Gem Show This Weekend!

Come along and celebrate the 30th Birthday of Frankston Lapidary Club!

This Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th of August

9am to 5pm

Meet our members,

View live demonstrations,

and check out our cabochons and faceted stones,

all cut and polished by our members!

There's also slab rough,

mineral specimens

and tools available for purchase.

Cranbourne Public Hall

South Gippsland Highway

(Corner of Clarendon and High Street)

Entry: $5

Seniors: $4

Children under 16: FREE!

I'll be taking photographs of the day for the lapidary club,

come along and say hello!

I'll have a few of my rings on display, too!

Can't wait to see you there!

--- Mariann ---

A New Embrace ...

 

STERLING SILVER, BLUE LACE AGATE

...For a girl with long talons

that she runs through her hair...

SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

There's a big event on this weekend, details to follow!

Also, I'll be revamping my Etsy and Madeit stores,

though the event this weekend may delay this

until after next weekend.

In the meantime, I'll be listing these new 'Embrace' rings during the week.

And

as always,

thank you

thank you

thank you

for your kind words

and sharing in the ups and downs

of creating from the heart in stones and silver.

--- Mariann ---

xoxo

The Ring Setter's Clamp...

The greatest little gadget, and perfect for setting my 'Embrace' rings!

I found this one from an Australian seller on eBay. Great price and overnight shipping for free!

It contains the ring holder and different sized plastic pieces to fit inside a variety of ring sizes.

The tapered fitting on the right fits inside the plastic parts and expands it to secure your ring for setting.

It's just perfect for wide-band rings!

As long as the ring band is not too thick, it will hold it nice and tight for stone setting.

So far, I have been using my ring mandrel for setting stones on these wide band rings.

It was so awkward and the ring kept slipping off, my hands got sore from holding the ring in place and the ring band got bent out of shape with the force of setting the stone and I ended up with a frown on my face!

Here is the lucky ring next in line for the royal treatment of being set with this handy new gadget!

sterling silver and blue lace agate

Wishing you all a beautiful weekend!

--- Mariann ---

xoxo

Embrace

I know it's been quite a while, but here it is!

The Embrace Ring with Mookaite

I have a few of these designs on the go at the moment.

The lovely wide bands making for the 'embrace' as mentioned above.

They are eating through my silver supplies, that's for sure!

But it's worth every ounce of silver, making these rings.

A challenge, too, without a swaging block or ring bending tool.

All done using pliers and a ring mandrel and a plastic mallet.

I did however find a really handy tool for holding these wide band rings in place when setting the stones.

More on that in my next post!

I can't wait to share this gadget with you,

my lovely readers

and talented silversmithing friends!

--- Mariann ---

xoxo

My absence explained...

... I've been here ...

Mount Hotham Alpine Resort

Northeast of Melbourne along the Great Alpine Road

Snowboarding,

Laughing with friends,

Enjoying the winter chill to its fullest.

(I'm not ready for warmer weather just yet.)

So my absence is explained.

I've got lots to show you...

--- Mariann ---

xoxo