It all started with a visit to our local charity shop. The Humane Society here in the Cayman Islands undertakes animal welfare work and is very well supported. They have a second hand book store. You donate books, they sell them. You then buy the books, they get money. You read the book, give it back and they sell it again. You get a regular supply of cheap books, they get lots of money. Everyone is happy, especially the kittens and puppies!
I was browsing through the reference section looking for books on photography when I came across a book on jewellery making. Hmm, always wanted to give that a go. Read the book, twice. Did lots of internet research and decided to give it a go. But jewellery making equipment and supplies just aren’t available here in the Cayman Islands. So I ordered and imported. Packages started to arrive and I was a regular visitor at the customs department handing over my 30% import duty (or more!).
To start with, I stuck with the one colour. Blue. Or more precisely aquamarine or turquoise blues, the same colours as the shallow seas around the Cayman Islands. I made some beaded things and they were pretty. Then my silver supplies arrived in a container all the way from the USA.
Beading is easy, some ‘string’, some beads, a clasps of sorts and you are done. But metal working in silver is a whole different matter. There are lots of pieces of specialist equipment needed to work in silver. So I spent a LOT of money on the making and tooling equipment, the firing equipment, the finishing equipment and of course the raw silver itself and other components to go with it such as gemstones, glass etc.
I laid it all out on the table and looked at the first batch of silver. I was a depressingly small piece to work with and too expensive to be able to make a mistake. In the raw, the silver costs about $1.50 - $2 per gram, and of course some of this is ‘wasted’ in the manufacturing.
I sat and considered for quite a long time before being brave enough to get started. I opened the package, considered the design I had in mind……and made it! Everything went smoothly and I made a fabulous pair of earrings including little CZ stones and some glass sea-foam dangles, hung on sterling silver ear wires. Big sigh of relief.
Here is my initial effort at jewellery making from scratch. Not bad I think for my first try.
I’ve since done more – other posts to follow on how a beginner starts out in jewellery design and making.
