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

Jane's Journal Giveaway

Last year I did not have the time to offer a little something on my blog to celebrate my 300th post. I promised that I would come up with something special at a later date.  Time has marched on and here we are at my 335th post and at last I have finished creating my gift. I wanted to offer something extra special as a thank you to all.

 I have created 2 special necklaces for the occasion. They are summer based so that they can give us something to look forward to.

One is created in copper metal clay and the second is in silver metal clay. In case you have not heard of metal clays, they are very pure metals combined with a binder. When fired they leave behind pure copper and fine silver, much purer that most precious metal jewellery you would buy.  The silver necklace is a flower with a second daisy in the flower which I have textured. It comes with an 18" sterling silver necklace. The copper necklace has a handmade double textured heart and a Vintaj (lovely quality) seahorse charm from my stash. It comes on a red cord 18" necklace. Both pieces can be taken off their necklaces and could be used as simple charms on your keyring if you prefer or they would make a lovely gift as they come in an organza bag. They have been so difficult to photograph, especially the silver flower as it is really sparkly in real life.

I have also been having a restock in my Etsy shop and if you are in a summer mood there are a couple of new pieces there.

This is a mermaid bag charm with 2 gorgeous artisan hand made lampwork glass beads available here .
Below is a  lovely artisan lampwork beach bead necklace. I have silver wire wrapped the bead with 2 Swarovski bicone spacers and it comes with a silver snake chain. It is available here

or if you like pearls and shells there is one more new Summery piece available here

At the moment summer still seems a long way away doesn't it?

I thought today's card challenge entry also needed to be really summery and full of love

I used my newest Lili of the Valley stamp called pots of love which I coloured with my Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils.

 The backing card is a hand embossed piece I made with lots of distress inks and some gold metallic gilding wax. If was so hard to photograph this as the lovely gold foil matting card reflects so much. The sentiment is also LOTV from their grunge range.

My card is for sale in my Etsy shop here and would suit either Mother's day or Mum's birthday as it is blank inside.

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

Lili of the Valley Name that tune my tune is the theme tune from Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men! No I wonder if some of my readers are old enough to remember that one!
2 Sisters embossing
The Artistic Stamper Use Distress
Stamping Sensations wings fantasy or fiction my birdie die cuts have got wings!
Crafty Sentiments anything goes
Papertake Weekly lovely layers
Pan Pastel UK  anything goes
Divas by Design rubber stamps only
Love to Create sparkle and bling
Deep Ocean love is all around us
Rhedd and Rosie love is in the air
Totally Gorjuss lovey dovey
Make it Monday linky party #179
Whimsy stamps love is in the air


My giveaway is open to everyone, I never like imposing restrictions as I am delighted that people read my blog, even as silent readers. You do not even need to have a blog but of course you do need to pop back after the closing date and see if you have won. I will post world wide. Just leave a comment on this post to say you would like to be in the draw.
However I do like to add a little extra for my loyal blogging friends who visit me here week after week and leave such kind comments.
So, if you are a follower you will get an 2nd entry and if you put the photo at the top of this post in your side bar or mention my giveaway in a blog post or on Facebook you will also get a 3rd entry. That means some of you will qualify for 3 entries.Please leave a comment to say how many entries you qualify for and it does not matter if you come back another day to say this as my names go into a hat to be drawn out by my Hb.

Good luck to everyone and again thank you so much for being such amazing friends. This blogging world brings me a lot of pleasure. My giveaway will close at 4pm GMT on Friday 7 March. I will announce the winners soon after that date. The first person out of the hat will have the choice of the necklaces, the second person will have the other.

The sun is actually shining as I type this, long may it last.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Further adventures with silver metal clay

Last week I took some time off work to attend the 3 day Silver Metal Clay course which I booked many months ago. I have been on 2 metal clay courses in the last year and used my skills to make my daughter's engagement keepsake pendant.
 11 ladies arrived on the Monday morning keen to further (or begin) their creativity.

 I really do find this medium so fascinating to work with. Once you master how to handle the clay (it does take some getting used to) there is so much freedom in working with it. My traditional silver smithing skills further help me. As a refresher, to those of you who are not familiar with metal clay, there are 2 main makers, both Japanese, who produce the brands "PMC" and "Art Clay". I have worked with both but I do prefer the slow dry version of Art Clay although both brands are very similar. Metal clay is almost pure silver, 999 parts as opposed to 925 found in sterling silver. It is held in a binder and once fired to burn off the binder, using a kiln or hand torch, it becomes solid 999 silver. It really is almost magical the way it changes its form during the firing process.

Each day we worked on a different project, 2 were set projects and the last day it was possible to work on something different if we did not want to work on the one suggested. The projects were; pendant making, bead making and ring making. As I have already attended a 1 day ring making course I decided that I would try my hand at making my own toggle clasps to use in my jewellery making.

Day 1
We had a demo from Liz our tutor after which we were given a piece of Fimo clay to roll out some design ideas. Metal clay is very expensive and you need to make your errors using Fimo.Once we were happy with our Fimo designs it was time to cut out the real thing. I decided that I wanted to use my heart cutters again which I used for my daughter's engagement cake and pendant.

After embossing the clay with a pattern and cutting them out they were left to dry. Once dry  I had to file smooth all the edges of the components. Once smooth I assembled them using metal clay paste (similar to the slip you use in pottery) and got them  ready for drying on the hot plate.This is the stage when the clay is very fragile and easy to break if too much pressure is applied.

Here they are assembled and ready to be dried again. I set a tiny cubic zirconia in the centre of the small heart of the pendant on the left.

I had a small piece of clay spare so I also cut out a tiny daisy design and set a cubic zirconia  in the centre.I then fixed the small daisy on to the larger one to give a "3 D" effect.



Day 2
The set project for this day was to make 2 styles of bead; a lentil and a rolled bead. The lentil bead was quite difficult to make.

I conditioned and rolled out the clay

Next I chose an embossing pad, I used a seashell design and I rolled this design into the clay...

which left this pretty pattern.

Next I used 2 round cutters to cut out the 2 sides of the beads which I then left to dry on a former (or in this case the backs of 2 same sized measuring spoons).

Once dry I carefully filed the 2 halves smooth and after checking the fit I made a hole in each end and sandwiched them together.





This is the other style of  bead.

They were fun to make, a triangle of clay was rolled out and textured and then I wound it carefully around a cocktail stick. The edges were sealed and and left to dry.

Day 3
Rather than the set project of ring making I chose to have a "play" at making some toggle clasps. I first came up with 2 designs which again I practiced making using Fimo clay. Once I was happy I made them up in metal clay.

Here are the front components prior to filing and assembling.

The toggle part was very fiddly as first I had to cut out the shape and before the clay hardened (it hardens in a matter of minutes)...................

.....I had to fix in 1/2 jump rings to the back. You can see this in the toggle on the far side of the photo.Eveything was again sanded when dry and the clasp and toggle assembled by adding the little daisies.







I am sure you are now asking....so what did they all look like finished........

..........well here they all are having been fired, brass filed, tumble polished and burnished.

It's incredible the way the finished pieces turn out and yes they really are solid almost pure silver! I am particularly pleased with the toggles as I hope to develop these and use them in the bridal jewellery for my daughter's wedding next July.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you are interested I have decided for the very 1st time to sell one of my PMC pieces. You will find the heart pendant in the centre of the photo above for sale here in my Etsy shop. Enjoy!

I am off to Paris on Friday,  I will be back the following Wednesday (27th July).

DON'T FORGET...I am launching my giveaway post for my 1st Bloggerversary whilst I am away. All being well if the "scheduler" works! Put the date in your diaries, Wednesday 26th July. You could win my alabaster earrings.

 I will be back that same week with some photos from the city of  L*O*V*E where my dear Hb and I will be celebrating our 30th Wedding Anniversary. I will raise a glass to you all - cheers to all, my blogging friends :0)

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A promise fulfilled

If you remember I wrote this post about the promise I once made my daughter many years ago that I would happily make her engagement cake. Tom proposed to her at the summit of Scout Kinder in the Peak District on 11th December last year. We were due to have a family celebration the following weekend but this was cancelled due to the heavy snow we had during the coldest winter the UK has endured for 30 years.

They decided they did not want to miss out on a celebration and last weekend they finally held their party to which I took the promised engagement cake.

Well here it is................

My theme was red hearts on a white cake.

I spent days cutting out a multitude of different shaped hearts so that I could have a play with some designs. I also decided that as well as a central plaque I wanted to make a heart "explosion" which would come out of the cake. I attached sugar paste hearts to wires which I then "corkscrewed" using a pencil. Some hearts were also painted silver with edible food colouring.

Now whilst working on this I had one of those "light bulb" moments and decided that to make a permanent reminder I would add a  special twist to the cake...I would make a precious metal clay silver heart pendant which would match some of the icing hearts I made. I had great fun making this at home, rolling out the clay and firing it with my blow torch.

I then polished it and added a silver jump ring.
Here it is next to one of the icing hearts.

I tied a red ribbon to it and hid it amongst the "explosion " heart spray I made.  I also bought a silver chain to hang it from.









The evening before the party I made up my traditional (and very simple) all in one sponge recipe. It was left to cool overnight and the next morning I sliced it open and sandwiched it together with a thick layer of home made vanilla butter cream and my favourite shop bought raspberry jam. I like strawberry jam with a plain vanilla butter icing but Milly loves raspberry so that is what I used. I never scrimp on my fillings as I like my cakes to taste as good as I hope they look.

I then had the task of putting my plan together.Luckily it all went well and after a few hours concentrated work it was finished.

If you look above you can see the silver heart hidden amongst the heart explosion.

I then put it carefully into a cake box (always essential if you are transporting cakes anywhere) and we drove down to Essex with it in the boot of the car.

Milly and Tom were delighted with their cake and Milly was so touched by the special pendant. We had a wonderful party and everyone enjoyed getting together to celebrate their engagement. I nearly forgot to capture the cake cutting moment so apologies that the photo I took is not brilliant. Tom was wearing a hat as it was a "hat and slippers" party -  it is not his usual apparel! And yes together with that lovely dress Milly really is wearing slippers!

Milly spoke to me the next day and said she had been wearing her pendant on the chain and loved it. I think my idea of a reminder in silver was good as by then there was also virtually no cake left.........she is the biggest fan of her Mum's home made cakes ;0)

Wishing the pair of them a lifetime of love and happiness and here's to 28.7.12

Bye for now,

Jane x