A few positive alterations in our hut have seen us be much happier with the presentation of our handmade work in the shop. We welcome Whitstable Sea Treasures to our doors, a talented local artist whose beautiful sea glass pictures perfectly complement our range of handmade silver sea glass jewellery. The Whitstable Lifeboats are supported with every picture purchase, as we believe it is greatly important to try to support local organisations that operate using voluntary funds to carry out their life saving work. 

​In our busy weeks we have been approached to make a few fun items of silverware, for example a personalised Silver Guitar Pick for a 21st birthday gift, in addition to a few rings and earrings. Stand by for pictures of our bespoke rings coming your way over the next month after our lovely clients have received them for special occasions.

​Thinking of pieces that are enjoyable to create; at the end of last year we had the pleasure of making another one of our Miniature Silver Watering Cans for a customer, with a flush set diamond in the watering rose.

We look forward to basking in more sunsets like this after a day at our hut and to seeing more of you all over the coming summer months on our beautiful working harbour.

A mix of round cut and cabochon indigo amethysts, lime peridots, cranberry red garnets, deep London Blue Topazes, golden Citrines, and dark violet Iolites, are encased by a polo of silver. A set of these rings will flexibly enable you to mix and match the positioning of each ring to create a different aesthetic each day. Pair them delicately together or go crazy and stack them high!
These will be integrated into our shop over the next few weeks when we are due to open. ​

​I am fine though,  my clothes were the only ones injured!

​Originally the four-claw gallery setting for a ring was intended it for a 5mm Round Swiss Blue Topaz, however I made a mistake with my measurements, having not made one before, and it is now ready for a 7mm round stone instead.

Making a ring shank that wasn’t simply made from round, square or D-shaped wire was also unfamiliar to me. So I wanted to make a tapered shank that would suit a taller setting and lend itself to focusing into the stone. It is still simple and mastered by many although it took me three attempts to make one I was happy with!
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Starting with a 2 x 3mm D-shaped skank, soldered and rounded up, I hammered a taper into the ring with the solder seem at the shanks thinnest point and therefore the top of the ring. I wouldn’t normally position the seem anywhere else other than directly at the bottom of the ring, however on this occasion I will be piercing through the seem for my setting. Annoyingly this D-shaped wire didn’t achieve the height I needed for the setting, so the solution to achieving a higher taper was to use square wire instead, which has more volume of silver in the same length. Finally with a more successful ring shape I can continue to finish the ring next week.

​In the few moments of down time in the workshop I have been whipping up some sea glass charms and a pair of sea glass studs. I was particularly interested in a green piece of sea glass with clear swirls contained within and a pure apple green marble we picked up from our morning walks along the shore. 

After such a lovely response to my first sea glass ring, I have made a couple more along with a rare purple/mauve sea glass pendant to go into the hut when we are able to open.
Now the weather seems to be brightening up earlier than expected, I will be heading down to the sea front more often to see what we can find for some more bench creations.

Secondly, I have been working on my metal carving which will come in useful when I am at the point of learning to make casting patterns, however when it is finished, this pendant will be for a talented chef from one of our huts at Harbour Market Whitstable. 
I got to experiment with a few different burrs and files in a brass version I made first until I had found my favourite few and was confident enough to start it in silver. The biggest thing I'll take away from doing this job, is that it is far easier to leave the last bit of piercing out until I am ready to carve the outer section. This way I'll have a larger surface area to hold onto when creating the angle for the inner parts.

Our week started with my youngest sisters 21st birthday, and in trying to make it a lovely occasion for her, Dad decided to make her a necklace using a stone that she unknowingly had chosen a couple of years previously when dad made my 21st gift.
Her chosen Deep Green Tourmaline was claw-set in an 18ct Yellow Gold Gallery Setting and paired with a rub-over set 2.2mm Round Diamond.

These have been some of my favourite sea glass pieces I've made so far. A huge amount of time, work and material is put into a rub over set piece of jewellery, but the end result really makes up for it.

 I later cut and filed a fraction of silver from the top as Dad had warned that too much metal to push over can cause creasing in the silver and an untidy finish.
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Lastly before beginning to set, a small angle was filed around the top edge of the setting where I would be later pushing the silver.

Next time I'd like to pay more attention and care to reduce the marks made on the outside whilst setting, which will also help alleviate the amount of polishing needed after. I’d also try to remember to focus on troubling areas from earlier on in the process, as I hope this will help enclose the shape more evenly.
I'll have to make lots for the fun of it and hopefully I'll gradually get more skillful at setting.

Handmade Sterling Silver Chain and Heart set with an Untreated Natural Yellow Round Diamond

I first replicated a small section of the chain in copper wire in order for me to visually understand the size, the amount of links required to make an 18" chain, and so that I could make adaptions to the design without wasting silver. It was at this stage that I decided the light wasn't reflecting as I had imagined it to, so dad and I decided to create a small flat on the oval links to bounce light in a different direction.

Following this I handmade each oval and round link in silver - 75 soldering's in total, and pierced out a heart in 2.2mm flat sheet. The customer wanted a yellow stone set into the heart, and against other stones our untreated yellow diamonds had an exceptional colour to them and therefore it was no contest. 

Dad kindly demonstrated how to set the untreated yellow diamond whilst I eagerly watched him drill the hole, create a seating ledge and rub over the metal to enclose  the diamond. 

​This ring was a surprise gift for a customer who had lost a well-loved similar one and wanted it replaced.

Sterling Silver Clover with a Gold Bead pistil of the flower and a tub set Peridot

A very close friend of ours was after a Christmas present for his other half, whom we know loves coloured stones. 

After I'd pierced out the flower and gradually got a feeling for the shape, Dad lugged this huge steel bowl filled with pitch out from under a bench.   Resting it on the pitch and using ball punches and a nicely weighted hammer he repeatedly worked from the outer part of the petals inwards,  hitting delicately the closer to the middle he got, and then turning it over to hit the centre to invert the the curve. This job was a perfect excuse for me to see a new technique in the workshop, and now that I have some understanding of what it can be useful for, I cant wait to try it out for myself. 

We also made a small gold bead and soldered it to the flowers centre, along with the jump ring and tube for the stone. It was a choice between a 2mm round amethyst or  peridot until we soldered the gold bead and it was then decided that tonally a peridot worked better.  

These were just a few examples of what we created in December, we spent lots of time on repairs and trying to make dolls house stock for Christmas orders. 

​Dad said 'I haven't lived until I'd done a Christmas rush' and he was spot on!
We are both looking forward to the new year!

A second big thank you goes to everyone who ordered items from our miniatures collection. We greatly appreciate your orders, enquiries and kind words and in return we hope to be able to get some brand new miniature pieces to your dolls houses in this next year, as we really love making them!