Aah Sunday night and have managed to get a few minutes to write some words of wisdom i hope. Since we got back from Holiday it has been chaos with orders and getting back into work mode which isn’t easy for me at the best of times as Sue keeps pulling me up about all the tea breaks i have, I keep telling her that my genius comes from my thinking time. At the moment i have about ten projects going on at the moment which probably isn’t the best way to work but it suits me, and the one I am going to blog about tonight is my new white pearl cluster bracelet. I actually got the idea for this bracelet from our holiday destination which was Brittany which is in France for those of you who would not no that. I had been looking at photo’s with  beautiful soft sandy beaches with water crashing off the rocks which makes that white foam and is surrounded by patches of lovely clear blue/green water and then the darker blue water further out and having been there its even better first hand. I used two different sizes of AA white freshwater round pearls, The sizes of these pearls are 3-3.5 mm for the small ones and 5.5-6mm for the bigger ones which give it a fantastic style. I then added some 4mm AA aquamarine faceted rondelles which i interspersed along the bracelet which just made the bracelet glow and give it beautiful contrast to the pearls. I do like to add contrasting colours to my pieces but you have do it in the right way or it just looks a mess so for my second gemstone i used AAA blue Iolite Mystic quartz which were 6.5-7.5mm which to me just made the bracelet complete. I did add one last item to the bracelet which was a sterling silver Fleur de Lys charm which i thought was appropriate in more ways than one. This bracelet looks very suttle but has that eye catching look which i think is a must for pieces like this. I am working on the matching necklace and earrings for this bracelet so it will be a lovely set but that’s for another time and blog  so i bid you bonne nuit

Just finished putting these wonderful Personalised Silver Cufflinks on our website. We have been going as fast as we can to get personalised pieces designed and made but unfortunutaly it just doesn’t work like that you always run into problems when you do compilcated work but half the fun is problem solving, but we have got this pair finished and ready for sale. These cufflinks have an 18mm diameter and are 1.5mm thick that give it a nice weight to it but also keeping that elegant look. I love the font we used for the cufflinks but we also do them in three other fonts to give people a choice. We have about 2-3 other pairs of cufflinks that we would like to do, with different shapes and with some words on as well so we cover a wide range of topics such as weddings, fathers day, to putting children’s names on them there is so much you can do with personalised jewellery. I wasn’t convinced with personalised jewellery but now I have got my hands dirty I love it.

We have lots of new personalised pieces near completion and lots of good ideas for others but i will take one piece at a time as I am the kind of person who wants everything to happen all at once. I have wanted to make this piece for a long time now and finally i can show it off with pride. I wanted to do the slinky a bit different to what everyone else was doing as they all look a like so i have gone for 6mm high rondelles which are 3mm wide to give it that sturdy look without taking away the elegance of the bracelet which i think makes it look even better. I wanted to make this piece a treasured keepsake for people so i thought i would attach etched initial charms so you could chose to have loved ones initials to make this a personal joy to wear but also have the elegance of a bracelet you could wear at a wedding for instance. The disks are  12mm in diameter and have a beautiful elegant font which took a bit of time to chose as there were so many. All the beads and charms are attached to strong stretchy elastic to create the illusion bracelet. Suzanne has been busy in the workshop trying out the new tumbler and she has done a fantastic job of the etched charms as they look superb because its not been easy in the workshop with the cold weather even though we have a heater in there.

Well the days are flying past at the moment and Valentines day is just round the corner for all you love birds so we have been busy coming up with a few designs.  The first of which is this silver heart necklace which can be personalised with the words of your choice.

I had been wanting to try etching text in relief for some time now and this is my first attempt and I have to say I was really pleased with the way it came out. After etching the text onto the silver heart which I cut out from sterling silver sheet by hand, I oxidised it and then popped it in my new tumbler (so excited to finally get a tumble polisher that everything is going in it at the moment!) and crossed my fingers!  I love the effect it has given it as the pendant has a real shine to it – which is difficult to portray in the photograph – and the writing is highlighted but in a  subtle way – a really unique way to express your feelings.  And don’t just limit it to Valentine’s Day it also makes a great engagement, wedding or anniversary gift.  Short phrases such as Be Mine,  True Love and even Marry Me work best on this necklace and we have a few ideas coming up for those of you who have a bit more to say!