Jewelled Web - July 2017 - Link Love

It's really summer now, whatever the weather. The days are longer and, when the sun comes out, it's wonderful to feel its warmth. And even when it rains, well, it's still summer and that's what matters.

When the weather hasn't been so kind (or the wifi has stretched to outdoors) here's what I've been reading and bookmarking. Hope you enjoy.



~jewellery links~

So many jewellery making techniques have been around for centuries, including granulation.

More textured effects, this time created using a rolling mill - something still on my tool wish-list.

And yet more texture with a video on reticulation.

I adore these earrings, simple shapes and beautiful textures and colours.

Metal clay shell necklace tutorial - beautiful.

Simple and quick DIY makes, including a beaded lace cuff, a jewellery box, and how to make a plaster hand from a washing up glove to hold your jewellery.

What to do with leftover copper pipe after you've had a new bathroom fitted? Etch it.

The Pink Star diamond has sold in Hong Kong and set a new world record.



~non-jewellery links~

Fascinating article about a decades-long study on what makes us heathier - it's not just relationships but the quality of them...

A super-bloom of wildflowers that can be seen from space.

I love Cheryl Strayed (a film about her, Wild, is well worth watching and it's based on her book of the same title) and this piece by her about what writing (and reading) does for us is quite special.

Such a beautiful garden print, created by artist Fiona Willis

A publishing house in Iceland that produces books once a month and then burns the unsold books the next day...

Cinnamon can keep ants away and other amazing things it can do outside.

Online camera simulators for when you have to learn just what an f-stop really is.



~latest reads~

I've been binging on a lot of jewellery books of all kind the last month or so, but have really enjoyed re-reading Carles Codina's Handbook of Jewellery Techniques and Nicola Hurst's Start Making Jewellery in particular. Reviews to follow.

Non-fiction has been winning out over fiction lately for me, something I'm keen to overturn soon and find something wonderful to spend the warmer months with. But one of the best non-fiction books I've read in a long while is The Brain's Ways of Healing by Norman Doidge. If even half of this book is true then our brains are more fascinating and far more adaptable than we could ever have imagined and have the ability to transform our bodies. Totally recommended.


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Here's hoping July is gentle and beautiful, in all ways. Enjoy your month.

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Photo of the lime avenue taken during a wonderful walk in the park.

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If you need more links then check out my Jewelled Web from July 2015.


(this post includes affiliate links - please check details here for more info.)

Countryside Inspiration for Jewellery Designs - June 2017

Spring has begun its gentle slide into summer and whenever I'm out and about I've tried to snap photos as much as I can. All the photos in this post were taken on my camera phone as I've been trusting it far more lately to capture a good image for me. I've also been increasingly aware that the shapes and features that attract my eye in the landscape also feed into my approach to the jewellery I design and create.



The photo above of a green wheat field, backed with a wall, then a further field, and then the sky beyond made me consider the importance of both pattern and uniformity in jewellery design as well as aspects that break one or both of those qualities. Yes, the lines of the features in the photo run parallel to each other, but the spaces between those lines are all different - wide, narrow, narrow, wide and so they add interest and break expectations of a uniform pattern.

Creating differences through contrast in design is often pleasing - we naturally recognise rhythm and anything that alters or interupts it. The texture of the wheat itself, being pushed by the breeze, within the overall stripe it forms, shows how effective angles can be when set against horizonal patterns and shapes. And the clouds in the skyscape provide a rounded texture in contrast with all the lines in the photo, serving as a reminder how texture can be used as a subtle contrast.



This photo was taken late into bluebell time, when I nearly missed the best of the blooms through a rather weighty migraine that kept me hidden away instead of experiencing the flowers at their most blue. But even here in this image, the carpet effect is still in evidence and the trees, as ever, provide a protective canopy against the harshness of direct sunshine and beautiful spots of light falling on the flowers.

If you imagine the scene without the blue hues then it becomes a little drab, something a little plain - the bluebells add interest and texture and show how detail can lift a design which, while still attractive, may also be a little flat without it.



The contrast between the sunlight falling on the wooden gate and fence and the gentler dappled shade in the woodland prompted me to take this photograph. Contrast adds interest in jewellery design, as do angles, like the one that the gate and fence are on which helps draw the eye through the image, and prevent a one-dimensional quality by adding depth. In jewellery, the fact it is three-dimensional and tactile is one of its great strengths and allows freedom in design to create that sense of movement within each piece.

I'm really enjoying examining the photos I take a little more closely, choosing a few of my favourites and thinking about why I took them and like them so much and how certain elements of design manifests in my jewellery designs as well.

Do share anything you've noted in these images, or in any others you yourself may have taken, and leave a comment below. And if you fancy seeing my earlier posts on photographic inspiration they are here (on the seaside) and here (on flowers).

Book Review - Practical Jewellery-Making Techniques: Problem Solving by Stephen O'Keeffe

Practical Jewellery-Making Techniques: Problem Solving
by Stephen O'Keeffe
Published by A&C Black, 2011
144 pages




I have a well-worn copy of an earlier book by Stephen O'Keeffe, namely Tips and Shortcuts for Jewellery Making. One of the reasons I used it so much was because it is different from nearly all of the other jewellery books I have, which tend to be a combination of explaining techniques that are then used with specific projects. This book though, and the one I'm reviewing here, look at jewellery as a series of problems to be solved and the author helps come up with solutions through experience and ingenuity.

One line review

An unorthodox, excellent book on how to avert 'disaster' in jewellery making and silversmithing by creating clever tools and using innovative thinking.

First Impressions

I had to look twice at this book when I saw the cover. I recognised the author's name and style of jewellery and it made me wonder if it was a re-issue of the original book (I couldn't remember the title well enough to be sure!) or a repackaged version. Flicking through the pages showed me that this wasn't the case. the book was different and that it was worth looking at more closely, with lots of colour images set among the detailed text.

At The Start

The Contents page is text-based and simple, listing the chapters of the book and what each contains.

The two-page Introduction explains the thinking behind the book; trying to prevent 'disaster' and fix issues before they become problems, partly by using traditional techniques and clever, self-created tools. It's a great intro to the different thinking and style that this book follows.

In the Middle

The ten chapters this book contains make up almost all of the contents. The first three chapters deal with some basic ideas, like tools, techniques and making simple tools; these chapters are full of useful information and hints.

Chapter 4 discusses using a punch and die, and chapter 5 goes into detail on soldering. Chapter 6 deals with wire scrolls and chapter 7 covers doming blocks. Chapters 8 and 9 look at using a homemade swaging tool, forming oval nails into punches and instructions for creating a forming tool - examples of what can be made with these items are included and explained. The last chapter is about findings, including jump rings, catches, and ear wires.

Describing the chapters like this can make them seem a little disjointed, but the skills being taught are cumulative and the author's 'normal' job as a teacher is clear.

In terms of projects, these are interspersed throughout the chapters and are not listed individually in the contents page; instead they appear organically as part of the natural flow of the text and in context of what the author is writing about. This makes them a little harder to find at first glance but perhaps easier to follow if you read the book much like you would read a study course.

At the End

Ring sizing and wire sizing tables are at the end of the book, along with a glossary and index.

In Summary

An excellent book for anyone who uses smithing skills to make jewellery and wants to not only learn more but to think outside the box. If you are just starting out then a simpler guide may be useful to begin with, but do consider investing in this book as you progress. For jewellers at any other stage, I'd be very surprised if this book didn't provide at least food for thought and most likely useful guidance and a good few handy hints along the way.


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For another of my jewellery book reviews, then check out The Complete Jewellery Maker by Jinks McGrath.


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First Steps with Resin Enamel by Efcolor - Celestial Sheep

My very first moves into enamelling, and resin enamel specifically, have been tentative and slow, have involved experimentation and a few errors, and have seen a (mostly) enjoyable learning curve. I'll write more in a future post about the process of working with this particular type of enamel and the equipment that I've been using, but for now here's some photos of how it works.

Resin enamel, or Efcolor, only needs a low heat to harden (it uses tea lights for this!) and, after I was recommended it, it seemed a good place to start to add a little more colour and variety into my jewellery.

So far my favourite piece is also my first, a copper blank in the rather surprising shape of a sheep - it came in a variety pack of copper pieces which I'm using to experiment with.

To my eyes at least, it has ended up looking rather like the night sky can in a good summer, with shades of blue and bright splashes of star light that are only really visible in a Dark Skies zone or on Nasa's website... The phrase that came to mind when I'd finished was celestial sheep. I do appreciate that might have been quite a flight of fancy on my part however, and that different eyes may well see a white sheep that has had a close encounter with a recently painted fence panel...

More, much more, experimentation will follow...

Jewelled Web - June 2017 - Link Love

June is when summer really should be making itself felt. It's half-way through the year, yet if to-do lists from six months ago are not being attended to then it kind of doesn't matter because, in theory, the sun is shining and the evenings are long and bright... May has seen rain, hail and thunder, as well as baking days under a bright sun, so I can hope that June will see sunshine and perhaps a little rain too, ideally falling gently while I'm asleep, always the best time for rain to fall in Summer...

Here are some of links to what I've been reading (and saving to read later) that may float your boat (tenuous photo-related pun intended).



~jewellery links~

A comprehensive introduction to torch fired enamelling - first published in 2008 and still getting views.

Tiny flowers made from silver and carefully pieced together into a necklace.

Strawberries and jewellery has to be the perfect combination.

A detailed tutorial on how to cut and shape sea glass.

Earrings or sculpture... either way, these are works of art.

Another highly detailed tutorial on how to etch designs onto metal.

Such a pretty ring - I love to deconstruct jewellery I see on the web, and try and work out if I've the tools and skills to make it myself!

Jewellery made from tagua seeds instead of ivory may help save elephants.

And yet another beautiful ring...



~non-jewellery links~


How to be organised. If only it was as simple as reading a blog post...but it's somewhere to start.

Dreams delivered to you, by hand (and cycle), while you sleep...

Will we all live in forest cities one day? One already exists in Singapore.

Steampunk sculptures made from rubbish. How to make your own armour. Creatures that (probably) don't exist. How to improve by practising. Yes, I went to Bored Panda.

170 years of photography.

More images, this time by a photographer who places animals where they used to be.

Wonderful stained glass cloud and raindrops.



~latest reads~

A mix of fact and fiction this month, both courtesy of the excellent facility my local library has of allowing eBook lending via the Overdrive app - and I believe this is nationwide in the UK so if you've been looking for a reason to join/rejoin your local library, this is a great one.

An absorbing book about illness and health and everything in between, I found Teach Us to Sit Still by Tim Park enlightening on the topic of what health can be and what it is and what to do when conventional medicine doesn't quite fit.

The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor is a murder mystery set in the midst of the Great Fire of 1666, full of intrigue and duplicity and post-Restoration dark-doings...



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I hope June is a wonderful and sunny month for us all - enjoy the sun, and the links.

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Photo of pieces of a wooden slipway taken by me on an impromptu trip to the seaside.

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If you'd like a blast from the past Jewelled Web then take a look at this one from April 2014.


(this post includes affiliate links - please check details here for more info.)