Almost The End Of Another Year.

And I have really let my blog slide. And my Etsy shop for that matter. Sure, I've the perfect reason (little Miss 1.5yr old) but I would have liked to have achieved a little bit more in 2014.

Before the year is out though, I am endeavouring to get one new technique under my belt. I have been gathering the materials needed over the past week and hubby has gifted me for our Wedding Anniversary (today!) - a new Drill Press, which was a part of the 'materials' needed wanted to make this technique go well. I hope.

I really really am excited to try this 'new to me' technique. The more I can do, the more I want to do and I'm hoping with the excitement of this new technique and using a new tool, it will bring me some much needed motivation to pursue all the ideas in my head.

It has been really hot here lately - more humidity than anything else. Summer only arrived here today and I'm not looking forward to another 3 months of heat. Though the past 3 days have been quite alright heat wise. My husband noticed this particular street whilst at work and we took a little drive out to see it as a family and I got a heap of pictures of it:

Yes, it looks this bright and vibrant in real life!
It's such a nice drive through this particular street as these Jacarandas all hang over the road and the green and coral red are spectacular together.

These trees are planted everywhere in this suburb, but this was the best street we could find.

They make an absolute mess when in flower, but who cares when they give the most fabulous shade and colour!

I'm currently working on a custom order, it's actually the 3rd time making this particular piece - using PMC. I finally got to my bench to make the pendant and fire it last night, as it was not too hot and I could use the torch.

Next year I am hoping to invest in a Little Smith torch set up with the oxy/acetylene set up. I want to do pinning and the only way I can see this happening, is if I add this torch to my workshop. Though I am kind of scared to have a 'proper' gas set up if I'm completely honest. Having bottles of gas around makes me a bit uncomfortable, especially with children in the house.

Can you believe I have been doing smithing now for 5 YEARS?!!! Yes! Damn that has gone fast! And I have been blogging here for that entire time too.

There is probably much more I could blog about, but I'm going to leave it here, hopefully I will be able to post again soon.

Take care
Em ♥

Things to do.

I don't know about you, but I can be a terrible procrastinator.
Though at the moment I feel I'm procrastinating because I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the amount of things I need to do/get done.

We have a lot of baby things to sell on.
And whilst it's not a hard thing to do, it's a tedious thing to do, so I just keep putting it off.

Today I MUST get a custom piece finished and listed. So what am I doing here then?? you might ask. Procrastinating. Hey if I'm going to do something, might as well do it right!

The custom piece I'm working on is a flying owl - a piece like the one I recently posted here and sold - except it's with a different shaped stone.

I (thought I had) decided a while back that I wasn't going to accept custom work, as I find it stressful. And this piece has reiterated why I don't want to do them. Please do not get me wrong here, I am so very grateful for the chance to make something special for someone. But the stress it gives me takes away from my joy of creating. Those of you who make things with your hands will most likely relate to this at some time or another.

When I'm making something large and with much detail, it takes time. However, I can take as much time to do it as I want. There is no deadline. Hence no pressure and no stress (generally if all is going well). The minute there is a custom piece (more so when it is a replica of something previously sold) to do, the pressure is on. There is a deadline and there is also even more pressure to have it look just like the original. Then I become super critical of my work, my ability to even make the piece again starts to wane. Things will not 'flow' properly and mistakes are on the horizon. The pressure of getting it to look just like the original is even more deterring for me - as clearly the customer fell in love with the original and will most likely be expecting it to be almost identical. Really I should probably explain in my policies that this isn't always possible.... note to self ....

My other half says it helps me to push myself. I do agree, partially.
But on the other hand, it seems to push me away from my bench even more. 

Anyway, that is enough procrastination for now. I have to go to the bench and get the Owl finished as I've pretty much hit the deadline. Here's hoping there's 'flow' and no ebbs and I will post a picture of the finished piece once sent off.

Em ♥

Doobeedoo

Ha! I couldn't come up with a title for my post today - this was the first word that came to mind.......

Just about finished my housework for the morning and baby is napping.
Was thinking of going to my bench for a short while...

You know, lately I have noticed, even though my eldest is at school during the day and my baby still naps regularly, I don't tend to go to my bench until after I have picked my eldest up from school. No idea why that is. But it's like my 'bench' clock kicks in around the 4pm mark and tells me 'yes! lets go make something now'. It's perhaps one of the most inconvenient times of the day - seeing as it's nearly time to make Dinner and it's bath time and so on - I just seem to get this feeling of time to go to the bench every afternoon.

Silly really. Seeing as the best time of day is when it's quiet and I have no one to attend too. I don't know. Maybe I'm just a gumby? Don't answer that.   :)

Below is what I've recently completed and listed in my shop:

One of my 5 goals for the year is to make more detailed pieces and to add more dimension. I feel I have been reaching that goal so far. And I feel like my work has had more cohesion of late too. Which I'm happy about.

With my last order from Rio I got a few packs of PMC3 to play with again. I'm waiting on some molds from an Etsy seller (they are taking too long to get here and I'm growing ever more impatient!) so I can make my own little findings to add to my work. Going to try and make a nice little twig mold sometime soon, so I can make some twigs with the PMC for earrings. Ooooh I hear the postman..................

YAY both my Etsy parcels came!!!!

Okies well I will leave it here so I can open my parcels. How I love parcels :)

Em ♥

Muse

For once my creative muse is visiting.

I'm hoping this isn't a fleeting visit, that she will actually find a comfy seat and settle in for a while.

I think though I am filled with a new batch of ideas, I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm working on one of the largest pieces I have made (it really isn't that large, but for me it is) and of course, even though instinct told me to anchor things down, I didn't. And so now the bezel has soldered on slightly askew.

The perfectionist within says 'sorry, but you are just going to have to make it right, it's not good enough. Fix. It.' Though I worry if I do go in again and try to realign it, I might just ruin it altogether. I hate that part about soldering. I have some Yellow Ochre powder which I might have to slather all over the parts I can't have reflowing. Hoping with all hope that I can fix it, or it is going to be a very expensive scrap piece :(

Below are the latest things I have finished:

My favourite things to make would be the pendants you see above. I've always loved pieces with some weight to them and these all have just that. And the piece I am working on right now is even heavier, so I must make it work!!

Well that pendant isn't going to be fixed with me sitting here now is it?! Must get on with it :)

Have a wonderful day
Em ♥

2014

Well it's now the 3rd of Jan 2014 already.
I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year ♥

My eldest is away at her Nans for a few hours and my baby just fell asleep on the tiles lol, so I've just put her to bed. Now I can finish off my housework. So whilst I mop and wait for the floors to dry, I figured this would be a good time as any to do my first post for the year.

I don't do resolutions.
I do goals.
Usually I give myself 5(ish) goals to achieve within the year.
Mostly techniques to teach myself and one goal to reach for my etsy shop.
Just before the new year, I managed to teach myself one last technique:

Prong/Claw setting.
I haven't attempted anything like this before and it was playing on my mind for the last few weeks, so I jumped in head first last week and am super pleased with the results for a first try. I'm even wearing the ring right now.

It's a big ring and it's quite a 'bling' piece. I am very proud of it and absolutely intend to try to make another soon. I've had a few rather large stones like this for a few years now, never knowing if I would ever learn to set them. Now I now what I am doing, the confidence is there to do it again. (not a pink fan really though, but it is a pretty stone)

My shop was closed for a little while over Christmas and I reopened it on the 1st of January. I have 40 pieces listed for the first time ever! One of my goals for my shop is to get to 50 pieces listed and to keep it there....if not more. I have a couple of new rings yet to list, so I'm getting there :)

Again I have revamped my shop with new pictures of my pieces. I am never happy and never sure how to 'stage' my photographs. So I just went with what I personally like and I'm happy with how my shop looks. For now.

Below are a few new pieces I have made. The fox I am yet to list. 

I am working on a few heart pieces for Valentines day, got to get in early. And another enameled fox is in the works. Generally I'm not one to make things that are 'trending' but sometimes I feel it's necessary. My other goal for my shop is to sell 50 pieces this year. And that is going to mean I will need to make current trend items to help bring traffic to my shop. I intend to invest more into my shop this year, as last year I fell way behind.

Well the floors are drying very slowly as today it is expected to reach 37C and that dear friends is getting damned hot. Tomorrow it is forecast to be 40C, the plan for the day ...?... lock ourselves indoors and put on the airconditioning!

I hope the new year so far is treating you well!
Em ♥

Markets.

So I finally tried the markets.
After all this time of talking about it and slowly buying display cabinets etc, I decided to try my local Farmers/Craft markets.


And frankly it was terrible.
But 2 things were against me.
1, it was the wrong time of year. So so wrong.
2, it was a poorly chosen place for me to even try.

But all is not lost, as there have been lessons learned and some valuable experience gathered for my next attempt.

For the new year, I am going to go with a big well known craft market in our main city around April. In the meantime I will refine my display and gather a lot more stock, hopefully add some new techniques and put a lot more into my Etsy store. I truly believe that you get out what you put in and in 2013, I honestly didn't get to put much in, so obviously, I didn't get much out of it. I hope to change this in 2014.

I sold my First enamelled piece on Friday! It was the Fox! So of course I will have to make another :)

And below is a picture of the goodies I made for the market, that will go nicely into my Etsy store for the new year and will help fill it out as it was looking decidedly lame.

Lots of enamelled and a few etched pieces and one new small labradorite ring. So I have lots of listing to do, which is super fun....... I really enjoyed making all of these, as along the way I learned a bit more about enamelling and etching and how far I can take things. I've decided I quite enjoyed etching copper and perhaps will do a bit more of it in the future.

We got our daughter a little pool for the school holidays as it's really starting to warm up here. She enjoys it several times a day. It gives her something to do, helps cool her down and it helps her swimming improve. I haven't gotten in it myself yet, but the rate this heat is going, it won't be long before I do!

Em ♥

long post ahead .....

Sometimes I want to write more about how I'm feeling here than I do. But I have tried to make this blog more about my journey of jewellery making, rather than about personal things. Though by personal things, I mean jewellery personal things, not 'life personal' things. If you know what I mean??

*I just wrote down everything I wanted to and decided to delete it. I think I just got things a little out of perspective and needed to 'see' my thoughts written down in black and white to help answer some of my own issues*

Basically I'm still a little down with how I'm doing on Etsy, or rather how I'm Not doing on Etsy (as I touched on in my previous post). If I don't sell some of my pieces, I can't restock supplies and then I can't continue to create - as I'm sure those of you who craft are well aware of that vicious circle. I don't want to sound martyr like. I have so much to be grateful for. And sometimes I just need to be reminded of that.

All negative things aside, I have been having an absolute blast with torch fire enameling. Below are some pieces I have been experimenting on.

The leaf and the flower shapes (sawn by hand) are in copper. And the little yellow cup is in Fine silver. For once, this is a skill I have picked up rather quickly and haven't really had any boo boos yet. Even my other half is surprised at how good the enamelling is turning out, he tells me they look better than he thought they would. I think though, that it comes down to how much time I have spent reading and researching torch fire enameling (countless hours). Most likely also helps that I have my little Orca torch to do it with too. I haven't really tried much firing with my butane and I probably won't bother, seeing my Orca works so well for this. It would also be great to not have to hand pierce/saw every shape I want to make, as in all honesty I'm not a huge fan of it - but I do love the end result of course, so it's all worth the work. Though I'm not against using my disc cutter for my circles!!!  I'm working on an earwire that compliments the enamelled pieces too.

Below is a picture of most of the colours I have thus far. I do have a couple on my bench that aren't hanging up and also 2 transparent colours in my locker, that I have to wash first (boooring). I have some *hopefully* nice little clear containers coming, so I can store my enamels in them on a shelf and then I will make a little colour swatch board for the discs as referral. But before playing with the enamels, I spent time cutting and doming a copper disc for each colour and firing them 2 - 3 coats so I could see what colour to expect after firing. I will have to do this with fine silver also, but costs in doing so are substantially higher than with copper (obviously). Doing this with the discs gave me practice too for my other later pieces.

I was struggling to find those 3 point trivets here in Australia and eventually found 1 supplier and so I grabbed them right up, but I could do with more as it could certainly speed up the process not having to share a trivet between firing. So with my next Rio order I think I will stock up on a few more and some more enamels too :P  Honestly I haven't enjoyed myself like this in ages. I've always been a fan of instant gratification (come on who isn't?!) and I feel that enamelling somewhat gives me that. As much as I love the beauty of metal in it's natural state, I also love bright colour especially in accessories. And what better place to put bright colour than in my jewellery!!

This is a picture of where I am at with the custom order I last wrote about:

One will be a pendant and the other a ring. Both a gift from a daughter to her mother for christmas. My muse swiftly evacuated the building when it came time to do these too. Sooo frustrating!! I just hope I can finish them with no more issues.

So there is the latest for me. I think I am falling in love with enameling and the endless possibilities for incorporating it into my work. And I can't wait to experiment more with it and also accumulate more colours hee hee :)

Em ♥

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 ♥

Holidays.

Well it's the school holidays. And already they're off to a bad start.
Summer has the measles :(
No one can remember if I've had them either.
Which means I probably haven't and probably soon will. So you can see, a pretty rubbish start to the school holidays.

Now I just wait with baited breath as to when I (and quite probably) my baby girl get them too. Not happy. At all. Actually that's an understatement.

Below is an earring display stand my FIL built for me over the weekend. ♥ it.

I am in the process of waiting on some sticky adapter things for the backs of my earring cards, so when I've got those I can start arranging my dangly earrings on this stand. Yes I am intent on getting to some markets in time for Christmas shopping. I have decided to try the ones closest to me, they're Farmers/Craft markets and about $33 a stall. I will have to borrow the FIL's gazebo tent and I have found a table to buy and I just need all the other bits n bobs - table cloth, vinyl logo and a mirror - then all I need to do is get more stock together and finally go! haha how long have I been saying THAT for??

Anywho, below is the latest off my bench:

Earrings and a pendant. I am working on more earrings and more pendants and a ring or two. There are some new tools on their way to me and some new stones, new books and some new enamels. Oh and I got new Business cards coming from Moo.com with my new logo on them! Lots to look forward too! :)

These are 3mm Natural Diamonds I purchased from a fellow jewellers stash on etsy.

I would like to flush set these. Which means teaching myself to do this. I have seen a couple of videos and read in mags/blogs etc how to do this. And most of these tutorials suggested making your own small burnisher, as the original burnisher we use to set stones is too big and will mar your metal and leave not nice scratches all over. Well I am not one to make my own tools. Not yet anyhow. So I purchased these off an Etsy seller also:

I haven't yet used them. Well actually I lie, I did try the metal twisted bezel rocker and found it a little slippery and a bit difficult to hold as it's quite small. But I will keep trying. Probably just used to using my big wooden handle one I guess.

Trying to get to some tuition for metalsmithing is pretty much out the window for now too. It's much too difficult to get to the classes, I will just have to be happy with trial and error and continuing to teach myself with the help of the internet. ♥ the internet.

Alrighty well I had better get back to my less fun chore of the day - bleaching the grout in our tiles. It looks terrible. Spesh when I have bleached the actual tiles and they're looking pristine. I am bleach/scrubbing them by hand and we have A LOT of tiles :(

Take Care
Em ♥

Nothing doing.

I'm in a funk.

Creatively speaking.

Below are pictures of my bench:

Beading. I have been playing with my beads and knotting. The first picture is a mockup of a knotted necklace with an old skull pendant. I thought it looked quite nice, (Faceted red jade and rose quartz) but when I showed my other half, he said the beads look like plastic. Well basically now I can't get that thought out of my mind when I look at it, or any of my other beads for that matter.

Since having Poppy, my work at the bench has dwindled down to almost nothing. My head is choc full of ideas (as always) and desire to work on something, but my body just won't follow through. I go out to the bench, look at a few stones and half made things and don't feel motivated enough to stay. So I leave and then don't seem to get back for days - to 'look' at stuff lol. Obviously I don't have the time I used to before Poppy arrived, plus I'm so behind on sleep right now.

I did get some ferric chloride yesterday in the post, but I am waiting on buying a second hand bottle warmer so I can warm the chloride, so I won't try any etching until then.

My Father in law has found a nice jewellers hydraulic press locally at a tool shop I've never heard of - it's also a nice price too $1000.00. Not sure that I am ready to part with that amount of money just now, not on something I am not sure will be used enough to justify that price tag.That being said, I do have a disc cutter that cuts up to 2" discs that I can't use without a press ..... so I will have to work something out one day.

I caught this photo of Poppy 2 days ago:

Is it any wonder I don't get anything done lol?? ♥♥♥♥

Em ♥

Aaaahhchooo

Yup, I'm sick. 

That's the one thing about having a baby in Winter time - a) you don't want (but would love) to go out in case of catching something, b) you can't do much about it once you have caught something!

I have been wearing a mask when I feed Poppy. I don't know if it would really keep much of my germs at bay, but I have to at least minimise them. I haven't been sneezing much and have only coughed a little, most of which I try to do away from baby and into tissues. I have the disinfectant spray out and ready to spray down the computer area etc when I'm finished here. I can't take anything to help with the cold either - neither can Poppy for that matter :( 

Anyway on a brighter note, I finally finished and listed my first collection. 

It wasn't an intentional one, it just sort of happened whilst I was making something and I couldn't really think of a cool name for the collection, so I went with 'Vintage Lace' as my work kind of reminded me of lace:

*Rabbit & Owl are sold*

Unfortunately the earrings I won't be able to list, as whilst setting the turquoise in one of them, a little piece broke off the top. It's very minimal, so it's not really noticeable, unless you were to say something. I was thinking of offering them heavily reduced on my fan page, as I would hate to see them go to scrap - they're still sweet :) or, I could just keep them for myself ...........

Poppy is now 5 weeks old and is alert and awake for longer periods of time. She isn't afraid of me when I wear the mask whilst feeding, so that's a good thing. She has a good stare at me, but there's no change in her expression. 

Summer starts back at school next Monday - thank goodness! So I may be able to get my creative mojo back on ... though I'm honestly not feeling it right now. I really hope this cold is over tomorrow (for more than the obvious reasons), I really wanted to drive up to visit my parents for the day, they haven't seen Poppy since she was a few days old. And once Summer is back at school I can't go up as it's too far away to get back in time to pick her up. Maybe I can go Saturday - here's hoping!!!! 

Time to cut my nails down I think ... they're getting to that 'could really scratch baby up' length lol

Em ♥

So not in the flow.

I'm struggling to finish my little collection. And I have a small custom pebble pendant to do, but I just can't seem to get it happening. Doesn't help that it's now day 2 of the 2 week school holidays. I'm keeping up with everything domestic/parental. Just not jewelry.

I have to get my backside to the bench today to finish that pendant so I can get it posted. I have been enjoying getting my groceries delivered, so that is something I don't have to contend with, spesh with having the baby to take and a 5 yr old ... not my idea of a good time.

So jewelry wise, here is a piece I finished not long before I had Poppy:

My first ever attempt at a hollow form piece. I love it. It has a nice weight to it and it's a great simple -go to- go with everything pendant. I wear it with another long necklace with a feather, being that it's all silver, it goes with other necklaces. Not that I have any others lol

Below is a picture I just captured:

I absolutely LOVE it - I managed to get her to look at me just for a split second, enough to capture her beautiful little eyes looking right into the lens. This will be one to frame!

*sneaking away to make a cuppa*

Okay, I ended up going to the bench to get that pendant happening too lol.
I am going to make sure I have my collection complete and listed before the 1st of July too! I think it's so hard for me to get on with it, because of that little bundle of cute above. When she finishes her feed I want to continue to hold her as she sleeps or just lays there looking around taking the world in, it's so hard to put her down sometimes. But if I were to hold her all day long, I would get nothing done - at least nothing done that requires both hands/arms :)

It's time now for me to enjoy my cup of tea and a chocky biccie or 2! Then it's back to the pendant, by then I'm sure my little one will be awake again.

Take care
Em ♥

Not Long Now ...

I haven't been very devoted to posting of late.
So I thought I had better pop on by and say hello.
Not long now until baby comes. Under 6 weeks and it will be here! If all goes according to plan anyhow (not that that ever happens!) :)

I have decided to renovate my blog.
It's still simple, but I like the colour change and I have added my Etsy and Facebook and Pinterest to the links in the header and sidebars.

There hasn't been much going on bench wise lately. I'm just not feeling very creative - though I do have several pieces almost finished. It just takes me a lot longer to create at the moment. When I'm at my bench, I have been enjoying the show Downton Abbey. I'm up to season 2. It's funny how not much really happens, but enough goes on to make you want to keep watching :)

Below is a pendant I've recently finished and listed in my store:

And below are some earrings I've recently made and listed:

The pieces I'm working on now are all pendants.
Isn't it great news that silver dropped??!!!!! I was so happy. I needed to make an order and the price drop couldn't have come at a better time. I didn't go crazy or anything, but I ordered enough to keep me going for a little while. I don't imagine that I'll be making much for a while once baby arrives, but we'll see. Once in a new routine that includes baby and Summer, I might get more time to myself.

We have an inspection tomorrow. I hate them. But it does give us a chance to do a good ole spring clean. Which is exactly what I've been doing with my spare time of late. I have sold some clothes and books and stamps and have cleared out a lot of stuff from the spare room that baby will be eventually going into. It's a nice feeling downsizing things and even better if you can make a little cash on the way.

Well I have a hospital appointment this afternoon with an Endocrinologist. I'm hoping I don't have to wait around long. I'm tired of waiting around there.

Have a lovely day
Em ♥

Cannot Think......

my daughter is outside on the patio singing her lungs out and I can't think. All day it's been 'don't do this/don't do that/if you do that again......' I'm a bit over it.

And she's only got 2 more days of Kindy left this year, then it's home every day for 6 weeks. I'm still not feeling great (will elaborate another time about that). We have an inspection tomorrow :(  So a few things to get done for that. I haven't really spent much time at the bench lately either. Still think about it every spare moment, but I haven't the get up and go right now. Though I did get a cuff finished this week! In my Etsy store :)

I have about another 8 lovely new labradorites that I'm looking forward to using. Has to be one of my fave stones. 

Today I got out to the bench, I've nearly finished a bracelet and I'm working on a couple of other pendants. It would be nice if I could just work in there for a few straight hours with no distractions ... maybe Friday :)

Last week I purchased a quick release hand piece for my flex shaft. I can't wait to get it working as it's going to make things a lot easier for me. 

It was our 11th wedding anniversary on the 1st of Dec and hubby chipped in to buy me this chair I just absolutely HAD to have lol

 

I didn't have my normal lens on, only the macro, so I couldn't get a full shot of it, but it's a sofa and it's absolutely stunning and I love it! Been looking for something like this for a very very long time.

Also I'm working on getting a new logo done for my jewellery. But trying to chose something is a nightmare for me haha ... if you want to see what I'm choosing from, head over to my facebook page and you can give me your opinion. 

Going to love you and leave you here :)

Em ♥

Wasting opportune time....

That's what I have done today. 

I took my daughter to her nan's for the day and I came back home and did ..... absolutely nothing. 

Actually I lie, I did do something. I lay on the couch and slept for over an hour.

Not something I ever normally do.

But I've been under the weather for a while now.

My brain is constantly on jewellery making. Constantly.

And I did intend on making something today, but just never got motivated.

I am SO motivated mentally. But so NOT motivated physically.

Nevermind.

Here are a few rings that I spoke about last post that I got finished and listed this week:

♥ SOLD ♥

Natural Garnet Druzy Size 7US

Laguna Lace Agate Size 7.25US

I have some new wires in to make a few cuffs and some wire to try my hand at making my own chain. I also really want to have a go at Etching. I've all the equipment now, though I'm not really sure on what I'm doing.

The year is almost at it's end. 

I'm almost at 100 sales.

I hope I can reach that before the new year!

Em ♥

Picked up.

I have picked myself up since my last post.

Still feel somewhat the same, but it resides at the back of my mind as I push on doing what I enjoy.

I am enjoying making rings at the moment.

This is the latest one I have made:

And I am working on 3 other rings.

Below are some pendants I have made:

And I finally made another Silhouette lady:

♥ SOLD ♥

All those pieces above will be available in my Etsy store sometime towards the end of this week. I think I will try and finish my other rings first.

I have been feeling a bit sick lately, so that hasn't been helping me get to the bench. New stones have arrived - Jaspers, Labradorites and Birdseye Rhyolite. I am focusing on making simple settings at the moment, at least until my creative flow comes back. It's hard to come up with new designs all of the time, but to still keep with your 'look' if you know what I mean???

Think I will sign off here and go get started on finishing those rings :)

Till next time 

Em ♥

Winters End.

It's lunch time and the last day of Winter :(

As I've been sitting here reading blog posts and oxidizing metal, I can't help but notice the birds are extra vocal. I haven't noticed it before, so I wonder if it's to do with the fact that tomorrow brings the first day of Spring.....or have I just been too busy to notice their constant chatter?

I am on my last sliver of silver.

My scrap has been sent off.

I have 2 pieces waiting to be polished and set. 

And I just had my 90th sale in my Etsy shop ♥

It may not sound like much. But when you consider that I hardly ever have more than 30 pieces in my shop at a time, it's a great achievement for me and I'm thrilled.

Whenever I am down to my last little piece of silver, I find I stumble and my ideas disappear. I know it will be a few weeks before my scrap returns some sheet to me, though I could just buy some .... I want to hold off ... but then again I don't want to be without sheet ...

I am stone hunting again. Though I really shouldn't be. But I look over my stash and feel bored with what I see. Stones I once couldn't wait to get my hands on and create with, stones that cost a small fortune. I wonder if this is why so many of us have such a huge stash of stones? Perhaps I should forbid myself from looking, hence to stop temptation. Honestly though, I don't buy that many stones, I spend a lot more of my time looking, than I do spending any actual money.

Here are a few things I have made lately:

The cuff is the first of it's kind I have made.  A little inspired by Amy who has been making lots of them lately. The stone is #8 Mine Turquoise and I have been pondering over what to make with it for months and finally I used it. 

Last week I had made a nice simple setting for a HUGE round labradorite stone. One of the ones I had to have ground down to flatten. It took a long time figuring out how it was going to be set, so it would be at it's best 'flashing' angle. Finally I sat down to set it and it not only wouldn't fit in - but it broke! I think somewhere along the soldering line, the bezel had gotten out of shape. It was only 1mm(ish) off. And I think perhaps because the stone had been ground down - that maybe it had been weakened - as it seemed to have broken on a fracture line. It was a small little crumb that broke off ... but enough to stop me from wanting to set it. 

I might see if I can't grind it down all the way around and reset it some day. But oh what a disappointing day that was. I was so excited to be setting it too :(

Well I am getting peckish, so I will head off to make lunch and finish some jewellery. I hope you are all having a lovely week so far :)

Em ♥

Boring Sunday....

I don't often get bored.

Summer is spending the day at her nan's and hubby is out working. 

I am down to my last little square of silver sheet.

I asked at Rio when they were getting the particular sheet I want. They informed me it won't be until late July now :(

So, it looks like I will have to make the order for some here. But I have no choice. I want to make stuff and I can't, not even with that last little piece ... I just don't know what to make with it lol.

Yesterday wasn't much of a better day either.

Though I did get the dog groomed. I cut all his hair down very short (Took me forever) and washed him and now he's happy. As much as he doesn't enjoy his hair being cut, he definitely enjoys the aftermath. And so do we. If I ever have a dog again, I will never have one with long hair. Way too much maintenance. 

Last night whilst my hubs and I sat and ate dinner, we heard a huge ruckus going on out the front of our house. Hubs went to investigate and to cut a long story short, our neighbour (bout 50yrs oldish, very quiet family man) had been punched in the face by a friend. We were both puzzled as to what on earth had gone down, to encourage this mans friend to punch him. But the neighbour was drunk. So it could have been anything. We are surprised that this went down though, as to look at him, you wouldn't think he would ever go out and come home drunk. Ever.

So that's all that's been going on around here. Summer goes back to kindy next week (YAY!) and hopefully by the end of the week, I shall have some silver supplies?....

Here is what I finished this past week:

You can see most of it's metal clay as I had a couple of packets to use. So at least I got to make something. For the first time ever, I am over the 30 piece in my shop mark! I am thinking of making my own website/shop, but trouble is I would want to put all my work from Etsy on it and I'd want to leave my work on Etsy at the same time. I don't know if that would work? What if just by some random coincidence someone bought a certain item from Etsy AND that same certain item from my webshop??? Then what would I do?? lol

Em ♥