Treasure bottles

 I made a series of four decorative ocean-themed bottle shaped focals at this time last year and thought I'd make another batch now that summer is on the way (supposedly!). These four are the latest ones and this is the story behind them: 


"Could these bottles have been thrown overboard by a drunken pirate centuries ago, sinking to the ocean bed where they gathered barnacles, seaweed, netting, sand, anemones, and were then washed up onto a sandy shore? Well if they were, mermaids must have magically miniaturised them, which is lucky for jewellery fans..."









I've loved making these - each one is different, and the possibilities are probably endless. I'm keeping the last one for now - I just adore this tealy green glass and I'm not sure if I can get any more. I'd love to see what other jewellery makers do with these. 






 



Oh, I kept another one of the
prototypes and quickly 
wire-wrapped it with one of my 
soldered rings. I can dream of the sea!

Too much fun with metal

I'm having lots of fun playing with copper, forming rings and clasps and headpins.

It's so nice to be able to make most of the components in my jewellery.

Here are some 15mm jumprings with blobs of easy solder waiting for a bit of a heat with my butane torch. The first one I tried didn't work, but a bit of internet checking told me the problem - they needed extra cleaning with a green scrubbie, then it worked a treat.

Then they got into a pickle with a warm salt and vinegar solution to clean them up a bit.

Pretty shiny, just needed a bit more elbow grease, but as I intended to antique them in liver of sulphur, I didn't go mad.

I was quietly pleased to use them in the next bracelet I made.

Birth of a bracelet

I've been asked several times how I come up with ideas for jewellery made with my lampwork beads. I'm a believer in not being too tidy (my family would confirm that!) and will often let random beads lie around on my work bench. They get to know one another and then speak to me...well one or two of them will catch my eye so I put them together and start adding other toning or contrasting elements, including my ceramic beads and purchased semi-precious beads and silver or copper charms and other components. It all evolves as I add or subtract bits. Sometimes I'll make a wirework clasp or ring or in this case a spiral cage especially for the work in progress, sometimes I find them...lying around on the bead mat. Told you I was untidy! When I'm happy with the arrangement I join it all together with appropriate bead caps and spacers and so on, and I'll often give it a chemical bath to antique the metal. In this case I left some of my rings shiny as a contrast.What do you think of the end result?