Indian Summer? Monsoon Season!

So where is this Indian summer that the Met Office has been promising? June lived up to her name, flaming really was the word. July came and with it came the rain.

Today really took the biscuit, on the cusp of August and the whole day was grey, dark with heavy rain.

I'm hoping that this horrid weather is local and when we go to France, it will be glorious sunshine.

Getting laid.

You wouldn't believe how sore your knees can get in the space of just an afternoon. Carpet is a very unforgiving substance.

I toiled for hours, stretching and banging, stopping when the sweatiness demanded a cup of tea.

I'd forgotten how much like hard work it was.

Then after about four hours I was done, the room was transformed, we had carpet once again.

My knees really are black and blue, the cats paw tool jobby was as soft as could be, that wasn't what hurt. The real pain came from the friction of the knee that remained on the floor.

Those men who earn a living doing this on a daily basis deserve all the money they make.

I was hoping that same evening to retire to my shed once the kids were tucked up in bed but instead I hauled my aching body onto the computer.

An experiment of mine required a final fix.

I had made a ring with a wide hammered shank and a gorgeous spinel, but having made it as an uncommissioned piece, I had no idea what size I may be required to make it later. Here comes the experiment part.

I assembled the collet and the shank without soldering it together, put the stone into position, and photographed it. To my mind, it was far easier to make the ring a certain size without the constraints of having to consider the gemstone.

It worked a treat, it was so easy to size.

This has set me thinking about other ways that I can lighten the load....

Stacking rings, the latest must have.

Today I decided to make another set of stacking rings following the popularity of the first set. This little set consists of five rings all hammered deeply for maximum light reflection. When the light catches them they twinkle like a mirror ball in a disco.

There are four tiny ones at 1mm across and one measuring 3mm

Did you know that they are this seasons must-have accessory? Check out all the glossies and see for yourself. Choose plain metal or go for a selection of gemstones, mix and match for endless possibilities

Summer Holidays

It has come around to that time of year again when the children have six weeks of fun, fun, fun with me being head chauffeur and play date arranger. I love having the time to spend with them and the six weeks is usually over all too quickly. But what happens to my young jewellery business whilst I'm running around in the park?

Do I allot certain days of the week to work or do I give over a portion of each day?

What I don't want to do is play all day and work all night. There should be laws against that kind of caper.

I suppose what I'll do is play it by ear, get the orders out as they come in and think about new ideas for September. Anything else is a bonus.

Last week I finished three more rings in silver and enamel, big, bold and in yer face. Right up my street. Frankly I've been disappointed with the reaction to my enamel rings. I thought they would fly out of the door given that people like things which are different.

Are they too big? Wrong colours? Just nasty? Tell me because I'd love to know.

Worst case scenario, I can wear them all myself!!

Cufflinks

I've come to the conclusion that the great, largely untapped area in jewellery is gents jewellery.

I realise that I've not made any earth shattering discoveries here, but it's something that I've been toying with lately. It's a shame that the men in our lives are forgotten a little when it comes to adornment.

The result of this is two fab new pairs of cufflinks. Both of them are made with enamels set into the top, the first has a celtic/shamrock/four leaf clover motif in green. What other colour were you expecting me to say?

The other pair have a scarab design in red, blue and green. I love beetles and creepy crawlies. ( Not to be confused with VW beetles or Paul Mc Cartney of the Beatles)

well, I die when I come across them in the flesh, but have to admit that they have a certain charm when used in design.

Don't know whether I'm too enamoured of argentium silver which I used for the construction of the second pair. This type of silver contains no copper which means that it doesn't tarnish. Ever.

But it sure is funky to work with. If you touch the silver whilst soldering, or put pressure on it with anything, like binding wire which is used to keep something in place for soldering, it crumbles into a thousand pieces, which is not good.

It is definately a completely different skill to soldering sterling silver, one that I'm not sure I'm eager to learn.

A treasury all of my very own

What a lovely beginning to a Sunday. Today for the first time I managed to bag myself an Etsy treasury slot, so the last hour or so has been spent arranging and re-arranging all the pretty things I've seen over the last few months. Well, obviously not ALL of them as there are tons and tons of things you see during the course of a day, most of which are breathtaking.

So, do you want to see what I've chosen? Good. You need to follow this link

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=68850

Let me know what you think.