Murano Silver on Facebook!

Facebook have launched a new facility where you can have a unique short URL for your own Business Info page. The trouble is I've only just started mine and it needs 100 fans to get one of those special short urls.... Please would you do me a favour an "Fan" me? http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Market-Deeping-United-Kingdom/Murano-Silver-Jewellery/99621907255

Nicola xxx

New Student Coursework Pictures

Here's a quick picture I took of some of todays classwork. These are all their first ever pieces! I love Sunday classes because we can go at a nice pace and get LOADS of stuff done.

Today my clever, clever students discovered silver clay with CZ stones, Dichroic Glass Cabs, Resin work and they even did some soldering too.

Didn't they do well!

Nic xx

Glass Courses at In the Studio

I recently went to "In the Studio" and added Glass cabochon making to my skills. It was a fabulous fun day and I learnt a lot (including what I'd been doing wrong when some of my "teach yourself at home" projects had gone wrong).

Here's Teresa filling up one of the many gas canisters we emptied while free forming glass at the end (her secret technique!). She's a smashing teacher and covers all kinds of things from soldering to wax model making & casting techniques.

Here's some of the Dichroic Pendants Ready for firing in the Kiln

Everything is carefully balanced and stuck with Elmers Glue (white craft glue) where needed. Amazingly the glue completely burns away and you can't tell where it was used!

The same pendants all out of the kiln

And here's what I did with one of mine. I made a silver setting for it, added some twiddly bits and voila. A Dichro Rainbow pendant is born :)

Here's my mannequin trying it on for size! I'll be playing with some PMC settings for the next lot of cabs, I've got a course this weekend and I need to make some examples (I've sold all mine).

Nic xx

Footprints on your Heart....Latest Etsy Listing

Children are precious and they grow up so quickly. So wouldn't it be wonderful if you could capture a small part of them forever? Well now you can!
I love making these funky footprints:
1) It's a technical challenge to get the best print possible (which for me is fun)
2) I know that the mums, friends, family etc who receive them are going to cherish them forever!

The picture above shows a few of the steps (no pun intended) involved. First of all you need to get a good clear print. This is generally down to the mums sneaking up, paint pot in hand, while the baby is asleep. My mum suggested this would involve copious quantities of calpol (and that was just for her!).

Next we use "Murano Silver Magic" to turn the footprint into a pendant......

We do positive and negative options (inny or outy feet) my favourite is the outy, which is yours?

Nicola xx

Blog Carnival: Historical Influence?

Every month Lora Hart heads up a fabulous blog carnival - where jewelry artists use their blogs to get together online and answer the same question - each in their own way. The topic this month is:
Who or what is your most influential historical metalsmith or metalsmithing tradition?

My inspiration comes from an earlier point in history. Famed for its silver mines and silversmiths the Mexican 'Silver City' of Taxco (pronounced 'Tasco') is one of the main sources of Mexican silver jewellery (and one of my main sources of inspiration!)

Taxco's current fame is mainly due to a personal hero of mine William Spratling an innovative and prolific designer of Mexican jewellery and furniture. Exceptionally talented, he established a model for the artistic development and growth of the silver industry in Taxco and well deserved the title "Father of Contemporary Mexican Silver!"

There is a huge online resource of Spratlings work available online but here are a few of my personal favourites.

This is Spratlings "Monkey Pin", to me it has a very Aztec / Mayan theme. You can imagine it adorning an Aztec King or High Priest. I love the way he mixes flowing lines with stark contrasts between oxidised and polished silver.

This is my take on the Aztec Priest / Mayan look. I call it "Incantation" and I tried to replicate the silver & oxidized contrasts with a mix of angular and flowing lines.

This is a Amethyst Set Scroll Brooch - again Spratling manages to make a simple design stunning. It's just so elegant! The best book for Spratlings work is now out of print but I managed to bag myself a special Centennial copy from a specialist book reseller. It's called Spratling Silver - Centennial Edition by Sandraline Cederwall & Hal Riney. If you see one, buy it (it's quite collectible)

Other inspirational "Taxco" Artists include Antonio Pineda who has a Pictograph range of buckles and cuff bangles. This is Pinedas "Hunter" Cuff

Another favourite piece of mine is this AM PM necklace by Margot de Taxco, this would easily stand with the most modern designs but was created in the 1950's!

These talented Taxco artisans designed pieces that are still inspiring artists like myself today! So my inspiration is also my aspiration, to push the boundaries of my work so one day one of those pieces might be mine....

Isn't it wonderful that as silversmiths, jewellery designers, glass workers and fabric artists we might be able to leave that kind of legacy?

Here are a few answers from the other artists in Loras Blog Carnival

Angela B Crispin

Tonya Davidson

Lorrene Davis

Tamra Gentry

Lora Hart

Nicola x

Nick Hubbard Jewellery makes the Headline News!!!

Hazel Blears (the MP who recently resigned only one day before local and European elections) has propelled one of our suppliers into superstardom. This is Nick Hubbards 'Rocking the Boat' brooch, it made an appearance on all of the news channels and on Thursday it was featured in the national press, it seems Hazel made a statement without uttering a word!

Needless to say the Brick and Bean studio has been innundated with orders! Don't worry though we still have a large stock of Nicks fabulous jewellery in our Online Shop and Nick will make things to order for us too ;)
To see more of the story visit Nicks Website where it's also frontpage news!

New Gemstone Pendants & A New Leaf

Do you love gemstones?? I do & this morning, (for some unexplained reason) I thought I'd inventory my stones and write them down....... Oh my goodness, I have more in baggies than I do set into jewellery. It's got to STOP! (See the stern way I talked to myself then?)

So (as I don't want to turn into our furry friend), I've turned over a new leaf and listed three new gemstone pendants in my Etsy Shop.
This is great because:
1) I can pretend that I will somehow stop being a member of stonaholics anonymous
2) I'm normally so busy making everything, except the time to list them!
3) If they're on show, maybe someone might buy them.
4) Then it will make room for more (ooops backsliding already, lol.)

You can see how I make this swirl setting here, I love it as it doesn't detract from the stones, such as this marvelous Dendritic Agate. It's also called Tree Agate and is a variety of Chalcedony.

Still on the Chalcedony theme, this ones an Aqua Chalcedony (I love this soft Summery Green)

Then there's this gorgeous deep purple Amethyst, isn't it delicious?

Hope you like the new pendants & welcome any feedback you have :)
Now I need to go back to the bench, as I've some commissions that need to be finished for tomorrow.

Love, Light & Creativity

Nic xx

Busy Weekend & Blog Competition

Here are a few of the things I made this weekend the red resin swirl set was a trial, they came out fine but I don't think they're as striking as the blue..... I'm also in the process of making some emerald green spirals, which are stunning (even if I do say so myself!).

The Horse, Swan and Flower Pendants are probably going to be oxidised so that the silver will really stand out (particularly the horse which will look fab in a black/silver combo). the wave pendant is going to be enamelled. I'm thinking blues and greens would look quite cool...what do you guys n gals think?

These are just some of the wonderful handmade thank you cards that I got from Ruth over a TipTopToppers, they were part of a recent swap over at Silkie Sues. It's a great idea, fellow crafters get together put names in the hat and swap talents. Ruths on her holidays at the moment so I really hope she likes the jewellery I made for her :)

One person who loves their new Murano Silver Creation is Vintage Violet (my St Georges Day Blog Contest Winner)...here's a picture she took of the ring she recieved. There are some other cool pictures of it and some Dr Who style Arugumi on her Blog Maximum Rabbit Designs.

On another note I was the winner of a fabulous bunch of blog competitions myself, this week I won a pair of gorgeous Purple & Blue Earrings from Mel at Kookie Designs and this fabulous bag from Bags and Buds.

Isn't the bud detail amazing??? She has loads of stunning styles on her Etsy Shop, it's well worth taking a look :)

In honour of all this amazing luck I've been having there will be another blog competition soon....I was thinking 100 followers would be a great occasion to mark with a comp!

Nicola xx

Latest Creations & Custom Rings

This is my latest creation, made for a dear friend, it contains a little secret, the top of the birdhouse slides up to reveal a love seat complete with bird footprints. There's even a little tiny heart just above the bird hole too ;) I've also finished the ring for my last blog winner. Vintage Violet has her own online shop so decided she'd like a ring made with her shop name on it! The mixed upper and Lower Case text is done to replicate her logo, hope she loves it as I really enjoyed making it for her :)

I think I might have to make myself another text ring soon, they're so much fun! We make quite a lot of rings like this with quotes, family names and inspirational messages. It's such an honour to create something extra special and our custom rings have been used for 16th's, 18th's, 21st's, new babies and even wedding & committment rings. Thats a whole host of memories coming from my little workbench....

What would you choose, if you were having a special message ring?