Not The Year For Blogging

I really haven't kept this blog updated very well have I??

Truth is, I don't really think about it so much these days.
My girls both had their birthdays in May. The eldest now 7 and the youngest now 2!
I don't have a whole lot of time on my hands for 'me' anymore. And blogging has taken the last spot on the list for now.

Not a whole lot has happened since my last post in March.
Though I have been back at my bench a lot more. I feel that dabbling in Pottery somewhat helped me back to it. I definitely feel at home with jewellery making. Pottery is great fun and I do intend to keep up with it, but right now I just don't have the time.

With jewellery making you can begin something and then leave it for a while to see to the children, or dinner, or answer the phone etc. But with throwing clay, you have to be there for the duration and you have to see the project through and you can't leave the wheel - you must be really focused and almost fixated on the clay or it just doesn't work out. And I rarely get that kind of time, at least not until 10/11 at night and by then, I'm spent and ready for bed.

Here are some pictures of what I've made on my wheel at home:

So they are just a small part of what I have thrown on my wheel at home. My pottery teacher says I am ready to move onto glazing now, or I can continue to learn how to throw - I haven't tried to join two pots together or to make a teapot and so on. Right now I feel to move onto glazing would be the ideal thing. So that will be happening in the near future I hope.

I've noticed being at my bench certainly feels very comfortable for me and so I have been trying to spend a lot more time there - which means being there when my little one is running around. I have set up a blackboard/whiteboard in the garage where I work so she can draw whilst I try and get little things done. It never really works for long, but I try :)

Lately I have decided to try and push my designs further and I am constantly on the quest to be learning/teaching myself new things with jewellery techniques.

Pictures below are of things I have made in the past month or so:

The Turquoise piece above was for a giveaway I recently had on Instagram, which I will be sending off today if I get the time. Again I am playing with backgrounds for my jewellery. It seems to be something I can never settle on and am constantly changing, but I can't help it. I am probably going to change it again soon..........

I think we are looking to move again very soon. I would love to move to a single level home to make life simpler. There are definite postitives to having a double storey home, but there are many negatives too - especially for me. The one problem is getting a good home within our budget that has all the things we require and being able to be in a good area too. I love change, but I'm not a fan with all the work that comes with moving.

So that's what's been happening in my neck of the woods.
Sorry that I am not really here much anymore. It can't be helped right now.
Off to have a nice hot cup of tea - yes! it's actually a little cold here now!!  :)

Em ♥

Hello there!!! (long post ahead!)

I am still around folks!
Not as much as I'd like to be, but time slips away from me these days faster than ever. Leaving little time for blogging.

My little girl will be 2 soon. She is gorgeous, but gets into absolutely everything!! And so I am kept on my toes day in and day out raising her. I haven't been at my bench much at all this year. For some reason after teaching myself a new technique, things just sort of dissipated and I stopped making anything. At all.

There are a few pieces waiting for me to finish - but I just don't want to. Don't get me wrong, I still think about making something daily, but whenever there is a little bit of free time, I don't gravitate toward jewellery making. So for now, I am just finding other ways to express creativity.

Below are the last pieces I made using the new technique I spoke about in my last post:

I love what I achieved here. It was challenging and great to add a new technique to my small group of skills.

It is still SO HOT here and we're almost a month into Autumn! Over it! I want the cold weather! Please!!

Okay so since I haven't been at my bench much, I have to put my creative side into something new. Sometimes this helps me get back to metal smithing. (though so far it hasn't!) I had a kit for candle making stored away, that I'd bought just before falling pregnant in 2012. And a little while ago I decided I would get it out and get making - one thing lead to another and I somehow ended up wanting to make bath bombs and then soap! Soap! Of all things! I don't even use bars of soap for goodness sake. (I'm a liquid/shower gel type of gal)

Anyway I researched my butt off and got making it. Below is a picture of the second batch (small 3 bar batch) of cold process soap I ever made using my own recipe and it was sadly the last.

To cut an extremely long story short - to set up the legal side of things (in order to sell said soap at markets/etsy/anywhere really) for insurance and registration for using a chemical, it was going to cost me a lot of money. Well over $1000 aussie dollars. And that was before you pay for the actual ingredients and tools you need to make the soap.

So unfortunately I had to put that idea to bed. Which really sucked. I really, really, was excited about it and I felt I could still pair it with jewellery making.

Well this got hubby and I thinking about what I could do instead of soap making that wouldn't cost me anything to pursue (outside of the obvious costs of supplies etc) and he came up with Pottery.

And this folks is where I have been resting my creative head for the past month.


Before I go, here is a picture of my little boy Tookie.

 
I lost him a week ago to an open cage door. Unfortunately the little door inside the main sliding door got stuck and he got out. I stupidly tried to grab him and he flew to 3 other places in our garden and each time I tried to grab him. Didn't have my thinking cap on - I had my panic cap on and he got away. Didn't hear him until that afternoon, he was up a very very tall Gumtree he could see me, I could see him. But he wasn't going to come down.

I put out his cage on our front lawn with food and packets of human snacks and he still refused to even try. Personally I don't think he wanted too. At least not enough. He was enjoying his freedom with his full flight feathers and he wanted to explore, but was too scared to at the same time. We tried to hose him out of the tree (I should have tried this before he escaped our back yard!!!! It would have worked 100% - of that I am sure!) but it just made him fly further up to the top of the gum tree. And if you know those trees, you will know just how tall they are!

Night fall came and we didn't hear anymore noises. The morning came and we couldn't see or hear him anymore. That was over a week ago......

I got him on our honey moon over 14 years ago. He was a little bit loco. But I loved him and I miss him. The main thing that hurts is not knowing if he is okay and alive and hoping with all hope that if he has passed on, that it was swift and with no suffering. And mainly that it's my stupid fault. I knew it was going to happen one day, because of that bloody door getting stuck sometimes. I can't change it now. I have to just get over it. I love him and hope he had a little adventure out there in the big bird world.

Where ever you are little Tookie boy, you'll always be part of me and my memories x x

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 ♥

Around The World Blog Hop - Little Cherry Hill

The idea behind the Blog Hop is for creative bloggers to write a post based around a few questions.  Their answers offer an insight into their creative thoughts and processes.  The blog ‘baton’ is then passed on to another artisan and so the trip around the globe gathers pace.

Kristen has passed this 'baton' onto me to continue the hop around the world :) I have been following Kristen's blog for sometime now and love to read her posts on her latest jewellery making ventures. She makes gorgeous pieces of wearable art and has some great wire designs incorporated into her work.

So lets start with the first question:


What am I working on?

I have several pendants on my bench at the moment - some only just beginning and another almost finished and some enamelled earrings.  I'm also working on a giveaway for reaching 500 'likes' on my facebook page. But seeing as the weather is so awfully hot here (early might I add), I am struggling to get to my bench to make anything - way to hot to wield a torch!

How Does My Work Differ From Others in it's Genre?

This is honestly a hard question to answer. When I look at my work, I want it to be easily recognised as my own. But there are so many of us out there with similar taste/style, that it makes coming up with fresh new ideas to represent my own style all the more difficult.

Being self taught means I can only go as far as my skills have and there are many other skills I want/need to learn to help my style grow.  This journey I am on is one for the long haul - my children/family come a solid first and so it takes me a while longer to get new skills in. So that being said - I am still trying to grow my 'style' and this will come with time - something I wish (don't we all) I had more of.

Why Do I Create What I Do?

My style when growing up, was always large statement pieces. Bags, shoes and accessories. I favoured things that no one else had, that were memorable, fun, stylish, but a little bit different. Perhaps pieces that were bold, pieces that others might not choose to wear themselves.

When I began Metal Smithing, it was for a means to an end. I needed to learn to solder to complete what I was working on at the time. But as my skills with soldering grew, I wanted to make those 'large, different, statement' pieces for myself and I have been enjoying trying to do that ever since. It doesn't always work out, but when it does, it's a real buzz!

How Does My Creating Process Work?

99% of what I do, comes from my imagination alone. I don't sketch - unless I absolutely must. I'm terrible at drawing. 

Most of the time I begin with the stone/s, I will choose the best type of bezel setting for it and from there the design will grow. Every now and then I will have a definite idea of something I want to make and I will try my best to execute it as close to how I've imagined it to be. 

Other times, it is just 'go with the flow'. I think for myself half of the fun is playing around with all sorts of components to see what I can come up with and if I can make it come to life. 

The picture below is a perfect example of that:

 

 

  





























I hope you have enjoyed reading my little blog hop post and now I would like to pass the 'baton' onto Mossy from Silver Moss Jewellery :)

Emma ♥

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 ♥

Long Time No See

I'm still here.

And wow! It's already July!! That's craaaazy!! I didn't realise till I logged into my blog that I'd not written a post in so long.

Poppy turned 1 and is walking. Summer is on her school holidays right now, but as Poppy and I've been sick, we haven't really been anywhere or doing anything very fun. Hopefully all going well next week, I have a couple of outings planned.

On the jewellery making side of things, it has been slow. My creating mojo pretty much died. Completely. I managed to make 1 ring a couple of weeks ago:

But apart from that I've been dead in the water when it comes to making things. I watch everyone else around me making strides in their skills - whilst I fall waaay behind. I really want to make things, but when I sit and look at my stones, I'm uninspired and I can't come up with anything decent or new, so I just don't bother.

I think it's time to start practicing something new. Perhaps that will inspire me to get making again?

Apart from that, there really isn't anything new to write about. Oh except for a couple of months of being obsessed with make up. Yes, so late in life I know. But I've always been a very basic make up wearer. And since having my 2nd child I don't really overly care about putting on make up every time I leave the house. (and by make up I mean a dash of powder and mascara.) But something caught my eye - to do with make up - and ever since I have been collecting it. Hmmmm perhaps that's why I haven't been making any jewellery.....

Anyway, I've been having fun discovering things like Primer - for the eyes and face! - no I didn't really know either existed. And how to apply eyeshadow properly - like doing the crease etc. Oh and I discovered really nice make up brushes (sigma and real techniques). And the most fun part was discovering a whole load of make up brands - Urban decay, Stila, Nars, Too Faced and so on.... you gals in the USA have it SO GOOD! We pay $45 for a Nars blush here, compared to your $30. Make up here is atrociously over priced. Revlon and Loreal etc are around the $20 and up - and I'm not overly a fan of their make up either.

So my obsession is no longer really an obsession, more like an enjoyment now. I have a nice collection of different make up - not in the foundation and powders though - just in eye shadows and blush mainly - and I LOVE both as I'm a big fan of colour.

I hope to get back to my bench again soon. I feel bad just letting everything out there lay dormant - especially seeing I have a nice new computer out there that my hubby bought me! Winter time is usually my favourite time to work at my bench.

Well that's me done for now. Hope you are having fun creating - even if I'm not!

Em ♥

Where for art thou Autumn?

Well it sure doesn't feel like Autumn round these parts.
And frankly I'm disappointed.
Every year I look forward to the cooler months. We don't get the serious cool weather like some of you (on the other side of the world) are getting right now.
But it's still nice to have a change of season and be able to rug up in cosy clothes and have the choice to wear boots (for 5 minutes) and to warm up with a hot drink.

What I like about it even more, is I get to work at my bench and use the torch.

I finished that custom order:

And then I finished off my first ever piece with 3 stones:

That piece had been sitting on my bench for a couple of weeks waiting to be LOS'd and set. So other than those two pieces, I haven't done much else. The head is still filled with plenty of ideas. But again I'm going through the whole 'my work is crap and not good enough' phase again. We all go through it and come back around out of it again, so I'm not too worried by it. I've a few things on my mind.

There is a custom order to be done in the next week or so and I've a follow up appointment for an echocardiogram on Wednesday. Once that is out of the way I will do the custom order and perhaps that will help me back to my bench to make new things.

School holidays are just around the corner again. They're for a whole two weeks too! I hope it's cooled down by then, as I would love to take the girls out for some day trips.

Okie dokie then, this was just a short post. Hope it finds you well :)
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 ♥

Blah

Blah is how I feel right now :(

The heat is still here and it just won't go away (to put it politely). It's kept me from my bench all week so far.... it is supposed to cool down by next week - one can only hope.

Just writing here to share my latest works, below is the biggest silver piece I have made to date, she challenged me, but I won. In the end. I think I am going to have to make myself something just like it - as my favourite kind of jewellery to wear is big chunky stuff.

Above is a ring with a nice chunky piece of turquoise. Recently I got myself a nice Snowflake Obsidian and a piece of Parrot Wing - sadly (as always seems to happen to me when buying on the internet - mostly on etsy!) the Parrot wing isn't half as nice in real life as it looked on the listing. It's not nearly as bright and colourful and I am getting really fed up with that happening. I bought a big piece of Sonoran Sunrise (on etsy) and it was $40+ and when I received it - well lets just say now I won't buy from that particular lapidary artist ever again.  They should know better.

This is why I wish we had good gem shows here, man I would even fly to one if there were any, just to be able to hand pick my own stones. That's just something I don't see ever happening :(

Well that was my whinge for the day - be happy you who have those nice gem shows to go to!

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 ♥

And it Starts all over.

The school year that is!
Summer started Year 1 today and I was sceptical as to how well it would go, given that she had been at home and having fun for the past 6 weeks. But I saw her to her new class room and met her teacher and she settled right in as though she'd always been there.

No tears.
No worries.
Relief.

And now I can focus a teeny bit more time on my bench work, well at least once we are into a solid routine again. I have enjoyed the lazy days of doing what ever, when ever.


Playtime all day.
Lunchtime when ever.
No school run.
It was nice.

Now we're back to a schedule and I have to retrain my brain and my childrens.

Poppy is getting more and more aware of what she wants and who she wants. Which is me.
Or rather my lap.
All the time.
And I love it.

This is a picture of both of my girls around the same age in the same dress I had made for Summer, so around 7 months(ish):

Summer on the left and Poppy on the right.
They look so similar. But their personalities are Polar opposites. Summer was a full on, balls of energy, plenty to say baby. Poppy is a more solemn, serious kind of child. It has been a fun and interesting 8 months so far!

So when Summer is home and can play with Poppy, I will be able to get to my bench. Below are some of the things I have made since my last post:

The enameled elephant was a custom order. It was a bit of a challenge as it was hard to know how to colour it so that had the traditional colourings of an elephant. But I (and the customer) were happy with how it turned out!

The silhouette lady is my 3rd so far. Think I might have to make myself one, someday soon. And a couple of heart pieces for Valentines day.

It has just started raining right now and I have mopping to do and then some parcels to pack up. I hope you are all having a great start to the year - though January is already almost over!!!!

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 ♥

The Waiting Game.

I've done it.
I've finally applied to a market.
Now I'm playing the waiting game.
Waiting for them to let me know if I can go. Though I'm not going on my own. I don't have enough goodies. So I am going to be sharing a stall with my Mother In Law, who makes handbags. This market isn't anything out of the ordinary. It's a Farmers/Craft market. But I just wanted to get my work out before Christmas, to test the waters. (And to hopefully sell a few pieces!! of course)

So, I have a whole lot to get organised. First off I have these I want to get finished:

 I am totally loving my disc cutter!! It has made my crafting life that little bit easier. All the other shapes I have sawn and dapped and pierced. The flowers have been waiting a while for me to choose their colours (hence the patinas). They're now going to need a super clean up before I can start. The circles are just going to simple pieces, they will help to plump up my stock. I might even dap some of them to give them a little bit more something. Then I need to make all the ear wires to go with them. Not sure yet what I'll do with the small circles, but I have a few ideas.

Below is the animal I have been working on:

I had a hard time experimenting with bails. I didn't want to just pop on a jump ring and leave it at that. It wasn't going to do him justice and it didn't look right. So the bail in the picture is what I finally came up with and I'm happy with it.

Typically today is really humid and so not much fun at the bench. I'm supposed to be finishing up a custom order, will see how that goes. Will probably get to it late in the afternoon. That now seems to be when I spend time at my bench most, between 4pm and 6pm. Whilst making dinner and feeding the baby and so on. It just seems to be the time that I feel like being there the most. No idea why. Clearly I don't get much done, when I'm doing all those other things. But it's working for me right now.

Most likely I will post again when I hear about the market application. Pretty sure it'll be accepted. But there is no point in working like a mad woman, until I know for sure.

♥ Em ♥

Hello.

Well it's almost 2014.
My baby girl is now 6 months old and my eldest is going to be on school holidays very soon. This year has definitely been one of the fastest. Ever.
I am thinking about my goal list for 2014 as this year I've mainly focused on baby (as you do). Next year she will be crawling and walking and eventually talking, so I do struggle to see how I'm going to find that extra bench time I'll need to fulfill my goals. But I'm sure I will manage somehow.


A couple of weeks ago I tracked down a hardware store with foldable market tables and I got one! And I've even ordered a table cloth for it too. I'm actually on Vistaprint right now looking at banners and posters. I'm serious about the markets. I'm dying to see how the locals receive my kind of work.

The enameling experiments continue.
I'm still enjoying it. My other half even offered to buy me a kiln! Yes, That is how supportive he is of my metalwork. Basically though I want to continue to torch fire, until I see a steady sale of enameled pieces. (none have sold yet) I don't think it would be a wise investment if there was no opportunity of recouping the costs. Do you? Right now, I am still able to do decent sized pieces with my torch. Just. It's hard to keep the whole piece hot enough, when you have a large area to fuse.

Instead of a kiln, I am thinking of a nice bench guillotine. I have my eye on a Pepe one. Their smallest. It will help make some of my work a bit swifter. Not a big fan of sawing out big squares and then sawing out the shape. I just want to get in and saw the shape and be done. Especially if there is piercing involved too. Plus I like the idea of being able to cut my own bezel wire easily. Sawing in a dead straight line tends to send me cross-eyed!

Below are a couple of pairs of enameled earrings:

 

The green ones are in my Etsy store and the crescent shapes I'm still yet to list. 

I have been having a play with drawing on enameled pieces with Graphite pencil. My ideas of 'drawing' would just be patterns mainly as I can't draw to save my life. It's a great addition to the enameling. I have found you can even do it on coloured enamel pieces too. 

I have run into a bit of difficulty. I can't for the life of me pin anything (ball up both ends of wire to secure a bail). I have tried a big bushy flame, a very small hot flame and nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. My wire. Just. Won't. Ball Up. Super frustrated. As I really wanted to pin my enameled earrings and pendants. Someone on Instagram suggested riveting, but I'm not really any good at that either. Guess I will just have to practice that, as I really need a solution to attaching a bail to my pieces.

So that is about all for this post. 

Might go and have a little snack before Poppy wakes up.

Have a great week all.

Em ♥

 

More Enameling Fun

So yes, my latest love has to be Enameling.
I am having so much fun! I love that I can blend (sort of) colours together, to give the illusion of texture and I love that I can pair enameled pieces with silver. Below are 3 pairs of earrings I have made so far (available in my Etsy store).

My biggest challenge has been how to attach an ear wire that compliments the earring. I don't really want to do plain french ear wires, I wanted to do something a little bit more fancy. The Aqua blue pair of earrings have an enameled center ear wire, so they add to the look and the function of the earring.

I have just finished an animal piece last night, now I just have to work out how I want to attach it and then it's good to go too. I just ordered 2 liquid enamels yesterday to try and I have gotten some Cloisonne wire with my rio order last week, as I would really like to attempt torch firing Cloisonne too :)

The only booboo's I have encountered thus far, is when I don't balance my piece on the trivet properly and just as I go to fire it, it falls off and in the process, dumps half of the powder too :( But fortunately it's a pretty easy fix :) I really need to seriously consider a hydraulic press in the near future as I would like to be able to cut ovals, squares and circles quickly and neatly (which pancake dies are great for I hear!). As for flowers and animals, well I will continue to hand saw those.

I have just washed a nice Prussian Blue transparent enamel last night, I want to give it a go with some fine silver cups tonight at some point. When I get some time and some very fine tipped paint brushes, I will also give that Cloisonne a go too. And eventually when I get back to some etching, I hope to give Basse-taille a go as well :) So many techniques, so little time!! But I love having something new to try.

Hope you are having as much fun as I am?!
Em ♥