New adventures.

Until very recently I had been a little uncertain of my abilities to experiment with new tools and techniques. This week, however, I have decided that enough was enough and took that brave leap and try something new.
For the first time I made my own head pins and ear wires using a blow torch. Now I know this is something a HUGE amount of hobby jewellery makers already do and with ease but for me this is a massive step and really exciting.

I used the torch to ball the ends of a few lengths of sterling silver wire to make into head pins for the pearls to hang from and to add detail to a set of ear wires, both of which you can see in the picture above. For me this was an amazing sense of achievement and is now opening up so many doors with what I would like to do in the future with my jewellery design.

On top of firing up the blow torch, I also finally invested in a hammer and steal block. These are essentials in any wire jewellery artists tool kit but for whatever reason I have always avoided trying out the hammering techniques. Not any more however
These earrings are my first ever hammered wire project and I LOVE 'em.

I really am full of new ideas for jewellery projects in the near future, including some silver smithing. There's some exciting times ahead for Louise Grace Jewellery.