A passion for silversmithing

STERLING SILVER : Noun, meaning silver of 92 and a quarter percent purity.....

Monday 14 July 2014

New lovelies

Some new lovelies for my etsy shop Tripoli and Rouge...
This necklace is made from a heart shaped glass cabochon. I have used loose chain from Silvercitybeads which is already oxidised and has a lovely vintage look to it.



This one is forged from a square of sheet silver, which I hammered and shaped to form a coil. I oxidised it for added depth and to make it look vintage. The chain is one of my favourites from Cookson gold, belcher no 3.


This one is made from a pebble of recycled sterling silver. I have left the pebble quite rustic and organic and oxidised, not polished, and I have set it in a scalloped bezel setting. I have been searching for scalloped bezel from a UK supplier and couldn't find any, so had to buy it from the USA. There are so many materials that I struggle to find from UK suppliers, especially some of my favourite cabochons, and invariably have to source from elsewhere which then means buying in small quantities to avoid customs charges.
The scalloped bezel looks lovely but it has it's challenges. It needs to be seamless, with even scallops all round, and I had to stretch it in my roller a few times to get it spot on. Easy to overdo it and waste the bezel strip! Same chain as the heart above, so pretty and goes perfectly with the pendant.



This one I love, I wanted to recreate a seed I found in my garden....I think it is from an ash tree. Starting with sheet silver, I cut out the basic shape using my jewellers saw, and sanded the edges to get them smooth. I made the centre groove first, using a strip of fine wire placed on the silver through my rolling mill, then I put through the mill again with a course feather to get the finer lines. I annealed it before shaping it using pliers. Oxidation emphasises the texture.



And this one, just a simple hammered and domed pendant, with a drop of silver in the base of the dome. Heavily oxidised, and hangs from the belcher no 3 from Cookson gold.



Lastly, a simple twist of 1.5mm sterling silver wire.


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