Summer jewellery making

Thanks to Billy for holding the fort for me here on his birthday. He would like me to thank you all for his birthday wishes and yes he had a lovely day. I have been enjoying some crafting time in my studio after work and I have been making something special for my upcoming bloggerversary this coming Saturday, yes I will have been blogging for 4 years. I have also been restocking my Etsy shop with some new bag charms including a new garden themed one.
Here are some that I have recently made and sold including some fun ladybird themed ones.
This one is available in my Etsy shop here

as is this one - perfect for the summer

These I made as a commission

Of course I will be holding a giveaway to celebrate my 4 years and here is a rather blurry sneak peek of the first prize I will be offering...you will have to come back on Saturday to see the piece in it's entirety. I think you will love it ;0) I also have a second prize too.

As I am  showing some of my jewellery today I thought I would take the opportunity to share the summer term projects from my silversmithing class. First up is an etched copper blank which I also added some enamel to. This was more a technique piece but I may use this on a lid of a box.
First I transferred the design to my copper rectangle using an iron.

 After etching it in an etching tank I added some enamels

 This is such a laborious task as you have to build up the colours gradually and keep filing them back. It took several weeks to complete.

 And here is my finished piece. It's a really poor photo again taken with my phone, it's much prettier IRL.

The project that I did not quite finish is a design piece that was called 4 legs and a "tale/tail" and needed to feature a stone setting. I bought a gorgeous amber cabochon and my Hb thought it looked like a tortoise shell so that was my plan...to made a tortoise....my idea of 4 legs and a tail.

Originally I was going to make an abstract tortoise but then I decided I could make some limbs in fimo and make moulds which I could press silver metal clay into to form his 4 legs, head and a tail.
I first sawed an oval from sheet silver to make a backing for the shell and made a bezel to hold the "shell".

 This is how the stone will sit once it has been set

 I sculpted by hand all the limbs using  fimo. I then pushed the fimo limbs into moulding compound and let the moulds set. I then pushed out the fimo and used the impressions to make the silver parts.

 I  pressed in the silver metal clay and let it harden. Each part  then had to be polished and fired with a torch.

Here are the silver limbs in their finished state. I was really pleased how much detail was picked up by the moulds. This photo makes me giggle it looks like an invisible tortoise.

Next was the "fun" i.e trying to solder on the four legs, head and  tail. I had to solder the head and tail first using hard solder...this was really fiddly to keep in place.

 Next I had block everything out with rouge and solder on the 4 legs using easy solder, taking care not to melt off the head and tail.

 but hey presto here he is!

 Obviously he has not yet been polished. I will not be able to set the stone until September when class returns by I am really pleased with him. I have added a fitting to his head to wear him as a pendant. I will share him later in the year when he is all finished.

My card today is nothing to do with tortoises but everything to do with weddings and anniversaries. As well as my 4th bloggerversary on Saturday it is my 33rd wedding anniversary on Friday and my Hb and I have lunch booked in London, we have taken the day off work. Also on Saturday our daughter and SIL are hosting a family BBQ to celebrate their 2nd wedding anniversary (which is on 28th). I cannot share their card here so I thought I would share a wedding card I made. It has a lovely summer feel with a little added bling.

Here are a couple of close ups, the sentiment is a  LOTV stamp which I stamped using Versafine ink.

and the beautiful butterflies are Cheery Lynn as are the green leaves under the roses which I have glittered up. I added a silver edged ribbon and silver gems on the butterfly bodies.The inside is lovely silver card with a Cheery Lynn heart which surrounds a sentiment I made on the computer. The butterfly border is JoyCraft

 and here you can just see the silver peeping through

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

Cheery Lynn silver and/or gold
A little bit Crafty it's magic
My Mum's craft Shop summer
Stamping sensations summer blooms
Whimsy stamps summertime
Little Claire's summertime
Fashionable stamping dreaming of summer


I have my girlies up to stay for a few days as my SIL is away working, precious times. Thanks for visiting today and remember to pop back on Saturday to help me celebrate my 4th bloggerversary with some fun prizes.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x