Catchup

It's been 10 days since my last blog. Amazing how time flies sometimes. I haven't posted because I haven't really achieved very much I guess. I have made another stainless ring.

I think it's kind of cool, but not really sure who would wear it. Sort of Steampunk styling I suppose. All good silver soldering practice I guess, the brass hearts are just over 4mm wide.I had hoped the cog would be able to turn but it's stuck fast. It seems it only fails to adhere when you when you want it to, and vice versa!
I haven't done much with the bead assortment I bought.They were rather disappointing.First thing I noticed was that there were relatively few alike, about 3 quarters of them didn't have two the same so I couldn't even make a pair of earrings from most of them. Nearly all had the clay like powder still through the middle and several of them split in half when I tried to clean it out with a wire, so I suspect they are not annealed. I also found one or two with a thin bit of wire through them so I'm guessing the are some kind of rejects or seconds.Beads that aren't annealed properly are not great because they contain stress from manufacture and are likely to break when you least expect it, leaving shards of glass everywhere.

I did make a few earrings from the big hole beads which seem to be much better quality. (and much more expensive)

During all this I did quite a bit of research on lamp-work and glass bead making in general. It looks like it would be heaps of fun, but to do it properly you need to anneal them, and for that you need a kiln with good temperature control.(Similar but more temperature critical than annealing steel and complete opposite of annealing copper.) I also had a look at enameling (glass onto copper,brass,silver) and glass slumping. If I ever buy a kiln it will be one capable of doing a wide range of tasks like these as well as lost wax casting.(melting the wax and drying and preheating the molds) Then I found a place that can teach you how to build your own kiln...
You see this is how I get side tracked and get nothing done.
I did achieve one milestone. Today I sold two items via my Hammered Hearts website. I have sold a few pieces to friends and relatives, but this is the first I've sold to a total stranger on the other side of the world. One was a small brass heart pendant and the other was a ring, made to a custom size with the design based on one on my website, brass ring with a copper heart.

I hope she will thoroughly enjoy them.