Lastly I made this commission piece. A lady and her husband came in with a huge diamond that the husband had bought. She wanted it made into something silver and she quite liked a flower pendant I had on display so I did this one for her. It's quite large, over 2" but it works well with the size of the stone. It was quite nerve racking working with such a precious stone as I mostly work with semi precious stones like peridot and amethyst. It was lots of fun to do something I don't normally do. Now that my shop is in a more prominant place I am getting lots of commission enquiries. My only problem is I'm really pants at pricing my work for commissions, I always undervalue my work, do any of you crafters out there do the same?

I've had quite a lot going on over the last few weeks, here are some pictures from my latest class. None of the ladies had made silver jewellery before but all did a fab job! We have 2 rings, 2 bangles, a necklace and earrings set and a pair of earrings!

I have a fantastic new assistant in my shop, my sis inlaw Amy! Here she is inside my lightbox that I use for photos. She sold me that she thought she could fit in it so I told her to go ahead! She managed it, well done Amy maybe try some work next time lol!!

I haven't posted for a little while as I have been so busy with my new shop! Here is a pic that kind of shows it, it was quite hard to take a pic as it looks better in person!! The other end is my workshop. It's a really nice space, it's so lovely to have all of my work out on display. My only gripe is that I don't have broadband!! The building is an old chapel and the wireless I used upstairs won't reach downstairs and all of those new broadband dongles won't pick up a signal!! Boo I love my internet for downloading music while I work!

Does anyone ever find that they have so much work to do that they just end up getting nothing done (in my case nothing except making lists of what needs to be done!!!)! I have so many things I need to do in my studio at the moment. I really want to make a big load of jewellery so that I have a decent stock. My studio has enough space that I can display all of my work but when I need to restock a gallery of something I end up using that stock. I have a bit of backup stock but it's always the things I don't have that sell! I seem to keep starting things but not quite seeing them though so I have loads of half completed things lying about everywhere! I keep telling myself that I'll have a day or 2 where I can get these things done but I'll get a commission or something which ends up taking up my time!! Plus my studio is such a mess, I'm sure that it is hampering my progress!

I've asked my baby sister in law to come in and give me a bit of a hand with the crummy jobs, she's only 19 but has been making bits of jewellery with me for about 5 years so I can give her jobs like making clasps and earwires. I can also shout my blog posts out to her to type up too!! Best thing is I can pay her in jewellery as she loves my stuff (at least she says she does lol)!!

I'm feeling all motivated now!! Shame the angry monkey is sleeping upstairs in his cot, I feel like working! Will have to wait till tomorrow, what's the betting I can't be arsed then!!!!

Grr I just did a nice long post and then lost the lot! Blummin laptop, I think I press keys by mistake cus it's quite diddy and I tend to get a bit erratic when touch typing!!!

Anyway a condensed version of what I wrote just now is that I have been soooo busy these last few months with shows, stocking galleries and doing online orders that I have barely had time to get enough jewellery made let alone do and postings!!!

I have made a few new bits, though they are more variations of older bits!! I've also had a go at doing my own pics as my new laptop has a better screen than my old pc and showed my how pants the pics on my site are (ones that I paid a fortune for no less!). I got a slate place setting in the sale at m&s for 25p last year thinking it would be good for pics, it then got stashed away and never used along with the light tent that was gathering dust!! I dragged them out a couple of weeks ago and snapped some pics and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I stuck them onto my nothonthehighstreet shop (www.notonthehighstreet.com/lucykempjewellery) first as that is my busiest site and it's much easier to update! I'm hoping to do my site tomorrow.

The pic is of my mini silver daisy pendant I love it it's so cute! I'm starting a little girls range of jewellery. I have a niece who is 31/2 (going on 40 I think!) I took some bits over to her to see what she liked and let her keep her fav (free advertising when she wears it to parties!!). I recently did her a mini version of a cuff bracelet (see pic) but made it nice and girly with flowers and hearts on the beads. She loves it and it looks lush on her!

Anyway I'm going to upload the pics and then I have to go check the little man who is hopefully napping!

I promise to post more regularly, I should be getting a decent internet connection in my studio so I will hopefully be able to post from there!!! xx

Student work.

I did a class on Saturday and was very impressed by the standard of work the ladies produced!

Jane made herself a bangle with gorgeous charms and beads, her Mum Noreen made a wire bracelet and matching pendant with amethysts and Jackie made herself a lovely brooch!

I hope you agree that they did really well! I really enjoy teaching as I love seeing what people come up with. Everyone has access to the same tools and materials but still the outcome is completely different for each person!

Hope everyone is looking forward to the bank holiday weekend! 3 days off!! Though I think I will be working trying to get enough stock together for the Clothes Show!

Here are the pictures of my engagement/wedding ring. The top one is the front, I have included 2 diamonds from my engagement ring and gold from that ring and my wedding ring and a peridot stones. I made the settings myself as the stones were funny sizes. It's really hard to do anything with gold from old jewellery unless you have the tools to melt it down and refine it yourself. I chopped the gold up into little pieces in different sizes. I then melted the gold so that it made little balls which I then hammered flat. I made a silver ring base by making a rectangle band ring and 2 round wire rings which I soldered together. I then soldered the gold shapes on. It was a challenge to do. With my usual work I only really use easy and medium solder as I don't solder many pieces together, this needed hard, medium and easy aswell as gold solder. When all of the soldering was done I filed the band so that gold and silver bits were level and smooth. I added the settings, set the stones and polished. To add a bit extra I gently hammered the sides of the ring.

I really enjoyed making the ring but it was a huge challenge. It's not something I think I would do for someone else as the rings involved are very precious! The settings were particularly hard. Soldering them onto the ring was difficult as I didn't have an even surface to work with due the gaps in the gold shapes. I used 9ct god to make the settings and I found it to be a bit hard when setting so I would probably go for 18ct gold if I were to make gold settings again.

I had a bit of gold left and 2 of the stones so I've made myself a necklace to match. I have one stone left so I thought I'd keep it and if I ever have a daughter I could make something for her with it!

Hope you like it!

Hope you like them!

Woo hoo I'm going to be exhibiting at the Fashion and Textiles Museum in London! I went up for the interview Tuesday and found out yesterday that I had got in! I was starting to think I hadn't got in as it had been a few days. When I was there they told me that they would be exhibiting at the Clothes Show Live and they might take my jewellery with them! I'm very excited and am currently planning how I am going to display my work!!

I have finally finished my ring so will take a picture today as the light is really good.

I'm off swimming with my little boy in a bit and going for a wonder around St Ives (I only live 5mins away). Won't be long till it's really busy with holiday makers so making the most of it now.

This is a ring I have done as a commission. The lady who ordered it bought my daisy pendant a few weeks ago and came back and asked for a ring to match. It was quite good fun as I was able to do what I wanted as long as it had a daisy on it. It's got a swirl texture on the top half and a marble texture on the back half. There are also some decorative bits at the back as I'm a bt of a fiddler when it comes to rings, I like to twist them around so I add bits to feel at the back of the ring!!

I'm off to London tomorrow to the Fashion and Textiles Museum!! They will hopefully be taking my jewellery for a 16wk exhibition, as long as the interview goes well! I'm really excited as I'm flying there, haven't been on a plane for ages (I don't get out much lol!!). My big sis Amy is coming with me which I am soo gratefull for as she is way more street smart than me! We thought we were sooo clever getting £2 tickets to Stanstead till we realised how far it is from the city lol!! Should be fun though! Will let you know how I get on!!

I've set the stones on my engagement ring! It's looking really nice, I just need to give it a good polish! I need to empty my tumbler of silver bits as I find that when I put something gold in with silver the silver ends up gold plated!!! Will def have a pic up this week!

Hope you have all enjoyed the bank holiday weekend! xx

Hopefully I can post everything today, I was trying on Friday and Saturday and nothing would post! Hopefully you will be able to see the pictures that my student Carole made when she came in for a private lesson with me on Friday. She made herself a bangle and link bracelet. I think she did a really good job especially as it was her 1st time using silver! Sorry the pictures are a bit pants! Me and Carla (she has jewellery studio next to me) are going to have a play session with a light tent, fancy bulbs and some camera bits and hopefully become photography experts!!

I'm going to take some pictures today, I forgot to take my camera to the studio yesterday so couldn't do it then! I have a student in doing a private class today so I'll let you know how she gets on too.

Only 1 more stone to set in my engagement ring! I set the diamonds yesterday and I'm really pleased with how it went. I also set an Amethyst but I didn't like the colour with gold so I've decided to use a peridot instead as it's my favourite colour stone. I'm very excited about it, every time I finished a new stage yesterday I was running into Carla's studio to show her!! I think be the time I soldered the 3rd setting on I had driven her completely bonkers lol!!

Oops best go, my one year old Jack is feeding the dog (who's supposed the be on a diet!) oat cakes!! At least they are low fat!!

I've found a new site that I think I might apply to to try and sell my jewellery. It's called Stars and Infinate Darkness and has some really nice art stuff on it. It seems to be international so a good way to get my work seen. It's free so worth a go!!

I'm remaking my engagement ring at the moment and I'm so excited cus it's nearly finished now just need to add stones! It was quite old fashioned in gold with claw settings and it just didn't suit the person I am today and as some of the settings needed to be redone I thought I would just completely rework it!! It was very scary chopping it up and taking to stones out but I'm really pleased with how it is coming along. I showed it to my friend Carla, who has a jewellery studio next to me, and she liked it! I'm going to add some of my original diamonds to it and Amethyst (mine & hubby's birth stone) and a Aquamarine (my boys birthstone). I'm not going to post a pic until it is all done but I'll keep you updated on the progress!! I'm going to be making the settings on Thursday so will let you know how it goes!!

I've also been making a ring commission. I lady bought a daisy necklace like the one on this page and wanted a ring to match. It's been quite good fun as I've been given quite a bit of freedom with the design. Will post a pic of it Thursday!

Hello and welcome to my little blog! I'm going to try and post details of my jewellery making. This week I did a comission to produce a medic alert bracelet for a teenage girl. I find it fun to do things a bit different from my normal day to day work. This proved a bit of challenge as I couldn't find a decent picture of the medic symbol. I got there in the end and this is a pic if the end result.