Bliss - a wonderful weekend in the studio!

Hello friends,

I have had a blissful day in the studio...playing around with some new things and re-visiting a few techniques.

Some time ago, I saw a video on Pinterest by Melissa Muir which showed how to set a faceted gemstone in purchased tubing. I really wanted to learn how to do this... so  a few weeks ago, I bought myself a bench drill-press. This week the rest of the supplies arrived... and so today I had a go!

My new bench drill press. ( I LOVE tools!)

Burs... the round one is used to drill out some of the inner wall of the tubing and the one on the left is to drill a 'seat' for the stone. (I used a zirconia as this was the cheapest option to practice with)

Heavy wall sterling silver tubing and a box of bezel setting punches.

This was the second one I did.. the first in the previous photo was a bit lopsided, but I am very happy with this one. I was just practising soldering the tubing on to copper, but when this one actually worked out, I thought I could make it in to a little something.  (sorry about the glare!)

I also made some stacking rings, earrings (still need to add a pearl dangle) and some large hole silver beads. Plus I have a few more things in the tumbler. This is a lot of things for me to make.. I am usually such a ditherer I am lucky to finish ONE thing over the weekend, let alone all of this.

Thanks Melissa for your wonderful video tutorial. I found it easy to understand and follow and am just so totally excited that I have managed to learn to do this.

The stackable rings and earrings come from the book Simple soldering.. a Beginner's Guide to Jewelry Making which I am thoroughly enjoying, too!

Hope you have had a great day,

Jenni