The best laid plans

.....can sometimes lead to something even better.

I keep three sketch books - one in my bag, one in my workshop and one by my bed. My drawing skills aren't exactly the best in the world, but sketching still allows me to record ideas I get from everywhere around me. Sometimes - okay, rarely!- a design will work perfectly from sketch to polishing. This is what happened with my Bloom necklace.

More often, though, my ideas change completely as I work through them! The photo below is of a couple of pages from the sketch book I carry around with me, and it shows a design I started thinking about at the end of last November, as you can just about make out from the date at the top of the page if you enlarge the photo. I wanted a simply locket-style pendant with a birthstone hidden inside and with a simple design pierced out from the front. I've got several pages covered with ideas for the cut out design, but nothing seemed right.

Then, some time spent in the shed a week ago led to this....


The basic idea is still there, the two discs cupped together to hold a stone, but a tactile hammered texture has replaced the pierced design, and a bead hanging from the jumpring joining the two discs has been replaced by a set stone, amethyst in this case. I'm really pleased with it. It's really comfortable to wear and I love the shell look the hammering has given the discs. The plan is to offer this as a made to order item with different birthstones 'hidden' inside, and they should be on the site by the middle of next week.


So far the design has inspired cufflinks, earrings (you may have caught a glimse of those in my oxidisation tutorial) and a bracelet. I'll show you those when they're polished! They are what I've been working on this week in the little time that I've had in the shed. B's childminder has been on a much-deserved holiday, so the only time I've had to work has been either while he's been at preschool or after bedtime, which explains the lack of blogging this week! I've been able to get commissions finished on time, but I was getting withdrawal symptoms by the end of the week as I had new ideas that I desperately wanted to work on! My boys went out and enjoyed the sunshine this afternoon, though, and gave me some time to hammer and solder. They are good to me!

I've just got to edit a couple more photos for the second oxidisation tutorial, so look out for that on Monday!

Two days of sunshine

So, how was your weekend? Ours seemed to go very very quickly, probably because we managed to get some jobs done and have some family time too. B and T played on Lee on Solent beach in the sunshine with a friend and his little boy on Saturday while I got some work done (I'd show you some photos of what I made, but I had an little accident :( ) and then B and I did all the jigsaws he owns (enough to completely fill the sitting room floor) while T worked on his bike. Sunday's weather was nearly as nice, so we went for a walk in the New Forest with some friends. I do love the rare days of sunshine that we get at this time of year - it makes me hope that Spring isn't too far away, even though I know that we'll have a fair few days of rain and greyness before Spring really gets here. We're really lucky that we live near such beautiful places that we can enjoy in the sunshine too. We walked between Beaulieu and Buckler's Hard - I'd like to say that the photo above is one I took myself but we were so busy chatting and admiring the view that I completely forgot to get my camera out, so you'll have to make do with one from google instead! It's about a two mile walk each way, and B did really well. He also slept really well afterwards - he fell asleep in the car and didn't stir as I carried him upstairs to his bed!

I decided to have an early night last night too, which is why I'm posting this today instead of yesterday. I had planned to take photos of new jewellery last night, as well as finishing off a new tutorial. Instead I managed to break on of the lights I use in my photo studio set up and then break a dinner plate as I unloaded the dishwasher. As I couldn't take the photos afterall I decided to go to bed before I caused any more damage!

The hiccups

Our internet connection has been on the blink all day, which has been especially annoying as I've wanted to catch up with some emails and send some magazine project instructions off. I've only been able to get on the web properly for the last 15 minutes or so, and of course I had to check out blogger, flickr, crafteroo etc before settling down to work. Flickr made me giggle with this message though! I haven't been using flickr for long, so I hadn't seen it before. It's that time of night when silly things make me giggle!

Oxidization - giving your silver an antique effect

After the tutorial I wrote about cleaning silver I had a couple of requests to show people how to do the exact opposite - deliberately tarnish (oxidize) silver! So, here is the first of two tutorials - this one uses a chemical, Liver of Sulphur (LoS), that many jewellery suppliers and art clay suppliers stock to give silver antiqued patina. The second, coming later this week, uses a common kitchen ingredient - more on that later!

Although to those of you who haven't done it before deliberately oxidizing your work sounds like a very strange thing to do, it can enhance the beauty of many pieces of work, especially those with a texture. The pieces of jewellery in this tutorial have been oxidised and then have had most of the oxidization polished off, leaving the crevices of the pattern darker and therefore more obvious. Oxidizing silver and then polishing most of the oxidisation off is also a way of making the silver less obviously bright, a look that I've found is popular on men's jewellery.

A couple of things to be aware of:

• You can use hot, warm or cold water in this method - obviously don't use hot water if you are oxidizing a piece with glass beads in, especially lampwork beads, as they can break under extremes of temperatures.
• Oxidizing items with pearls using LoS can harm their delicate surface, so if you want to oxidize pearl items wait until the next tutorial later this week!
• LoS is smelly! Store it on an air tight container.
  
• Obviously don't use a container that you want to use for food later on.
• LoS needs to be stored away from daylight or it will lose it's potency.
• Don't clean oxidized silver using the bicarb of soda method or with silver dips as you will clean the oxidization away!
• The liquid LoS that I use is mild liquid solution that is harmless if you get it on your skin (well, harmless apart from the smell that might linger, that is!). The solid form that is sold in the UK is usually potassium polysulphide which is mildly corrosive - make sure that you read and follow the safety precautions that come with the LoS that you buy.

So, you will need:

• A container big enough to easily hold the piece(s) you wish to oxidize and enough water to cover them - I prefer to use clear glass containers as the water I use is hot, and I can see my work better through the glass
• Hot water
• Soap
• Clean water for afterwards
  
• A soft cloth to dry your piece
• A polishing cloth
• A fine sanding pad (optional)
• Liver of sulphur - I use the liquid form, but it also comes in a solid form that dissolves in water (for stockists see end of post)
• And obviously the piece you wish to oxidize!

What to do:

1. Wash the piece(s) you wish to oxidize with soapy water to get rid of any traces of oil and dirt as this will prevent the oxidization process from occurring. I forgot to do this once and ended up with a thumb print that wasn't oxidized on the back of a pendant! I had to remove the oxidization and start again. I don't really need to show you a picture of washing the jewellery do I? I'll show you a lovely picture of some earrings instead - one pair of which have obviously been oxidized!
2. Fill your glass container with enough water to cover your piece(s) of jewellry - the hotter the water, the quicker the process. I use very hot water from the tap or just boiled water from the kettle. The process will still work with cold water but it will take much longer. You can also heat your piece by rinsing it in hot water too.
3. Drop a couple of drops of LoS into the water...
4. ...and mix it in - I use a wooden chop stick or lolly pop stick.
5. Drop your piece into the LoS. If possible hook your piece onto a length of scrap copper wire so that you can easily pull it out again. This also makes it easier to stir the jewellery in the solution to speed up the process and help make sure that the oxidization is even.
6. Keep checking how much the piece has been oxidized.
7. Once the colour is what you want rinse it in clean cold water to stop the oxidization from continuing. It is possible to get a range of bluey/greeny/purply colours on silver using LoS - the colour depends on how long you leave the piece of silver in the solution and how hot the solution is. I prefer to let my piece go very dark and then polish most of the oxidization off. Some people prefer the colours, others still use colder water and leave the silver in for a very long time to go almost black.
8. To remove the oxidization from the top of the texture use a polishing cloth. You can also use use a fine sanding pad to speed the process up, and then use the polishing cloth afterwards - mind any stones or beads if you use a sanding pad though. Assuming the piece of jewellery doesn't contain stones/beads that can't go in a tumbler, I also use a tumbler to give a final polish that also helps to make the oxidization much longer lasting. Oxidization won't be completely removed from a piece, but areas of oxidized jewellery that are rubbed frequently (ear wires for example) may become lighter in colour.

If you change your mind about the oxidization or, like me that time with the pendant you've realised that you didn't clean your piece of jewellery properly at the start, there are a couple of things that you can do:

• use the bicarb of soda method of cleaning silver that I wrote about here.
• Heat the silver up with a blow torch (assuming that it doesn't contain any stones or beads). Remember that you will have to quench and pickle the piece afterwards.
• Use a silver cleaning solution.

Stockists:

• www.silverclay.co.uk
• www.hswalsh.com (bulk buy)
• www.argentice.co.uk
• www.polymerclaypit.co.uk

I hope that you have fun with this! Do let me know how you get on, or if you have any tips of your own.

A busy week

I've been much better at blogging regularly this year, but I blew it this week - a whole week since my last post! It has been a busy week here though, so can I use that as an excuse? And can I make it up to you with the offer of a tutorial later today and some pictures later of what I've been up to? I have been working hard, honest, but just not always at things that I can show you now (magazine articles, commissions). Apart from work, it's been busy here for family reasons too. B had a birthday party to go to last Saturday afternoon, it was Mum's birthday on Sunday, and we've just had a surprise visit from the inlaws over the last couple of days. We didn't think we'd be seeing them until the Spring but they had some unexpected time on their hands and wanted to see B - they wanted to see T and I too, of course, but B was definitely the priority! The lucky boy went to Jungle Jeans (a local soft-play place) in the morning, MacDonalds for lunch and then ToysRUs in the afternoon before heading back here for a nap. It's back down to earth today though, as he's at his childminder while I work!

Anyway, I wanted to show you some photos of what I made Mum as part of her birthday present......

I'm sure you remember these lovelies made by Laura Sparling Well, as soon as Laura said she was taking custom orders I was rushing to her website. I ordered 3 - 2 with pink icing and pink sprinkles like the one at the back on the right of the photo, and one with white icing and a cherry like the cupcake in the centre. Other people have come up with some great combinations - have a look at Laura's cupcake gallery here! I've made the beads into bookmarks - one for Mum for her birthday, one for a friend for her birthday in a couple of months (don't worry, she doesn't read my blog - I think!), and the cherry one for me - well, I had to, didn't I? I didn't have time to take a photo before I gave Mum hers though, which is why there are only 2 in the picture below!

Laura's beads ended up inspiring the birthday cake too. I'll leave you with the cute reusable cup cake cases, measuring cups and icing syringe that I found in John Lewis, and the cupcakes I made. They didn't turn out quite how I'd pictured them (and the light in my parents' kitchen is awful for photos!), but that just means that I'll have to practise making more, won't I?!

One uplighter and four cushions later....

Yes, I know, I wasn't planning to go to Ikea for months, and I definitely definitely wasn't going to go anywhere near town on the opening day! I'm placing the blame squarely on Nicky's shoulders - she heard that Ikea hadn't been that busy during the day and suggested we went there this evening. The fact that I didn't need much persuading and I was the only one who bought anything is neither here or there. In my defence, I spent less than £40 and only bought things I've been planning to buy for a while anyway!

Ikea Southampton - it's here!

In honour (?!) of Southampton Ikea opening today, here's a quiz for you to have a go at. It's supposed to be a business tool that helps you to pick the look that'll work for you, but it's a bit of fun too. My style turned out to be 0% modern which didn't really surprise me!

When I moved from Leicester to Southampton one of the things that did cross my mind was how on earth I was going to cope until 2004 when they were planning to open an Ikea down here - afterall, I had until then worked 30mins away from the nearest Ikea! Now it's 2009, they're just opening and the first thought on my mind is the traffic chaos that it's going to cause. I guess we'll just have to see what impact it'll have, but I must admit that it'll be great that a trip to Ikea will no longer be a day trip and that I'll be able to nip in during their quieter periods!