silver Jewellery course week 6

I have finished my ring, well sort of, I have polished it by hand but it needs finishing off as I didn't have time in the class. Again I am frustrated, I had to wait, 20 minutes just to do one solder joint, while I waited for equipment to become free.

I struggled to attach the top to the ring, I didn't know how to do it and so asked Ian to help when I could get to solder it. When I finally got to the front of the queue to solder it he was nowhere to be seen so I had a go on my own, unfortunately it all went a bit wonky. I went to find Ian after as while I was fiddling, I was being chased to by other students to free up the soldering equipment. He was busy showing 2 other students photos of his sculpture work on his phone!!! I tried to get his attention, but he was not keen on being interrupted . By the time I finally spoke to him, it was too late and he said we would correct it next session - after half term

Generally I am pleased with it x

I'm sorry ...Xmas related

I know you don't want to think about Christmas but...... I made a Xmas decoration.

To practice my piercing skills for making jewellery I bought some alluminim sheet and cut out a tree, I have hung it on a piece of pretty ribbon and hey Preston a Xmas decoration.

Its for sale on Folksy if you want it to adorn you Xmas tree this year

Silver jewellery course week 5

Ahhh at last, silver has been used. I cut out my ring, filed the ends so they would bend to make the stand up bits. I then soldered in the bends to strengthen them. I also cut out the top piece and the copper pattern bits to applique on the top.

So I did have a bit more of a busy time and actually felt I achieved something, We also had pickle this week in order to clean the pieces.I didn't quite get to finish my ring but have all the elements ready

Dining room

We finally finished decorating our dining room, it was a bit time consuming as we had to take dado rails of and had alot of filling to do. We waited for the wallpaper for a while, as by the time we got samples and then ordered it it was nearly 2 weeks, so I just pleased its finished. It was all based around the Guzzini 1970's rise and fall lamp I bought off ebay. . The chairs are going I am keeping the table but replacing the chairs with smoked plasic ones when I have the money. Its a mix of different styles I know but I love it

Holiday

This week me and Mr Wellydog have been on holiday, we decided to not go away but to stay at home and be lazy and just enjoy each others company and explore some local sites.

We visited the willow and wetland centre on the Somerset levels. We also found a little church on the levels called Burrow Mumps. It had beautiful views accross the level, you could even see Glastonbury Tor in the distance.

We also visited the very beautiful Titern Abbey in South Wales, we were lucky that it was nearly empty and we spent a lot of time just wandering through it.

Sometimes we forget whats on our doorstep and need to look a bit closer to home

Having lived in Weston-super-mare for 21 years we never had visited the fabulous lighthouse on stilts in Burnham on Sea,just a few miles away, so put that right by taking Welly our 17 year old dog for a walk to see it.

Silver jewellery course week 4

What can I say, made another copper ring!!! For a silver jewellery making course I have yet to see any silver. At least I did a bit of soldering.....Arggg this is so frustrating...

I asked the tutor what was involved on the intermediate course, he said" about the same as this one"....Do you think I will bother?????

Silver jewellery class week 3

Week 3 was a bit more interesting. First Ian went through all the tools we might need, most of it, I had already used, but there were a few I hadn't seen, he also explained uses for some that I hadn't realised you could do.
He then showed us how to make wire narrower and into square wire , triangular and basically any shape you wanted. Copper wire was annealed, to make it soft, then it was pulled through shaped plates. It was time consuming, as it had to go through several times and had to be filed each time to make the forward end, small enough to go through a smaller hole. I did think it would be more efficient to buy square or half circle wire etc, but I suppose its good to know how to do it, and until I start making jewellery a lot I wont know if I need to use this technique or not.

He also showed us how to twist wire together and to twist a single piece for a nice square patterned effect.
Then he showed us how to make very neat squares from bending wire. I have bent wire before but just bending it with pliers gives you a rounded inside edge. To get over this then you cut into the wire to leave a gap for the wire to fold into. You have to be quite brave as you could easily cut right through the wire, you would also need to solder the corners for strength at the end, as it leave them quite weak. The picture is of my practice , not measured just done by eye. I was quite please and can definitely see the difference it made to the neatness of the corners. I added a jump ring that I also made.

Even though we have thought for the last 2 weeks we would start to make our rings then the last part of the session was starting to prepare for making them. I was going to do the swan ring on my previous page, but decided with a little bit of encouragement to do this ring, it will be in silver and copper and with be raised up on the top in an unusual manner, I am quite excited about starting it now.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be able to show you its progress.