Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Virtue of Patience




Last year, I created my very first hammerhead shark brooch - and to say there's been a bit of interest in it since I began wearing it around would be an understatement! It's taken me months to get myself sorted and find the right kind of brass to reproduce this little critter, but after the aforementioned success of the weekend, I'm now able to start replicating it.

He's not going down without a fight though - I've so far been useless at adjusting my patience levels to take into account the thickness of the brass I'm using with the fragility of my saw blades, and so far I have broken at least 15 blades just trying to cut around this guy. Maybe it's newbie naivety, but I'm picking it's just me and my impatience to have him cut out and in my hot little hand, ready for filing and shaping. Too much pressure equals lots, and lots of broken blades, and a grumpy Nikki.

Monday, March 26, 2012

My Weekend


This right here, is evidence of a successful foraging weekend at the local building and metal recycle centres. It's so ridiculous that I spend my weeks eager to hit the junk yards on a Saturday, and get antsy if we leave it too late to head out as I worry the best bits of brass will be picked over. Hah! The things we stress about eh?

However, as you can see, Saturday was successful in foraging terms, so I'm armed and ready to get cracking with some of the jewellery orders and requests I've got backing up!

And yes, these grungy looking pieces of metal will be turned into amazing pieces of jewellery - watch this space! There's something really awesome (and kind of random!) about wearing a brooch or pair of earrings knowing that they used to be a kick plate on a door. I love the pre-loved condition of this sort of brass compared to the new shiny yellow sheeting you can buy.


Monday, March 19, 2012

Bravo Henry Begins

Hello! And welcome to the new creative home of me, Nikki. I am hoping this blog is going to be a little insight into my creative space (both physically and in my head!) and a reflection of some of the fun things that I'm making, creating and inspired by.

Thinking this all looks a little familiar? That's because you may have come across me over the last few years round at my other blog Nickel Pickel. I felt that blog came to the end of an era, so it is no longer being updated, but you can still find all the content from the last few years over there!

So I'm ready to take the plunge in the web world once more, I'd be thrilled if anyone feels like tagging along!
More soon!