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...

Gifts for a Jeweller...

I always feel a little naughty asking for jewellery gifts for Christmas. It's as if it's a secret indulgence that I'm asking others to provide for me, the equivalent of simply saying "Chocolate will do this year. Any kind you like..."

And I did try to be good this year. I tried not to ask for jewellery books (I failed twice). And I tried not to ask for any tools or devices or materials or anything jewellery connected. Of course, I failed here too and ended up with a (requested) heap of low-temperature enamelling goodies under the tree on Christmas morning.

Since then, life has done its things and thrown up its normal wondrous obstacles to keep me away from much jewellery related. But it's way over midway through January now (how does time go so soon?) and I'm battling back, making time and space to start my post-festive jewellery immersion. Until that battle is a little further underway, and the results noted and photographed, here are some images of my Christmas stash.

At the top of the page is a photo of the aforementioned jewellery books (see January's Jewelled Web under latest Reads), and the picture below here is of some Efcolor low temperature enamel colours, a parcel of copper blanks, and a few of the tools I hope to make some metal magic with.




In non-jewellery-related gifts (I know, it does happen) I'm happy to say I also received a rather large (and exceedingly nice) slab of chocolate fudge, a record player (with records), a pair of slippers (a Christmas classic, and deliciously soft), and a very large and incredibly useful (given the weather we're having so far this year) log basket.

I hope your jewellery-related Christmas gifts were equally inspiring.