Otterly important post!

Sorry, couldn't help myself ;)
I decided to take a break from casting, and finish several designs that were waiting to be done. Two of those were otter-themed, hence the tittle ;P

Let's get straight to it. Remember the wolf cuff from previous post? Well, it's finished, added to my shop, and waiting for a new owner.

Running wolf cuff

I liked the running wolves idea from my previous wolf cuff, but this time I wanted one wolf as a focal point on the bracelet. I'm pretty happy with how the whole piece turned out.

There are also crescent moons on either end, and scrolls accompanying the wolf. I'm also somewhat surprised I managed to take pretty decent photos at the first try. That's a first.

I also made a second cuff, one I wanted to make for quite some time, but always something other got in the way. Well, I finally made it: Megaloceros giganteus (Giant Deer or Irish Elk, as it's commonly known) cuff!

All hail M. gigantetus!

I had to make that one a bit wider than usual: 3cm(~1.2in) instead of 2.5cm(~1in), because trying to fit all of those antlers on thinner one would be a total pain. I must say I really love the texture on etched parts on this one! It's sooo pretty.

And there are also crescent moons on this cuff.

Apart from those two, I also made my first ever pair of stud earrings (complete with making and soldering ear posts), and a pendant with my first ever flush setting!

And so, we've come to these otters I mentioned in the beginning of that post.
Here's pendant:

Otter pendant

You could call it experimental piece: aside from flush setting, I also had to do a lot of sweat soldering here, and that's something I'm pretty hopeless at. I'm really happy that it took me only two tries to solder both parts of the otter to the washer.

Noticed the belemnite fossil in this stone? That's a mesozoic rock right there!

I also managed to solder back piece at the first try, without any of the already soldered part coming undone. That's a big success for me. I have something of a love-hate relationship with soldering: it's either going great, or I can't solder anything, with already soldered joints falling apart, even though the part I'm soldering is squeaky clean, and already soldered ones are as dirty as possible, with ochre pastel smeared all over them.

I'm also very glad I have watchmaker loupe at home. Those are 1mm CZs, and trying to set them without one was a nightmare. After I remembered the loupe and used it, it all went a lot faster and easier, as I was able to actually see what I was doing.

And here are aforementioned earrings:

 Unfortunately, I made three attempts at taking good pictures of them, and failed miserably at all of them.
These earrings are also a bit experimental themselves, as I decided that butterfly backs soldered to the back parts of them would look really weird (plus, I wasn't sure I would be able to do this without melting them), and decided to make "built in" butterflies myself.

 It wasn't as difficult as I feared it would be, and they work just fine. The only problem I have is with the wire I used to make ear posts. It's 0.6mm, and I would prefer 0.7mm, (but I didn't have any) to make them a little bit stronger. I know that, theoretically, ear posts should be made from 0.8 or 0.85mm wire, but I, for example, can't wear 0.85, as they're too big, and even 0.8 ear wires are a bit too big, and wearing them is really uncomfortable, and can even sometimes hurt. I know majority of people do just fine with standard ear wires, but I decided to make them smaller on the off chance someone with problem similar to mine should buy those. 

I also had the weirdest, I think, experience while soldering ear posts: I managed, and I have no idea how I managed this, to pierce through copper with sterling silver wire. Let this sink in for a moment. I took a piece of copper, melted solder all over it, heated it, dunked the end of wire into flowing solder, started to heat the earring part I wanted to solder that wire to, and touched the end of the wire to the copper piece. It didn't stick, so I tried this again (and I already had one ear post soldered, so I knew this should work), almost got it, but my hand shook and it again didn't stick. I decided to pickle the back, clean it, and try again... and then I noticed that I had a lovely, 0.6mm hole right in the middle of my earring. I didn't overheat the copper part. I'm just talented like that.

I must say, I'm awfully fond of these earrings. I'm thinking about making something similar for myself. Actually, I'm trying to think of a way wolf earrings would look good made in this style.

To make sure everything works as it should I wore them all day before I even oxidised them. They stayed in place, so that's good. 

And let's finish with a mild rant: I wanted to buy fire bricks, to create nice, insulated area for melting metal. Because I wanted  to be able to melt it a little bit faster, and waste a little bit less gas. So I went to the only place I know off that stores (or, should I say stored) firebricks, and... nothing. Null, zero, nada. Not a firebrick in sight. And, as I already said, that's the only place in my town that ever had them. I got, as you can imagine, a tinsy bit angry. Now I'm left with 2 options: option one: not having that nice, insulated area; option two: buying bricks via internet, and paying king's ransom for shipping. Grrr.
I hope that maybe they'll restock firebricks in near future. That's just another thing added to my recurring rant called "why can't I get this in Northern Ireland?!?". For example, good silversmithing classes. I could apply to university (and fail miserably) or... or... or... fly every week to London, I guess. Sigh. And now firebricks! People have fireplaces and things like that. Firebricks should be a little bit easier to find than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Ok, I'll stop that rant now.

Till the next time!

Kasia