My Latest Creations... Silver Rings

These are my latest handcrafted rings. I just finished making these yesterday. The one of the left is my favorite. I listed them in my Etsy shop last night and have been trying to think of some good names for them. They are .999 fine silver and made entirely by hand. The ring in the middle and on the right also includes some dichroic glass. I made the glass piece by cutting the dichroic glass to size. This was then fused in a kiln with clear glass over the top to give it a lovely sparkly finish. The glass piece has then been shaped and re-fired.
The rings are handmade using silver art clay. Firing the rings in a kiln burns off the organic binder in the silver clay leaving you with .999 real fine pure silver.
The ring on the left includes 5 lovely gemstones. I have used a mixture of colours which I thought resembled springtime. It was late last night that I thought of a cool name for this ring: Springtime Galaxy : - )
I've listed all 3 of these silver & glass rings in my Etsy shop.

Handcrafted Fine Silver Jewellery

These are my latest fine silver jewellery creations. I made these using silver art clay. I just love working with silver clay and the effects you can create are stunning. Silver clay is made from fine silver dust and a non toxic binder. You create your piece with the clay and then fire it in a kiln. The non toxic organic binder burns away leaving you with 99.9% real fine pure silver. After firing the silver it then requires polishing and hand finishing. I have recently discovered Etsy.com and just opened a new online shop where I have all these silver jewellery pieces listed. You can click here if you would like to take a look around my Etsy shop and see some of the other jewellery I have made.

Handmade Silver Adjustable Heart Ring

This is my silver adjustable heart ring that I just finished making yesterday. I am really pleased with the way this ring turned out and couldn't wait to post a picture on my blog. The 2 hearts on the front of the ring are made from silver art clay. Once the silver clay hearts have been fired in kiln, you are left with 99.9% real silver. I have then attached the silver hearts to a sterling silver adjustable ring. I really like these rings. They wrap around your finger and can easily be adjusted without pinching your skin. I have just listed this ring in my Chloe's Designs online jewellery & glassware shop along with some of my other handcrafted rings. If you want to view more of my handcrafted rings, you can click here to go to my shop.

Something freaky is happening...

I just had to write this post as something really freaky keeps happening to me. My partner has a replica kit car of a Porsche 356 Speedster. (Sounds nice... the replica is based of a VW Beetle Chassis). Anyway - I keep noticing the numbers '356' in things through-out the day. The main one is checking the temperature on the kiln and the moment I open the door and look at the timer, the temperature says 356 degrees! This has happened countless times!! The most freakiest one was suddenly waking up in the middle of the night and I looked at the clock and it read 3:56am. Has anyone else experienced this? I once started to read a book that was about how powerful the mind is, and if you keep thinking something will happen, then it will. I probably see hundreds of numbers every day, but maybe because 356 means something to me I take more notice?... It's very freaky tho. Would love to hear from anyone else who's maybe experienced something similar.....

Matching Jewellery set I made for my mum

I made this matching dichroic glass jewellery set especially for my mum for Mother's Day. This set has to be one of my favorite jewellery sets that I've made. The set has been made with purple dichroic glass, pink glass, black glass and clear glass. I cut and layer the glass, then fuse all the layers together at high temperatures in a kiln. The glass is then slowly annealed to give maximum strength and ensure that the glass will not crack. After the first firing, I smooth the edges off and they go back in the kiln to be fire polished. I then handcrafted the silver bezel and bail to make the pendant. I made this using silver art clay. After firing the silver art clay, you are left with 99.9% real silver. The only parts that I have not handmade is the sterling silver snake necklace and the sterling silver bail & earring hooks. Other than the sterling silver findings, everything else is completely handcrafted by myself.
I especially like the glass bangles. These push on your arm and then slide down to sit snuggly over your wrist. They are made up from several layers of glass and shaped inside the kiln. The bangles are again slowly annealed to give them maximum strength, however they are 100% glass and could break if dropped.
I'm working on a new plate design at the moment. Will post a pic when it's finished.

Got my picture in the local paper...

I was thrilled to pieces when I picked up a copy of the Derbyshire Picture Telegraph on Saterday and saw my pic on page 10. I think they got a great photo of my glass plates and some of my dichroic glass bangles. I was suprised at how well the pic came out because I know how difficult it is trying to photograph glass.
Everyone that was at the craft show last Sunday had their pic featured in the local paper. It was really nice to show my friends & family some of the crafts that other people had made. One lady made these gorgeous pottery masks and bowls for the garden. She bought one of her bowls to the fair to demonstrate her working and I was so impressed with it at the end of the day. I came away from the fair with lots of new ideas to improve my stall for next time. I'm still looking for my next fair, but will post dates as soon as I know.