A very tough week.....

Evening all!

Well it's been a week of highs and lows but mainly the latter! 

Having set myself a few goals to achieve for 2014 I wanted to get stuck right in with addressing one of them - to improve my silversmithing skills and get myself registered with the assay office (as larger items do require hallmarking by law). 

So I set about making bezel settings for four handmade glass cabochons that I have had sitting around for aaaaages! They really are stunning, like mini galaxies encased in glass!

But as the eagle eyed among you may already have noticed, there are only three here! That's because I cut the bezel strip too short for the final cab :(
Hey ho, I thought, such is life, you can always buy some more! So as you can see, the remaining three bezel walls all soldered together nicely (one gave me a bit of a headache but I got there eventually!).
Now it was time to solder them onto a base. This, my friends, is where I feel I simply cannot go on!!! Urgh, it was such a pain because the first one soldered beautifully (or so I thought!) until on closer inspection I noticed a gap in the join of the bezel wall had appeared?!

The last two have not worked out either - I simply couldn't get the solder to flow and so the bezel walls actually melted as my flame got them sooo hot! It's my own fault in some ways really as I should be using a tripod and gauze but I have successfully made these settings before without.

So with only one setting complete but with a hole near the base I thought I could 'hide' it by soldering some thick wire around the bezel - after all, that would actually make the setting more aesthetically pleasing. But, my wire wasn't quite thick enough and I was wary I would melt the bezel wall just like the last two so I called it quits. For now! I will just wait for my confidence to return :)

On a positive note, I did manage to have a play with some glorious new beads that arrived from Helen Chalmers and team them with a minty green glass ring from Linda Newnham. I love this style so much that I've ordered more glass rings from Linda in a darker green, lilac and gold to make plenty more!

Tehran Relic Necklace by The Blue Starfish

So, for the next few weeks I think I will be concentrating a little more on making more choice and selection of the current, newer styles that I have created, both for The Blue Starfish and Graceful Deviant.

And, to cheer myself up, I'm going to treat myself to some pink feather extensions to add to my collection! They come from Pretty Vagrant in the U.S so fingers crossed they arrive in time for Valentine's ;)

 

A little 'end of week' treat ;)

Ellen x