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?

Silver Jewellery Making book

Janet and I have been hard at work trying to make our book, Silver Jewellery Making, the best it can possibly be. Yesterday we had the last photo shoot at our publisher, Search Press. We added extra images to clarify some techniques and took many photos of tools to show them more clearly. We also added more images to properly illustrate our "how to design" chapter. The photographer, Mark, did an amazing job. Between him and the design direction from Search Press, the tools were turned into works of art! Below are a selection of photos from the day. The cupcake snuck in there because one of the team at Search Press had a special birthday and we luckily got to join in with the cake! The book is coming together well and I really hope that by the time it's published in February 2021, we will be able to throw a big party and invite loads of people!

cupcake

Files made to look beautiful!

the propane torch gets its time in the limelight (although all the projects in the book are done with a handheld torch, we wanted to show different torch options).

tools and the big lights for the photos

silver being photographed

Whiteknights Studio Trail 15 - 16 June 2019

Whiteknights Studio Arts Trail is only a month away! 15 - 16 June a bunch of venues will be open each day from 11-6 around the Whiteknights area in Reading. I will be at Venue 11, The Barn, 37 Upper Redlands Road RG1 5JE. These three pairs of earrings will be there, all brand new designs: