Seaside, Silver & Solder

Well Sunday ... we went in search of Vikings.  hmmm I was convinced I'd seen that there was a Viking festival on that day in Sheringham .. well we got there nice and early. no Vikings to be seen ... no adverts for Vikings... not even a small sign of a pillage in Sheringham. so we sat down and indulged our selves in a full english while we checked the internet. seems the Viking festival was actually way back in February, talk about getting the date dramatically wrong. oh well we had a nice morning out in the Dolomite an a walk down to the sea before all the holiday makers came out  

 and here is something I have wanted to get started on for some time, I have had the silver wire ready and waiting and the ideas in my head and finally this week I have got round to actually doing them. I have made 6 sterling silver bangles, spent the first half of the day melting lots of bits of silver into tiny silver balls for the granulation I am going to use on some of the bangles  

 Then once they have been soldered and hammered and shaped, the slightly tedious task of attaching the granulation

 Once thats done, then on to the exciting part, beads and colours and themes, I wire wrapped the beads onto the bangles, oxidised the hamered textures and handed them to my chief polisher - the hubs, he always does such an excellent job and he loves it - bonus.

and here are the finished articles, I loved doing these  -  they will need hallmarking as they are over 7.78 grams each and until then, they wont be for sale unfortunately  

 

and more details in the next few pics, the designs are quite appropriate to the coming seasons 

  This one is called 'Autumn Glow' - inspired by my favourite time of the year - the bangle has a hammered texture with dyed orange agates and moss agate and a little copper spiral and infinity symbol

 This one is 'Fields of Heather' as the heather will soon be appearing around us in the countryside, this design is quite appropriate. It incorporates agates, mother of pearl, a dyed freshwater pearl and amethysts and its quite lovely I think you'll agree 

This one is named 'Frosty Morning' adorning this bangle are tiny moonstones, teamed with silver sparkly beads and little blue and lilac flourite beads, with a slightly hammered, polished texture to the silver. 

This pretty one is inspired by the recent Perseid Meteors and just titled 'Perseid' we have frosted, filigree and plain silver beads, wire wrapped around the bangle along with some freshwater pearls and a tiny Garnet to represent Mars. In among the granules decorating the bangle are tiny brass stars and a copper moon - perfect don't you think 

I have to say this one is my favourite so far, this is  'In the Woods'  with a tiny brass running hare, lots of different shades of green and moss agate, an imprint of a perfect tiny leaf and a representation of a piece of tree bark both created in fine silver and last but not least a small garnet in a beautiful deep red to represent the fruit and berries we start to see towards the end of the year

The Kitchen Witch's Cat

over the last few days, I have been feeling witchy ... after having a week off from the day job last week and not doing any thing to replace stock for Sally's Silver Stitches, and feeling really annoyed with myself  I'm on a roll again. it was this little ginger cat that set me off

I managed to fit a fair bit into a smallish frame, there's the little ginger tom, with what I think is a bit of an attitude on his face ! the obligatory witches hat, along with a hanging cauldron and a bunch of herbs, drying above him with a little talisman hanging among them from a piece of string 

Then there's this one, it started off in my head as The Coven. Is it witches disguising themselves as Hares to conduct their full moon rituals?  think I'll call it Skyclad, they are stitched in reclaimed velvets and silks and sparks from the 'fire' light their moon dance

Then there's the 2nd version of The Hare, The Oak & The Amethyst that is above in the blog title, don't know which one I prefer. So now I'm on that roll, I better carry on, I've got Autumn, Samhain, Winter and Yule fairs to stock up for. 

From Sketch to Silver

Hey guys, I'm in love with these little spirit animals, sketched and carved into dry clay then once fired sterling silver chains to produce lovely necklaces, included with some of them are semi precious stones. The squirrel has not made it yet, poor thing !! he had an accident !  I have started some sketches of new animals, badger, cat, hummingbird and otter what are your thoughts on these and what other animals would you like to see ? A bear ? A dragon perhaps ?

Fab times at Ely

well its been some time since I last posted. I've been busy with the market stall and all is going well, made some great friends with the other stall holders, always lovely enthusiastic people to talk to about my work, have acquired lots of commissions from these market conversations and lots of returning customers.  I do so love to interact with my customers.  I will be here for only a couple more months then on to new fairs and markets for run up to the Christmas period. If you have met me at the market, please pop on over to Facebook and follow my page for updates and to find out where I will be and dont forget I am always at the end of an email if you need a present for someone or yourself
here are some items that have been on sale in Ely these past few months 

A beautiful and detailed textile art was picked up by its new owner today at the market. Liana already had a frame in mind for this and knew she wanted a garden scene, this will be displayed in her front room with a collection of some of my other textiles.