Edinburgh jeweller

50% off this brand new online metal clay class  In the last couple of weeks, I've been fortunate enough to have had a preview of this new stone setting course by metal clay artist Julia Rai . Fancy bezels, prongs and bails is an online course from Jewellers Academy . I've watched the whole thing as I was working on making sure Julia's excellent notes lined up with the order of the videos (there are 11 individual videos in the course). The downloadable notes are now done and the course is currently in pre-sale and will go live on 13th November 2018. AND if you buy before then, you can get 50% off! When it goes live it will be £79 but right now you can buy it for £39.50 (and I really recommend that you do). What will I learn? This course covers stone setting in silver clay. It is for those that have some experience of working with silver clay. If you've done one of my taster or beginners classes then it will be good for you. You will learn How to set an ir...

Sapphire and fine silver ring made by me! Many jewellery makers haven’t heard of silver clay. It is a moldable material made from silver particles, an organic binder and a bit of water. Once the clay is dry it can be fired with a torch or in a kiln to burn away the binder to leave silver. It is a flexible way of working with silver and I’m often asked if stones can be pressed into the clay and fired. Sadly it’s not as simple as that! Some stones can be fired in place, others are damaged by the heat of the kiln/torch and these stones need to be set in a more traditional way familiar to silversmiths e.g. using a bezel setting. However, there are some stones that can be set and fired in the clay and here is some advice about using these. Cubic zirconia Cubic zirconia are manmade stones that come in different shapes, sizes and colours. They are a very flexible stone for silver clay as they can be fired in place, both with a torch or in a kiln. Hints You do need to be w...

I am pretty addicted to pinterest and love that we have so much access to inspiration as jewellers there. I have recently been drawn to unusual stone settings and I find it useful to consider how the jeweller has done it as it gives me a jumping off point for ideas. Here are a few innovative designs that I love. Turquoise necklace by Cobalt blue I love the work of  by Daphne Krinos who regularly uses stones in innovative ways. This piece is a r ound brooch on 18 carat gold Swarovski crystalactite ring from Maison Margiela Thomas Giesen - acrylic ring with amethyst ball Labradorite pendant by Anna Vosburg Glauco Cambi bracelet with magnetic closure Odyssey orbital ring earrings by Silversong jewelry Fold formed pendant by beads and tricks Quay ring with pink tourmaline by Sarah Herriot Pebble stack pendant ‘heart cairn’ by Binks Edmonds This blog post was originally written for the London Jewell...

I spent this weekend with Tracey Spurgin at Craftworx , a jewellery studio in Beverley, Yorkshire. The studio is on a farm and I love going up there, such a lovely environment to work in. The weekend class was a private tuition on stone setting. I have done stone setting previously but I wanted to learn more techniques and really get some one to one support with it to feel like I could master it. I really feel I am in a position to practice this myself now which is exactly what I wanted. I highly recommend taking classes with Tracey. She is an excellent tutor, very clear with lots of excellent ideas for ways of doing things that I hadn't thought of.

March has been a hectic (and fun!) teaching month. I taught metal clay stone setting at the Mary Ward Centre and the students made some lovely pieces