Despite the fact that I haven’t felt as busy with orders this year as I was last year, I’ve still struggled with finding the time to make new stuff recently. However I have managed to make a few new things – some silver earrings with cabochons and a couple of new bronze bangle designs.One of the reasons I’ve made some new designs in bronze bangles is because I can’t get hold of the 3.5mm bronze wire I use for my most popular bronze set. The website I buy some of my bronze wire from has been out of stock for a couple of months now, citing technical problems with production according to their supplier. There’s also a shortage of 4mm bronze wire {luckily I have some of that stashed away in my shed!}The other reason is…..well, you can never have too much choice when it comes to jewellery :DThe first set of bangles is made from 5mm and 3mm bronze wire flattened and textured using leaf skeletons. There’s something about flat bangles that pleases me – maybe it’s the straight edges? Whatever it is I do enjoy making them.The other bronze bangle set is made with 3mm wire textured using a line texture hammer. I turn the wire as I’m hammering to keep the round profile.I’ve made both sets before so they aren’t strictly new but previously I would list them as and when I made a set but this time I’ve decided to add these two sets to my “made to order” selection of bangles.A while ago I vowed to start using up some of my cabochons. Admittedly I haven’t bought any cabs for a long time but do still have several boxes full of them.I made a start with these simple silver disc earrings with rose cut citrine cabs. I always put silver foil inside the bezel behind the cab when I set it to cover the silver underneath and avoid any dark spots showing through if the silver tarnishes.The foil also helps to make the colour of the cabs brighter as it reflects the light.These long oval silver earrings are textured with a stripe pattern made using masking tape. They are set with green amethyst rose cut cabs. The cabs look as though they are clear but they are really a very pale green which is more noticeable in certain lights.I do love pale gemstone colours with oxidized silver – the contrast in dark and light is lovely.I’m currently experimenting with new bangle designs involving combining different gauges of twisted wire which I will post about as soon as I’ve worked out the best way to solder the ends together!
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