Following on from making a silver chain bracelet at the Frensham Old Barn Workshop, I decided to go back for one of their 5 week jewellery classes. They have a varity to chose from but I decided Friday mornings would work best for me.
So for the past 5 weeks I've been learning more about silver smithing.
If you are brand new to all this, they can set you a project to work on, but me being me I already had a project in my head.
Last year I bought a small bag of sea glass and having looked through it came up with an idea for a set of jewellery - necklace, bracelet and ear rings.
So I took the glass and my drawings with me, and Beth our tutor, helped me turn it in to a reality!
I started with the pendent as it was the biggest and so would be a little easier to work on.
To start I made a loop of 1.5mm silver wire the same size of the glass, before making the 'prongs' by melting balls on the end of 1.2mm silver wire and soldering them to the loop.
Lastly I added a small piece of tube for my chain to run through to try and keep it sitting square when I wear it.
After a lot of filing, sanding and polishing I was ready to set my glass.
I also finished both ends of my chain - adding jump rings and a clasp.
I am dead chuffed with the result. The design has been sitting in my head for so long it's crazy to see it in real life now.
With the pendent finished I moved on to the bracelet. I followed the exact same process, except the pieces are smaller with 5 'prongs' rather than 7, and they don't have a tube, but will have jump rings soldered to them in the end to join them altogether. I've only made one and a half so far but I hope to go back in the summer to finish them off.
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| Getting ready to make a bracelet |
I'm really enjoying working in silver and I'm wondering what else I can do incorporating silver with my own glass beads?
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