My husband and I have set up a little spot in the garage for me to work on my jewellry making.  It’s not the greatest…but at least I can do all the messy stuff I want and not worry about it too much.

I am trying to teach myself to set cabochons and it’s not easy when you have no books to refer too…but I am getting there.  I did however come across a little tutorial on YT so that has been quite helpful as far as setting the bezel….I just wish I knew how to finish off the setting properly.  Here are a couple I have done so far

Of course,  I have already gone and scratched the stone on the pendant…..and I need to rewire the right pearl as it doesn’t match the left side….Never mind, it’s all good for practice.  I have quite a few cabochons on their way to me….I love big stones.  Besides the fact that they are easier to set…I personally like jewellry that stands out and is very individual.  The above pieces are only small as the stones are small.

I do have 8 books on their way to me from Amazon right now and I can’t wait to get my hands on them!!  I have saved a tonne of money buying them from there,  as many of the books are worth about 40-50$ each here in stores.  Whereas I got them from Amazon at about 17$ on average.  What a saving!!

I am off to the Endodontist this afternoon…this will be my second appointment.  The first set me back 1200$ and this one probably will cost the same….and then I have to fork out for a cap for the tooth.  NOT happy!!  It is costing a small fortune…money I could put into much more worthwhile endeavors, but as the tooth is quite near the front and on the bottom and I am only 30 years old….I can’t really avoid this.  If it was at the top, I probably would have let them pull the darned thing. (the tooth is getting a root canal).

Anyway,  I am going to try and enjoy the rest of my day until the appointment.  Maybe I should become an Endodontist?  Earning $1000 for a half hour would be absolutely FABULOUS!  I better stop thinking about it…it’s getting me quite angry the money I have to spend on a stupid tooth….what a rip OFF!

Just a few of the latest pics of Summer.

So this is a picture post of the stuff that I have been making….

This picture is of the first cuff I forged from 2mm sterling sheet, it’s about 140 grams in weight and it’s hammer finished.

This was the ring we all made in the silversmithing workshop. It was 2 rings sweatsoldered together. It’s not a ring I will wear….looks a bit like a gear or some kind of mans tool.

This is the first ring I have made at home all by myself.  It was a bit too big, but I resized it and it fits perfectly.  All good for practice?!

I have been trying to make glass tile pendants (like everyone else) but I wanted to make them so that they were a bit more special and will last longer.  So I have made a pendant cup kinda thing…..

which I then soldered a jump ring to the top…and then glued in a glass tile. Voila! – This little jewelry project is what started me in the silversmithing side of things as I really needed to learn to solder!

This was my first attempt at sweat soldering at home…I have used copper and sterling sheet and stamped them.  It’s cute, but I still don’t have all the appropriate polishing gear….so it could look better.

The above few pictures are just stamped pendants that I made for myself.

I have made a few other pieces, but nothing of consequence….so I won’t post about them.  I am in the middle of working on another ring for myself and I am waiting on my next order of silver….I hate waiting for parcels…I am sooo impatient.

The weekend that is.  I was so not in the mood for that course…but I had a great time.  We made a ring and a pendant.  And because we ran outta time,  the instructor made us all a pair of earrings.  But I had already made some similar at home,  so I didn’t care to make them really.

There only ended up being 4 of us in the class.  1 male and the other 2 ladies.  We all got on really well which was a bonus and they were all much older than me, which helped me relax and feel comfortable.  All in all it was a good choice to do the workshop and it has whet my appetite for making  jewellry even more. I feel much more confident to go ahead and try to make whatever I want to.  The only thing to stop me is my own self doubt and I won’t let it.

This morning I received delivery of some rectangle wire for making rings…I hope to make about 5 of them.  And I have more earring posts and I finally got myself a saw…now I am just waiting on my bench pin and scribes and I will be busy spending the weekend creating!! I can’t wait!!!

Well my course for the weekend wasn’t cancelled.  At least not that I know of anyway.  So tomorrow I will be rocking up for a loooong weekend of learning stuff.  I kinda wish it was cancelled now as I have taught myself half of what the course is for.  But that is because I am impatient and didn’t want to wait so long before having a try.

Really the main thing I need to learn at the moment is making a ring and a couple of other things.  But I have paid now and so I have to go.  Not looking forward to leaving my little bubba with others,  but I don’t have much of a choice.

I hope that it goes very very quickly and it isn’t too hot there…..awww wish I didn’t have to go now   but I am sure I will have fun and learn sooomething!

Well as it turns out,  Father in Law didn’t know how to silver solder.  He has only soldered with electrical stuff.  So nothing happened in that regard.

I did however manage to Forge an awesome piece of jewelry.  I will post photos of that soon.  I am rather pleased with how it turned out.  Learnt a few things whilst doing it too…which in my opinion is the best way to learn…cuz then it sticks!!

And this afternoon,  I took a jump and tried my first time doing silver soldering or rather more ’sweat soldering’ I think it might be called.  I tried a pair of earrings…..only teeny ones and they didn’t really work out….then I tried again a half hour later and had SUCCESS! YAY!!!

I’m so glad I had a go.  Now I can make earrings at least.  Think I might have a go with a nother project that I have in mind.  All of this progress is basically down to researching loads and loads of info on soldering and reading forums on everything I can find and also thanks to YouTube for a whole load of tutorial videos!!!!!