Dancing

At a recent dance weekender in Southport, ostensibly to dance modern jive/Ceroc, my interest in Argentinian Tango was re-kindled.  The teaching was superb, partners were keen to learn, of mixed ability, and most were without fixed dance partners.

It was only about 5 years ago that a dance teacher sniffed, "Sorry, we don't taken women without partners; it's too intimate to dance Tango with a stranger."  I was shocked, frankly, and then embarrassed.  I cursed myself for being unable to come up with some witty Wilde-ean retort, but in my defence I was rather caught on the back foot. I turned to modern jive/Ceroc where fixed partners are not the norm, and have had enormous fun, but still hankered after the Tango. 

I became interested again in AT when Clive James took the plunge and revealed his progress on TV. I followed Osvaldo Zotto on Youtube and marvelled at his grace and fluidity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zet-EKeo8&feature=related.  So to Southport... and now my next lesson in November where, no doubt, I shall be dancing with plenty of strangers. 

In the process I discovered a fascinating blog by a keen AT dancer (a former modern jiver, too).  He describes the Tango itself, his dance partners, and Buenos Aires with great elegance and feeling, and has included many practical tips for those intending to travel to BsAs  http://stephentwist.blogspot.com/.

Sea glass ring

Latest sea glass creation - made in April this year. 
The glass came from a beach in the North of England.  It measures almost 1" long x 3/4" and is a paler yellowy green than appears here.  Will try to improve the photo and re-load so the colours are clearer.  Sterling silver setting.

Silk Scarves

I've been making hand-painted silk scarves recently.
Like any new technique, there's a bit of a learning curve.  


If you touch silk with a spot of dye it spreads like crazy, so various methods have to be adopted to either slow its progress or contain it within a very specific area.


When all the fun stuff is completed, the scarf goes into a steamer for 3 hours to set the colours.  This is where you hope and pray that no water touches the scarf or the colours will run and it's back to square one.

The scarf above is made from Habotai 8mm silk.  The "mm" doesn't mean millimetres.  It refers instead to "momme" - a silk industry measure of weight.  "8mm" means that if measured over a 100yd length x 45" width, my silk would weigh 8lbs. I also use Pongee 5mm - lighter and more translucent than the 8mm.  In this second picture (5mm silk) you can just see the design showing through.

Both silks have a smooth finish and feel gorgeous against the skin, and I've taken to wearing them nearly all the time.  I work in an air-conditioned office and they keep the chill at bay.


Check out my site at Sula V Silver Jewellery, Silk Scarves & Textiles.  
I also have a shop on Etsy www.SulaV1.etsy.com  and a Facebook page at Hand-painted Silk Scarves 

Byzantine necklace and bracelet

Just noticed that it's been a year since I updated my blog.  I've made one or two silver items since last October but haven't been as active as I should - mainly due to the price of silver.  
This necklace and bracelet was requested by a former colleague.  It's Sterling Silver, stamped with my maker's mark and the Sheffield Assay Office hallmark.   
The necklace is of finer gauge than the bracelet as I felt it would appear less chunky, but I needn't have worried; I've seen one or two recently that wouldn't have been out of place on a ship's anchor.
The bracelet is 7.5" and the necklace 21" if memory serves me right.  I enjoyed making this, despite having to cut and link over 900 jump rings.  It would be a different matter if I were working to a deadline. 

Sea glass cabochon

I originally thought this piece of sea glass was white, but against a white background it appears slightly grey or grey/violet.  Anyway, it was such a nice, rounded shape I decided to mount it in a bezel.  My usual bezel strip wasn't deep enough so I cut a wide strip of 0.5mm sterling silver, sawed into one long edge to give it a decorative "toothy" finish, and soldered it to sterling sheet.  A silver squiggle, small silver balls and "fidget rings" finished off the pendant. 

My soldering ability was really tested on this pendant.  I started with hard, medium and easy solders in that order, but still found that seams popped open due to heat conduction.  I've read that using a rouge/methylated spirit solution painted onto previous seams will protect them... that's for next time.

I originally gave this pendant a satin finish but later polished it up to a high shine.  I think the satin gives a more lustrous feel, so after hallmarking it will probably revert.

Silver swirl and seaglass drops

Have taken a break recently due to other commitments.  This hammered swirl was lying around for some time waiting to be finished, but I wasn't quite sure what it needed.  Sometimes you just have to walk away or doodle a bit to find inspiration.  In the end I chose 3 small seaglass pebbles, and drilled and threaded them onto 1mm diam silver wires.

I've finally sourced some relatively cheap diamond-coated hand files, plus riffler files and drill bits.  I've resolved never to buy through specialist suppliers again for tools as it's almost always possible to find cheaper alternatives.  One thing I won't compromise on though, is saw blades; the cheap ones just snag and/or snap constantly.

Had an idea for a seaglass "cabochon" with fidget rings - not sure where I saw it originally, possibly on Etsy.  Thank you to whoever had the idea.  See next post...

Ammonite

I found an amazingly detailed ammonite over 30 years ago in North Yorkshire.  Using latex, I took an impression and created this pendant in .999 silver - approx 1.5 inches including bail.  Polishing and burnishing has softened the detail of the silver version, but the lines on the original are incredibly crisp.  I read somewhere that this little creature created about 13 chambers a year as it grew, and most lived around two years.  How old does this make mine?

Sea glass pendant

Spent a pleasant day wandering round other people's gardens in a nearby village.  There were fourteen open to scrutiny, including the manor house with its fabulous specimen trees, ha-ha (boundary between the estate's gardens and grounds), and breathtaking views across the valley.  After an arduous day wandering from garden to garden struggling to remember Latin plant names, we were drawn to the plant sale and cream teas in the village hall.  I'm now the proud owner of an acanthus (bear's breeches), ht 2 inches, price 20p - a bargain...if it survives.

More sea glass sorting this evening.  I like working with sea glass but find the unevenly shaped pieces tricky to mount in a bezel.  I end up with a rather casual "arty" look where the bezel, when viewed from the front is uneven.  I know it's the nature of the material I'm working with, but unless I'm specifially aiming for that casual look - and exaggerate it for emphasis - it can be frustrating.  The smooth pebbles here were easier to mount.  This pendant has two (grey and greeny blue) with a light green shard of glass at the base.  All from Northern beaches.

Sea glass pendant - 3 colours

A hot, but cloudy day and quite humid.  I could have spent the time weeding as they're about to take over the whole garden. A greater urge led me to the sea glass shoebox where I spent a happy hour laying out glass in various combinations of shapes, sizes and colours.  Result?  Several new projects (but alas, no more bezel strip). 

This pendant consists of a ruby red glass bead with central crease, aqua and dark lime shards.  I balanced the pendant with a sterling silver bar with hammer finish.  I'm hanging on to this one until I've re-done the bezels.

Jade pendant

This piece of jade - originally with no silver mount or bail - has a large hole drilled near the top.  Its owner had noticed a tendency for the pendant to twist round when hung on a cord, and hadn't worn it for a while. 

I enclosed the edge of the stone with narrow bezel strip, leaving the reverse of the stone open.  I went for a plain, wide bail which mirrors the shape of the jade and also hides the hole. 

Blue sampler bracelet

A sampler bracelet in silver, with turquoise blue Pandora-style glass beads.  I used a variety of techniques in this bracelet, one being employed in the plaited and coiled silver focal bead, the other in the "blackberry" next to the hook fastening. There is a lot of silver in the focal bead which makes the bracelet quite heavy.  I'm not happy with the Greek key feature on the left; it'll be replaced by something to balance the opposite side.

Necklace, hammer finish

Necklace/large pendant to match the earrings below. 
I had something of a dilemma when it came to the means of suspending this large pendant/series of pendants.  Each drop is separate but the customer requested that they be strung on Tiger Tail (fine, nylon-covered stainless steel wire).   Stringing them separately would make them liable to overlap as the customer moved. My solution was to fix them in relation to each other across the back using a length of silver wire with a loop at each end - a hidden bail.  The effect is one of 5 separate pieces; the reality...one large pendant.

Hammered finish silver earrings

Having discovered just how much light is reflected by a hammer finish, I'm using it for more and more pieces.  These earrings catch every bit of light going.

Silver leaf

A simple, silver leaf pendant with satin finish, polished central vein and bail.  Tried various finishes - all-over polish (see below), and hammered texture oxidised in liver of sulphur.  Each method has its attractions, though the rotten-egg smell of liver of sulphur isn't one of them! 

Sea glass pendant - work in progress

Latest sea glass pendant.  Pale green frosted glass - possibly part of a bottle base - found on a beach in NE England.  The colour of this piece of glass is lovely and will set off a tan nicely.  The glass is mounted on a solid piece of silver, wrapped over to enclose the glass.  The solid back ensures that light will be reflected back out through the glass, and the enclosing edges or "bezel" hint at stylised waves.  0.5mm thick sheet and 1.5mm silver wire.  The large hoop at the top is a support for further embellishment.  To be completed.

Hammer finish, silver bangle

Silver cuff bangle with hammer finish and textured stripes.  After cutting out the blank the areas to receive a hammer finish were masked off, and the stripes were etched with a wheel (not chemical), firstly across the width of the bangle,and then at right angles.  A final run over with a brass brush produced a sort of 3-d effect.  The etched areas were then protected during the hammering process.  Several rounds of annealing and hammering were needed to render the silver first pliable, then hardened.  There's a tendency when hammering for the metal to curl upwards when the bangle should curve the other way, so annealing of the work-hardened silver is essential to achieve this without splitting the metal. 

Hammer finish silver pendant

Hand-made circular silver pendant with drops and hung from black cord. The pendant is hammer-finished and slightly domed to lie flat against the skin. To form the drops, I hammered lengths of round silver wire flat at one end, rotated them through 90 degrees and hammered the opposite end so they look a bit like propellers.  A silver ball and wire was soldered to one end of each drop and then wound onto the pendant.

Cool green, purple and silver bracelet

Hand-made silver bracelet with beads as a focal point, including green Pandora-style beads, purple glass and Thai hill-tribe ribbed beads.  A soldered flower, tube spacers, and wrapped "coil" beads were added.  This last bead used rather more silver wire than I'd hoped but it's a process I'll try again - perhaps as a whole bangle rather than just a bead. The fastening is adjustable via a scrolled hook and swan-loop feature or adjoining jump rings.

Swirly silver earrings

Swirly silver earrings with hammered finish and aurora borealis briolette beads.  Each earring is formed from one piece of silver wire.  Although given a hammered finish, they would benefit further from soldering to improve rigidity.

Sea glass "shard" pendant

Shard of translucent white sea glass. Drilled, and suspended on snake chain with freshwater rice pearl, Swarovski crystal and silver charm.  Drilling seaglass is always a nerve-wracking business.  There's no guarantee that your special piece of glass isn't going to shatter at the last moment.  That's exactly what happened to a beautiful piece of glass I found a year ago.  It was large (about 3"x 1.5"), mid-green and shaped like Africa...or, if you turned it over and used your imagination, a bit like India.  It now bears no resemblance to either.  While wandering about on various beaches I've found several shards like the one shown here.  I could have made a striking necklace using several, but will wait to see if they all survive the drilling process.  My local DIY store no longer stocks the  diamond tipped drill bits I use, so it looks like I'll have to practise some creative wrapping techniques instead.