STEPHEN J RANDALL - OUR BLOG

Bench Sunday

2/26/2021

A little glimpse into what we have been making at the bench over the last few of weeks.

Sterling Silver Aquamarine Studs

This beautiful pair of 4mm Round Aquamarines were chosen to be set into a stacked sterling silver earring setting which compliment the style of our stacking rings. They have an off-centred earring post after deciding that a bar across the back would detract the colour away from the stones.

Twenty One Diamonds to celebrate Twenty One Years

A playful pair of 9ct White Gold Hoop Earrings scattered with a total of twenty one flush set round diamonds ranging from 1mm -1.4mm

Making these earrings was a prime example of realising that you never stop learning. Dad put his theory into practice after becoming concerned about distorting their shape with the downward pressure of setting.
Of course wanting to avoid such a thing happening, a brain wave hit of melting setting cement into the inside of the hoops. Subsequently make a solid pellet with an equal width to the earring, which would allow him to hold each hoop in a ring clamp and set happily without the worry of collapsing their circular shape.

Sea Glass Jewellery and a Sterling Silver Pendant for a Harbour Trader

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.

Poppies and Sian's 21st

1/31/2021

Tourmaline and Diamond Pendant for Sian's 21st Birthday

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.

Poppies and setting more Sea Glass

During the week I've been practicing making texture in leaves and poppy petals for my ongoing poppy project. After a quick demonstration and a few minutes practice on a scrap piece of silver, I used a Scorper to make regular lines growing out from the petal centres to mimic the markings and textures in a real poppy.

After using a tonne of cotton wool and trusty masking tape to wrap around my hands whilst engraving, this fun process has encouraged me to look forward to continuing with my poppies and even think about other flower projects I'd like to hand craft afterwards.

It also couldn’t be a week at the workbench in Whitstable without choosing a few Sea Glass pieces and beginning to set them. I tried to select different colours this time and took the opportunity to build our stock with a variety of new jewellery pieces to open with when we can.

New Additions to our Sea Glass Collection

1/24/2021

This was my first time making and setting something on my own ...

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.

From a 0.8 mm thick silver sheet, an organically shaped bezel is pierced out and created to fit snugly around the individual piece of sea glass.
A 0.6 mm thick flat base was then hard soldered to the bezel and the base was pierced out from the inside of the setting, leaving a 1.5mm edge of base for the sea glass to sit on. We felt it was a tidier finish but allowing light through the back would also help enhance the colour of
the glass.

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.

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.

Working from opposite sides, I gently but firmly pushed and wiggled the silver over – it took me a long time of doing this and re-filing the angle (to decrease the thickness of metal to be pushed over), before I was at the stage of changing angle and begin pushing almost downwards from the top.

A final burnish round the top where the sea glass meets the silver, gave it that finishing touch before polishing.

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.

New Year, New Fun...

1/13/2021

We've started 2021 off in the right way, with a bit of fun and playing around with ideas for Whitstable Sea Glass Earrings after a lovely customer requested some. Obviously we couldn't leave Digby out of the fun!

It started with the traditional idea of claw setting, but with naturally irregular shaped sea glass it can be a challenge in all directions; deciding where to make the claws sit and balancing the sea glass in the setting for it to look flat on the surface.

Despite encountering difficulties, it was lovely to get to watch and practice the steps and methods of claw setting. It led to our discovery that my hands are quite a bit smaller than dads, which has made setting with the his tools difficult, not just my lack of experience! However, there's no excuse now as I have my very own tiny setting pusher for my stumpy thumbs...

In the moments of waiting for the claw settings to be finished in the acid or in the ultra sonic, I sat at my bench drilling small sea glass pieces I had previously paired and later experimented with the simple ideas of making a peg and bead to create our first pair of small simple studs and a pair of drop earrings.

I loved making these and really hope to get to work and make a few more variants for our general jewelry stock. Think I might try a few more setting styles for other sea glass jewelry pieces this coming week.

December Commissions

12/27/2020

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.

18ct Yellow Gold Cross Ring with a tube set Round 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!

Thank You All For Supporting Us This Year!

12/24/2020

Merry Christmas to you all and a huge thank you to those of you who have read along with the new blog, followed our work and visited us in the Harbour when we've been able to open.
Our December has been fully loaded with commissioned gifts to manufacture, and so I have learnt a great amount of tips and silver smithing methods in this month alone. From setting my first stones, successfully learning to rhodium and gold plate items, to using pitch and ball punches.
Below are pictures from our busy month of making, but pictures of the finished pieces are to follow after Christmas to give the people receiving them the time to see them first.

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!

Sea Glass Bracelet and Necklace

11/24/2020

Last week I spent a couple of days creating a necklace and a bracelet for a customer to gift that incorporated sea glass from Whitstable beach. The gifter chose from my selection of sea glass and together we drew up ideas for both items and after very slight tweaking and a day of playing around with different chain, I made my first commissioned piece of sea glass jewellery.
Despite the sore eyes after looking and soldering tiny chain loops, it was really fun to experiment with! I think I might try adapt and play with different ideas for necklaces and bracelets to stock in the future.

Commissions of the Week

11/21/2020

Mustard Bucket and Spade

Just what you need when you're down at the beach, however this one is for your dining table!
A miniature spun Sterling Silver and Gold Guilt Bucket with a moveable handle, accompanied by a Sterling Silver and Gold Guilt Spade, intended to be used as a quirky Mustard Bucket and Spoon, perfect for any seaside inspired home.

Opal and Diamond Pendant

We have both been busy in the workshop over the last few weeks with private commissions for customers.

This is a recently made Sterling Silver Pendant set with two round Diamonds, and an oval triplet Opal that the customer possessed previously and wanted to incorporate into a new piece of jewellery.

Our Afternoon Sea Glass Hunting

11/17/2020

Spent a lovely afternoon collecting sea glass along our Whitstable shores. I have been trying to keep an eye out for particular shapes and colouring for a commissioned piece but was unlucky today... hopefully I'll have more success within the week. For now, we shall see what I can to do with the pieces I found today.

Spaniels are meant to be good at sniffing out and searching but I am yet to find out why Digby is no good as searching for sea glass with me! Fish, crabs and shell crunching is more his forte. However, he clearly enjoys a beach walk!

Lest We Forget

11/11/2020

Following on from this mornings two minutes silence in commemoration of armistice day and the 100 year anniversary of the burial of the unknown soldier. Dad has set me the task of creating a Vase of Silver Poppies similar to the ones pictured here, which he had made in a previous year.

I hope I do them justice.

Lest we forget