A Sable Silver'd: A Ship Shape Stone Setting

Hello all :)

The sun is shining here in Cambridge and I'm in particularly high spirits. The weekend started with myself and Mr S baking an amazing and glorious chocolate creation (see here!) courtesy of the one and only Nigel Slater. I tweeted about this and to my great excitement got a reply from Mr Slater himself :)

Following this initial success I have just spent an immensely pleasurable hour on the phone to a very dear friend who is getting married in a couple of months, and for whom I have just offered some wedding related silversmithing services. Whether or not they are taken up, this has given me a warm glow and delicious little moment of excitement!

As I'm on a roll I thought it was about time to get back on to actual honest to goodness jewellery blogging! We're on a journey back in time and taking a peek at my very first ever attempt at stone setting.


Being a glutton for punishment I chose to ignore kindly advice suggesting that the simplest way to start might be a round cabochon (what a fool I was!) and headed straight into the more tricky waters of a tear drop shaped stone. You might have gathered by now that I am not the speediest jeweller out there. I'm not holding back on sharing new things out of shyness, I'm a perfectionist, I take my time and make sure that what I'm doing with my expensive metals works out right. This was no exception!


I decided to go for shapes that I found soft, tactile and pleasing, choosing a chunky round wire to make the band. The stone would be elevated and rounded and something about the setting makes me think - ship shape! When I was making the bezel there was a moment when it looked very much like a tiny silver avocado which was quite amusing. Might have to revisit that idea someday.

I can't pretend that I am a natural to stone setting. It's rather a technical skill and I'm not disposed to calling myself a technical person.

Nonetheless, I got there in the end and am really rather pleased with how it turned out. As stone setting is a great way to add colour to metal work and there are some very beautiful gems out there I have and will persevere!

Signing off so that I can continue basking in the loveliness - seeing a friend for afternoon tea and then tomorrow... I'm doing an enamelling workshop at London Jewellery School!!! Very excited. Will of course be reporting back with a hammer and pickle review with the full low down. More opportunities for infusing some colour into my work. Woop!

What are you guys up to this weekend? Any workshops? Any projects? Hope the sun is shining!

SSx

The Bench of Opportunity

As the air turns chill and crisp, the leaves slide from green into yellow, red orange and brown (then fall off!) new life begins in classrooms everywhere. New scholarly life with new pencil cases, new ideas and in my case a very special new item. It is my pleasure to introduce and share the love of my very own new jewellery bench.

The bench is an amazing surprise that my wonderful husband, Mr Silversmith, organised for my birthday. On that weekend we headed off to Paris and enjoyed strolling along the boulevards, eating some wonderful French food and taking in the scenery. When we got back I was invited to accompany Mr S to our shed on the auspices of procuring some ice cream. Slightly baffled by this formal request (particularly as it was rather late and we had already eaten heartily) I consented. When I opened the door, this beautiful lovingly beribboned object was awaiting me...

Readers, I was lost for words! The picture says it all though. Mr S and I have spruced our shed up a little - clearing out some of ye olde detritus so there's more room and given it a splash of paint. We've installed a little heater so that I can make good use of it in the winter.

I christened the bench a couple of weeks ago in preparation for my new term of classes and had such a lovely and exciting couple of hours. I listened to some music, burned a candle and huddled over my work and a cup of tea. Perfection! 

I am so looking forward to kitting my studio out with tools and spending lots of time with my new bench, using new ideas and making new things :)

S.S. x

ps. and, as if that wasn't exciting enough, the new season has heralded a wonderful shiny pair of new boots! Yippee...!

One White House and Two Silver Rings!

Review. Silver Ring Making Day (led by Francesca Biggar), January 2010, WhiteHouse Arts, Cambridge

Thinking back to this particular Saturday over two years ago is this very moment giving me a fluttery happy feeling inside! I vividly recall calling J at the end of my day, arranging to meet at the Green Dragon and enthusing, possibly somewhat dementedly, about what an exciting time I’d had, what I’d learned and what I’d made. Warning: this is not going to be an objective review!

Following my aforementioned printmaking misadventure I stumbled across a local venue running a range of art courses. A large white building, passed many a time with no notion of all of the fun that could be had inside. Located opposite a towpath on the river Cam. I had been running past it, literally, for years. All of that was about to change. Something shiny had caught my eye – silver jewellery making.

With no room on the regular evening courses, I leapt at the chance to try my hand at a one-day workshop in ring making. This one day completely changed me. I was confronted with all sorts of very industrial tools – saws, hammers, blowtorches! My father might happily inform anyone who cared to listen how reluctant I had been to any of his approaches towards teaching me some practical skills with similar implements. But… when the end result meant getting to own and wear shiny silver hand made jewellery, it was a different story altogether.

The studio was big, light, airy and well stocked with a multitude of those mysterious tools. The group were friendly, tea and biscuits were at arms reach in the studio and the owner of the house, Caroline had kindly cooked soup which we enjoyed together at lunch time. The lovely tutor, Francesca, organized the day really well. She gave great instructions that even complete newcomers such as myself could take on board and managed to get round to help out with queries or wobbles. 

There was a great sense of completion for everyone as we all managed to make at least one, if not two (!) rings. Mine were simple bands, one using square wire with a leaf texture and one hammered d shaped wire. Sizing was unpredictable to say the least. (I insisted on wearing the hammered one thereafter despite its gapingly large size and managed to lose it for several weeks in the interior of my parents car. Eventually my insistence about the price of silver and its sentimental value encouraged my brother to fish it out (thanks John!)). But  - the main thing - they were discernibly rings, they were wearable, they were shiny and polished. They were the best thing since sliced bread as far as I was concerned.

There would be more silversmithing!

Hammer and Pickle ratings:

Value – 5/5 Hammers: The workshop was amazing value for the level of tuition and amount of equipment provided. Rings are a good starting point budget wise due to their size. The price of silver has rocketed up significantly in the last couple of years though and overall it is an expensive hobby (oops!).

Vibes - 5/5 Hammers: Lovely! Friendly, informal, focussed enough to ignore the tea and biscuits. Most of the time.

Pickle rating – 2/5 Pickles: Despite my enthusiasm, this wasn’t the easiest craft I’ve tried to master. That’s probably what I like about it – the challenge. I don’t clearly remember my pickles, but do remember needing Francesca’s help a good few times. And, on this day I did inflict my worst jeweller’s injury to date – I cut my hand with the piercing saw. Something to avoid. This really stung.