The trouble with men

I find it challenging to decide what to make for men.  For women, I have loads of ideas but with men I'm a bit stumped.  However I'd set myself the challenge of a handmade Christmas so I needed to get thinking.  (Sorry, yes I know it is now February - it has taken me a while to show you these).  

First up, I made some cuff links for my brother.  I really enjoyed the challenge of making these - getting them identical (well almost!) and soldering lots of pieces of wire in close proximity (i.e. making sure I didn't melt things I didn't intend to!).  I've also used resin and mica for some colour and subtle shine.  

My Dad is a keen golfer - I am not!  So I had a search online for some ideas of what to make.  When I started making his present I thought I was making a golf marker.  However when I'd almost finished someone let me know that I'd actually made a divot repairer - who knew?!  I quickly decided to add some wire as a bit more reinforcement.  Fortunately, Dad seemed to know what to do with it!

If you have any ideas about what else I can make the men in my life please let me know.......

Starlight necklace

I made this necklace for my lovely sister-in-law for Christmas.

It is made of two silver shapes sandwiched together with resin and gold leaf.  I paired this with some blue sandstone beads for a bit of extra starlight shimmer.

I was pleased with how this came out and think I'll work on this idea some more - I'd like to try some different silver shapes.

Hibernation

I seem to have entered a period of extended hibernation after Christmas!  I've been a bit focussed on matters closer to home.  But I think I'm emerging from hibernation again now though - spotting the first snowdrop in my garden at the weekend definitely perked me up!

I said that I'd show you what I had been making as Christmas presents for my nearest and dearest.  First up, this is what I made for my Mum.....

(Resin, Silver, Agate, Leaves)

This is similar to a necklace I've made before, but I changed it up by using skeleton leaves embedded in the resin rather than mother of pearl.  It is the first time, I've revisited a design and I definitely enjoyed working on perfecting a bit more. 

I am still here!

Yes, I am still here - not that my blog shows it.......life has just got rather busy of late.  Not least because I'm busy making Christmas presents so I can't really show you what I've been working on - I promise I'll show you in the New Year.  However I did rustle this up just for myself......

(Rosebuds, Resin, Flourite and Czech glass)

I wanted to try some 3D elements with resin and decided to use these rosebuds.  I've given them a coat or two of resin so they are stronger than they look.  I'm enjoying wearing it and I've had a lot of positive comments so hopefully everyone else does too.  

The Teeter Ring

My original plan for this ring was for the silver ovals to fit neatly inside each other but once I had them cut out I started playing.  I quickly decided that I preferred this fan shape - with the ovals teetering on top of each other......

The Silverdale Hoard

This weekend, I went to have a look at the Silverdale Hoard at the Lancaster City Museum.  It is a collection of Viking silver that was found in Silverdale by a metal detectorist (how exciting must that have been to find?!).  It is apparently the third largest hoard of Viking silver found in the UK and includes a variety of coins, arm rings and metal bars.  1,000 years ago a Viking must have decided to bury the silver for safe-keeping and for whatever reason wasn’t able to come back and collect it – probably an unhappy ending for them.  

The silver was all quite beautiful and I felt strangely connected to it – the person who made it clearly used techniques that we still use now.  The thing I did notice though was how thick the silver was on some of the arm bands, they must have been heavy to wear - I suspect thought that they were probably made for men (most of them would have slipped right off my arm).  

Grandad’s Silver

I bought these pretty glass cabochons and have made them into a silver bangle.  They were so pretty that I didn’t want to lose any of the pattern so I set the stones with resin rather than rubbing the bezel walls down to capture the stone as I would normally. 

You’ll probably see some writing on the inside of the bangle.  The silver is from a cup that my Grandad won for gardening.  He was an amazing gardener – anything in his care would grow tall and strong, bursting readily into flower and fruit.  Actually he was a man of many talents – he was an incredible swimmer and an excellent upholsterer - not that many people would know these things about him because he was also a man of few words.  Anyway, back to the gardening.  He won the cup at his local gardening club so often that they eventually just gave it to him outright.  The cup sat at the back of a cupboard for many years (as you can tell by the tarnish on it - see below).  I’d heard about the cup but never seen it until my mum rang to say that she thought Grandad would want me to use the silver.  I did have mixed feelings about breaking up his cup - though I do like the idea that Grandad is still supporting me, as he always did. 

I’ve been using the silver from the cup for a while now - everything made in silver that you’ll see on this blog from October 2012 has been made from Grandad’s Silver – and there is still some left.  It has been a real gift, allowing me to try many things that I might not have done had I been worried about paying for the silver!  I particularly like using the parts of the cup with writing on, as in this bangle – it reminds me of where the silver has come from.  The parts of the cup with Grandad’s name on are particularly precious and are reserved for special pieces.