much for playing along in the Something New Challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog with us this week :)

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  14. Jane thank you for sharing your card with us at Inspiration Journal! I like that grungy inky background. =)

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  15. Beautiful card!!! Love colours, background and image. Thanks for joining us at Creative Inspirations!!! I hope you get to join us again for our next challenge. Agnieszka DT

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  16. Your finished tortoise is just fabulous, I remember him from your earlier post and it's good to see how he looks finished. Loving your little camera assistant too, we've been approved by the local RSPCA to have two new kittens, we've been visiting them every day since we put our name down for them but had to wait for the house inspection - lucky we passed so can collect them soon, I am beyond excited to have new furry critters about the house. Have you seen any snow yet? I here it might actually happen today. Bethx

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Jane x