Mission Complete...

In my last post I mentioned that I'd been working on a massive PMC commission. Well I'm happy to tell you that this comMISSION is Complete!!

My objective was to produce 46 bunches of grapes out of PMC.

These grapes were to create keepsakes for the ladies and gents that have worked with St Barnabas Primary School in Portishead, which sadly has been forced to close. It was decided that the ladies were to receive a necklace and the guys would receive a keyring. The bunch of grapes being the school emblem.

After working for over a month on the project it was great to finally have the whole 'bunch' of 45 pieces gift boxed and complete ready to go yesterday. The keepsakes will be presented on Monday as a gift from the Friends of St Barnabas.

The pendants in their pre-fired state...PMC is an amazing medium. Tiny particles of fine silver mixed with an organic binder to create the clay. Upon firing at temperatures of around 1000c the binder is burnt off to leave 99% pure silver.

The pendants post-firing. They have now been brushed off with a wire brush, after brushing the silver has what's called a brushed satin finish. To get the grapes to a high shine I placed them in a tumbler machine for 4 hours and finished by hand polishing with a silver cloth.

The completed product. 35 were placed on a sterling silver chain for the ladies and 11 placed on a sterling silver split ring for the gents.


What a thoughtful and unique way to say thank you...I do hope the people of St Barnabas Primary School enjoy their gift as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Recent Work...

I came across loads of vintage style charms while browsing the internet a while ago and never used them. I dug them out last week and here is what I made with some of them. I still have a bag full.


The large oriental fan is complimented on this piece by a beautiful pink daisy by polymer clay artist Elise Canning along with foiled pink Czech glass facets on an antique gold plated chain.

A huge copper butterfly attached to an antique gold plated chain and finished with bright red swarovski crystals on varying lengths of chain. There is no clasp and I've added the feature of 2 back drop dangles both finished with Siam Swarovski round beads.

A stunning silver dragonfly charm suspended from a fancy silver hoop off a silver chain. Finished with Indian Red AB Swarovski round crystals on 2 lengths of chain.

A large silver hoop tied with suede thong in bright cherry red which is then tied to silver chain to create the necklace, I've then simply tied more thong and knotted on to both ends a beautiful artisan lampwork bead by British artist Debbie Dew. Simple but stylish I hope you'll agree.

I'm busy with lots of fairs at the moment so much of the new stock is being sold before it gets entered into the web shops. I'm happy to work on commissions in the meantime, but there won't be much new stock added onto the web until the beginning of September now which is when I have a break in fairs.

I've been working on a massive PMC commission recently, I can't show you yet because the client hasn't received the finished product but watch this space to find out more...

Craft Fair at Thurlaston Carnival, Leicestershire...

I had a lovely day out at Thurlaston Carnival in Leicestershire today. The weather was fantastic and a better day couldn't have been wished for by anyone, it got a bit too hot in the marquee though, which is unfortunately where we were sitting all day.

It was really great to see a proper village get together, where the whole village had made an effort for a good turn out.

I made lots of elasticated bracelets and childrens thong style necklaces, as I figured there would be lots of little girls with their pocket money to spend and I sold out!! Wow, need to make more now, BUT I'm not going to bother with the thong necklaces again...you will understand when you see the picture...

This is how my lovely tidy bundles of thong necklaces ended up!! Never again...

Tourette's Syndrome...

Ok, I know this is far away from the normal content of my blog but I felt I wanted to share this.

I missed the documentary that was on BBC 1 last week about John Davidson who was first followed by the BBC in the late 80's. I had seen the previous two documentaries and little did I know that his story would play such a huge part in my own life. I was so happy when I was able to watch the programme by using BBCiPlayer...

John Davidson has Tourette's Syndrome a neurological disorder that causes tics, in his case quite violent tics which make him, among other things, shout and swear, these tics are totally involuntary and he has absolutely no control over them.

My own son Josh was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome aged 10...it was from watching documentaries such as the one on John Davidson that gave me the information I needed to realise that there was something with Josh that wasn't 100% right. It took a long hard fight, 7 years in total, but eventually my son received a diagnosis and the help and support from the experts that we so desperately needed!

If you missed the documentary on BBC One, 9:00pm Thursday 28th May 2009 then you can watch it again by following this link Tourette's: I Swear I Can't Help It

I had a PMC day...

I thought it was time to take the plunge and play with the PMC that I've had sitting here for ages!

I had a great time and can't wait to get the bits fired that I made, for now here is a pic of my pre-fired PMC creations.


I was surprised at how easily I got back into it, as I hadn't touched any PMC since the course I did in January I was really pleased with the outcome! Just hope they look as good when they're fired and tumbled.

NEW Website...

WOW, that was a busy weekend!

I was getting really frustrated with my website because the photos were taking forever to load and it was generally so slow it was off-putting. If I was feeling this way about it I dread to think what my potential customers were thinking, I can only wonder whether this is why I've had a drop in sales lately.

Anyway, I decided to treat myself (and my customers) to a new website and I've spent the whole weekend getting it up and ready.

The new site should now be much quicker to load, easier to navigate and generally much more pleasant to use.

Take a peek, and see for yourself www.enchantedhandmadejewellery.com

Enjoy...

I've had a Pendant Day...

I've had a great time sorting through my artisan lampwork stash and wiring some of them into pendants using sterling silver wire, spacers, swarovski and some beautiful Karen Hill Tribe fine silver.

Here's what I've created with some of the beautiful orphan lampwork beads that I'm fortunate enough to own.

I had a fantastic email today from an Etsy member saying that she had included me in her treasury...I feel really proud that someone has found my work worthy enough to include in an Etsy treasury. To have a peek for yourself click the link Etsy Treasury