Various jewellery related goings on: book and locket

It's been a while since I posted, mostly somehow lost in a lockdown fug where every day sort of passes in similar fashion. But this very, very long month of March is drawing to a close. The sun is shining, the daylight is longer and the spring flowers are out in full force. Hurrah! Let's hope we have a lovely summer, getting closer to being safer with every vaccination! 

In book news, my and Janet's book Silver Jewellery Making is out there in the world. Janet went on Jewellery Maker TV and for a brief moment (about half a day), our book had the coveted "Best Seller" banner on Amazon in our category of metal work! That was quite exciting! Also very thrilling for us is that we are now on TWO recommended book lists. The first is on Metalsmith Society's page, here: https://metalsmithsociety.com/pages/book-recommendations. The second is on Nottingham Jewellery School's blog, which is here:  https://www.nottinghamjewelleryschool.co.uk/post/reading-recommendations

On that second list, check out the Jewellers Creative Journal if you fancy some help with your creative process. I haven't seen it yet, but a friend recommended it and said it's great if you're just starting building up your own designs.

Both of those are well worth following on Instagram, by the way, if you're on there, at @metalsmithsociety and @nottinghamjewelleryschool

Otherwise, I have been busy making lots of new jewellery pieces. At the moment, I am on my quest to make modern lockets. This is one of those lockets. It's my "mini orb" locket, made from sterling silver and 13mm in diameter. I am enjoying getting a better grip on hinges, learning what to look out for and what works well. I figured out that several times, I thought the hinge knuckles were sitting nicely in their little groove, but it turned out that they were ever so slightly *above* the bottom of the groove, which meant that later down the line, the fit was not as good as I wanted. So I've learned to get the loupe out and check under the hinge knuckles from the side to make sure they are sitting down properly in the groove. The tube I'm using is 1.2mm outside diameter, so loupe required! Anyway, here are photos of my mini orb locket: 

The making of a silver mini locket with a gold ball

Lockdown 2.0 projects! I've been working on a mini locket. Below are the progress photos and also photos of the finished item!

This is the locket before any findings were added:

 And here we have the beginning of the hinge:

 

 

This photo shows the first two side knuckles of the hinge, each about 1mm wide.

  

 

This photo shows the hinge with the middle knuckle now also attached.   

 

 

Here is the tiny bit of tube being soldered on to make the clasp on the other side of the locket:

 

 

 

This is the beginnings of the part of the clasp that will hold the locket shut.

 

  

 

This is the locket before finishing and before the hinge has been properly finished with a rivet.

 

 

Finally, here we have the finished locket. It is a mix of argentium and sterling silver, with an 18ct gold ball embedded in the front which is also visible from the inside. The silver has a brushed finish. And the cat is my parents' cat, Miles, because why not?