More flowers

Finally a bit of peace and quiet in my house now the kids are back at school and my husband back at work. To be honest, I actually miss them. However, the solitude meant I could concentrate on photographing my latest flowers.

This time I hammered the petals and experimented with adding extra beads around the main gemstone. I was going to put them in my tumbler but, as recently I had some problems tumbling fluorite (too soft), I decided to use my burnisher I got with my Art Clay Silver starter kit and had a WOW! moment when the petals came up really shiny. Sometimes I like my hammered pieces to show the texture of the hammer but this time I really like the mirror shine effect.

I made some earrings and a couple of pendants. I think my favourite are the Crystal Quartz Flower Earrings (shown below). I like the simplicity and sparkle of these and the way the hammering changed the shape of some of the petals.

Now all I have to decide is which to keep, to give or to sell!

Art Clay Silver - Pendants and Earrings

Here are the pendants after firing and burnishing. Picture 1 is the hammered heart and picture 4 is the second heart I made with the circles texture. As I said before, I am pleased with the result of the first one - it's funny how an accident can turn out in the end - maybe it was fate?!

I will incorporate these pendants into some necklace designs but at the moment am pondering about gemstone colours and also whether to go simple or more detailed. Also, I haven't drilled a hole in the leaf pendant until I am sure how I am going to use it.




I had a right argument with my husband whether to drill the holes before or after firing. I said 'after' and he said 'before'. I was worried I might crack the pieces if I drilled them before. So, ever trying to compromise, we tried both (the second heart I drilled before firing). I have to admit, I think he was right as, when using my little hand-held drill, it was really hard on the fired pieces and my wrists started aching immediately.


The sun discs turned out quite well and I have put them onto some of my 'loopy hoop' earwires. They remind me of Aztec suns. When I showed them to my seven year old son he said he thought I should put some gemstones on the earrings. Mmm... I think he might be right, maybe carnelian for the fire of the sun. Although I have some great natural turquoise beads that might look quite good. I think I will have a play around with these earrings before I put them up for sale.




The other earrings I made have a circles texture. I love the way burnishing highlights the raised parts and the indented areas stay with the satin finish from the brushing. I'm happy with these earrings as they are and will be listing them on Etsy, eBay and Artfire later today.