Custom orders are so much fun.

Ive just finished this sweet custom order pendant for a lovely return customer out of some of her old broken pieces of jewellery.

I received a parcel with these damaged and pair-less earrings and an old favourite ring who's band had long since split and had laid in the bottom of the jewellery box for years.......

She'd seen my 'lucky lump' pendants and thought she might like something like that, but with the added bonus of setting the garnet from the ring into the piece.

Yay! Fun!
I really love doing this kind of thing!
I love that something old and worn out and broken can become something new and coveted again.

The broken and old bits.

After carefully removing the garnet, I smelted all the silver in the crucible
and was left with this lovely blob.

I cleaned up the blob 

Cleaned up and link soldered on.

Drilled out ready for the stone to be set.

Ready and set!

Isn't she gorgeous?

I love that the history of the silver and the gems remains present in its new form.

If you have any old bits and pieces, be it silver or gold and you'd like them made in to something new, please get in touch!

Rusty Roots!

Ive been getting back to my roots the last couple of weeks working with some rust!
A little different to the sculptures of old, less chunky and clunky and a little more refined.

The smell of oxidisation and the in-ground dirt on my hands that only rusty metal can produce had me reminiscing of  times gone by when Id be busting my moves with the arc welder.

Introducing, "Man Jewels" , but not just for the men!

Here's a bit of a look at how the magic happens......

Lovely rusty steel dots.
Getting my silver ready to surround them.

silver cut and ready to be soldered.

Silver surrounds soldered to the backs, ready for filing, sanding and cleaning.

Perfect fit!

Rings and pendants. Silver and steel, a match made in heaven.

The finished product!

In keeping with the rusty theme, Ive installed a new window display.

Look, see, here we are.......

Once again, its been awhile.

I admit it.
I'm a maker, not a writer.
There, I've said it.

As I don't (yet) have a website, I figured Id keep a blog for people to come have a look see, see what I'm about,  check me out. Which is why I decided to start this in the first place, but alas, I'm not much good at keeping you informed and remain as aloof in blog-land as I do in real life.

I went so far as to put the blog address on my swing tags and business cards and feel like I'm totally letting team RedPeg down by not being a more active blogger.

I'm not making any promises, but I'm really going to try........... Lets say, one post a month. Try to get a rhythm happening and hopefully surprise us all with maybe even two a month........we'll see.

So, Im going to ease my way in with a pictorial post of all the going on since last we caught up......

Here goes.

Had a little workshop at The Peg.
Stamping, texturing and mark making on metal.
We played with copper, aluminium and brass.
Fun!
Something Id like to do more of.

Got a little feature in the southcoaststyle magazine.
Check it out.
"Today in a workplace that would be quite at home in one of those tiny lanes of Paris or London, Gabrielle fashions her jewellery right in front of those who visit this unusual little space".
"A sense of intimacy and adventure".
You'll have to buy a copy to read the rest........

Add caption

I love working with people to create something new out of their old pieces of jewellery.
Here I refashioned a a wedding band into a solid gold lucky lump charm.

It started with the lucky lumps and turned into a mad desire to make little silver balls which in turn resulted in a new series of works, titled "Organica" here are a few pieces from the new series.
Anyone that follows me on Instagram will probably say, enough with the silver balls already.

Oh, the possibilities, I think Ill be going with these for a while yet.......

"Organica"

"Organica"

"Organica"

"Organica"

Well, this is where I love to be.
Best get back to it.....
Till next time........