Cartography

I named this pendant 'Cartography' as the delicate lines and warm soft colours remind me of old maps - and as an ex-Geography teacher I'm still drawn to the fascinating details you can find on old maps! 

The stone is one from my friend Brenda's shop Iced Hot Rocks, and it's one of the first I bought from her, which means that it's been moving from a bowl on my desk to the box I store most of my stones in and back onto my desk for several years now - and moved studios with me! Once I finally decided what I wanted to do with it though it all came together very quickly. Maybe it was the new studio and the change of scenary! 

A frame of rectangular wire with a subtle texture has been built around the stone and a rivet, passed through the stone, holds it securely in place whilst also allowing you to move the bead slightly if, like me, you play with your jewellery whilst wearing it! A loop of silver at the top of the pendant allows it to be hung from a length of chocolate brown leather cord. The cord has been finished with a sterling silver hook and short extender chain.

Cartography is now looking for a new home - it is currently living on my website here!

More gorgeous earrings!

No posts for over a week and two come along at once - and both with earrings! These earrings were made by Brenda last weekend. She comes along for tuition a couple of times a month and I've shown her work on here before, but these are, in my opinion, the most beautiful piece of jewellery she has made so far. The back is just as lovely as the front!

Of course, she does have an advantage as Brenda is the owner of Iced Hot Rocks, the Etsy shop that I have bought just a few gorgeous stones from, so the amethysts here are from her stock. However, coming along for tuition so frequently this year has meant that Brenda has improved her jewellery making skills and, just as importantly, her confidence in her skills amazingly. We've been working on her sawing and piercing skills over the last couple of lessons too, so I'll soon have come more of her beautiful work to show you.

There are just three dates left for private tuition until the Autumn,

 so if you've always wanted to start learning how to make your own silver jewellery, 

want to add to your jewellery making skills by learning a particular technique or 

want to make a special piece of jewellery for someone equally special, 

check the available dates here and email me quickly (info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk) 

before they all go!

BTW

I'm lucky at the moment as I can usually get out to the shed or do some admin for about an hour while Jamie naps. The rest of his nap time gets used for housework (exciting!). I'm not quite sure how much time I'll get out there when he drops down to one nap a day - we'll have to wait and see!

Anyway, my hour today was spent finishing off some orders from the weekend, and this was the state of my desk this evening! Sorry about the awful pictures but the days of lovely, perfect for photos sunshine streaming in through the windows in the evening have disappeared until next year!

Fancy a few close ups?

From top left to bottom right the pictures are:

1. Some wooden pendants waiting for their silver daisies to be riveted in place, to make more Simply Wood pendants, this time in a couple more shapes too.
2. A stone setting for a beautiful rutilated quartz teardrop I bought from my friend Brenda
3. Possible beads for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge
4. A variation of the necklace I made for the Bead Soup Party, this time using a beautiful cab from seaurchin
5. Stud earrings ready to be posted out to their new owners tomorrow morning
6. Moogin beads ready to be made into pendants starting tomorrow
7. Oh look! More Moogin beads - fancy that!
8. Lampwork discs from Outwest, again ready to be made into pendants.

Hopefully I'll be able to show you at least a couple of these finished tomorrow while Jamie is at the childminders!