How time flies.....

It's true when they say "time flies when you're having fun". That's definitely the case when i'm making jewellery. Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day to finish your pieces.

I usually tend to start my day when I'll be making jewellery, after walking my dog in the morning. And being a labrador, it tends to take longer than usual because being who he is, he always gets up to no good!

Loki, telling me he doesn't want to go back home!

When I finally get back with him it's usually late morning. From then on, i don't really leave my studio other than to let my dog out or answer the door, if I can hear it. When I do look up from my work, daylight has usually faded to dusk.

Even simple things, like getting nicks out of the silver, can take you hours until you are satisfied that it is blemish free. But that is beauty of working with metal. You can create whatever you want, to whatever finish you want. I tend to use a variety of different types of polishing and buffing materials to achieve the finish that I need on my pieces.

Buffing pieces by hand is what I usually find is the most relaxing. I end up thinking of new designs while finishing off the one that I am currently making. It give you time to think of what you want to do next. The materials available to you, for achieving all the different kind of finishes is endless. You can sometime spend a tonn of money on some of the materials. I usually pop out to my local DIY store and come back with different grades of sandpaper. You can get the same finish using just the basic tools around you. As I mentioned sandpaper is one, wirewool is another and also bicarbonate soda can also be used to scrub out the scratches that you sometimes make while creating your pieces.

The only thing i did invest in was a barrel polisher. As you really can't beat the sparkley finish it creates on the jewellery that you polish in it.

Sterling Silver and 14ct gold statement ring