Yes, yes, I know I have been quiet,  too quiet? Probably not quiet enough for some. Anyway I am here now. I won't bore you with an windy explanation for my absence, except to say that I have been in huge amounts of pain, and my demeanour and my mood have been so dark I decided not to inflict myself on you all. Truth told, my thoughts got pretty frightening and  I withdrew inside myself until it felt safer to come out again.

I've been in hospital in the past week, and had my sense of humour top up injections, and I can't tell you what a difference they make. Its like night and day. Its like being released from a dank dark dungeon having been chained to its walls for months, out into the light and laying on a bed of meadow flowers.

Not having been able to do much or go anywhere since before Christmas time,  I tried very hard to distract myself from my morbid thoughts.  I decided to experiment with a material called Art Clay.

Art Clay comes in various materials, from polymers through various metals, and onto Silver and Gold.  My experiment involved working with Silver Art Clay.

I modelled the cherub, based on an old Victorian pinch-beck brooch I have. I used this to create a mould in silicon that I could use to form the Art Clay into an accurate replica of the original.  Having done this, I carved the clay back once it was dry to try and highlight the feathers and facial details.  I added some tiny bails so that I could later add a chain and pendant to the cherub.

Once I was happy with this, I fired the clay using a kitchen blowtorch!  This process burns of the binder that holds all the fine silver particles together, and once complete leaves you with an item that is 99.99% solid silver.  I decided after some debate that once I had burnished and polished it, it was just too shiny, and certainly didn't fit in wit the 'vintage' look I had hoped to create.

This was resolved by dunking all the silver I was using to  make the necklace in a warm solution of Liver of Sulphur until everything was unrecognisable and black.

The kitchen now reeked like the very worst bad eggs you can imagine, the smell so redolent of school boy pranks and stink bombs! I paniced slightly when I saw that in a matter of seconds the silver had changed from the bright magpie silver, to something that looked like it had been sitting in the drains forever.  I quickly tipped all the silver into a solution of Baking Powder to stop the reaction continuing to tarnish the silver any further, and said a prayer to the little cherub in my hands, begging it to clean up! It was going to be a considerably expensive mistake if it didn't!.

Thankfully after much polishing with jeweller's sandpaper, burnishing and going over board on the silver polish, it came up a pewtery tone which I felt fitted the bill. So I added the cultured freshwater pearl drop and the chain, and this is what I ended up with.

I have sketched several other items I now want to make and I think my next project will involve me in learning to bezel set a gem.  My idea is to take a Labradorite cabochon and set it in a bezel mount and have a Hare leaping over it against a starry silver background. This will be like a picture, and I hope to use it as the centre piece to make a bracelet of similarly starry panels of Silver Art Clay to make a bracelet.  I would have used a large Moonstone, but I can't find one big enough. Labradorite has a very moonscape feel to it though, so I am hoping it will be a good substitute.

In other news - my bees have survived the Winter and seem to be thriving. I have embarked on a series of evening classes and practical lessons with a view to taking the BBKA Basic Assessment exam at some point in the not to distant future.

The garden is coming on in leaps and bounds too, and is looking less like a scrap yard, and more like a place were plants might thrive. The Hens are back in lay and doing well too and I plan to increase their number next month. Watch this space!