Design Ideas!

These are a few design Ideas that I have been working on at the moment all incorporating wood and silver.

Private Work!

Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't for my mother I wouldn't be in business. Last week I made a ring for her that came out very well. At least I thought anyway. It was a black Diamond that my mom brought off Bidorbuy and I set it in a square setting, on the claws each claw had a diamond set, on the shank on either side of the main setting 3 diamonds where set. These are very good pictures.

The Next Process

After cutting the wooden bangles, I have to sandpaper the bangles down as they have rough edge's and patches on the surface of the wood. I have to make sure that the wooden bangle is smooth as anything, its very important as if it isn't smooth it will cause a delay at a later stage in the process. Once its sanded properly, we mix polyurethane and water it down with turpentine. With that I paint a thin layer onto the wood and leace it to dry for 2 - 4 hours , once its dry, I sandpaper it down as there maybe bumbs or bubbles, once sandpapered I repeat the process with the paint. This process is repeated 3 - 4 times. This solution makes the wooden bangle a lot stronger and brings out the grain of the wood.

At a later stage of today I will be posting some pictures of the process.

Making a wooden bangle!

Over the last week I have been thinking about making my own wooden bangles and using my designs to incorporate the wooden bangles. So I started on a long search for the equipment. First I had to ask around on who had a bench drill and from there I had to find out where I could find the drills I was looking for. I had to buy a set of round tube drills, which was a little bit expensive, but if you buy them in a set it worked out cheaper than buying them separately.

While setting up the bench drill, you have to make sure every thing is lined up well otherwise if while drilling and the drill isn't lined up you could hit the drill with the steal stand, making the drill blunt.

Once cutting the outside I use a vice to hole the solid piece but I don't make it too hard because once the inside is cut out I was scared the it would snap, so I don't crank it too tight. Once the middle is cut you have a bangle that just needs tons of sanding.

More Private Work!

Over the december holidays I was asked to make a few different items.

First was a pendant for a family member, she had bought the stones on Bidorbuy. A website that as acutions every Wednesday in South Africa. She had gotten a blue topaz and an unusual shaped opal. Stunning stones. She wanted them set in white gold but because she couldn't afford white gold, so we set them in silver instead.

This next piece was half my design and half the customers design, she wanted a bracelet, but big, bold and chunky yet not a complicated design. She like a pendant I made in 2nd year where I made a dome and made glass beads to be suspended in the middle of the dome.

The bracelet is made of many dome and instead of the glass bead, I made silver beads that went inside the domes, once I had soldered the domes together, it became a battle to slighlty bend the domes to fit the shape of the wrist, it was a challenge but a good one and I think it came out very well and I love it so much that I want to make one for myself.

Above is my 2nd year piece.and the bracelet I helped design and made.

The next ring I made was also a challenge, for the first time in my life I got to make or should I say alloy Rose Gold. It was difficult but now I know the secret to making rose gold. The rose gold strip is placed over a silver band. But what had happened was that I had filed a grove into the silver band thinking that it would prevent the rose gold band from coming off the silver band, and then in the process I landed up making the rose gold band spin like a stress ring, was not what I wanted but when the customer saw it and started playing with it she was happy. So we didnt change it.

Creations Over The Xmas Holidays

Well this last season has been short but on the other hand too long! I have been really busy over the last couple of months.

At the beginning of our hoilday in November, there where a few of us from tech that were getting together and where trying to sell some of our jewellery at the "I heart market" in Durban, the last 3 weekends before Christmas and with that we where all busy trying to make as much stock as we could.

These are a few pieces that I have made and am hoping to sell. From the market I did recieve alot of feed back from poeple that had taken my card and are wanting once off pieces.

Private Jobs.

In amongst everything else with the end of year so and preparing for it I have been very busy in private jobs for my own customers. The first piece, A friend of mine owns a farm and carved a small piece of wood into a heart for his girlfriend and he wanted it to be a pendant, so I made the pieces to make it into a pendant. I found myself loving the idea of wooden pendant that have been carved and so I'm going to start trying to carve wood for myself or at least shape it.





The second piece is my best friends engagement ring, I was so excited when her boyfriend phoned me to ask if I would make the ring. I think that it just made it that little more special as her friend made it, He proposed last night at bible study infront of everyone and she cant stop looking at it and showing it off. I'm so glade that she likes it. This isn't a very good photo, but I have told her she has to bring it back so I can take a better photo.