The winner of The Silver Forge Newsletter giveaway for June was Mattina. Mattina and I met at the Hear and Say Twilight Fundraising Market, where she signed up for the newsletter. How easy was that! Congratulations – the prize is a pair of fire engine red cube Czech glass earrings!
If you like the look of these earrings, and you’d like a pair, you can get yourself some here.
Next month’s prize will be a pair of emerald green Czech glass and sterling silver hoop earrings.
I actually love doing giveaways – I adore how exciting it is to get a little parcel in the mail, and enjoy spreading that feeling! You can either subscribe to the newsletter for a chance to win these lovelies, or if you can’t wait, head to the shop and buy some now.
I drew the winner of the May Newsletter giveaway the other day, and the lucky subscriber was Heather. Congratulations – the prize is a pair of these smokey grey Czech glass earrings!
If you like the look of these earrings, and you’d like a pair, you can get yourself some here.
Next month’s prize will be a pair of fire engine red cube Czech glass earrings.
You can either subscribe to the newsletter for a chance to win them, or if you can’t wait, head to the shop and buy some now! Subscribers will also get a chance to buy them at a discount in the newsletter next month.
A big congratulations to the lucky winners of The Silver Forge’s first birthday earring giveaway! I’m very glad to announce that Debbie and Rachel were randomly selected to each receive a pair of Silver Forge earrings of their choice.
Debbie chose these:
and Rachel chose these!
Thank you so much to everyone who participated. If you missed out, and you’d still like to get yourself a pair or two, as a valued Silver Forge Blog reader I’d like to offer you an exclusive 20% discount until the 31st May. Head over to the earring section to shop to your heart’s content, and just use HBBLOG20 at checkout. If you’d rather visit my shop on MadeIt or Etsy, let me know and I’ll arrange a 20% discount for you there!
Don’t forget that subscribers to The Silver Forge Newsletter are automatically entered into a draw to win a pair of earrings each month, too! If you haven’t already, you can join the fun here.
Here’s to another peaceful, happy, fulfilling, successful year for us all!
Who can believe a whole year has gone by since I opened my little shop? Not me! I’ve been having such a great time – it is blissful to create silver jewellery; and to bring joy to others with my creations is an absolutely wonderful thing, and is the icing on this delicious cake.
As well as creating pieces for my lovely bespoke customers, and to stock my online shop, (and making the occasional piece for myself!) I am proud to have supported a number of worthy causes this year. I believe that helping the world in whatever small way we can is just plain good karma. Do you have a cause that is special to you? I’d love to know about it! Let me know in the comments below.
To say a big “THANK YOU!” to all you lovely people for your ongoing support, I am offering 20% off everything in The Silver Forge Shop until 27 May. Do have a little browse, won’t you!
As part of the celebrations, I am also giving away two pairs of earrings to two lucky winners. If you have a browse through the earring section of my shop, come back here and make a comment letting me know which are your favourite pair to the value of $30, you’ll be entered in the draw at the end of the week. If you’ve liked my Facebook Page as well, you’ll get a second entry!
A great big thank you for all of your kind words, Blog comments, Etsy treasuries, Facebook likes, re-Tweets, Newsletter clicks, Pinterest repins, purchases, worthy cause donations, and all the other forms of love and support you’ve shown over the last year! Happy days to you all. xx
A huge thank you to everyone who entered the earring giveaway. Thank you all so much for your good wishes, and your good taste! The winners were announced here.
Random.org did the work, and drew the third Silver Forge Newsletter giveaway for me. The winner for April was Ryan. Hooray! Congratulations – the prize is a pair of these seafoam cube Czech glass earrings!
There are now only two pairs of these lovelies left, so if anyone else loves them and needs a pair, better get in quick! 🙂
Next month’s prize will be a pair of smoke grey faceted Czech glass earrings.
If you love these, and wish you had a pair, you can either subscribe to the newsletter for a chance to win them, or if you can’t wait, head to the shop and buy some now! 🙂 (Subscribers will also get a chance to buy them at a discount next month).
What a pleasure it was to be interviewed recently by Kylie for a ‘Made-It Monday – Seller Interview’ feature on her blog. Kylie creates the most amazing Raw Toys – I really recommend checking them out if you have a little person (and even if you don’t!). My son spends hours playing with his beautiful rainbow (which you can see below in Kylie’s blog header), and I keep one of Kylie’s little wooden tree puzzles on the windowsill by my desk – it makes me smile each time I see it! My nieces are the proud owners of two of Kylie’s little fairy doors, which I believe are helping some flowers grow in their garden as we speak. Kylie’s toys are natural, well made, whimsical, and most importantly of all, stimulate the imaginations of our little ones beautifully.
Below is the interview in full – please do check it out over on the Raw Toys Blog as well, won’t you!
I love Made It. It’s a user friendly platform for me to sell my toys and it doubles as one of my favourite places to shop. Topping off the awesomeness of Made It is it’s lively, supportive and inspirational community of sellers. I’ve invited some of these talented folk to tell us a bit about what they do and share the story behind their favourite creation.
Out of all the people I’ve connected with on this creative small business pathway, Ruthie from The Silver Forge has to be one of my favourites! Ruthie is a brilliant artist whose work I absolutely adore and you won’t find many people more lovely. I’m sure you’ll love reading about what is involved in Ruthie’s work and viewing her incredible jewellery. A lovely giveaway is on offer too – enjoy!
My name is Ruthie, and I live in sunny Brisbane. I am a silversmith.
My shop, The Silver Forge, opened in May 2012. I have been smithing for over five years and last year, completed intensive vocational certification at a local dedicated goldsmith’s school. I feel very lucky, as I love what I do!!
My favourite item in my shop at the moment is this teal green drusy agate and sterling silver ring. (Available for purchase here).
I fell in love with drusy agate a few years ago when I found a gorgeous piece I used to create a ring.
The term “drusy” comes from the word “druse”, which is a rock surface covered with tiny crystals, like those found inside geodes. Drusy crystals take hundreds or even thousands of years to form – molten rock begins to cool with trapped gases inside. The gases create gaps in the rock. As ground water carrying dissolved silica is forced into these porous areas, tiny crystals form, creating sparking clusters. Amazing!!
Since then, I have collected a range of gorgeous drusy cabochons that I love to create gorgeous big chunky rings and pendants with. Because the stones are so full of beauty and colour, I like to keep my designs simple and elegant, letting the crystal speak for itself. I have a number of pieces in my shop.
I also offer people the option of choosing their own stone from my collection on my website.
This particular ring was created using sterling silver sheet. Firstly, I shaped the bezel (which is the part of the ring surrounding and holding the gemstone) using half round pliers, then I soldered that to the backing plate using a propane gas soldering torch. (Whoo hoo, flame!!!) I cut out around the bezel plate with my jeweller’s saw, then bent the ring shank (the part of the ring that goes around your finger) and soldered that to the bezel assembly.
Then, after some filing and emerying, I set the stone into the ring using my setting ball and my gorgeous setting hammer. Finally I gave the piece its final texture – a high polish this time! The whole process is a fairly industrial, noisy, fiery, tool-wielding experience, which sometimes seems at odds with something so delicate and refined!You can find The Silver Forge at:
A big thank you to Kylie for choosing to interview me for her gorgeous blog!
Ruthie has a fantastic newsletter that you can subscribe to either on the Silver Forge website or Facebook page. Just by subscribing, you enter the draw for a monthly giveaway – very exciting! Ruthie is offering a very special giveaway to one Raw Toys readers.. a custom made pair of Czech glass earrings! I have a gorgeous pair of these in green – they are just divine. Here is an example of the style:
Visit Ruthie’s shop and have a look at the earrings there. Pop back here and leave a comment to tell Ruthie your favourite bead and which shape takes your fancy. A winner will be randomly chosen on Friday evening.
Huge thanks to you for sharing your work here, Ruthie, I’m very honoured to have you!
Using the random number generator at random.org, I drew the second ever Silver Forge Newsletter giveaway, and the winner for March was Lesley. A big congratulations to her – the prize was a pair of these fanta orange Czech glass sterling silver triangle spiral earrings.
Just around the corner is next month’s giveaway – one lucky Newsletter reader will receive a pair of these seafoam cube Czech glass earrings.
Ruthie Gray is a silversmith specializing in well-designed, comfortable and fun jewellery for everyday wear. She is the creative owner of her own jewellery line, The Silver Forge. The Silver Forge was started in May 2012, although Ruthie has been studying and practising silversmithing as early as 2005. Ruthie’s creative process may start from a simple daydream or art drawing with all possible ideas and designs ‘dumped’ onto paper. The ones that stood out will then be physically prepared from a silver sheet or wire; such as sawing, filing, emerying, soldering, hammering, bending; until the final piece emerges. All the jewellery you see in The Silver Forge were made by hand using using traditional methods and tools in Ruthie’s Brisbane home studio.
Besides managing her creative business, Ruthie is a mother of two children (17 and 2 years old – yes, I checked and it is not a typo!) and has a ‘day’ job working from home. She feels lucky to be able to have another form of paid work that is flexible and not confined in an office building. To make the most of this arrangement, Ruthie ensures that she spends lots of time with her children in the daytime during the week while also working her ‘day’ job in the background plus running her handmade business. As if that is not enough to keep her occupied, Ruthie manages to squeeze in time for reading and indulging in several crafty pursuits; among them sewing, knitting, needlework and painting miniature models.
“It is a privilege to be able to create for a living. Doing something that you are passionate about makes the days fly by, and there’s never a dull moment!” – Ruthie Gray
Even though The Silver Forge is a part time business for Ruthie, she still faces the challenges of juggling the demands of a handmade business with those of having a family life and a ‘day’ job. List-writing works very well for her. Everything and anything that needs to be done goes on a list to make it easy for her to prioritise. Naturally, family duties come first as the whole point of being able to work from home is to spend time with them. Ruthie acknowledges that it can get quite busy sometimes trying to fit the ‘day’ job and handmade business into everyday life. One of the ways that Ruthie does to stay on top of things is having her 2-year-old spend a few hours each week at crèche and also having quality time with his Nanna. This allows him to learn social interaction skills while giving mum some space to focus on work and business commitments.
I asked Ruthie to share her tips for those wanting to start a business –
Have a basic structure on which your business should be based upon. Do you want to stay small as a one woman business or do you have plans to change the world?
Do not underprice your own work. Setting prices too low not only hurt yourself but you are undermining the value of the whole handmade industry.
Maintain proper financial records. Put aside time to do administrative work on a weekly basis. Yes, it may be boring but at the end of the year, your tax accountant will thank you for it.
Time management is essential. If you are feeling overwhelmed, try this – Spend a couple of days to review your daily tasks and how long it takes for you to do each one. Perhaps you are watching too much television or checking your social media accounts too often in a day. Set time limits when you are on the internet and you may be surprised to discover the amount of free time you can uncover.
Several ways to promote your business – Word of mouth, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Wanelo, Stumbleupon, Blogging, Giveaways, Etsy team membership.
At the end of the day, everything can wait except your children – they grow so quickly! Each precious moment you can spend with them is something you can treasure.
To view more of Ruthie’s work or have her commission a piece for you, do visit the following sites :-
Any purchases made from today and up to 15th April 2013, will be entitled to a 10% discount as a thank you for taking the time to read about The Silver Forge. Just mention in the notes to seller that you are a CassieJene blog reader when purchasing through her Madeit store (a 10% refund will be send to you via Paypal). Alternatively, if you choose to shop through her Etsy store, just use coupon code CASSIEJENE10.
All images featured in this article remained the property of Ruthie Gray / The Silver Forge and is used here with permission. This post is written based on Ruth’s reply via an e-mail interview.
The time for the inaugural Silver Forge Newsletter monthly giveaway has arrived! I made the draw using the random number generator at random.org, and this month’s winner is Elizabeth. A big congratulations to her – a pair of these sterling silver triangle spiral earrings went in the mail today!
If you’re sad you missed out, don’t despair. You can always pop over to the shop and buy yourself a pair. (All my lovely readers can have a 10% discount, just for being you! Use coupon code NEWSLETTER10 at checkout.)
If that doesn’t float your boat, just wait for this month’s giveaway, which is a pair of these sterling silver fanta orange Czech glass earrings.
I’m looking forward to seeing who the winner is for March! Don’t forget to tell your friends to sign up too. They’ll love you for it!
The end of another month is drawing near, so I wanted to remind you to subscribe now for your emailed monthly copy of The Silver Forge Newsletter (if you haven’t already!)
As well as a page of richness and marvels (ok: some pretty pictures and mildly entertaining items), one lucky subscriber will be drawn each month to win a special something. This month’s giveaway prize is a unique pair of one of my more popular themes, a pair of sterling silver triangle spiral earrings.They’re fresh, interesting and simple enough to be worn every day; and so comfortable you’ll hardly know you’re wearing them until someone comments on their amazingness!!*
You only have until 28th Feb 2013 to sign up in time to win these beauties, so get cracking, won’t you. Good luck!!
*(Disclaimer: amazingness may only be present in the eye of the beholder).
