Sunday, October 27, 2013

Whirring.

That's how my mind is right now. Whirring. With ideas. Too many ideas and not enough time in the day. I find when it gets like that for me, I tend to do little bits of making here and there on something small or I don't do anything at all. I really frustrate myself sometimes. Wasting time thinking and daydreaming, instead of actually Doing. Well I am never really wasting time as such, I'm always researching and learning something .... but still, not actually doing.

I am focusing on enamelling.
And I am really enjoying it.
It took me a while to finally track down some of the necessary tools I required and I think I am going to stock up on a few more of those particular hard to find tools as back up. Just in case. Fortunately, they're not costly. Just so hard to find here.

A picture of my bench right now:



It's a little annoying having to clear all my silver work before I enamel, but to avoid contaminating my work, it's something that I must spend time doing. So because of that, I am trying to work out a plan for another bench of some sort, just for the enamelling side of my work.

Last week I received some new tools I'd ordered. One of them being digital calipers. Why the heck I hadn't ordered those before now I'll never understand, but they are a mighty handy tool to have around!

I've also been buying up new books. My husband found a great online bookstore a few weeks back and he suggested looking to see if there were any books I would like (metalsmithing books are always more pricey here and damned hard to get). And lo and behold, there were loads!

Below is what I have purchased so far and I've another on the way:























Not much else is happening round these parts jewellery wise. Etching has taken a back seat for the time being - but once I have mastered torch enamelling, I would like to try etching and transparent enamels together. I'm still yet to try etching silver. As I said initially, not enough time in the day to do it all, as I know you are well aware....

My shop isn't doing so well. I won't get talking about it now though, as I know where I could improve things. It does put a dampener on making new pieces though. So I am happy to be trying new techniques in the meantime. Etsy isn't as easy to be selling at anymore (as I'm sure you are well aware of that also). This is part of the reason in the new year I want to focus on selling at markets, where there isn't so much competition for my style of jewellery (yes I'm tired of me talking about damned markets too lol). Though I do have the pleasure of a commission order I'm working on at the moment.

Poppy is 5 months today! It won't be long now till she will be crawling and I will have to really try and organise my time even better, or I will never get to my bench.

I've a long overdue dentist appointment late this afternoon looming over me. Kind of ruins the whole day, especially when you know how many other things/bills you could be spending that large amount of money on!

So that's it folks.
I hope you are all keeping safe and well.
Em ♥

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Stinky day ahead

stinky hot that is. It is set to hit 36 Degrees here at some point today. Not going to be fun for those that have to be out in it. Unfortunately, this means no bench time for me. It's just going to be too hot to use a torch.

I purchased myself some Opaque Thomsons enamels a couple of weeks ago. And I finally got my hands on a small sifter for them - they're sold out everywhere round these parts.























Seeing as I've a heap of copper sheets, I can practice enamelling with my torch and not have gone to too much expense to do so. I really do want to incorporate enamel work into my silver as I love the colour pop you can get. (plus I'm almost out of sheet and funds for it too :( - that's what you get for buying everything else under the sun and not what you really need - smack on the wrist!) So's I can have fun playing with the enamels and such till I've recovered my supplies fund.

Finally I have my newest Moo.com order (as pictured below). Now I have a cohesive look across the board. From business cards, to packing stickers, all with my logo. This is my first time trying the mini cards. I splashed out and got the Luxe ones.























The stickers for my jewellery boxes, I print myself on our laser printer. The little stickers are for my tissue wrapping inside the box. Overall I am very happy with them.

I received a nice bunch of labradorites in the mail yesterday and I have another big lot coming as well. Got myself some nice Broken Arrow Variscite too, which I haven't ever had before, must say I really really like it and think I will be investing in some more in the future. (see, this is where all the funds go ..... )

There are several pieces almost finished on my bench and one piece I finished setting the stone in yesterday, I probably won't get that listed till the weekend some time and who knows when I will finish up the other pieces. I'm a procrastinator at the moment (nothing new there) and just can't seem to get it together out there and get things done! Makes things even harder when you are down to that last few inches of silver sheet and you don't know what to do with it!

Well little Poppy is waking up now, time for some milk I guess. Better get to it!

Take Care
Em ♥