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My lovely team on Etsy - CraftBritannia - has written a lovely feature on me on the blog. Check it out :o)

Thank you all :o)

Simple Magic

It's hot in Yorkshire. So hot that it's hard to work in my loft studio. Which is shame as I wanted to make new treasures all this Sunday, but mustn't grumble at the weather when it's finally fine, so instead I went for therapeutic wire wrapping of a new batch of earrings. Here they are ready for their tumble polish. THey'll be winding their way to the shop when I get the photos processed. That'll be when my studio temperature goes down below 25 c.

I have also been experimenting with new varations of my elven wire rings and I'm really pleased with the result. More on those soon.

Now I'm off to enjoy the sunshine. Surely there's an ice cream out there for me.

Back in the Studio

Phew. I’ve had a nice break. My sister is back to health, the convention is well over and things have settled down slightly except of course my work project which is now going full steam ahead. We’re trying really hard to finish it for an autumn release. It’s looking great and I am really pleased with it so far.

This weekend I had time to play with some silver and try out a few things that have been playing on my mind. It’s great to get back in the swing and see new things come to life. I have signed up for a course in metal clay, mainly to be forced to try out some new things and to see how other jewellers view my work. This can sometimes be scary, but they have been very supportive so far.

The earrings above are now in the shops. I’m happy with the design and toying with the idea of making more in a similar configuration; Silver sculpted stud adorned with a drop stone. I like the way it feels more secure because it is a stud, but still dangles as if it was on a French wire.

hollow core bead. New technique for me

Swap Delight

I recently discovered a gorgeous shop on Etsy. Let's be honest, that happens a lot, but this one, Kristel Studio, had cute little ceramic beads and bells and the owner shared my surname. Upon further investigation we also shared Danish heritage and double lines of Nielsen's behind us. That had to be celebrated with a swap.

I just got this beautiful peace bell in the post. It now hangs in a place of pride in my studio. It makes little clinking noises and my cat, Luna is mesmerized :o)

I love swaps.

Kristel got a pair of my earrings in return. They now live in Arizona.

New in the Shop

I'm launching some of my new silver pieces in the next week. I hope you will like them.

You can shop from my own Blogger site, from Sheffield Folksy, from Dawanda and from Etsy.

Hook Sizes and Oxidising

Normal size ear hooks

I know, sounds boring right? But I've discovered that when I design tiny dangle earrings, I always imagine them hanging right under the earlobe, and then I make the hook compare and they’re miles lower than what I expected and wanted. Bigger hoops can be gorgeous of course, but I want to be able to choose.

I decided to try and take them right back, See how small I could make ‘fish hooks’ and still have them hold the earring securely.

Compared to the new small ones

The bronze coloured one is as small as I could possibly get to fit on my own ear. I was concerned they might be easier to unhook by mistake, but actually, since they fit so snugly they feel a lot more secure than large swinging hoops.

I don’t know if my lobes are average size – it’s just not the thing I have been noticing before (but now I will ;oD ) so I decided to make my next batch of hooks, just slightly bigger than the smallest that worked for me.

Here they are, ready for the oxidising process along with some of my new wire designs.

Bright copper before oxidising

I don’t use Liver of Sulfur but an alternative called Platinol. It works superfast and is much less smelly.

After dipping in Platinol

After a bit of steel wool cleaning, I let the pieces tumble for an hour. My partner has made me a tumbling machine out of wood and old printer parts He is so handy that way :o)

After polish