Custom Shiny Skates

So, I mentioned that I’d been working on a couple of new personalised derby skate necklaces recently. Well, here they are!

Silver winged skate with a little shiny 23 and black and white gemstones:

This was made for a rollergirl from New Zealand – I wonder which league/team there skates in black and white...

And another custom skater number, this time on a separate chain from the skate:

I do like making the little numbers – they take a while to cut out by hand, then curve all the edges and engrave the detail, but it’s so worth it when they’re finished!

Now onwards! I have more moustaches to finish, a flamey heart to make a master for, and some pearl stringing to learn about.

Best get on with it then...

Look – Hallmarks!

I’ve finally had something come back from the Assay Office with a big enough hallmark to actually photograph!

And here it is:

That little LG mark in the oval – that’s mine that is, and no-one else registered with the London office can ever have that little oval with those initials so it’s completely unique to me.

You can see the rest of the shiny thing that the mark is stamped onto soon, once it’s been posted out to it’s owner...

More Shiny Things

After a slightly crazy couple of weeks of orders, I've been back at the bench working hard on some rather lovely new shiny things. Well, I think they're lovely anyway. One of the worries of only designing and making things that I love and want to wear is that I could possibly be a small island of mental, floating along by myself on a sea of delusion, and no-one else will ever want to wear them!

Anyway, here's a sneaky work in progress picture. They don't look like much just yet, and they're not shiny at all, as I've just been waving all the fire at them, but hopefully they'll be finished soon.


My attention has been diverted from them slightly though, due to getting more orders than I can shake a stick at, hurrah! I'm working on a couple of custom derby roller skate necklaces with the numbers and team colours I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, some silver moustaches and a very special necklace. Can't wait to share them!

For now though, I must bid farewell and potter back to my workbench, as some shiny wheels need attaching to skates.

Sunday Soup - Carrot and Parsnip

For the past couple of weeks, I've been taking anything left over in the fridge on Sundays and making experiemental soup from it. It's gone surprisingly well, so I thought I'd try and do it every week and blog the results.

This week, there was some carrots and a couple of sad looking parsnips left over. Easy!

Recipe: Carrot and Parsnip Soup

1tbsp butter, softened and a glug of olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
around 500g carrots, peeled and chopped
2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp freshly grated root ginger
1 clove of garlic
600ml vegetable stock
60ml (4fl oz) single cream
Salt and ground black pepper
Couple of handfuls of red lentils (optional, but they were in the cupboard staring at me!)

Melt butter, cook onion gently for 3 or 4 minutes. Add parsnips and carrots and soften for 10mins or so.

Add garlic and ginger, stir for a couple of minutes. Add stock, simmer for 10mins then add lentils. Simmer for another 20mins until vegetables are cooked.

Blitz with a stick blender, then stir in cream and season with salt and pepper. Done!

It did turn out a bit thick - I'd probably add more stock if I did this one again...

Shiny Moustaches

You've been asking for them, and here they are! (Well, almost...)

Ever since I made a pair of custom moustache wedding rings way back in 2010, swiftly followed by a little moustache charm and a ring, I've been meaning to make more things with this little 'tache design as they're so cute!

I've had a moustache charm here on my website since its launch, which has been pretty popular, and a ring, but I also fancy making some earrings and maybe some cufflinks and anything else I can think of putting moustaches on really!

Recently I've been getting a ton of requests for more moustache jewellery in silver and gold (it's weirdly been one of the top search terms on my website for the past year or so). So, I'm finally getting off my bum and making some more things with the designs that have been living in my sketchbook forever!

Here's a couple of work in progress shots of my moustache castings - the finished shiny moustaches should be ready for photographing soon....

Check back soon for more moustaches!

Personalised Roller Derby Jewellery

Having had a fair few emails recently about personalising my derby skate necklaces with skaters' numbers and team colours, I thought I'd create a whole new page on my website with different options available.

And here it is!


http://laurengracejewellery.com/personalised-roller-derby-jewellery/

You can pick your number, let me know what font you'd like and I'll make it in shiny silver for you.

Also, you can add semi-precious gemstones in your league or team colours. Like this:

Or indeed this:

Exciting, no?

Christmas Commissions and a Tiny Gold Bee

I've rather got into the habit of making my boss a little gold charm for her charm bracelet each Christmas - hopefully she'll let me know when she's got quite enough on there and would rather have a pair of earrings!

I was torn this year between making a tiny raincloud and a tiny gold bee charm, but my room mates at work unanimously voted for the bee. It actually looked great cast in gold - I rarely wear gold but am tempted to make a gold mini bee necklace for myself!

I didn't have time to drag all my studio lights down from the mezzanine, so I just took a couple of shots with my 18-55 kit lens and pop up flash. I see now why jewellery photographers never use flash - the pictures are horrid! But anyway, they give an idea of what the bee looks like in gold, so here they are:

I also had a commission from another lady at work to make a silver spike bracelet, similar to one on my website, but with amethyst stones instead of sapphire. Here's the original:

And the version with amethyst:


Again, rubbish photography I'm afraid, but I was rather pleased with the way the bracelet turned out.

I've had a few days rest from jewellery now (even put some false nails on - never again! How do people with long nails cope with life...?) so ready to get back to the bench and work on some new stuff.