Torches, charcoal blocks, soldering boards, lockets in progress and a whole heaps of plans.

Right. I've been absent from the blog for over a month, I didn't show promised cuff pictures... bad blog owner! Bad! All because the first time in I don't know how many years I managed to catch a really, really nasty flu. Not only I felt downright miserable, and couldn't think straight for ridiculously long time, but it also knocked me off my feet (not in a good way), and getting myself back together took quite some time. 
After I finally got to the point where I was able to do anything other that laying in bed and feeling sorry for myself, I decided that I would like to try my hand at making lockets. So I designed one, cut the pieces, painted them, etched them, and when it came to soldering, I found out that my trusty lovely little blowtorch is... too small. And can't get the piece hot enough, so the solder was balling up, and generally not cooperating with me. The logical step was, of course, to get a bigger blowtorch. Which I did last weekend, though figuring out what torch I would like to buy took some time. The fact that the post will not deliver gas cans complicated matters a bit, because I had to buy something for which I can buy gas containers in brick and mortar store- it really is not that simple, as I live in a rather small town. At first I wanted gosystem torch, but my local hardware store doesn't carry their gas cans. It does, however, carry campingaz torches and gas cans, and this is what I got. I had two options, and actually bought the one I didn't intend to buy at first. But that one has piezo ignition, and I'm terribly jumpy around gas devices without automatic ignition system. And what a monster of a torch it is! Here, have a picture (with my little iroda for comparison):

By the way, my table is not that messy when I'm actually soldering something...

It runs, as you can see, on butane/propane mix, and reaches 1750 °C. And the flame is HUGE. But it soldered the joint I was battling with for more than a week at the first try, in few seconds. Good news is, you can buy replacement burners, and there is one particular model, called x1650, that gives you a fine flame, suited, as producer claims, for jewellery and model making. Bad news- it proved difficult to find, and virtually unavailable in the UK. I had to buy one from Germany, pay ridiculous price for postage, in effect paying for a burner about as much as for the torch itself. 

After I soldered the one joint, I decided that my magnesia block alone was no match for that monster, and I need to buy more adequate soldering surface. Apparently, a charcoal block can withstand up to 3000 °C, and I don't have anything that reaches temperatures anywhere near that mark, so I bought one. I also bought soldering board, to rest the charcoal block on, because the flame produced by that big torch is big itself, and produces quite a bit of heat, therefore I found the set up I was using with my butane torch not satisfying. I may be over-cautious here, but better safe than sorry. Oh, I also got a third hand while I was doing my shopping, because I really had no clue how to solder on the bail I designed for the locket, and in the place I designed for it, without something of that sort. I never used one before, but I hope it will work well for me. 

*I wrote the above yesterday, with intention of posting it today, and today morning my fine flame burner was delivered. I'm really happy with it: it can make a big flame, but also, contrary to the default burner the torch was supplied with, it can also make a really small one, which makes work a lot easier: the smallest flame of the default burner is still so big that I have problems seeing just what exactly is happening on the soldered piece. With that new burner, I can create wider range of flames, so it's way better suited to the type of work I use it for. It was totally worth all that rummaging through the internets and ordering from Germany.

Picture time!

There is not much outside difference between the two burners, but there is a big one performance-wise

My shiny, new, as yet unused charcoal block on top of my old, much used and abused, crumbly but loved, magnesia block:

 Charcoal block, soldering board, third hand, tweezers, beginning of a locket, and a really weird perspective:

And the beginning of a locket on my new charcoal block (I haven't used it yet, but I'm already awfully fond of it, can you tell?) :

Sorry, but you need to click on the picture to see it better. Why doesn't blogger have a decent gallery making options? Or is it just me?

 That's actually going to be the back of the finished piece. I'm planning red abalone cabochon on the front. Also, note the huge overspill of solder. That's all result of trying to solder this with my little torch. Once I applied the monster to it, it all decided that it can, in fact, flow, and there was what I can only describe as a solder flood. I just can't wait for all that sanding and cleaning it up....

I also have no idea if I'll manage to solder the hinge knuckles on properly... that remains to be seen. Honestly, that hinge terrifies me. I just hope I won't botch it entirely. On the side note, that wolf etching you see here is the first etching with nail polish as a resist I really like. I think I finally got the hang of using nail polish to achieve the effects I want.

I'm also thinking about writing a series of posts about recurring motifs in my designs - namely, wolves and ravens. I've written some "sketches", but I'm still not quite sure how to approach the subject. I know I'm going to start with wolves, but the piece I wrote on them needs a lot of polishing and finishing touches- I intend it to be something of an introduction to the species, but right now, I think, it's probably too technical, and possibly I'm writing about too many different aspects for just one post. I will have to do some hard thinking about it, as I wouldn't like to bore the living hell out of readers ;) What I know I want to do with that planned series, is to write about biological, ecological and cultural aspects of them. Thing is, for me by far the most interesting of these are ecology and biology, with cultural bringing up the rear, a loong, looong distance behind the former two, and I tend to get overexcited with technicalities and details. But the again, being wolf researcher and behaviourist is my unfulfilled childhood dream, so what would you expect ;)

Which brings me nicely to my other plans, though those are a bit nebulous at this time. My other big dream was to be palaeontologist/evolutionist. If something distracts me from designing and making jewellery, it's likely to be bio/palaeo/evo stuff. Synapsids, and their evolutionary line, are what I'm especially interested in. I'm writing about this, because I was thinking about somehow linking all my passions together in my jewellery designs. I'm thinking, vaguely right now, about adding prehistoric creatures to my designs. It would be in similar style to what I'm making now, probably, but the creature featured would be something that is, sadly, no longer with us. Like Inostrancevia. Or Homotherium. Or Diictodon. Or something ;) The idea gets me all excited,but I'm not sure how it will work out in the end.

 

Here, have a Homotherium latidens to illustrate that paragraph:

A word on the cuff: I don't like how the etching turned out, and decided it needs a bit of touch-up. With hand engraving. I have a set of hand gravers, I just need to learn how to use them properly, so that may take some time. I'm not ready to discard that cuff just yet. I hope it's salvageable. 

Soo... lockets, maybe palaeo stuff in designs, probably series of posts about wolves and ravens, hand engravings... that's what I'm working on right now, and I hope there will be no other flus to turn me into some kind of particularly immobile, sloppy rag wrung to within an inch of its life, and I will be actually able to do all of the above :)  

 

Till the next time (preferably not in a moth's time)

Kasia 

Commence operation cuff!

Sooo.... today I got my 0.9mm copper sheet order (and if I like making cuffs I will have to place another, bigger, one) and just had to start experimenting with making an etched cuff straightaway! And then... I couldn't find any suitable container. I etch pendants and earrings in old, ugly glass, but a cuff is obviously too big to fit in it. I have one plastic container that would be of a suitable size for etching that cuff, but right now it contains used up solution from previous etching, waiting for it to evaporate (as you can't pour it down the drain due to high copper content), or for me to finally get around to buying kitty litter (to soak it all up). I managed to find an appropriate receptacle, but all of that meant that I couldn't start until after dinner - the container in question held mushrooms ;) Anyway, after I prepared saline solution, it was time to work on the cuff itself... which led me to deeply regretting the fact that I don't have a guillotine cutter. Nor metal shears. Originally, I wanted to start working on two cuffs simultaneously, but after sawing out a blank for one, I definitely wasn't in the mood to do this all over again.

Cut out pre-cuff

Actually, I originally ordered that sheet so I could practice making rings... and then decided to make a cuff. To quote one of my favourite books: "attention span of a teabag". And I will probably leave myself a strip of that copper for those rings... if I won't forget to do that ;P Also, after the etching is done (and it's in process right now, because obviously I don't have anything better to do at 2 am than to etch a cuff... I do weird thing like that at weird times like this), I will have to anneal that strip a bit, and then smooth it out... I really couldn't be bothered to do this today (or yesterday, if you look at time and date)

Here it is after filing, smoothing out and rounding the edges. And drawing rough outlines of running wolves. Sorry for the bad picture. And yes, I did smooth and straighten it a bit, but there are still some bumps that wouldn't go away without softening the copper a bit.

I also tried nail polish as a resist for etching, and it works the best of all the media I tried up to date. I doesn't peel of, and is easy to remove after etching. But it's a bit more difficult to draw with than paint. Oh, the high tech that goes into making my etched pieces: nail polish, applied with a toothpick. And a mushroom container. 
Aaaaaand I just realised I put it into etching without adding my usual swirls... or scrolls... or spirals... ugh!!! Oh, well.

And here it is, etching

I really couldn't figure out how to attach the cuff to the wire at first. But then I thought about etching done the traditional way, and how, in just about every tutorial I saw, people suspend their projects with sticky tape, and decided to try something similar : I'm not sure, though, if the tape is fully in contact with the copper in the critical spot: that is, the one without nail polish on it. I did paint most of the back, but I wasn't sure if nail polish would, or wouldn't, stop the current, so I left small area uncovered. I sure do hope that there's no etching going on in that spot, but that will remain to be seen. It's been etching for 2h now, so I will stop the process, check how does it look, and think whether or not I would like to add scrolls ( they would be quite faint, if I etch them for just an hour). It should be finished tomorrow (or today, only much later ;) and I should have pictures of the finished piece by Friday ( that is, if I finish necklace and earrings I'm working on by then ). And now I'm going to bed. Finally ;)

So, have a great week, and till the next time :)

Kasia

Finger protection tape

I have a terrible, terrible tendency to hurt myself while filing something. I usually file down not only the piece I'm working on, but a bit of my fingers as well. So I started to look for something that would protect my hands during those kinds of activities ( because, clearly, paying more attention to what I am doing works only until I get bored to death by something so repetitive as filing, and my mind starts to wander, and... I end up with a scratch again. I remembered reading somewhere ( I think it was etsy metal blog? But I'm not sure, it was, if I'm not mistaken, about 2 years ago. Maybe 1.5. ) about alligator skin finger protection tape. I looked for it, found it, and bought it to try it out (kind of veni, vidi, vici sequence I did there ;P So... quaeri, invenivi, emi :D). 

It's so cool it got its own dramatic picture!

It works really well! But, in case you don't know what alligator skin tape is... It's a fabric, self-adhering tape, that comes actually from medical industry - it's used as bandage, for example. But it's great for jewellery makers, for several reasons:

- it has quite... loose? (that's not exactly the word I'm looking for, but you can see what I mean if you look at the picture) weave, that creates a great texture on the tape, meaning you have a really good grip on whatever you are working on.

- it's quite flexible, and thin, so you can wrap your fingertips with it, and still have a decent sense of touch

- although, as I mentioned, it's thin, it's also pretty durable, so even one layer can protect your fingers from those dreaded files. What leads us to...

- you don't need to wrap your fingers with many layers to get protection. I usually go for two or three, and it works very well for my purposes.

- It adheres only to itself, and to nothing else, so you're not left with any sticky residue after using it, and it's really easy to take off of your fingers.

- Also, a bit on the side note, I actually reused several wrappings - I managed to slip them off my fingers, and, as they were in pretty good condition, put them on few times more, and they worked just as well ( I hate wasting something that can still be used )

- I just started to use it, but, based on what I learned so far, it seems that the 27m (90ft) roll I bought will last for quite some time.

I used it when I was filing, sanding, polishing, sawing jump rings (I managed to cut myself on several occasions while doing it), and also when I was making some chains. It worked brilliantly during all of these activities. I was really happy to find that it helped during chain-making process - I always end up with sore, slightly swollen parts of my fingers (it's not really surprising, as using pliers in both hands for 3h+ is prone to somewhat irritate your hands). I experimentally wrapped the most vulnerable parts of my fingers in the tape, not really expecting anything - after all, its just thin, no padded, woven tape - and I was rather surprised when it worked. Two of my fingers were a bit sore after I finished the chain, but nowhere near to extent they would be without wrapping them. I actually considered the possibility that the tape will make it worse - as it wrapped my fingers in sections where quite a bit of bending and flexing occurs - so I was positively surprised. Next time, I intend to add a bit of some padding material between my fingers and the tape, and I'm quite sure now that it will eliminate any discomfort form using the pliers.

That's how it looks like on fingers... after a day's work. I don't know why it's this colour here. The colour is better on the first photo.

Also, I would like to add that, after I first wrapped my fingers in that tape, I had to give myself a few minutes to get used to it. It seemed a bit stiff at first, and whenever I was manipulating something I had an urge to slip the tape off my fingertips to better feel whatever I was holding, but after a short time I got used to how the tape felt on my fingers, and the wrapping itself became a bit softer. I definitely prefer it to protective gloves. 

To wrap it all up (no pun intended, I swear!), I think that it was a great buy, and it's a great product. I protects fingers from abrasions, cuts, scratches and scrapes, while still providing good grip and flexibility.

Hopefully, there will be no more sore fingers for me in the future :)

Unless I forget to wrap them with that tape. Knowing my memory, that may just happen.

 

Till the next time!

Kasia

The Wild Song is growing

... slowly, but steadily. Few days ago I finally finished, photographed and uploaded another pieces of this collection. I rather like how it's all coming together nicely and cohesively, but, every time I have to photograph new items, I reacquaint myself with the fact that I really, really don't like taking pictures.

Anyway, here are the new items (click on the pictures if you want a better view).
Raven song necklace to match the earrings I showed last time:

... with some stupid light reflection on the lower part of the pendant.

I really have to figure out how to properly light the items I'm photographing, especially considering the climate I live in. But, on the brighter note: I made myself a necklace stand :D

Ta-daaaaaah!!!

Finally, some half-decent way of displaying necklaces in, more or less, their entirety! Definitely easier than trying to take a picture of a necklace while you're wearing it.
And, if someone is interested in chain details, here you go:

The chain is 53.5cm long, pendant is 3.5 x 1.8cm cm, and the whole piece is entirely handmade.
Next in line is another piece of Raven Song. I decided to call these pieces Raven Song: flight.
There's necklace:

I can't decide what's wrong with this photo. I really don't like it.

 I looks soooo much better in person. I will be definitely retaking those pictures.

And here it's showing how it looks when worn. I really like this one, even though it took forever to etch the pendant: at first try I left it for 3h straight (as this is amount of time needed to etch copper to the depth I like ), only to discover that somewhere half-way through the paint peeled off. I have no idea why this happened. So I cleaned it, painted again, and etched for an hour, stripped the paint, painted again, etched for another hour... and so on. I think, in the end, it spent some 6 - 7h etching (counting, of course, the first botched attempt).

The chain on this one is 49.5cm long, with pendant being 5cm long and 2 cm wide. On the side note, I have no idea why that chain is a bit shorter, as I used exactly the same amount of jump rings in all of the necklaces I'm showing today. One of the mysteries of the universe, it would seem...

There are also earrings:

And they also spent some ridiculous amount of time etching, together with the necklace. And these also look better in person.

And that's just about the only photo of them I'm more or less happy with. It wasn't a good day for photography (and I really don't want to think about the fact that I have to photograph this lot again. Ugh.).
Those earrings are 3.7cm (5.2 including ear wires) long, and 1cm wide.

And final piece of the Wild Song (for now, there are more to come ): Wolf Song: the night. Just the necklace, I still haven't made earrings for it ( haven't even started them, even though I started to make another set altogether. It's all because I don't have a disc cutter, and I don't like to saw round blanks out. Yup, that's my official excuse.)

Just look at all that light reflecting here. Grrrrrrrr.

 See what I meant about better lighting the items???

I had some problems with this necklace as well, but that was due to saline solution becoming over-saturated with copper, making it much less effective. The etching on this one is shallower than on the other items, and it spent 4 or 5h etching. I will definitely make new solution for next projects. I could make fresh batch and etch it for, say, an hour more, but I just wanted to finish that piece, and the image is visible enough (though polishing proved a bit tricky).

Chain here is 54cm long, and the pendant is 3.6cm tall (measuring with the bail) and 3.2cm wide.

All are available in my etsy store.
One good thing came from making all these chains though: I got a bit faster with making them. I'm guessing it's because I figured out a better way of cutting jump rings, so I don't spend that much time on this task. Now, if I only managed to find right diameter steel rod to use as mandrel for making rings, it would probably take some time off the making process as well ( coiling wire with help of a drill is, I'm guessing, a little bit faster then doing it by hand). I'm also entertaining the idea of making some bangles for this collection. I just have to find proper container, if I want to etch them. 

I also was quite surprised when I was uploading all those pieces to etsy. They changed jewellery categories (others probably too, but I don't know). And I'm a bit... confused? That's not the best word, but... before, categories were more or less like that: jewellery-> necklaces(for example) -> metalwork. The narrowest category was medium/technique. Now, it's type of an item. And I have a problem. With necklaces. Should I upload them as chains? They're not just chains. Pendants? Not just pendants either. Charm necklaces? Aren't charms generally rather small? I'm partially blaming language barrier for my confusion ;)  I think I uploaded one in chains, one in pendants, and one in charms. So... anyone has idea as to which of those three categories would be appropriate for these?

And finally, I bought ring triblet and sizing rings! And decided to have a go at making rings :) I still didn't figure out how to go about selling some, but for now I just experiment. Which will probably result in dramatic increase of amount of rings I own ( as if that was difficult... I left my last two rings in Dublin airport's bathroom...). Once I'm confident I know what I'm doing, I will try to figure out how to approach selling them.

Till the next time!
Kasia

Branding, finding your own style, and salt water etching

I've spent the last 2 months seriously researching marketing, branding and the like.  Up to this point I wasn't really doing much to promote my shop, nor was I really treating it like you would treat a business. But, when I reopened my shop last November, I decided that I really need to get myself together and start seriously working on the shop if I want anything to come of it.

One thing I always had problem with was defining my brand (and style). I still probably wouldn't be able to do this verbally if someone asked me to describe it, but after all that research, I have at least some visual idea as to what makes up my so-called "brand". I have a lot of figuring out still to do, but getting idea as to what, exactly I represent visually (or what do I want to represent) definitely was a huge help: I'm much more able to focus on developing a consistent collection. Before that, I was just kind of drawing ( and then making) any design that happened to pop into my head. I still do that  (drawing, that is) but I'm becoming more selective as to what I will put on sale. And I can't stress enough just how helpful that change was: I have some 24 designs drawn, and ready to be made (3 of those are actually already made, photographed, and in store, but more about it later :)

I decided that, for now, I want to focus on developing two separate lines, quite different, but each one cohesive, and there will be some overlapping, re-occurring motifs (because, well, both will be made by me ;P)

What really helped me with this, was a very simple exercise I came by on pinterest ( once I find it I will add the original source here).

somewhat visual representation of the light bulb moment I'm mentioning later on.

 It's ridiculously straightforward idea, and quite obvious once you read it. My first thought was: "why the hell didn't I think about this?!? " The idea is to write your name on a piece of paper, and then start adding to it things that define you. Anything that comes to mind when you think about yourself:interests, personality traits, favourite colours, and so on. Actually, it wasn't that exercise itself that brought my light bulb moment, but it was the exercise that led to it, because it put my mind on the right track (hope that makes sense ;P): I started out with that name-and-defining-charcteristics thing, and after I ran out of ideas, I started to look at all the designs I drew, and found reoccurring themes in many of them: moons, ravens, wolves, trees (if rather skeletal ones) and... how should I call them? Curvacious ornamental elements? I have no idea how do you call doodles like that in English (which, I suspect, is kind of evident from that description). But they are present on the three pieces I mentioned above, so you will be able to see what I mean ;P

I already knew that material I really want to work with is metal, so choosing medium and techniques wasn't difficult. Which brings us nicely to the salt water etching part of that post.

I always liked the look of etched jewellery, but I never got around to buying etching solution, and, quite frankly, wasn't very comfortable with using a rather strong acid at home ( I worked with strong acids before, but that was always in properly equipped lab, not home ) And then I stumbled upon a video showing salt water etching technique, and it's ridiculously easy to set up, and involves only non-iodised salt, water, metal you want to etch, a piece of scrap metal and a weak electric current. Perfect! No harmful chemicals ( though you still need to properly dispose of the copper-saturated solution, once it stopped working - you can't pour it down the drain, and the same goes for used, copper-saturated pickle, by the way. My solution is still going, though, after etching 2 pairs of earrings and two pendants) I won't be going into details here (because that post is already getting monstrously long), but check the link I provided - and make sure to check his first salt water etching video also. For my electricity source I used phone charger and two semi-insulated screwed-on alligator clips (thus eliminating need for soldering). It has lower output than recommended 9V, as it is just 5V. This may contribute to the speed with which the etching is done: it's sloooow. To get to the depth I like, I have to keep it going for three hours. But it's brilliant otherwise!

And I made those lovelies with it:

 

All three pieces (or five, if I would feel like nit-picking) are made of copper. The necklace chain is also handmade by me. And I also decided that I like photos on black background better than with white one (must have something to do with the fact that black is my favourite. And red. But mostly black) To block the areas I didn't want etched I used acrylic paint - painted on with... a toothpick. High-tech, I tell you. (Getting the paint off the pieces after etching was another matter: if I don't rub it off from still wet piece, it becomes really hard to get rid of. Like, combination of scrubbing, nail polish remover and baking soda hard )

 

 These are the first pieces of one of the lines I mentioned. The line is called The Wild Song, and the necklace and wolf earrings are Wolf Song core pieces, and raven earrings are part of Raven Song core pieces. There will be also matching necklace - I have the pendant etched already, but I need to add a bail, and make a chain (5 h for the wolf one, ugh ) And isn't the black background gorgeous? They look so... elegant with it :D Oh, and those doodles... the curvacious ornamental elements... how do you call something like that in English?

The other line I'm planning will be called Axis Mundi (world axis in Latin), which will consist of metal clay pieces, shaped like... that will be obvious to anyone with interest in ancient mythologies ( European mostly, but that's really common theme ) trees. So I can say that moon tree pendant was actually the first piece in that line. I just have to retake its pictures ;)

I hope that I will be able to work more efficiently and cohesively (and consistently )now that I somewhat know what look I'm aiming for. I just need to figure out effective marketing strategy ;)

Till the next time!
Kasia

Sealant quandary

I've spent last few weeks trying to find a good sealant for copper. I generally find people are using things like lacquer or wax as the way of sealing metal for jewellery. And that's where problems begin: someone throws name of some lacquer or something like that and that's it... but does that person know if it's safe for someone to wear item sealed with it? Because if it's safe for roofs, it doesn't necessary means that potential customer won't develop a nasty rush after wearing a piece of jewellery coated with it. Or, there is that great big "renaissance wax camp". Just one problem: waxes, and I assume it's true for the "wax of all waxes" too, tend to melt/soften in higher temperatures and human body gives of heat, after all. So it doesn't seem like a good way of preventing the green discolouration of the skin after wearing copper (and that's my main reason for researching sealants). Also, I recall reading something along those exact lines: that renaissance wax is great for sealing patinas (with the exception of fire patinas, but those are, partially, impossible to seal due to their nature), but doesn't prevent that green staining from developing.

And finally, the most frustrating thing for me: I managed to find three products that are supposed to be safe for wear, long lasting, preventing unwanted oxidisation and without tacky, artificial feel some other lacquers/sealants supposedly give to the piece, and... two of them are, apparently, impossible to find in the UK, and the third is available in a very limited range ( no spray, only liquid form) and expensive to boot. AAAAaaaaaaAAAAAA!!!!!!! I can happily slather some wax on the outside of, for example, pendant, but what about the side that faces the body? Or what about the chain, for that matter? Preventing oxidisation is fine for me, but I don't want my customers turning green ( and, I assume, most of them wouldn't want that either) and waxes apparently don't solve the problem, and good sealants are close to non-existing here. I swear, one more week like that, and I will go maaaaaaaad. Or a least madder than I already am
Ugh, I really needed to vent.

I hope your day is better than mine,
Kasia

Moon tree pendant and a feedback (finally!)

First and foremost: a bit late happy new year!

I had a really lazy Christmas and New Year break, and couldn't get myself back to work for a while ;P But I managed to stop doing... pretty much nothing ( well, that's not really true: I was reading. Copiously ) and made first ever pendant with bezel setting :) And I'm pretty happy with the result, even though I spent, I think, close to 6 hours working on said bezel - getting it to the right height required a lot of work, but it was worth it.

  And here it is. As I said, I really like how it turned out, even if it has a tendency to do weird things while photographed: like leaning to the side or twisting when suspended. And the stone is moonstone, by the way.

 

I shaped the pendant itself form art clay silver, and after drying it and firing, soldered on that bezel. I also made a bit of a mistake just after quenching and drying it... I wanted to make sure the bezel didn't get lopsided or... squished during placing and soldering it, so I put the stone in to see if it still fit inside... I wanted to drill a hole and cut an opening on the back, so the stone would have more light, but I didn't do it before placing the stone ( and I would like to point out that the piece was still not pickled and not oxidised at that point).

 Well, as it turned out, the bezel was still a good fit. Too good. The stone went in smoothly, but I couldn't get it out. I ended up drilling that hole in the back... by hand. I was holding the drill bit in my hand, and was really glad that it was fine silver, and not some harder metal. It took somewhere between half an hour and an hour, I think. 

After that, I was so glad to have the stone out, that I pickled and oxidised the pendant, polished it, and started setting the stone in place, and just then I realized that I didn't cut out the planned opening. So there is awkward hole on the back of the pendant instead of fancy cut out ;P But it served its purpose: the gave the stone more light while I was taking photos.
As it is a pendant, it won't matter while someone is wearing it - people, in general, are not translucent ;P

So that's about the pendant ( available here, by the way ) and now for something really nice for me:
finally, a customer who bothered with leaving feedback! Yay! She gave me 5 stars, and said this:
 "Beautiful! I love it and wear it all of the time. The craftsmanship is great. I look forward to buying from this artist again."

It's so cool to read something like that :D Also, I knew the item arrived safely - nice feeling, as opposed to wondering if it arrived, if the customer was happy, etc.

Till the next time!
Kasia