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Today during my lunch break (in my real-life-day-job-that-pays-the-mortgage!) I had a little snoop around the shops.  I work in Hebden Bridge.  A very dangerous place to work, especially when on Honeymoon Economy Drive.  The shops are divine.  Hebden is FULL of amazing little independent shops and has a fantastic arts scene, in fact it’s won various awards for being, well, just so darned lovely.  Anyway, temptation to spend was all around me but I stuck to the charity shops and …

This week I’ve started working on an interesting new commission….well, thinking about it anyway.  I had an enquiry last weekend about making a charm bracelet and having read the email I went into a mild panic…”I’ve never made one before, where do I start”…etc…..but the more I’ve thought about it the more exciting it’s become. I’ve been daydreaming about lots of different types of charms and how I can personalise the bracelet. It’s really nice to have a new challenge and to be able

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Braved the weather to meet up with a pal for a brew and gossip on Saturday. She has recently launched a business selling vintage furniture and homewares.  Some great stuff on her website so please do check it out www.entwistles.net 
I have my eye on some glorious kitchen kitsch in the form of this corkscrew and this sewing box footstool hybrid – surely this piece of furniture …

The crafting and silversmithing has been on hold for a week or so as the calendar seems to have hotted up and I’ve been a busy social butterfly all week. Last night was a highlight with a rare trip into the city lights with the Hubs to see King Creosote and Jon Hopkins perform at Leeds City Varieties. What at awesome sound. Truly mesmerising. Loving all that folky dokey goodness.

Anyway, my recent orders have now all been sent across the country…one made …

A few little photos of some jewellery making in action.  An army of little bird have been growing ready to perch on some earrings and these are now finished and available in my shop here: Perching Birds.  I also wanted to make a quick pressie for a dear friend who was over visiting from Australia so the little E is for her.

How exciting.  My first online sale a mere few minutes after sending my eNewsletter last night! The Husband got very grumpy (although he was also super pleased) as I was then too giddy to watch the film we’d started watching for our Sunday night entertainment. I was also thinking that I wished I’d finished that star necklace I’d been working on in the afternoon then I could have simply popped it in an envelope and sent it off to a lucky lady …

Well, today is The Day that I’m going to start doing a little bit of promotion for my new website.  I have generated a (surprisingly long) email mailing list and have whizzed people a little line to tell them about my site.  Some addresses collected from people who have made enquiries at various craft fairs…but mostly it’s just family, extended family, friends, extended friends, colleagues, extended colleagues!

Hopefully this is a good place to start and maybe the word will spread …

I have become an earlobe stalker! but don’t worry, I haven’t been accosting random strangers with my camera, just willing family and friends. I’m going to try to keep adding images of pieces being worn to give a better idea of size and shape so look out for these on the blog.

Now, strictly this might be a silver jewellery blog but I have to confess to you that I have developed a bit of a guilty pleasure since doing a short night class last January. Crochet. I love it. I can’t get enough of it and the entire house is now full of wool. There is a ball in nearly every room (perhaps apart from the bathroom….I think). It drives the Other Half a little bit mad and he bought …

Lots of people ask me if I buy the shapes pre-cut and the answer is no. Each piece is hand cut from sheet silver using a hand saw with a special blade, this is a technique known as ‘piercing’.

After that, there is a lot of filing and polishing with various grades of polishing paper (a bit like sandpaper), next the piece might need shaping or for bits to be soldered together (such as earring backs). In order to shape the …