Pinterest Silver Board

I love Pinterest. It is quite possibly the greatest way to waste time and not feel to bad about it. I can lose hours of my life scrolling through the Humour boards, looking at tattoos, getting house envy and hair envy. I have been trying to use it productively too, I've got a Silver board and I've been collecting ideas for the start of term.

For my real job I've bought some personal development books, really boring ones. One of them was about talking to people and sounding confident. I feel like I've wasted some quality time reading this book, it was awful. Apart from one point, about having a "thingamajig" something to entice people over and to give you something to talk about. I read this as "Make a brooch" I have a black jacket that I tend to wear only to weddings and meetings, both situations where you might have to talk to strangers... Why not have something to go on there, spice it up and give me something to talk about at the same time?




This is my Silver board




Follow Tori's board Silver on Pinterest.





Its got some of my projects pinned, from my blogposts here but is generally a collection of the weird and random things I've found so far. I want to do more with the doming blocks so it might just be another experiment!

Silver Recap - Year Two

My third year of silver class will begin in a couple of weeks time so I just wanted to do a quick recap on what I've made over the last year. For once I've used the summer break to actually think about what I want to make over the next term but I'll save those plans for another post! 

To start with I made a quick pair of star stud earrings that I now wear every day.

Next up another pair of quick earrings! A theme starting here, these ones are two small circles, punched and then domed.

After Easter, I started a necklace. In a similar style to the Epic Bracelet of last year, I used square wire to create loads of different sized rings. I then soldered them together, I had originally set them all out and marked where they would all join but the marks rubbed off so it changed shape every week! Once all were soldered I just had to level it and sand it to make it super shiney and then add a chain.

Soldering in sections

Once the smaller sections were soldered, it was time to join them all together

I finished just in time for a meal out in York.

The last project was a quick ring. Again using the doming block and a couple of scrappy bits of silver. I made a dome out of a small circle and then a little blob to go in the centre. This was then soldered on to a ring. Done.

I tend to wear this one with the stacking rings I made in my first year.

Wire Wrapping Experiment

I've had these black beads for ages now. I bought them purely because I liked the shape and the cut. And they were black. I like black. However, the shape has put me off using them for all this time. They are what's known as a Briolette, it's a pear shape with the hole drilled near the top. This means it wouldn't really work with a normal head pin, it needed something to make it a bit neater.

So I had a bit of an experiment with wire wrapping. Using some silver wire I made a loop at the top as per usual but gave myself loads of wire spare. This end was then just wrapped downwards so it covered the bottom of the loop and the top of the bead, keeping the hole out of sight too. I tried it out with a couple of different thicknesses of wire, the first I used was a bit thin and flimsy looking so I moved up a gauge. And again. Once I was happy with the wire (and that it actually looked good!) I set about wrapping the rest of them, it was quite relaxing once I'd got going!

Here they are half way through.

Then it was designing time! Black beads always make me think of Jet and that Victorian style jewellery, a bit gothic, a bit sombre. That's where I went with the first necklace I made. More black beads and a simple choker style.

Photographed outside where the blazing sunshine doesn't quite fit with the inspiration...

I then made a lighter, more delicate looking necklace and some matching earrings. Using a fine silver chain, I made a cluster of the beads and then graduated them out. I then used more of the fine chain to finish off the pendant. For the earrings, I cut 3 different lengths of chain and attached the beads the the ends, and then the chains to an earring hook. 

Now I really want a day trip to Whitby to peer at the amazing jet jewellery there... 

Silver Class: new term

It's technically the third lesson (same busy at work story!) but last night was my first lesson back after Easter. I'm a bit stuck for inspiration so I've gone back to a project from a while ago. I had some square wire, I wasn't exactly sure why I bought it so I decided to make a necklace. So far I've cut the wire into random different lengths and soldered them all into rings. I've put them between metal blocks to make sure they are all level and then hammered them on the mandrel to make them nice a round. Now I'm joining them together! It's a joyous task, I remember it well from my Epic Silver Bracelet.

I have laid them out and played around with the design, I then marked all the joins so I can start filing them to get a good join. I'm doing this as I go along, just incase my filing and soldering isn't accurate. 

This is where I'm at I far, loads of marks and a couple of joins!

April Update

So once more my blog has been neglected for a few months... Once more it's due to the day job. I got settled and then everyone decided to leave... Not everyone but it feels a bit like that with 5 new starters! So it's training central at the moment and having to think for everyone else is leaving me a bit tired- read no energy for creative things! The one learning from this will definitely be 'Don't sit back and relax when it gets easy' you just never know what's going to be around the corner! 

So this is just a quick post, to check I still know how to type and to upload a picture! 

This is what I'm sat in front of... It's actually a project I started a few months back but I got a bit bored of it so I'm tackling it now! Even if I just make a bit of progress...

I've also got this bag of clothes from a chairty shop which I am meaning to refashion... Ones a play suit, which I do not do... If I finish the jeweller project I should be able to get to the sewing machine and be able to have a play on that too... Productive much?!

Silver Class - Spring Term Year 2

It was Friday yesterday which means it's back to silver class after the winter break. As usual after every break, I had intended to sort out my tool box, think about what projects I might attempt, maybe even do some homework. As usual after every break, I had not. So I went in with a blank mind and a messy tool box. But I came out with a pair of earrings ready to wear for work today so something must have gone right?! 

I have a collection of stones that I'd like to set and turn into something fabulous but the idea I had for them was a little more challenging that I could cope with yesterday, after a bit of a stressful day all I wanted was a quick fix and a chance to play with fire. And something I could show off to my new colleagues! A pair of earrings! I had this random circle of silver hanging about from a failed project last year so decided to use that. I drew on two stars and cut them out, I then drew on two more as I wasn't happy with the shape, one was really pointy and could have been slightly dangerous...

 I filled down the two I liked the best so they were a similar size and then soldered on some preprepared earring posts. 

After a bit of a polish they were ready to go. And I left class with a new pair of earrings in my ears! Not bad for a evenings work! 

A bucket list of sorts

So I guess I have a bucket list, I've got things I want to do, things I say I will do and many, many things I never seem to get round to. I'm not one for resolutions as such but I quite like having an aim for the year, I've written about 2012 being the year of gigs and 2013 sort of followed the same idea so maybe 2014 is the year I do other things, not just music?! 

▪️actually dedicate some time each week to my jewellery

▪️ go to New York - how many times am I going to say 'I want to go to new York' and not go?!

▪️follow a tour of a band - sort of working on this one

▪️see a band in a different country

▪️go to Paris 

▪️learn a new language 

▪️find a new favourite band - maybe not favourite, but something that I really love

▪️go to see a play at the west end

▪️go to see a ballet

▪️go to Mexico 

▪️binge watch a season of a tv show

▪️go to Las Vegas 

▪️get a new tattoo! Stop pinning pretty tattoos and feeling jealous and actually get some more ink!

▪️move out

▪️own a convertible

▪️reread Harry Potter

▪️read some 'classics' 

▪️go to a comedy show 

▪️go on a road trip

▪️have a pen friend (or just send my actual friends letters, we used to do this in college and I miss it)

▪️ride a gondola

▪️change my hair colour

▪️write a diary with a bit of consistency

▪️go to japan

▪️take more photos

▪️have a go at learning the saxophone

▪️host an epic Halloween party

▪️Have pizza and pasta in Italy

▪️own something fabulous from Vivienne Westwood

▪️read the bible - not in a religious way, just why not?

▪️sing in front of an audience

▪️see the fireworks at New Years in real life

▪️see more than one film at the cinema in a day

I think this could be quite expensive... So maybe not all in one year! 

2013

For the last few months I have well and truly neglected anything to do with my jewellery world. No Etsy. No making. No blog. Since September all of my time has been taken up with the Costa side of life. We had new starters to train and then I moved store in November to York which was really exciting, but tiring. Now I'm feeling a bit more settled I've been having a few jewellery related thoughts, some designs ideas, the actual urge to make something and I've been wanting to start writing again. The obligatory 2013 recap felt like a good excuse for a post! 

I wrote a post called 2012 - year of the gigs and 2013 has been pretty similar. At the start of 2012 I had promised myself more live music and that's something's I have tried to keep up in 2013. And will continue in 2014... This year I've seen The Gaslight Anthem, Green Day twice, Pitbull - don't judge me! And Dave Hause 3 times - I saw him as support for Alkaline Trio last year and he was fantastic. On this tour Northcote was support and was brilliant. Dave Hause played mostly on his own but was sometimes joined by Northcote and Mitchell Townsend, he said the idea was to play the songs from his new album 'Devour' as they were written, the album has a full band so to hear the songs stripped back to a guitar or piano was cool. 

I also tried to be a bit more "cultural" and went to the theatre for a few shows, we saw Beautiful Thing and Blood Brothers, with both I wasn't sure if I wanted to go but said yes anyway and both I really enjoyed! And then there was two Rocky Horror shows. This was a brand new production and it was awesome. We were a bit worried it wouldn't live up to the shows with David Badella in but Oliver Thornton was fantastic, as were the rest of the cast. 

I've been to London 3 times this year, all for gigs but on the most recent visit I went to the East London Design Show which helped fuel the jewellery fire. There was several jewellery stands, all with really different designs and techniques, some amazing work on show. 

I have continued with my silver smithing class, I missed the last few lessons because of work but am hoping all will be well for the new term. I made a rediculous bracelet, that took up the first two terms. Then loads of rings. Absolutely loads. I don't have enough fingers... And a couple of pairs of earrings. After the epic bracelet I have really just been experimenting (then turning the experiments into rings) and have discovered my favourite thing is the doming block. I love punches as well for making patterns but I think silver dishes is where it's at for my next few projects. I actually don't have any grand ideas for the new term so I'll have to have a think...

Here's to a great 2014!