Charlotte contacted me recently, as she had been looking for a special ring for a while, had come across this website and liked the look of some of my domed pieces. We designed a ring to suit her, combining elements of two other rings that I have in my Beyond Silver Dome collection.
Charlotte just picked her ring up today, and she’s very happy with it! So glad. Thanks, Charlotte!
Diala contacted me about making a bookmark for her friend’s birthday. She is in the UK, and needed it to arrive before the big day.
I was happy to get straight onto it. It went out in the mail today, hopefully in plenty of time!
There’s nothing better than a good book – happy reading to everyone, and thanks Diala!
Nic contacted me with a request for a pair of heart earrings that she wanted to have created especially for her.
Nic wanted them to be elongated, ‘puffed’ hearts, with marquis shaped hooks. We emailed about how they would look and what size they needed to be, and after a little bit of discussion, I got to work!
The hearts are finished with a high polish, as you can see from the reflection in the photos. (It’s hard to capture a good photo of highly polished, curved surfaces! đ )
I created them with a spiral twist on the base of the earwire where it joins to the back of the heart – Â forgot to take a picture of that, but you can just see in the reflection in the last picture! Thanks Nic, these earrings were fun to make. I’m really glad you’re enjoying them!
My lovely friend Kylie, from Raw Toys, arranged for her birthday present this year to be one of my drusy pieces! I feel very honoured.
Kylie thought my usual rings might be a bit too chunky for her because she has small hands, so asked would I be able to make her a ring a bit smaller than my usual style. Of course I was totally happy to oblige! I sourced her a special lovely small green piece of drusy.
Kylie is really happy with the way this ring turned out (she even blogged a little bit about that đ ), and that makes me feel happy, too. I love being able to make one of a kind pieces for lovely people!
Thank you so much, Kylie! And for any lovers of beautiful wooden toys and puzzles, head over to Kylie’s MadeIt Shop or her Raw Toys blog and see her gorgeous work. It’s well worth a visit.
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.
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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!
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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
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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.
When I first started silversmithing, I hadn’t made the connection, but I came to realise that I had become part of a family tradition of shaping metal with hammers and fire. There have been smiths in my family since the 1830s. My great-grandfather, great-great-uncle, and great-great-great-grandfather were all village blacksmiths in tiny villages in Kent and Sussex, England.
My grandmother, who is now 97, remembers her dad working at his forge first in Guestling Thorne, then in Icklesham, Sussex, making horseshoes and farming implements. He made the gates for Rambledown House in West Chiltington, West Sussex, where my Great-Auntie worked, which I believe may still be there.
Great-Granddad also made this gorgeous trivet (I presume for my Great-Granny), a horseshoe with little boots as the legs, which is one of my most treasured possessions.
  Hook made by me
A few years ago, I did a weekend blacksmithing workshop at the railway yards in Ipswich. The first thing I smithed was this hook, and I am very proud of it. Building the forge fire using coke, maintaining it, heating the straight iron rod to red hot, and hammering it with a big hammer on a huge anvil was very exciting. I had to adjust to the idea that the metal had to be glowing red, as if you heat silver to that state, it means it’s melting! Although I got covered in black coke dust, and was pretty worn out by the end of the weekend, it was immensely satisfying and something that I mean to do again some day.
I wonder what my great-great-great-grandfather would have thought of my endeavours? I hope he would have been pleased!
Keith contacted me via my website as there are two very special girls who have a birthday coming up – soon to be one year old twins. Keith wanted two butterfly pendants made for them.
Keith plans to have their names engraved on one of the butterfly wings.
What a lovely idea for a present!
Thanks Keith!
A lovely customer contacted me from Florida recently. She was about to purchase a pendant from The Silver Forge shop, and wanted to make sure she was getting the right one. I was happy to help!
Agate was apparently one of the stones in the breastplate of decision constructed at the God of Israel’s instruction for the priest to wear (Exodus 28:15 – the Holy Bible). Â It is felt that the agate in the breastplate was likely a sky blue variety.
My customer said of an agate pendant she already has “IÂ wear the pendant to remind me of being grounded in my faith in my Lord and as a symbol of Him as my rock. It is my symbol of a shield guarding my heart.”
I offered some options which I felt might be right for her, and she decided to go with this lovely electric blue stone, which I custom made into this pendant. I was glad to be able to give my support in her quest for spiritual strength and peace!
I came across this divine piece of Cherry Creek Jasper a while ago, and just finished making it into a ring for myself.
The design was partly inspired by my dear friend and classmate, Jane. Â She makes beautiful rings, and her shanks are often very squared off at the ends.
I love the very organic nature of the stone. Â Jasper is so hugely versatile!
Rusty, the artisan behind the beautiful ‘Vance’ guitars, commissioned me to create a ring for his daughter’s birthday.
He chose the stone from my collection, then sent me a copy of a chart on which he’d measured the size of a ring from her ‘little gripper’. (Hehe, ‘little gripper’ made me laugh when Rusty send that to me!)
It was such a pleasure to set this beautiful stone for someone lovely to wear.
This is one of Rusty’s guitars: exquisite workmanship, and (apparently, from all who tell me) totally awesome to play. If you’re interested in owning one of these beauties, let me know, and I’ll put you in touch with him!
Vance Custom Guitars
Thanks so much for the honour, Rusty. I really appreciate it!