Flower Power

Happy Bank Holiday Monday! This is it - bonus time :) Hope you've all been having lots of fun and enjoying the glorious sunshine.

My weekend has been wonderful, thanks for asking! I've been running and walking, writing and sewing, taking lots of pictures and spending quality time with Mr S. We went for a great little pub dinner one night, had beauteous toasted sourdough sandwiches at our fave Cambridge cafe today and ate ice creams in the sunshine. Marital happiness = lots of good eats, basically.

But y'know what's even better than ice cream in the sunshine... Nothing!

No, only kidding, it's flowers! I am so happy to see all the blooms. Over the past few weeks our flower beds have been carpeted in clouds of tiny blue forget me nots. My riverside running route is ablaze in vibrant yellow buttercups and the hedgerows are bursting with luscious green leaves and fine hazy blossom.

This only goes to remind me that I haven't yet shared with you one of my signature SS pieces - my flower power earrings! So, here goes, hope you like them...

 
These have become an integral part of my daily wardrobe - I wear them all the time! That way even with the unpredictable English weather I can have a bit of spring with me whatever the skies bring ;)

In terms of making, these were great fun. They are shaped sheet so I got to do some more sawing (love! love! love!), they were my first go at etching and I shaped them using the doming block. They were also my first attempt at attaching an earring post - a slightly precarious occupation, but I got there in the end. With a little help from my far steadier-handed tutor.

Right - off to enjoy what remains of this lovely extra weekend day!
SSx

Riveting!

I'm learning all about mixed media in my current jewellery class. This is awesome! I'm experimenting with texture and colour and will hopefully finish one of the projects I enigmatically started last October (no I haven't forgotten/given up!). It's great to have a chance to dig around for inspiration and things to accompany the metals as well as just jumping in to PLAY.

I'm an avid lover of coastal walks and often return home with a pocket full of salty treasures. I can't help but pick up a smooth sea beaten stone or perfectly carved shell. One such find had been accompanying me to class for a couple of years and it's time had finally come. When my tutor proposed rivets - a means of attaching metal to other material without heat - the stone suddenly became a piece of jewellery (in my mind!). I had a vision of a bug perching jauntily atop the pebble and promptly set to work sketching and, of course, my all time fave - piercing :)

Sawing that fiddly little bee-st was no walk in the park mind you, and despite my piercework passion I went through more saw blades than I care to mention. I'm still mulling whether I can use this as another argument in my case for absolutely NEEDING this - the world's sexiest saw frame, oh and the most expensive too.

Sadly another bit of kit let me down (I know a bad workwoman and her tools etc, but...). The drill bits in our workshop were not the sharpest in the box and after winning the battle with the bee, I lost the war with the stone :(. My attempt had worked but had taken a chunk out of the back. In the spirit of experimentation I persevered. I was delighted my first time riveting worked but in the process a crack developed on the already weakened back.

So, I now have to decide whether to consider this a test piece or shore up the back somehow. If I do give it some TLC I think it could make a rather nice brooch. Or maybe I'll start over with some silver. 

What do you guys think? Any riveting stories to share?

Happy Bank Holiday to any lovely UK folk out there - enjoy the SUNSHINE :)

Stick a pin in it (see if it screams!)... Halloween Special!

Today's post is bought to you by the mystical powers indecision, frustration and thwarted ambition. All thorny issues I felt were evil enough to summon on a dark hallow's eve. I incite them quite happily for the purpose of this post and then shall banish them from whence they came never to darken my creative door any further!

As anyone who has been following my ramblings will know, I have fallen head over heels for metal working. I am excited whenever the first twinklings of a design sparkle somewhere in the grey matter of my head or heart. A plain brown jiffy bag arrives at the office, to anyone else it appears to contain little squares, rectangles or lines of metal, to me it holds potential (for a piece) and dreams (for something bigger!). I savour time I get to use a hammer, drill or blow torch and can play and develop and make. With a little luck and a lot of hope transforming a conceptual glimmer into an actual piece of jewellery.

This post isn't really about those times (sorry)

This post is about the dark side (mwahaha!)

I have to confess. Sometimes the twinkle doesn't get to sparkle. The metal isn't animated and given magical life as jewellery. Sometimes things just. don't. work. out. Or, they don't quite make it. This post is about suspended animation...

I present, exhibit A. Bat Pendant.

The bat pendant was designed enthusiastically as the shadowy yin to my 'sweet bunny pendant's light spring time yang. As it entailed more piercework I was happy as a bean to get sawing. However, this did not feel to be the end of the project. What was lurking in those very shadows? The accursed beast of indecision waiting to pounce. Dear readers, I have never taken the plunge in finishing the piece. In terms of its shape I am content, it matches my design. But it needs texture, possibly colour and, many months after bringing it into being I have yet to bring it to completion. Here are ideas I have toyed with thus far... oxidising, applying texture in the rolling mill (but precarious due to the thin creepy branch), stringing it with dark pearls, enamelling... 

And then, to our macabre second examination - Exhibit B. The screaming silver skull.

This piece has been doubly cursed, and perhaps rightly so given its' sinister nature. It was borne of my love of Tim Burton and a bit of a thing I have lately about skulls. My intention for this piece was to try my hand at wax casting and create a necklace with not one, but three stylised silver skulls, each with different expressions. I lovingly hand crafted the creepy little wax heads and was very pleased with my modelling work.

Fate and casting, however, are a fickle pair and a fabulous trio of silver brain cases weren't on my cards that evening. My tutor Nick and I diligently prepared the cast, melted the silver with the impressively large blow torch, poured in the beautiful molten substance and waited dutifully for the vessel to be cool enough to work with. When it came to the moment of truth, as I chipped away at the baked plaster, it was evident that all had not gone to plan. The plaster wasn't crumbling away as well as it could be. With a heavy heart I discovered, some sad looking blobs of silver :(

But wait! It was not a complete unmitigated failure. Amongst the sorry wreckage, literally screaming to be found was this hideous little beauty...

But, in keeping with the wicked witches cited at the beginning of my tale this too has a pin in it. When will the decisions be made? How will I help these creatures meet their destiny and the world? When the hurly burly's done?

Happy halloween! Enjoy pumpkins, the colour orange and use the evil forces for good (eg. writing blog posts!)

Sx

ps. If you like my darker side, here are some lusciously creepy sites that are well worth a visit...

If you go down to the woods tonight, watch out for... Kate Gililand - macabre jeweller extraordinaire, she works with found dead creatures (!), but in the flesh her pieces are incredibly delicate and fine.

If you just can't get enough skulls (who can?), check out the one and only 365 Skulls. Memento mori - tastic.

Lastly, a recommendation from Mr Silversmith for any gamers out there. Enter a simply stunning dark fairytale land as a young boy trekking through the forest in Limbo.

Germany, Japan & The Deep Blue Sea

Hello! Guten Abend! Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks. I've been to Germany and back...

Can any of you guess where I went/ what I do just from this iconic statue?

ps. Each morning walking past this just made me want to hit the studio and some metal!

Whilst there I met with over 40 international clients (from the day job) in 3 days. Wonderful to see folk in person who I email for the other 300 odd (who's counting) working days of the year. Except one client who did the european cheek kissing thing then announced he was ill with flu!!!

As much as I like to maintain that this extreme networking and travel is hard work (it is - really!), I have to confess the best bit is dinners shared with friends I've made over the years. This trip was a truly eclectic mix - German on Tuesday, Italian on Wednesday, German again (rude not to) on Thursday, paving the way to the gastro-pinnacle an amazing and beautiful Japanese meal on the Friday night.

Even the place settings were a work of art. They kindly let me bring one back as a poor substitute of the dining experience for Mr Silversmith

So, if any of you find yourselves in Frankfurt am Main seeking somewhere to eat, I most heartily recommend Kabuki. Don't be put off by the location but do be sensible travelling in that area if on your own - it's slap bang in the red light district. Gorgeous flavourful Teppanyaki creations handcrafted by expert Japanese chefs in front of your eyes - mesmerising! My companions and I were in awe and vowed to return come Messe-time next October.

What else? I've had 2 of 4, evil but necessary, travel vaccinations for an extremely exciting forthcoming trip(!)

And... oh yes! I did manage to make one or two of my jewellery classes (despite the day job enforced absence).

I can't resist returning to the deep blue for inspiration! I'm developing a new creation based on an old favourite design. A complementary piece for my fishy bangle. At the same time I'm dreaming up a new narrative inspired design and technique (repousse!) incorporating a larger crill-loving water-dwelling mammal... 

Pierceworking fishies was how I broke in my fabulous bench :)

Copper test for new design - can you guess what it is? (Its ribs our ceiling beams, its guts our carpeting!!!)

Because I'm in a minxy mood I'm going to leave you all guessing about these until I'm ready for the grand unveil. Both (particularly the latter which isn't fully designed yet) need more work, but I will give you another, equally enigmatic pictorial clue about the second piece....

Mwahaha! ;) 

Happy weekend to all my readers, whoever and wherever you may be! As for me, well I'd best get into my shed and get smithing. Or how will this mystery ever be solved?!

A Sable Silver'd: Sweet Little Bunny Pendant...

It's been quite the couple of weeks at Silversmith HQ with some major ups and downs, of which I will definitely be sharing more soon! But for now, a little tale about how a local market on a bitterly cold day lead to a love of piercework (sawing silver).

I work in central Cambridge and can stroll past beautiful college buildings during my lunch break within seconds. However, having grown up in the area, this all whizzes by unnoticed most days as I dash out for lunch or a last minute chore.

One day when I was taking the time to enjoy my enviable environs I decided to venture into the Cambridge Art and Craft Market. The day was wintry and the stalls were few. Amongst them was a young girl, surely freezing her fingers off, selling a colourful array of jewellery - I had to take a peek.

To my delight I found this little beauty...

Orange and bird themed! Hurray! So, this little friend (I called the bird Nigel) came with me on one of my early jewellery classes at White House Arts. My tutor suggested making a silver version, to learn the piercework technique, which seemed like a good idea, were it not for my compulsion not to plagiarise, copy or pilfer the works of others. I'm very morally upstanding in that way ;)

But, the seed had been sown and I pondered how to make my own little lovely pendant. From birds to... bunnies...

I have a great affection for my bunny, although unlike Nigel, he didn't get named. A number of people asked if this is the work of an excellent local jeweller who specialises in sawing metal - The Hairy Growler. I take this as a great compliment! But do confirm that it's my own, because as you know that's  very important.

Anyone else had a great flash of inspiration when they've taken things more slowly, or when venturing out to a wintry market stall?