A new life for a Murano bead

 My silversmithing class re started after the Christmas break and I realised that I have not shared any of my recent makes.  So I thought that today I will share a pendant I made last year.

Like most crafters I tend to hoard  keep things just in case they will come in useful. I had a lovely Murano pendant I bought years ago in Italy and the bail had come off. I had every intention to fix it but it remained in a drawer for years. I decided that this glass star would be perfect for my project which was to fuse glass with silver metal clay. I designed a heart and using silver metal clay and I cut it out and added some texture. I also made 3 small heart to use as "claws" to hold in the star in place once fired. I also cut a star shape out (covered up by the bead) so that the light can shine through.

Unfired it doesn't look like much...this was a photo of it drying. We use playing cards when cutting out the clay so they are useful to dry the pieces on too. If the clay is wet when fired it explodes! Not a good idea really 😂

These were the texture plates I used.

Once fired and polished things look very different. This shows how the little hearts hold the glass in place.

This is the reverse where I cut out a star to let the light shine through. The texture worked out really well and the back is as pretty as the front.

I held it up to the window to show how the bead shines (these photos were taken last year)

and yes someone photobombed 😺

 One more photo

I have been busy making new cards for Dotty's Tea Rooms in Carshalton, where I sell my cards. Tea themed cards always sell really well so today's card is one I sold there recently.

I used a new teapot stamp and die set which I bought in a sale and had yet to be inked. I made an inky background using distress inks and added some stenciling and stamping.  The sentiment is Visible Image and you can see their old Bronte script too (sadly long discontinued but still my fave for adding some inky words to backgrounds). The dies are a mix of Memory Box, Marianne, Sizzix and The Works.

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

Allsorts 1/3 No patterned paper
Sweet stampin 1/3 Lots of layers
Fussy and fancy 1/3 distress it
Crafty Catz 1/3 anything goes
Happy little stampers anything goes with dies

Thanks so much for stopping by. Enjoy a lovely weekend, we have a nice quiet one ahead....I can craft to my heart's content.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane (and Billy 😼) xx