Back after ridiculous time away

Well, I haven't written anything on here for an insane amount of time, so here's a short hello.
I've been doing a lot of stuff fusing silver to copper, making pendants. Having spent a lot of time making intricate beaded jewellery this technique is a really great antidote.
Recently I experimented with making a bowl. For the jewellery I use pre-cut shapes as they are really very well priced and I couldn't make them myself for the same amount, but for the bowl I needed to cut the shape by hand, this was easier than I thought, takes a little care as the blades are very fine and break easily.
I used a pair of long silver earrings bought from a second hand market, very 80s. It's very small bowl as I only have a little doming block to make the bowl in.
Here it is, not completely finished in these pictures, needed a little more polishing.

Not too bad for a first attempt I thought.

Update on the jewellery front.

I've been shamefully neglecting this blog recently, so here's a general catch up on what I've been up to with my jewellery and stuff.

I still haven't finished the big sea inspired piece with the lace, it's a lot further on but still not finished.

This is the stage it's at now, I may have to adjust the lace a little in order for the piece to hang correctly when worn. We'll see when the other half of the actual necklace is made

I've been playing with copper and silver recently, fusing the silver onto copper shapes with a blow torch.

https://folksy.com/items/6961410-Copper-and-Silver-Planet-Pendant

https://folksy.com/items/6965432-Map-of-My-Heart-Copper-and-Silver-Pendant

All of these will be in my Folksy shop if you're interested, a couple already are, follow the links.

This stuff is huge fun to make but very unpredictable. It involves blasting the silver with a blow torch until it looks shiny and starts to run. You have to take it through that cherry red stage and out the other side. The trick is to catch it just at that point where it still looks like a piece of silver rather than a puddle, but melts enough to fuse to the copper. I'm getting better at it but it still plays up sometimes.

The third one down is interesting because it's using a failed silver clay piece. I made some moulds from very fragile shells and tried to recreate them in silver clay, all but one broke when I tried to polish them so I tried using one of the failures this way, very pleased that it worked.
I buy the copper shapes, they are incredibly cheap so why bother making them?
Fine, or pure silver works more easily but it's more inclined to disappear into a puddle too.

Most of this year has been taken up with decorating, or rather renovating, my living room. More about that in another post perhaps.

Magic 'Diamonds' from my metal cleaning solution.

I've been using cream of tarta,r in place of more usual solutions, to clean fire stain from my pieces after heating. Recently it's been much harder to buy in sensible quantities, I bought some from a local healthfood and baking supplies shop and it was obviously much better quality than I've bought before, I may have been buying the substitute version, or an adulturated version, previously as something has happened which never happened before.

These amazing crystals grew in the pot, I had made a solution a few days ago, maybe as much as a week, and wanted to use it again today, I stirred it with my finger to get the sludge off the bottom and found what appeared to be a piece of glass in there. Puzzled I pulled it out and found the largest crystal you can see on the left above.

At first I thought, broken glass, but I haven't broken anything recently and I live alone apart from the cat. Further investigation produced all these beautiful crystals.

Sadly they  will react with moisture and dissolve again eventually otherwise you can bet I'd find a way to make jewellery from them!

Apparently they will carry an electric charge and there's all sorts of stuff on the net about how to use them, none of the crystals I've seen there are as big or as beautiful, I did add lemon juice to make the solution a tad more acid, maybe that makes the difference?

I shall just admire them for now until they disappear.

Just beautiful

I'd appreciate any knowledgeable person giving me some more info about these beauties.

Meanwhile here's some of the work that I've made that needed to be cleaned

 

This is a bit of an experiment, I bought these copper stars and up to now I've made pendants just using one, I wanted to see if I could make something more complex, there's a bit of an industrial feel with the copper wire, because the silver is applied by melting with a blow torch the results are unpredictable so the earrings are not an exact match. I quite like that, hopefully others will too.

I call this one Planet, it has a sort of Jupitery, Saturny  feel to it. There are actually two stripes of silver wire but the top one was thinner and almost melted completely. 

These random effects are really lovely in my opinion. This one is domed slightly to give a more substantial feel to the piece. The chain is a recycled silver trace chain, bought from a collectors market with a fairly naff pendant on it which I discarded.

There are two new pieces soaking in the magic cream of tartar solution now, a heart and another disc.

Another busy weekend

This weekend I went to South Wales, Newport to be exact. An aunt of mine has recently gone to live in a care home and has decided to sell her house.

I turns out that there is a relatively new washing machine in the house and as mine was not great I decided to find a way to get it from Newport to Ilfracombe.

As you can see North Devon and South Wales are relatively close, pity about all that blue wet stuff in the way! So we have to take the long way round via Bristol and the bridge.

A lovely friend of mine has a small van and agreed to be my transport.
We set off   Doreen, her elderly dog Bonny and I, on Saturday morning. We took our time getting there as we couldn't load anything until Sunday morning.

Some entertainment at the services we stopped at, it had a barrier to get under as the car park was multi story so it's necessary to check you can get into it; 2 people drove in with bikes on their roofs! The first man, despite yells of  No! NO! NOO! from the cafe patrons, drove right under, ripping the bike off his roof and damaging his rack, the second guy had slightly better reactions, or possibly memory, as he stopped as soon as the bikes hit the barrier. There was, of course, another entrance leading to the other car park above ground, but these clever people missed that fact.

Later on we stopped to visit Tredegar House near Newport, a National Trust Property, lovely gardens and a great surprise on two of the large trees on the lawn.

 Now that's a tyre swing! These superb horses are made from one tyre, so cleverly cut and bolted together into horses, what's really clever is that the child is sitting on the inside of the tyre, the tread is underneath. With the addition of a little rope you have a wonderful, lovable horse to ride.

If anyone knows the genius who designed them I would just like to say  - brilliant!

The gardens are lovely and will probably be even more so when the roses are out.  Both Doreen and I like to follow out of the way paths so we came across this little grotto, there are bits of maintenance material in the background and there's a cone in front to stop you going in but what a pretty picture it made.

We had a pleasant evening with a glass of red, drunk from small whisky glasses as my sister had taken the wine glasses away previously. A good explore to see what else I might want to take, got the machine disconnected from power and water and we collapsed into bed ready for the major loading in the morning.

We had help from a lovely neighbour who has known my Aunt amost since she and her husband moved there, in the very early 70s I think. My uncle died a long time ago and Auntie has lived there on her own for years. Luckily we found some old blankets to wrap things in, Doreen managed to get an enormous full length mirror off the bedroom wall for me. I also took a large old Z bed, some bits and pieces of china and an elderly Kenwood chef. My brother in law requested the small tv from the living room which we managed to squeeze in, along with a step ladder and a folding hostess trolley. I found an old brass oil lamp in the utility room so we squeezed that in too.
 Before the major loading we had a little walk up to the green behind the houses and found these lovely millennium chairs.

Anyone who knows the area will now know where my aunt's house is.

I now have a house full of old blankets, towels and some old regency stripe curtains, I might even use them as they are pretty much what I had in mind for my living room; soft, sort of regency colours.

With a fully packed van we set off back to home, stopping off near Cheddar to visit a friend of mine, who provided tea and lemon drizzle cake, thanks Anthony, sorry we couldn't stay longer.

Once we got close to home I starte asking for help with unloading, unfortunately the neighbour I was hoping could help was visiting his parents. when we reached home the other possible source of help was also out. Luckily I spotted the guy across the road in his garden so Andy was kind enough to get the machine in to the house, he picked that heavy mirror up under one arm! He and I carried the zbed in but getting in to the bedroom had to wait 'till today. My neighbour Ross kindly came and helped me carry it up to the bedroom.

I now have two nice 70s storage canisters to sell  along with a large Colmans Mustard recipe storage tin.

These are really nice, both quite large but the one at the back is bigger. Just couldn't leave them behind.

If you like them make me an offer.

The washing machine has done three loads already! I've been without one for a week!

The finished bag

Here it is, with no time to spare! My entry in the Hillary's Blinds  Country Crafts Competition

The bag is finished I have a couple of the intermediate steps to show first.

The earlier steps are in a couple of other posts.

The lining with a little pocket stitched in place, I've attached some stiffening material to the gussets of the lining. This is a tip for people who, like me, don't plan very well, stitch the stiffening in before you join the gussets to the front and back of the lining, stitching it in afterwards was not quite impossible!

Here's the lining showing the stiffening tacked in

I've put a little beading onto the largest flower on the bag's flap so here's a closeup of it.

The bag has a magnetic fastener, these are really useful and very easy to fit, I've put a double layer of stiffener behind the section fixed to the bag itself to give extra support.

The bag with the lining stitched in place

A view inside the bag to show the pocket.

After a lot of hand stitching and top stitching here's the final thing with a little flourish on the handle, this was inspired by watching a programme about the royal ballet, I wanted to suggest a tutu. I cut out one of the largest poppies and backed it 4 layers of red chiffon, recycled from the wrapping around a box of chocolates I was given for Christmas one year. (Never throw anything away!)

 I'm really pleased with it, I sort of knew what I was going to make as soon as I chose the fabric, I'm glad it worked, lots of work and a few mistakes, very difficult to un-pick such a loose woven fabric but I had to do it several times!

Very enjoyable to do and a lovely fabric, thanks Hillary's

Next step in my Hillarys Blinds entry.

Here's the front of the bag I'm making for Hillarys Blinds Country Crafts Competition

I'm doing  a bit of beaded embellishment. Should be nice when it's finished, but I'm working in my usual 'make it up as I go along' way so it's a bit slow.

Hillarys Blinds competition

I've entered a competition run by Hillarys. They're giving away 100 x 100cm squares of fabric and giving a prize for the best craft project made with them. The competition is called Hillarys Blinds Country Craft Competition
My piece arrived the other day and I've been mulling over what to do with it.

 This is the design I chose, there are three others to choose from.

Here's my scruffy workspace, it's in the process of being turned back into a bedroom, hence the stepladder, I've picked out some other stuff to use in my design, watch this space.
The cat is supervising of course.

New ways to use Vintage Lace

I had a sudden inspiration the other day when thinking about the only craft fair I'm doing this year.

I have gathered a ridiculously large collection of old lace, I've used a small amount to make pieces of jewellery, but while thinking about what to make that would be 'Christmasy' I decided to make some garlands, or something like them.

The first idea was to gather a length of lace into a circle and embellish it with beads, I've started on that but it's taking a crazy length of time to make. The next idea was to gather pieces of lace into little 'flowers' and stitch them onto ribbon to create a garland. This has worked much better The first one is made from lengths of fine lace from a tray cloth, tightly gathered, stitched onto a ribbon and then stitched to a circle of wire.

The centre of each flower has an old glass pearl from a broken necklace. The lace is quite heavily stiffened as it was originally very soft. I'm very pleased with this.

The next idea involved an old length of fabric, it might be silk, but it might not. It was labelled as hand embroidered and it's sufficiently uneven that it probably is, this has become more of a bouquet than a garland but I love it. The 'flowers are very lightly stiffened, and the centre of each one has little vintage metal beads stitched into them, unfortunately they can't be seen in the photo.

 the ribbon in this one comes from the 70s, I know this as it was around the hat I got married in. The metallic braid comes from an old skirt that I bought second hand and then took to bits, I've owned it since about the end of the 80s.
I have a couple of other bits on the go but I shall have to stop at the weekend so I can get ready for the fair itself.

Re-started Work

After 18 months of total meltdown, having been put in a position I've never been in before, I've finally persuaded myself to do some work.
I've restarted work on the blue and white piece.

It's started slowly but I'm getting back to normal .

Inspiration

I was inspired today, it happened on my local antiques and collectors market in Barnstaple, I found a 'thing' it's one of those nameless random broken things that turn up on occasion.
The man whose stall it was, selling lovely old stoneware and glass bottles mostly, told me it was found in Budleigh Salterton on a site dating from around 1928, a lady chatting to him suggested it might be one of those scissors holders from a chatelaine, it could be, but it could also be almost anything else.

Here's one side

and the other, the pictures were taken on an old piece of slate in my front garden.
It's broken off at the narrow end and a bit damaged at the other end as well.

I've started to clean it a bit, it's obviously going to take a while to get it cleaned properly

The 'thing', beginning to clean it.

It appears to be brass and made from a thickish sheet, rolled and joined down one edge, I would say it was never an expensive item although it has a nice  stamped and engraved pattern.

I have an idea to create a fairly flamboyant piece of jewellery, the image in my head has a fountain of beads coming out of the top and another falling from the bottom, can't decide if it should be a necklace or a brooch, the brooch option is harder!

This could be an opportunity to use all, or some, of the other 'things' I've acquired over the years.

Watch this space...............

Craftfest is almost here, a virtual craft fair where a large number of talented craftspeople are displaying their work.

check it out here http://creative-connections.ning.com/page/jewellery-1

I've been a bit naughty because that link takes you to the section I'm in, there are lots of other sections to look at too.


          Noodle Bubble jewellery        Rescue and Revive      Gilly Gray flower girl dresses   

Here are some example of the people taking part in the event which begins on the 9th of June and runs until the 16th, 24 hours a day. Browse whenever it siuts you from the comfort of your arm chair, or deckchair, if the weather where you are is kinder than today!

Support handmade, it's so much nicer than the chain store.

Beautiful things made with love by beautiful people for you.

day off sick

Feeling a bit wobbly today, some kind of tummy bug so no food, lots of time online. Found this blog which is not on blogger but beautiful tiaras http://www.silvertiaras.com/blog.html . For my own work I've made this piece, sort of heart shaped, valentines day and all that, but can't decide what to hang it from , fine silver wire, some kind of beaded chain or rope? Got bored with all the usual stuff anyone got any nice quick solutions.  Probably being ill making me feel lazy!

Need to come out of hibernation mode

I don't seem to be able to get moving this year, made a lot of jewellery for a craft fair in November and slowed right down after that. I've done a very little since then and can't seem to getmy mojo going again. Somebody give me a kick or some inspiration. This is a piece in progress, I love this stone, it shone out of a pebble ridge at the back of Sidmouth beach, I had to have it, sorry Sidmouth but I don't think it was much of a loss to your sea defences. I think the wire wrapping is working, not entirely sure where that tail is going to end up, possibly down parallel with the one coming up from the bottom. with a matching 'blob'