Custom order part 4: now finished
I always seem to finish these stages at night when photo taking is rubbish as flash is pretty compulsory!
I made the little silver pieces on Monday night and fired them on Tuesday morning, then distressed them with liver of sulphur and a wire brush. Then the findings finally arrived so I could finish putting everything together…
This is a heart containing horse hair on an 18″ sterling silver chain with little name tag, and hair in a lozenge of resin on sterling silver chain made into a bracelet with small “K” tag. The only thing I would have liked is to have found a neater finding for the two ends of the lozenge- they’re quite big but the jumprings I had were too round to go through the hole at each side, and when I tried to form them for this purpose they were too weak for use in a bracelet. The other clamps I had were too small so I didn’t have a lot of option 
I just hope the chain isn’t too thick as the lady they are for likes more delicate chains. It is 6mm round chain and the thinnest “bracelet” chain I could find!
This is a more casual jewellery set- a teardrop of resin with red glass bead and ashes embedded. It is on a 26″ grosgrain ribbon with (mostly) sterling silver findings. There’s a britannia silver name tag on that too and it also has a small red glass bead added alongside it. The bracelet to match is again ashes and glass bead, but is attached to a band made from cord. Quite pleased with this one as the findings were easier to source and worked well despite this being my first cord bracelet (maybe I’ll make more?). The also has a “K” tag and a glass bead dangle.
Custom order part 3 and your help needed please!
The horse hair and ashes custom order is nearly complete, I just need to swap some of the findings for sterling silver ones when they arrive (hopefully today) and make the silver name bits. I think I should be able to add the full name to the pendants, but a small initial might be better for the bracelets.
I cast a block of resin in bands and then cut it and sanded it with the bands going across the ring. However I now think it looks a bit plain and is lacking something. Any ideas? Do you think I should sell them in sets of 3? They won’t be very cheap because of all of the sawing and drilling and sanding involved, so hoping there’s a way of selling them individually still. Maybe I should just make them thicker?
Make 50: Week 21
A quick post to show you a necklace I made with a different cord. It’s a sort of synthetic yarn from Rowan called “Holiday” and I’ve ended up with bundles of the stuff, but it looks nice and rustic 
Spotlight on… Recycled Rings
I stumbled across http://recycledrings.etsy.com today when looking for items for my latest treasury. The items didn’t fit my selected theme, but I was taken by the necklaces made from real walnut shells so much so that I had to share them with my blog readers!
Make 50: Week 11 and Time for Tea!
Technically, this is week 12, but I missed last week, and I’m still on track for 50 things, so… never mind! Apologies for the photo quality today, still bonkers busy round here!
This is my item, which was made for the main item in the Time for Tea Swap with Jen (http://purplejenknits.blogspot.com), it has green tea leaves embedded inside, with tea bag, tea cup and teaspoon charms. I’ve just read on her blog that she likes it, hurray!
I also made her some purple knitting needles as her “crafty” item, along with some buttons I bought from my favourite button-dealer, Gill from Hollingdale Designs (http://hollingdaledesigns.folksy.com).
And in return I got…
A knitted tea caddy, which will come in useful for work and a teacosy, but actually fits my head as a rather cool hat! I got some great fabric and buttons and beads to use too, I think the fabric was a batik that Jen may have even done herself! I also got a selection of Earl Grey tea and some long-eaten Jelly Belly beans. I think Jen must have read about my previosu swap since these beans are my favourites and they came with my favourite brand of buttons too!
Thank you Jen!
Moss cabochon update!
I had a play with the moss cabs that I made, and could turn them into little biorb-esque pieces if I drilled close to the edge. The 1.5mm drill bit worked a dream, so this is what I came up with! Very pleased with the earrings, not sure about the bracelet, I think it needs something more adding, any ideas?
Not sure about the brooches, but will take them along to Remade anyway, and I’m also selling the cabochons singlely for other people’s craft use, I’m thinking £1 each.
Also my book is back up to full RRP as the offer finished yesterday, but it is very close to completion now, and may even be ready before the stated dates!
Make 50: Week 3
It’s been a bit quiet on my blog recently for several reasons. Firstly, I’ve been slaving away on my book, working on background things such as getting it registered so that bookshops can order it when it is released, there have been quite a lot of custom orders, I’ve been geocaching and also making enough jewellery out of recycled materials for the “Make Do and Mend” exhibition last weekend:
So I’m back on the Make 50 challenge, and this week it is something I made for this event, made from a recycled book. Just going to list it on Etsy, Folksy and my site today!
New necklaces
I added a couple of new necklaces to http://www.penny-dog.co.uk this evening. This is just a short post to show you them as I am really tired and almost forgot to blog tonight!
I am taking part in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month), so I will be blogging every day in November. Today is post 21: http://www.nablopomo.com/
Custom order work in progress…
I’ve been making a tinfoil heart necklace for ITSABEE1 on Folksy as a custom order as there is a story behind the foil and she wants it as a keepsake. Unfortunately I got some nasty veins on the back of the piece making it look dirty from the front. To solve this problem, I got out my trusty bandsaw and cut around the heart to remove all of the duff resin. It needs a bit of filing to smoothen the edges but It now looks like this:
I will then put it back in the circle mould and refill clear resin around the edges, though I’m waiting for a new mould to come through as my other one got damaged, any day now… This got me thinking. I could cut shapes with embedded objects out with the saw and fill the edges with different colour resin, which means another tutorial option for my book (I can dream) and a unique product! I will definitely be having a play with this to see if it works!
This is what it did (and will) look like:
I’ve also been making some dog hair pendants for pangolin on Crafteroo. It sounds like an odd request, but they are also little keepsakes for her mum to remember her dogs who no longer live with her. I should have taken some photos but they’ve gone off with the postman! Here’s when they were in the mould, see dog hair can be attractive 
Finally I’ve been working on my Folksy Angels entries. The first of my two entries is nearly finished, I’m making a silver and a gold tealight holder. The mould was made from old moulds and recycled, and the holders themselves are resin and inside are pieces of chocolate coin wrappers. Unfortunately chocolate coins were harmed in the making of this production :p
Lots and lots of sanding for me to do at the moment, I can’t wait until Santa brings me this!
http://www.warm-glass.co.uk/Shop/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1152
I am taking part in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month), so I will be blogging every day in November. Today is post 18: http://www.nablopomo.com/
Magazine and giveaway winner
I bought Beads and Beyond (Issue 15) today, my tutorial is on page 30-31! I could have been happier with the photo taken to illustrate it, but it’smy first published piece, so chuffed 
Here’s a quick snap of the article (I’ve no idea what that big “2″ means) and the piece you can learn to make:
Also the winner of the November Giveaway has been drawn and the winner is comment 6, Lauren from MayBeads! Congratulations, I have contacted you for your details.
I am taking part in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month), so I will be blogging every day in November. Today is post 15! http://www.nablopomo.com
