Tag Archives: silver jewelry

Sterling Silver Tree of Life Ring

Adam wanted a special ring for his wife for their 15th wedding anniversary which is coming up soon.

Sterling Silver Tree of Life Ring

Adam told me he would like a Tree of Life ring, and sent me a few pictures that he liked. Keeping those in mind, I designed a ring for him.

Sterling Silver Tree of Life Ring

What a lovely idea for a wedding anniversary gift, so personal and unique!

Sterling Silver Tree of Life Ring

Sterling Silver Domed Ball Ring

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.

Sterling Silver Double Dome Ball Ring

 

Charlotte just picked her ring up today, and she’s very happy with it! So glad. Thanks, Charlotte!

Sterling Silver Double Dome Ball Ring

Sterling Silver Heart Earrings

Nic contacted me with a request for a pair of heart earrings that she wanted to have created especially for her.

Sterling Silver Heart Earrings

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!

Sterling Silver Heart Earrings

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! 🙂 )

Sterling Silver Heart Earrings

I created them with a spiral twist on the base of the earwire where it joins to the back of the heart –  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!

Grassy Green Drusy Agate and Sterling Silver Ring

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.

Grassy Green Drusy Agate and Sterling Silver Ring

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.

Grassy Green Drusy Agate and Sterling Silver Ring

Kylie is really happy with the way this ring turned out (she even blogged a little bit about that 🙂 ), and that makes me feel happy, too. I love being able to make one of a kind pieces for lovely people!

Grassy Green Drusy Agate and Sterling Silver Ring

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.

Tool of the Month – Hammers

Jeweller's Hammers

The humble hammer. I used to think a hammer was just a hammer, right? But no! There are many different sorts of hammers, with many different purposes. I have a small collection, and I use at least one with just about every piece that I create.

Claw Hammer

First up, the claw hammer. Great for hammering in and pulling out nails in the carpentry world. I use mine for heavy hammering, such as stamping pieces with my maker’s mark and 925 stamp, or hitting the ends of my doming punches.

Jeweller's bench hammer

Next, my jeweller’s bench hammer. This baby has a flat face and a cross pein. (The pein is the ‘other’ end of the hammer). Great for such things as using with my bench block to harden earring hooks, and with my mandrels to straighten and stretch rings. The pein end is useful for things like curving silver in my swage block for rings like this cuff ring. (Don’t worry, posts on all those other weird tools will be along sooner or later! 🙂 )

Wooden Mallet

Thirdly, my wooden mallet. Great for shaping silver without making it thinner – rounding a ring on my mandrel without making it larger, for instance. (Has not been used as a judge’s gavel -yet!!)

Chasing Hammer

Finally, my favourite hammer, my chasing hammer. This baby is great for setting gemstones, using my engraving ball and a setting punch. (Yep, more on those at a later date, too!!) The handle thins dramatically towards the head of the hammer, making it very whippy and easy on the wrist, which is a nice thing when it can take up to an hour’s hammering to set a stone.

There are lots more jewellery hammers, used for various things like forming, planishing, rivetting etc. These four are the tip of the iceberg.. but they are all I need at the moment for all of my creations. A simple everyday tool, the hammer; but indispensable in the jeweller’s studio!

Happy First Anniversary to The Silver Forge!

The Silver Forge Birthday Celebrations

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.

Electric Blue Drusy Agate Pendant

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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20% OFF SALE

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!

20 Percent Off - First Anniversary Sale

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EARRING GIVEAWAY!

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!

Earring Rainbow

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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UPDATE:

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.

Twin Butterfly Pendants in Sterling Silver

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.

Twin Butterfly Sterling Silver Pendants

Keith plans to have their names engraved on one of the butterfly wings.

Twin Butterfly Sterling Silver Pendants

What a lovely idea for a present!

Twin Butterfly Sterling Silver Pendants

Thanks Keith!

Tool of the Month – Jeweller’s Saw

There are many pieces of equipment that are essential to the creative silversmithing process, and one that gets used in practically every piece is the jeweller’s saw. From cutting through fine chain links, to carving out an entire pendant, the saw is a very useful piece of equipment!

Jeweller's Saw

One of the first things I learned when I started smithing was how to saw – first straight lines, then curves, then around corners. There is an art to sawing! Jeweller’s saw blades come in many sizes, the tooth count varying depending on the job you need to do.

Sawing with Jeweller's Saw

Saw blades are replaced when they become blunt or more often when they break – which happens all the time. Inserting the blade correctly, holding the saw upright, not applying pressure and letting the blade do the work will all help. “Doh! Another one!” is still a frequent cry around the workshop though!

Replacing saw blade

Saws can also be used for piercing.  First a small hole is drilled, the saw blade is fed through the hole, and then tightened into the saw.

Art Nouveau Inspired Silver Earrings

I have two saws, my old faithful that I’ve had from day one and my newer Green Lion Studios saw, which has a deeper frame and can be used for larger cuts. I have different sizes of sawblades in each one, and they are both some of my favourite tools!

Electric Blue Drusy Agate Pendant

Electric Blue Drusy Agate and Sterling Silver Pendant

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!

Electric Blue Drusy Agate Pendant

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).  It is felt that the agate in the breastplate was likely a sky blue variety.

Electric Blue Drusy Agate Pendant

 

My customer said of an agate pendant she already has “I 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.”

Electric Blue Drusy Agate Pendant

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!

Cherry Creek Jasper and Sterling Silver Ring

Cherry Creek Jasper and Sterling Silver Ring

I came across this divine piece of Cherry Creek Jasper a while ago, and just finished making it into a ring for myself.

Cherry Creek Jasper and Sterling Silver Ring

 

The design was partly inspired by my dear friend and classmate, Jane.  She makes beautiful rings, and her shanks are often very squared off at the ends.Cherry Creek Jasper and Sterling Silver Ring

I love the very organic nature of the stone.  Jasper is so hugely versatile!

Cherry Creek Jasper and Sterling Silver Ring