Like Mother, Like Daughter

I must share this, but it's almost too cute for words.  The other night, I was on the phone with my mother and my three year old daughter grew suspiciously quiet.  I could hear her at the dining room table which is where all organized mothers keep their kids' craft supplies.  I hung up with my mom and crept into the dining room where my precious little girl was diligently coloring and cutting a strip of metallic silver cardboard.  "Whatcha doin'," I asked.  "I'm making a ring," she replied.

She had colored a piece of the cardboard purple and cut it into rough squares for decoration along with some lengths of gray thread.  I helped her tape it all together, but this is my baby's first attempt at jewelry design.  I am so proud and I can't wait until she's old enough to take her down to the studio!

Tea Time

This may quite possibly be the world's smallest sterling silver tea service!  When a customer sent this to me, I just fell in love.  It's so cute and adorable!  The largest piece of the service is maybe 1" tall.  All in all, the set was in pretty good shape.  It just needed a good polishing, and it was missing one of the small turquoise stones set in the top of the pots.



Before

So, custom request:  make the service into charms for a bracelet and turn the tray into a cuff bracelet.  First things first.  I special ordered the turquoise piece, a tiny 4mm round sleeping beauty turquoise.  When the stone came in, I carefully set it and went to work on the charms.  For two of the pieces, I had to drill holes to accept jump rings and for the others, I was able to slip the jump rings through the teensy weensy handles.  Then, with some elbow grease, I polished those itty bitty teapots by hand.

Now for the cuff.  The little tea tray was so thin, I knew I needed to work on it without using too much heat.  So, I hammered the tray completely flat and shaped it mostly by hand.  Then, I cut a length of sterling silver strip and hammered it for a bit of texture.  I looped one end of the strip around one of the tray handles and soldered it closed.  I shaped the strip into a curve, bent a loop into the other end and hooked it on the other tray handle to hold the bracelet closed.  I polished this one by hand as well.



After

These turned out really cute, I think.   I love custom requests like this.  I enjoy turning your cherished pieces or flea market finds into something you can wear and use everyday.  Plus, I get to see some really interesting silver.  If you are interested in custom work, please email me at resurrectionsilver@gmail.com.