Gemstone setting...

....and a trip to the beach!

Last week I was super chuffed to have made this setting from scratch for this faceted amazonite gemstone and have since ordered a few more stones to set which I am patiently waiting for the postie to bring! It sold instantly which was a great confidence booster!

Sterling Silver & Amazonite Necklace

Plus I managed to have a go at hand stamping a ring band which I finished with a sparkly melanite garnet - it is black - not a deep red like a traditional garnet.

Hammered Heart Ring with Faceted Melanite Garnet

On Easter Sunday I had a very successful shopping trip around the gorgeous village of Lacock including bagging this enamel mug from Barty's! It'll be perfect for my morning brew whilst camping in the Rockies on my summer adventure this year :)

Do what you love - love what you do

Making the most of the gorgeous weather on the bank holiday Monday I got to visit the stunning coastline opposite the Isle of Wight. Stop-offs included  galleries and a cuppa at Lymington, lunch at Christchurch and an intense game of boom bats and an ice cream before heading home. It was bliss!

Highcliffe Castle

 Back in the studio this week I'll be working on setting this unusual stone - solar quartz:

Plus, I'll also be working on stock levels for upcoming markets. This month you can see The Blue Starfish Jewellery at Hungerford on 18th April and Graceful Deviant jewellery at Lacock on 19th April followed by Bradford on Avon on 26th April.
Hope to see you there!

Another string to the bow!

Bezel making technique finally achieved.... 

This has been, quite literally, the most exciting week in the studio for me! Although slightly worrying in some respects too because now I know this technique is achievable, I'm going to want to go on a spending spree for gemstone cabochons and fancy bezel wire!

It all began about 3 years ago when I commissioned a glass artist friend of mine (Jo Turner) to make a glass cabochon for me. I spent many hours researching how to go about making a setting and bought in all the necessary equipment. Low and behold, I was able to create this beast of a ring!

The basic ingredients - a cabochon, bezel wire & sheet silver

One huge ring!

I added the beaded wire to hide a few soldering mistakes!

So off I went on my merry way sourcing some more lovely glass cabochons!

These glass cabochons look like the contain mini galaxies or nebulae!

But could I solder those bezels?! Perhaps they were just too big and I couldn't get my silver sheet hot enough? Well, 3 years on and I have finally got this technique to work again for me - fluked the first try I guess, I'm not sure!
It's pretty hard for me to pick myself up after failure. Some people are able to bounce back no problems but for me, I stew for long periods of time. I consider the financial costs of having to purchase more materials, new equipment and question my own sanity - after all, isn't the quote about insanity something to do with repeating the same task and expecting a different outcome?!
So every few months I would come back to this technique, try something new but alas, fail. Until finally, last week, I had a breakthrough! What did it in the end? Buying a tripod with wire gauze allowing me to heat my silver sheet from below - it worked a treat! Here are some work in progress shots:

The bezel wall freshly soldered onto the sheet silver - no gaps!

Carefully sawing around the bezel wall

Soldered on a beaded loop to the back - ta da!

To prove this wasn't a fluke either I also successfully managed another 2 settings but these are a top secret personal project - all will be revealed shortly!

Thanks for reading!

Cheltenham Rock, Gem & Bead Show

A jewellers paradise!

This is one of my favourite shows to visit as it is a wonderful mix of beads and loose stones for jewellery making as well as a great selection of crystal, mineral and fossil specimens. Held at The Pittville Pump Rooms, Cheltenham, it was a lovely way to spend a few hours, grab some lunch and have a walk around the grounds.

A bit of a grey & gloomy afternoon at The Pittville Pump Rooms

I think it's fair to say that I was fairly well restrained this time out! After my most recent makes I decided to focus on sourcing similar gemstone shapes and sizes to offer more colour options for my earrings. Here's my haul:

Here we have crackled rock crystal, hematite, picasso jasper, lava, faux sea glass, coral and larkavite.

These rock crystals will work so well with the sea glass style beads for a wintery, cool look but also with blackened silver. Last week I also cracked the key to hand polishing oxidised silver to a matt, almost satin brushed, antique finish using steel wool - messy but absolute metal perfection!
I was also lucky enough to visit the Bristol Museum to view the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition which was excellent and I thoroughly recommend having a wander to your nearest one - it is touring around 60 locations so keep your eyes peeled!
The great thing about the museum is that it's free to explore and so after some lunch we headed back to view the Egyptian display, dinosaurs and more rocks and minerals! I never tire! Just look at this gorgeous display of weird and wonderful Earth gems - all of these were found right here in the U.K!

Selection of U.K minerals and gemstones

Fingers crossed the weather gets better this week as I have some new pieces I'm looking forward to photographing but it's just so gloomy and I struggle enough with product pictures as it is!
Until then, thanks for reading!

Looking forward to spring!

Pastels & Arrows

Is it just me or are you slowly feeling the days getting just a little longer, the days feeling ever so slightly brighter and the lull after New Year slowly dissipating?! No?! Well, whatever the weather in your part of the world, pastels can be an all year round kinda colour scheme - the pale blues/lilacs for a cooler feel and pinks/yellows for a hint of something warmer.

There will be brighter colour mixes to come but for now I'm on a pastels run! Here are my latest Blue Starfish makes:

Pastel jewellery designs made with natural wood, glass and gemstones

I'm also impatiently waiting for some new metal design stamps to come from America for my Graceful Deviant shop. Currently I just have the single and crossed arrows, skull and heart and they have been somewhat underused so before the new ones arrive I've been playing some new designs:

Sterling silver arrow stamped discs with rock crystal & amethyst

Sterling silver arrow connectors with rock crystal & turquoise

The new stamp designs are going to be similarly rustic/nature/travel orientated - my influence coming from the desire to set off on another epic road trip I think! There are plans in the pipeline for a month in Canada but more on that later :)
Designs will include a polar bear, paw print, mountain range and a native thunderbird. My mind is going ten to the dozen with ideas - several are for more dangle earrings so that I can combine my many, many gemstones but also for studs, stacking rings and charms for bracelets. Feel free to chip in with any ideas you have for items you'd like to see!

That's all for now - check back soon for dates of fairs where you can see my Blue Starfish jewellery for 2015.

International Jewellery London 2014 Review

Exhausting but such fun!

I'm aware that many of you may not know what IJL is! Well, it's the U.K's premier jewellery trade show held annually in London featuring upcoming designers, collection releases from big brands, supplies of loose precious gems plus catwalk shows and free seminars. In a nut shell, an opportunity not to be missed for me!
Best of all this event is free if you register online in advance so an early train to Paddington on Sunday saw me making the most of this fab event.

When I arrived I started upstairs where the Design Galleries were and most notably the New Designers and Kickstart exhibits. I was really looking forward to this part for several reasons. Firstly, to see what trends designers had picked up on, secondly, any new innovative techniques that I might want to try my hand at and lastly for a good ol' chat! I expected to be able to have a natter with a few designers, hear how they got started, where their inspiration comes from and what they want to get working on next.

But it couldn't have been more different! With the exception of one or two people, everyone was (I almost don't want to say) hostile.......?! As soon as it was revealed my badge said 'Designer' and I wasn't looking to buy for my shop/gallery, conversation ceased. Whether that's because outside of their sales pitch they didn't know what to say or that they felt it was a waste of their time talking to someone that wasn't going to place an order I have no idea. Perhaps they thought I was there to steal ideas! However, as I mentioned previously, I was there to see what trends designers had picked up on so that I wouldn't do the same!
I've jumped on the 'trend' bandwagon before and it has not paid dividends.

I saw a lot of similar things too - nature themed jewellery, lots of bees, butterflies flowers etc. A lot of bright, semi-precious gemstone set jewellery and plenty of rose gold plating because that's a 'trendy' thing :)

Another peculiar thing I noted too was that along with myself, I overheard a lot of people commenting on how cheap the wholesale prices of designer jewellery was. 'Too cheap?!' I hear you say! Yup, and this was for two reasons I think. New designers were massively underselling themselves and probably because of reason two - most designers now it seems are getting their work made abroad, cast and finished in India and the far East. How does a designer who also makes their own work by hand compete with that?
Now there were plenty of shop owners I heard asking designers where there products were made so it was encouraging to know that there are still discerning shoppers out there!

In conclusion it made me come to realise where I want to be taking my business and trade shows is not one route. I don't want to sell out! I want to continue to improve my silversmithing skills so that I rely less and less on mass producing techniques and instead create more with my own two hands. This will mean that you won't be seeing my websites selling sterling silver opal earrings for under a tenner but instead will find something fabricated by me or if not by me, then I will tell you who! For example, I have recently collaborated with a self employed U.K charm maker who has cast new acorn charms for Graceful Deviant, my very own exclusive design rather than using a generic, mass produced charm. I know we can't worry 24/7 about where our purchases come from and how they are made but from my own standpoint, I want to be transparent so that when people want to be a little more discerning, they can be :)

Now, on a less-ranty note - shopping time! I had a blast drooling over all the scrumptious gemstones on offer and I'm rather pleased I don't set 'proper' gemstones and diamonds or I would not be eating for the rest of the year! But I got a good haul including these stones for setting into rings and studs:

Amazonite eyes, labradorite nose and carnelian smile!

 Plus these strands were too tempting not to buy!

Peacock pearls, turquoise, amazonite, onyx, rock crystal and pyrite

And my winter colours:

Stunning faceted rock cystal, hematite and onyx

 Those teeny, tiny faceted gems hold sooo much potential!

Would I go again? I'm not sure. I would have loved to be able to spend more time browsing other peoples work upstairs without feeling intimidated and perhaps one day when I require some diamonds or other precious stones I will but I've made some good contacts and may not need to return for a good few years.

What are your thoughts on how jewellery is made? Would you mind if you bought a British brand only to discover it was all made somewhere else? Do you support handmade and what does that mean to you? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Latest Graceful Deviant Designs

Did you spot one of the new designs in Vogue U.K magazine?!

So, last month was very busy (hence the lack of blog posts, apologies!) as I was working on new designs when I was contacted by an agency working on behalf of Vogue magazine.
They thought my jewellery would be perfect for a feature they had due in the August edition entitled 'Get Your Rocks On' and I thought it would be a great opportunity to reveal a new design.
And here it is!

The Graceful Deviant piece as seen in Vogue U.K magazine (Aug 2014 edition)

 Some of the other designs I had been working on included this summer daisy design:

This summer daisy design worked perfectly in my dainty studs

Along with this star mandala style doodle. Although once this had been digitally scanned and shrunk, it lost a lot of definition so now only the very middle part has been used in my charms and studs.

The original star mandala was just a bit too big so only the middle section got used!

 

One of my favourite designs was the legendary North American thunderbird which works so well with the summery turquoise:

 

However, the feature in Vogue did throw up a rather important question and one which I had been ignoring for the past few weeks. It was the concern over using bought in components and the copyright issues that may surround them.

Now I have been very careful recently when designing new items to ask myself the following questions:

• Can you source these materials on a larger scale quickly and efficiently should you suddenly have an influx in orders?
• Is the design predominately handmade or hand-assembled? Which of these makes more business sense? Does it even matter? If so, how can you make it more unique?
• With any purchased materials is there any copyright issue?

This has led me on a slight detour to my original Graceful Deviant mission but one that I feel now is actually better for it. More of this discussion in my next blog post and new product reveal :)

I'm also off to IJL next week so there will also be a blog post about the goodies I uncover and the talented designers too!

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!