Shpangle Jewellery’s new company vehicle

No more one hour round trips to the post office or into town to get those urgent craft supplies...I now have a new mode of transport, my new bike!

I haven't ridden a bike for a few years and when I picked the bike up from the shop on Saturday, I had the immediate challenge of having a three-mile cycle home. It went very well and the main thing I noticed was the car fumes yuck! Not a very nice experience when you are whizzing along with the wind in my hair only to get mouthfuls of exhaust fumes. Anyway, got home safely, stepped off the bike and almost collapsed...talk about jelly legs! I must have used muscles that have been lying dormant for the last few years and they certainly got woken up and then complained like a teenager.

Shpangle Jewellery Company Bike

On Sunday my wife wanted to go to the local Garden centre. What did I suggest? Yep, that I would go on my bike and meet her there! What was I thinking! The garden centre was a good four miles away and most of it felt like it was all uphill. After a couple of hours it was time to leave and I had the daunting task of having to ride home...it did cross my mind to somehow force the bike into the car, but no I resisted the temptation and had the long long ride home. I still don’t understand how on earth it was uphill on the way back as well.

I love my new bike and think it is really going to pay for itself; I won’t have so much lost time as well as keeping me fit! I am so happy that I have finally gotten around to parting with my money and buying her. I haven’t given her a name yet so any ideas would be appreciated!

Mick

Staying Safe - Recycled Crafts and Vintage objects

I recently had the urge to make some Steampunk jewellery using old and recycled watch and clock parts. Like anything that I make, I looked into any potential dangers with using the materials and came across a startling discovery.

The problem is with the phosphorescent compound coated on many old vintage watches. The compound contains Radium and was used to coat the watch faces and hands so that they would glow in the dark. The radiation from the Radium coated watch faces has the potential to cause serious health risks and the problem doesn't stop at the watch face and hands...Over time the paint breaks down and will become very dusty and it is important not to breathe any of this dust. This dust can in turn contaminate the work area and the watch mechanism itself.

Recycled Watch Parts

If you are interested in reading more about the risks and history of working with luminous watch dials please visit the following website. The website also includes a link to an article about the Radium Girls who used to paint the watch hands and dials. They were instructed to point their brushes with their lips when their brushes lost their shape!

https://www.britannica.com/story/radium-girls-the-women-who-fought-for-their-lives-in-a-killer-workplace

Hopefully I am not scaremongering but it is extremely important as crafters that we stay safe and any items that we sell to others are safe for them. We need to be aware when dealing with recycled and vintage objects that we understand what materials were originally used and any potential hazards with them. This can be anything from old watch parts used in jewellery to the paint used on old wooden items and fire risks associated with recycled fabric.

Let’s face it, at the time many vintage items were made without knowledge of the potential health and safety risks associated with them. We are more aware of these risks today and anything that we buy ‘new’ would have had to pass health and safety assessments.

Personally and as recently advised by a Steampunk forum, I am going to borrow or invest in a Geiger counter to eliminate any radiation risks and will certainly wear a dust mask when handling old watch parts in the future.

Onion Cufflinks and Onion Rings

Warning – This blog post contains over-use of the word ‘onions’. In fact I have managed to reference the word ‘onion’ 17 times within this blog post!

Spring will soon be here and what do we with think of when it comes to springtime; spring-onions of course. Well, perhaps not but I needed something to lead me into this blog post which is all about, yes you guessed it, onions.

You may remember last spring when I blogged about a pair of onion cufflinks I was asked to make. Well, at the time I thought it was a strange request and never found out why onions; also at the time I would never have imagined to be asked to make any onion jewellery again. But since making that blog post I have made another five pairs of onion cufflinks for people!

Onion Cufflinks

Firstly there was a fellow jewellery maker who asked me to make her a pair as an anniversary present for her husband who likes pickled onions. And then last week I was asked to make four sets of onion cufflinks by a lady who is getting married soon. The onion cufflinks are to be given to their best man and the ushers at their wedding as the couple are going to become Mr and Mrs Onions!

So seeing how popular the onion cufflinks seem to be I have added several sets to my online shop.

Also while I was at it I made some onion rings and have lots of other fruit and vegetable jewellery planned including garlic and peppers!

Onion Rings

So, if you are into your onions and vegetables you know where to come!

A Budgie Keepsake - Mango’s Last Feather

You may have noticed from my last blog post that I have recently been making a few items of Budgie keepsake jewellery by encapsulating the bird feathers within resin necklaces. Well a few days ago I received the following message from Laura who received the necklace. It is extremely moving and really makes me appreciate how my jewellery helps people with their loss.

“We had only owned Mango a few short years before her sudden death, she had many years left in her and the entire incident has come as a complete shock. She was the most beautiful of birds, with stunning markings, even on the back of her head her feathers were in such an alignment it looked like she had a smiley face!

Budgie Mango's Smile

Christmas 2009 Mango was diagnosed with psittacosis and we undertook months of treatment and quarantine, we were one of the lucky ones and came out the other end fit as a fiddle thankfully. After the ordeal she went back to being her normal self, making lots of beeping sounds and like a typical Kakariki caught up on baths - drenching everyone and everything around her. She was a beautiful flier, completely silent, great for causing mischief! By far her favourite thing was to sit out in summer and soak up the rays, the sun really brought out her colours.

Budgie Mango at the window

Loosing her has been a big hurdle and very hard to deal with, on the evening of her death we removed some feathers from her cage and kept them separate. We contacted many jewellery makers and finally found Mick, we were very grateful he was open to giving it ago and seeing if we could preserve her last feather forever.

Bird Feather Keepsake Necklace

The necklace has turned out beautiful, far better than we expected, the entire necklace has a glow about it, we spent quite a while just starring at it, it was an emotional moment seeing it for the first time.We can't thank Mick enough for what he has done, being able to carry around the feather has helped with our emotions and grief immensely and it feels like a real healing charm.

Thank you Mick for keeping our little girl alive in such a graceful way.” (Laura Feb 2011.)

If you would like to find out more about my jewellery and the different ways of preserving those precious items, please visit my Keepsake Jewellery website page.

Pet Budgie Keepsake – Bird Feather Jewellery

As some of you may be aware, quite a lot of my work involves encapsulating peoples’ pet hair and fur within my jewellery. I love making this jewellery as it gives people a lasting reminder of their beloved pet and of allows people to carry a piece of their pet close to their heart. I have been sent many types of fur and hair from several different kinds of pets including dogs, cats, rabbits, horses and ponies; and each one is special for me to make as I know how much it means to the owner.

A couple of weeks ago I received an enquiry from Laura who had sadly recently lost one of her birds and had kept the last feather from her bird. She wanted the Budgie feather she had kept setting within a necklace so that she could keep it close to her and preserved forever.

I haven’t had any previous experience of setting bird feathers within resin jewellery so I asked if she could send some test feathers for me to experiment with before using ‘the Budgie feather’. She kindly sent a few feathers for me to try and I made these examples:

They really are gorgeous to look at; this example shows the Budgie feathers encapsulated within clear resin heart-shaped pendants. The photographs were taken by Laura after she had received her pendants and her photography skills are much better than mine!

Budgie feather pendants

This example shows the Budgie feathers again set within clear resin heart shaped pendants, however with these pendants I have coloured the resin at the back of the pendants black to provide a contrast with the Budgie feather colours.

Budgie feather jewellery

I sent her the test samples and she loved them and wanted me to go ahead with setting ‘the Budgie feather’ within a clear heart shaped pendant, and this is the jewellery I made her. It is a clear heart shaped resin necklace containing the Budgie feather on a sterling silver necklace chain. It really is beautiful to look at in real life as you tilt the pendant and look at it from different angles the colours and feather almost look as if they are moving and come to life.

Budgie feather necklace

I hope I get to make more of these Budgie feather necklaces, in fact I would love to have the opportunity to incorporate feathers from other birds into my jewellery; the effect are very nice and they are fun to make too!

If you would like to see some more examples of my pet keepsake jewellery; please visit my pet hair and fur keepsake jewellery website page.

My BBC Radio 4 Interview

It has been quite an exciting week at Shpangle Jewellery this week; you may remember recently my jewellery featured in a movie, well on Tuesday I was interviewed by a producer for BBC Radio 4 for a documentary they are in the middle of making. The producer contacted me a few weeks ago and they explained how they were making a documentary about the history of keeping peoples hair (for example Victorian hair jewellery) and wanted to feature me as the modern day equivalent. As well as the lock of hair keepsake jewellery that I make, they were also particularly interested in the pet hair jewellery and this was to be the main topic of the interview.

Shpangle Jewellery on the Radio

On Tuesday morning the BBC producer arrived and explained that he had travelled as far as USA to interview people. We had a little chat and everything was going well until...he put his earphones on and switched on the tape recorder! My brain instantly turned to jelly and I became so nervous. What was worse was the fact that he had just explained that he wouldn’t be on the final recording; I should therefore not answer his questions directly but to speak as if I was reporting the subject.

Hair Keepsake Jewellery

He asked me lots of questions such as explaining how the lock of hair and pet hair jewellery is made, describing the jewellery and reasons for people buying it. I think I managed to somehow squeeze out sufficient answers through my nervousness, a bit silly really since I have done many a presentation to company directors during my career as a senior systems engineer. But this felt really different as I knew I was presenting myself to possibly thousands of people who will hopefully listen to it on the radio!

Afterwards he explained that it would be edited (to remove my long pauses etc) and that he will also put a link to me and maybe some pictures onto the BBC website! The program is due to be broadcast on May 9th at 11.00 a.m. on BBC Radio 4. I am now left wondering what will be next, first a film and then a radio show; perhaps a book?

Fossil Dinosaur Poop Jewellery and Gifts

You may remember from a recent blog post where I said one of my New Year’s resolutions was to take myself more seriously and that I would be working on some new ranges of jewellery. Well I thought I would show off my latest range of jewellery and you can’t get any less serious than this; Fossil Dinosaur poop jewellery and gifts!

The inspiration behind this Dinosaur poop jewellery came from a Christmas present that I bought for my wife this year. Yes, I bought her a gift of a big lump of fossilised Dino dung! Don’t ask me why, it was kind of one of those moments, and I can’t remember why on earth I chose that or even looked for it in the first place!

Fossil Dinosaur Poop Jewellery

This is real fossilised Dinosaur poop (Coprolite) originating from millions of years ago and fossilised to form a mineral called Marcasite. I have come across Coprolite jewellery before but it has always been sliced, polished and formed into cabochons. Manipulated to such an extent that it no longer resembles its original fossil form and may as well be another agate cabochon. I wanted to keep the fossilised Dinosaur poop in its original recognisable form. I am quite against setting fossils into resin or forming them into other shapes. They have survived millions of years and deserve respect even though these originally came from Dinosaur dung! I wanted to create something that was tactile as well as being educational and fun!

Quite a lot can be learned from fossil Dinosaur poop such as their eating habits as tiny fragments of bone, shells and other material can be discovered within the coprolites. These fossils came from the Ichthyosaurs who ruled the seas during the Jurassic period and are thought to almost resemble Dolphins. The fossils were discovered in the UK along the Dorset coastline and are 148-170 million years old!

Ichthyosaurs

I think the Dinosaur poop necklaces make a great statement piece of jewellery and certainly make a great conversation piece. If you would like to find out more about the history of the Dinosaur Poop and the possible health benefits (other than scaring away the odd Dinosaur you may come across), please visit my Poop Gifts website page.