Beautiful Day.

It's a beautiful day, shame the same can't be said about my mood.
Summer is driving me crazy today. I've got my first custom order for an older lady in Brisbane and I just can't see me getting a chance to get it started till Summer goes to bed....but by then I'll be too tired. Woe is me. lol.

My sale is going okay. I hardly get to the bench anymore now though so I barely am able to add any new work to my shop. Everytime I see someones blog post/fb post about how much jewellery they have in the works I get kinda envious. I would give anything to have a regular day once a week just to work selfishly at the bench without any issues/interruptions.

Below is our latest antique we are going to restore to put under our new mirror in the dining area. We are having troubles deciding the finish we want on it though, we both have different ideas.

I have a busy busy week ahead of me, but on Saturday I am hoping to go and visit some markets, as a potential place for me to have a stall there. They're the biggest markets around, having approx 25000 visitors per weekend (it's near a big tourist area/beach). They apparently supply you a table and tent and the prices are pretty reasonable considering. So hopefully the weather holds out and I can give it a look see. Hubs and I have an idea of how I can display my works without anyone being able to pocket anything, so if all goes well, that will be our next project.

I am going to attempt to make my first ever batch of Cheese & Onion Scones soon. A recipe that my mother used to use when I was a kiddo, from my grandmothers recipe book that must be over 50 years old.
And I am going to attempt my first ever meat pie on Friday...yep you heard right...I've never made a meat pie before lol.

Well I am going to prob do another post on Thursday as I have some nice bits n pieces to blog about. So take care all till then :)

Broken Record.

It seems that all I ever do is write about the hot weather on my blog these days.
Well the weather is still absolutely horrid. It's so humid I am struggling to get absolutely anything normal done, let alone jewellery making.

It's driving me CRAZY!!! It is s'posed to rain this afternoon and start to cool down....yeah I will believe it when I feel it. Till then I am just sitting at the computer scrolling through a million bags on Ebay, as it's time I bought one that was a decent size (I have only got smallish bags), enough to fit things in without them spilling out each time I open my bag cuz it's too small.

I am just going to try and get all my washing done today and not worry about the rest of the housework. It's too hot to vacuum and my mop broke again, I'm on the second one at this house.

Anyways, here is what I have finished up lately in the jewellery department:

My first saw pierced and riveted pendant. It turned out okay. I am not super impressed by it, riveting is kinda tricky (for me) at the moment, having only ever done it this one time. I am not sure I want to continue doing it either. Hubby thought it turned out quite good (bless his cotton socks), but quite honestly it was a pain in the a** and I don't think I have the right hammer for it. But I did buy myself a tiny little riveting plate/stake thingy, so I might give it a go again. I did like how the pattern I sawed out looks.

This ^ is more my thing as far as sawing out is concerned. I love this piece. It looks awesome in real life, very vintage. I haven't put it up in my Etsy shop yet, but I will try and get around to it this week. I have plans to do more of her, but will have to wait and see if this one finds a new home first. I want to do a nice bird like this too. .. .. if only it would cool down enough....

I am so very pleased to see that Kim from KSK
is back on the Blogging Wagon! I can't wait to hear what she has been up too! Welcome back Kim!

That's all I have to write about ... boring huh!

Hope you are all enjoying lovely weather.

Sigh.......*warning* long post ahead.......

I am having a bad day.

The Gem Show was pretty lame. Don't get me wrong....there was lots of 'stuff'. But all the cabs were either small and blah/same old, or they were overpriced compared to where I get mine from.

Husband ended up coming with me and he pushed our daughter round in her pram whilst I browsed, though it was really hard to see much really. The aisles were slim and there were a lot of people there hovering for ages over the tables, so it was hard to get a decent look see.

Then we passed several stalls of 'handmade' jewelry. They were made with lovely stones. Very simple and basic settings, no chains with the pendants. They were selling them for very very cheap. Instantly that puts my husband in the 'you need to really drop your prices' & 'you need to make yours shiny and professional looking like theirs' mode.

It really pisses me off when I am compared to others, especially when you don't know whether they are making these pieces themselves (my opinion was they weren't), how long they have been making them, how much they source their materials for and so on....

All the jewelry was polished to a really high shine, which I struggle to do as I haven't got a clue what I am doing in that department yet. Cut a long story short, the gem show ruined my whole day. I am very easily defeated.

All the way home and then some, we discussed what I should do. When I got home I immediately looked up these 'handmade' jewelry sellers to see whether they truly were handmade by that seller. And just as I suspected, no one said they were making them by hand themselves. They stated that they 'designed' them. You can tell from the fact that all these sellers were selling very similar pieces, just with different stones. The settings and prices were the same and no one sold pendants with chains. And they had hundreds of pieces.

Basically I figure they are sourcing their pieces from countries like India or Thailand and then selling them on. So yes in a sense they are actually handmade, but not by the person selling them on. And hence the price being so cheap, because they got them on the cheap.

Tonight I decided that I have to learn how to get a high/er polish on my jewelry and tried it on a ring waiting to be set and I actually had some success, it turned out 100% better than my other stuff and looked a lot more finished.......so I started to feel positive about everything again.......but now when I have set the stone, it rattles :( I feel like screaming! (I am pms'ing as well). Hubby thinks I just have to push the bezel in more...so I might give it another go tomorrow....but now I am too down to bother.

If you got this far....wow! I feel better having written down my thoughts. I feel better knowing that I can get a much better finish now.

But I can't however, get the bezel setting to be smooth.....how long does it take to smooth the bezel down with a burnisher? Could I be going at it till I get serious cramp? Or should it not take too long?? Can anyone help?????

Can anyone offer any tips when it comes to polishing to a high shine??

I feel so lost sometimes and give up too easily.....