New designs from a slightly better week!

A lot more productive!

The soldering torch has gone away for the week so as to concentrate on some more of The Blue Starfish designs as several deliveries of gorgeous handmade goodness had come through my door in the last few days not least these amazing glass creations from Linda.

Handmade glass headpins and large glass rings from Earthshine Lampwork Beads

The first thing I set about doing was using the rings to team up with the lampwork saucers I got from Helen to make more Relic Necklaces but the weather has been so gloomy I'm afraid piccies will have to wait :(

But, those gorgeous purple drops were soon turned into pretty little flower fairy earrings:

Flower Fairy Earrings

 Plus I had an exciting delivery of ceramic goodies from Petra including these fantastic petals - they look sooo much better in real life - the glaze is very hard to capture.

Hydrangea Earrings

I also managed three bracelets, each very different from one another:

You can find my bracelets here.
This heart pendant has been in my stash for months - sometimes you just have to wait for the inspiration to strike and also have the right combination of beads on the go too:

Romance Necklace

And because I am already excited at the prospect of springtime, longer days and less miserable weather, I have introduced some green to Graceful Deviant!

Tiny 3mm Sterling Silver Peridot Studs

Sterling Silver Beaded Bracelet with Peridot, Oak Leaf Charm and Black & White Floral Art Charm

That's all for now folks, thanks for stopping by!

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

She's done it!

Hello and welcome to my new blog!

Finally, I have pulled my finger out and started my very own online journal into the world of handmade goodness!

It will be a place to share my latest designs (from both The Blue Starfish and Graceful Deviant shops), behind the scenes and in progress photographs as well as chance to show off the work of talented bead and component artists.

There may also be a few tales of travels and some culinary experiments so I hope you'll enjoy sitting down with a cuppa and reading through my latest posts :)

Let the work commence!

 
Thanks for joining me,

Ellen