Bird love

look what has this little birdie has caught

a crown for my bird

I love finding a new prop to use when photographing my jewellery. It's even better when the prop creates a story or theme. My latest fascination is bird statues. It started while photographing a new ring. Bored with the wooden hand prominent in so many of my shots and looking around the house for something new, I picked up the bird statue from a shelf, wiped off the dust and...well... the ring became a crown. Today I decided to re-photograph some of my early Etsy listings. One pair just seemed the perfect 'catch' for a new Morgan & Finch bird statue I bought a few weeks ago at Bed Bath n' Table. So now I have three birds featured in my jewellery photo (see the bird collar here). I'm thinking that will do. 

  

Cardie love

I purchased five new cardies yesterday because I firmly believe one 

can never have too many cardigans, brooches and mary-jane shoes!

Nuggets

I planted some studs today!

Melting silver is a rather cathartic past time.

When I am frustrated and need a break from some fiddly piece I'm working on
... I melt silver.
When I sit at my desk with nil inspiration
... I melt silver.
When I'm bored
... I melt some more silver.

I just love to watch the glowing bits of scrap silver ball up into an orange liquid sphere.  At nearly 1000 degrees it is quite spectacular. When the flame is removed, the ball quickly solidifies before I plunge it into a bowl of water. The immediacy of this cooling process is reinforced by the silver's sharp cry.
Satisfying indeed!

So what do I do with all these little silver nuggets?
Some I hammer into flat organic discs.
Others are filed into faceted shapes.

Today, I simply 'planted' them onto posts. The texture created by the melting and cooling process remains on the surface of the nuggets, resulting in simple, organic studs

A special collar

I made this special collar for my little birdie. She likes to wear it around her neck - you might prefer it on your finger