Still here....

though it seems to have been a few months since I last posted (boy is time whizzing by!).

My new found interest (make up) is still with me and I am slowly getting back to the bench a little more consistently.

Below are the latest additions to my shop:

I've a few things on my bench that I am working on.
And I am back playing with enamels a little, but this time on silver.
The one thing I didn't realise, was that some opaque enamels do not turn out on silver like they do on copper.

Here is an example of a pair that went wrong:

 I began this pair with a colour called 'Clover Pink' - which on copper looks like a deep musky pink, but on silver, it became a green with pink blobs. So then I applied 2 coats of Marigold - which is an orange/yellow colour and it fired a yellow with lots of grey flecks.

This pair however were just fine:

They were fired using Mint Green and I love the colour against the silver.

Because I don't have much experience with enamels on Silver, I never thought to do the sample pieces. I have a board with all my colours fired on copper discs so I know just how they will turn out before I bother making them. So now I need to do the same with silver.

This is what I have sampled so far apart from the above, 2 opaques and 2 transparent.

I have a whole lot to go through, but on the Metalclay US site there are a few that have been sampled on silver, so I know of a few now that won't work, the rest I have to try out for myself.

In the picture above you can see the opaque Sapphire - it looks absolutely gorgeous on silver and next to it is Bitter Green and that is almost a neon green and it looks nice and bright against the silver.

Right now my youngest is napping, so I can't prepare any earrings as it means making lots of hammering noise and I'm also waiting on a supply of earring posts. I could make my own, but I can't be bothered.....

Hope everybody who reads this is doing well and having fun in their craft!
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 ♥

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 ♥