My first chainmail necklace

I've worked on this sterling silver with rhodonite necklace during the weekend and only today I had a chance to take a picture with me modeling it. I like it quite a lot.
I've put the necklace last night in the tumbler and it shines now so nicely :)
Before putting it in the tumbler, I checked first about the hardness of rhodonite, as some stones (like turquoise, or pearls) do not fare well in the tumbler for a long time (say longer than 15 minutes, others nothing at all). But rhodonite has a hardness of 5.5 to 6, so I though 'all is well', as they say it's safe to tumble any stone with a hardness of at least 5.5. And safe it was, indeed :)
Here is a good place to check for the Moh's hardness of your semiprecious (or precious) stones if you're not sure you can tumble polish them or not.

And here is the matching pair of earrings. Handmade square earwires as well.

Calluna

Oh aren't I good, a second post in two days!! I have quite a few pieces to show you so I have to keep posting! This wire wrapped bracelet has the most amzing beads by Isabelle Anderson - the colours in them are fabulous! YOU will notice it has been oxidiised but it really made the colours pop! when I did it (as well as loving the look!)

The saga of the disco continues, my lovely 6 yr old has her eye on two boys! One she has had a major fluttering of eyelashes at ever since they went to Nursery together - he lives only a few doors down and they are weekend (and warmer weather) playmates. Elli has always been sure they will marry at some point, even when she tells me he loves another. Yes, I know my daughter is only six but she also thinks she is a princess!! Now, a new boy has arrived on the scene - he in her class (and has been since September) and she is very giggley when talking about him - luckily being only six she tells Mummy everything, they even held hands in class on Monday! So who do you think she is going to dance with at the disco on Friday - my pick is on her first crush but hey being six that could change at anytime and I'm sure I'll get a "Duh Mummy that was ages ago" if I ask then - we'll have to wait and see!

Gearrannan

Sorry I know I promised to post yesterday but I was busy sourcning all evening for a customer and lost track of the evening - so huge apologises :) I am trying to keep up with everything honest!! The above bracelet with Isabelle Anderson's artisan glass is called Gearrannan because Isabelle called them Drystone Wall which if you look closely you can see the pattern. The colours remind me of heather so the name was found - Gearrannnan is a historical village on the Isle of Lewis built by this technique - you can read all about it here

Elli has her first disco in Friday, she is so excited - you know the jumping up and down excited, the "how many days until" excited. But I had to laugh she looked up over the weekend and asked "What is a disco Mummy??". Bless her, I didn't want to burst her bubble and say "well hun the boys stand at the side being extremley silly and the girls giggle and dance round their shoes" or was that just my generation!! I'm sure there will be more news of the pending dance as the week moves on - I mean we have the "Oh what shall I wear???" saga next ;0)

Where was it??

So did you get any?? SNOW I mean! We had nothing , well nothing is slightly wrong as although we didn't really get snow we did get every other weather condition the UK can throw at us! Rain, wind, hail, sleet, sun, cloud, more hail, more sleet, and so it went on. My poor dd was waiting all day for the snow she thought we had been told we were getting!! Luckily lunch out with Mamma and Gump saved me from a few hours of moaning! We had lunch in a pub by the sea - watching the waves and headland across the bay was amazing - sadly I had no camera so no pics to show.

If you have any snow pics on your blogs please let me know - I can at least show Elli, luckily she enjoys seeing pics as well as enjoying the real thing!
Today I made some chains ready for my gemstone order which I hope will arrive Tuesday of this week, I'm also hoping for a artisan glass charm bracelet - again if my supplies turn up. In fact I have quite a few pieces waiting for supplies so there will be lots to show in the next couple of days - and this time I promise *cough {without fingers crossed} to try and post every other day at least. I have an excuse though - you are all keeping me way to busy creating and my blogging is going to pot!
Speak tomorrow ;0)

Silver Shaggy Loops set - SOLD

Today I sold unexpectedly this bracelet and pair of earrings to a former colleague of mine. She came over this afternoon to return some books to me, and while I was showing her some jewelry I made recently, she chose these as a birthday gift for tomorrow for a friend of hers. I'm quite pleased as just yesterday I brought these through the tumbler, so now they were shining really beautifully, no wonder she liked them, as so did I.

Chainmail

My muse seems to be back - this time with a European 4 in 1. Completely handmade, except the gorgeous lampwork bead (which is also handmade but not by me). Amazing what one can do with a simple piece of wire. Coiled the wire, then cut the rings with my new Koil Kutter, then tumbled them, made the bracelet and gave it another tumble again. It shines now like nevermore!!
Just love my new toys!

More hearts for Valentines Day

Here are two more pieces I've added today to my Etsy and Dawanda shops.
The heart pendant is completely handmade of sterlings silver wire, beads and a cute little tiger eye bead. And now that I got my Lorton tumbler (it came while I was away on holidays, poor hubby had to pay additional 20 Euros in taxes to pick it up from the post office - it turned out to be quite an expensive piece of equipment, lol), I tumble polished the pendant. It really shines now like never before. I didn't realise until now how much really a tumbler makes in terms of bringing out the shine and sparkle in silver. Wow! I've also cut some silver rings and tumblepolished them as well along with some of my older chainmail pieces. Even hubby was totally buffled by how nice these all look now! But I digress...lol

Second piece is a purple-lavender necklace I made last night. The heart pendant is made by an Etsy artist, kittyd. I used cats eye and white onyx beads to complement the beautiful pendant. All metal is sterling silver. The necklace can be found here and here.