At the bench :)

Yes that is what I am doing this morning :)

I haven't been at the bench for the past week, so I headed in there this morning to tidy up my bench and get on with a few pieces that are sitting there, waiting to be finished. 

It's a beautiful day. 

Yesterday it was cool(er) and breezy and just the perfect weather for enjoying life :)

This morning seems to be following suit.

I'm just back at the computer to put some new stuff on my USB stick for my laptop and I thought I would do a quick post.

I went to the Gemshow on Saturday, by myself. 

It was horribly hot and the hall where they have the main part of the stalls was absolutely crammed, which made it worse heat wise. I did nab a few faceted stones and some small cabs:

There was a lot of rough available...which if I were able to cut my own stones, it would have been fab. But The cabochon side of things wasn't that great. There were a few that caught my eye, but honestly for the money, I would rather buy the better ones I have found on good ole Etsy.

As I made my way to the end of the stalls, I thought it was all over. Till I looked outside and noticed a whole load of other stalls outside on the grass. There wasn't that much for me there either....but I did manage to grab these:

Some lovely Boulder Opal cabochons.

This little parcel of goodies made it worth my while going to that show!

A few of them have the most gorgeous flash of purple. I can't wait to start setting these. 

There are lots of other shows throughout the year. I will try and get to a few of them. You never know, if you never go.

And I would like to know.

Must get back to the bench!

Em ♥

Gem Show, New Bed And Spring Cleaning

It's just after 10am, Friday and I've been spring cleaning my morning away.

We have an inspection coming up in 2 and a half weeks time, so I thought I would make a start now, by spring cleaning the day away :)

This weekend there is a gem show on. 

In fact it happens to be the same one I went to last time and it was really disappointing. But they are so few and far between, that I feel like going again anyway. You never know, it might be better this time around.?.

We are getting a much needed new ensemble base this weekend. Which means it's time to look for a funky headboard! Yay! I have seen a few DIY headboards and have saved them to Pinterest. But seeing as I need to get a new workbench made, I can't see us taking the DIY headboard route right now.

I got to the bench this week and I actually sold a few pieces this week, which was awesome! I made these:

I also made these:

My dilemma with the above earrings is - the stone on the right is darker over the top half (click on the image to see it larger) and I'm not sure whether I should sell them and if so, should I say that one of the stones is darker across the top? Or should I let the photo's speak?? Or should I sell them at a discounted price perhaps?? What do you think??

Em ♥

Almost Autumn

It's the 2nd last day of Summer here and I'll be glad to see the back of it. There has been lots of rain this Summer and lots of overcast days....today is one of those days, (though now I'm editing this post - the sun has come out). I am finally getting back to my bench, slowly but surely. 

I finally got a couple of little things made this weekend and I am doing the finishing touches on them today. I really haven't been dedicating the time to making, like I want to. Making new things always occupies every spare moment of my thoughts. I have finally taken to sketching down rough ideas of my thoughts lately. I can't draw to save my life, but, it's a good way of keeping those ideas safe and not forgotten. 

 

Above is the newest addition of colour to my work area. I splashed out and bought a 2012 calendar from Umberdove

It's gorgeous and so lovely to look at :)

Next on my agenda is to design and make a new bench for my work area. The one I have, has been awesome up until now. It used to be a massive medieval bed I had custom made when I was about 17 or 18 years old. It was chunky, dark, with a really high base like the beds from that era and it was 4 post with canopy and it had huge cast iron fleur de lys/studs wrapped around it. Well I got sick of it after a while and stupid head me asked my dad to hack it to bits and make a little bench out of it. (I still to this day do not know why I didn't take any pictures of it/or what happened to the left over wood) Yes - I do regret that decision, to hack it to bits. But I was young and didn't always think things through.

So it has served as an entertainment unit and then when I discovered smithing, it became my bench. It has served me well. Very well. But now I want something a little more well designed for the purpose. I decided against a proper jewellers bench. I am used to working with the kind of bench I have now and I don't think a proper jewellers bench will suit the way I work. 

Now I need a bench with more space, that is higher up and we're going to cut out a spot for my bench pin (like a real jewellers bench) and there are a few other things I want to custom make for my bench so it is exactly how I want it.

In the meantime, if I can find a bench already made or something similar that I can alter to suit, then that would be great too. I have been looking. But nothing much ever pops up around my local area :(

Well I have just finished up a few pieces and I will have to photograph them this afternoon and get them into my shop. I also have a couple of pieces to shorten chains on and then post out tomorrow. 

Thanks for dropping by :)

Em ♥

Changes.

I'm all for a change every now and then. 

It keeps things interesting and fresh.

But some changes are more difficult than others.

It's time for me to put Summer into some sort of Pre-Prep/kindy school. 

I am so used to having her home with me every single day...that the thought of being without her every day makes me feel a bit strange. She needs it. I think she'll love it. She hasn't ever been in any kind of daycare though, so I am unsure whether she will find it hard for me to leave her there - with a bunch of strangers, or if she will be so absorbed in the excitement of it all that she won't care. I'm really hoping that she won't care about me leaving. 

She is such a friendly outgoing little girl now and is very gentle when it comes to playing with other children. I don't want that to change. She isn't used to children who bite, hit, snatch, swear, or who are rough when they play. Maybe I'm being a bit of a worry wort. Summer needs to assert her independence and needs to learn to stand up for herself when mum and dad aren't around and being away from home will help her do that. I just hope she doesn't bring the above traits home with her.........(am I being ridiculous??)

Another thing I am pondering changing, is my shop name. 

As much as I am attached to the name I have now, it doesn't really give any indication of what it stands for. I am struggling with what to change it to.

I have:

Cherry Hill Silver

Emma Cherry Silver

The Silver Cherry

Which do you prefer??

Above is what's on my bench right now....not much eh? The one good change for me, when Summer goes to kindy will be the time I will have to be at the bench and get things made. Those of you who've got kids, know how hard it is to get anything made with them around all day, especially when there are no day naps occurring anymore.

Okay...think I'm going to call the kindy now..... *sob sob*....

Em

Goodies

Yay I received my parcel this morning of goodies :)

My fave kind of parcel is this kind. Supplies. Yes fresh new tools and silver and gold (gold fill to be exact) and a lovely shiny new book.

But as usual it's too hot in my workshop to play :(

So the goodies will sit and wait patiently for me to try them out. Cept for the book, I could read that anytime :)

I'm enjoying a nice hot cup of tea (that is going cold swiftly) and a couple of short bread biscuits. Yum. Summertime is coming to a close at the end of February and then it will be Autumn. I can't wait! 

There is so much on my mind at the moment. 

So much I have/want to do.

I'm thinking of some classes perhaps in smithing, to expand my horizons. Like wax carving.

You can see in my piccie above that I have some handles. I need to make a little burnishing tool at some point and that is what those are for. Once I have that made, I can attempt flush setting. I have the stones and burs, so I could at least make a start on my first attempt....

I have a dentist checkup appt this afternoon and I'm not looking forward to it. I have to have it late in the afternoon, to make sure my hubs is home to be with Summer. Which means it kind of ruins the whole day, with the appt lingering overhead.

Anyways, at least I have some nice new stones and tools and supplies to play with. It gives me something to look forward to :)

Em ♥