Following on from the previous Silversmithery of the Past post.

An odd eclectic selection – some of these items were commissioned, others were gifts to friends, or commissioned by friends for loved ones. Some of them are my favourite, undesigned ‘mistakes’.

My friend wanted movement rather than large rigid hoops that connect directly at the ear. Hooks did the trick. These twinnies live in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia.

Love these beads. Very simple little number that I believe lives mostly in London these days.

They were the second pair to go and live with my friend in the Southern Highlands, along with the grande hoops.

A commission by my friend Ree to commemorate her father after he passed.

He was, amongst many good things, an opal miner. These are three of his treasures.

The abstract pendant above I horridly name “Fruit of the Vine” (remind me to never ever to name things again). Last time I saw this worn by my friend it was in such need of a decent polish! Which means it’s being worn to bits…but if you’re reading this, Ree, a silver cloth goes a long way ;)

Excuse the terrible photo – it was taken with a very old camera about 6 or 7 years ago.
The ank – key of life – was made for a friend in Coogee.

Technically, the leaf pendant above was listed and sold via Etsy and went to live with Joanne Fedler. And then I went on Jo’s writing and walking retreat in Tuscany – and never came home!
So it definitely warrants a big loud mention.

Foxton’s Fox was made as a thank you for an immensely talented designer and artist friend who helped with my logo (the one at the top of the blog and on my website).
He was hand cut from copper and all his ‘points’ were silver fused. He lives on the east coast of Australia, near Wollongong.

The writer I mentioned earlier – with the leaf pendant – ran a writing workshop (her very first) and all participants had to give a gift that was of some value – not necessarily monetarily, but of value to the . These would be given randomly as a name was drawn.
The value in this abstract pendant was that, after finishing university, I was creatively kaput, and this was the first item I’d made after my hiatus. Anyone who’s tried to fuse silver with copper knows it can be such a forced issue! But it ‘broke the bleak’, so to speak, and so it was, by random selection, that a lady called Michelle who was the writer’s publicist, was the recipient.

This necklace was one of those items that looks pretty stock standard and simple without a neck, but worn it’s quite understated and elegant. Always liked the uneven white with the black perfect metallic.
Given as a gift, it lives on Monte Amiata.

The cephalopod was perhaps the third item I ever made, when I was still completely under the influence of fusing scrap together and seeing what I could get out of it. Antidesign – it’s good for the soul.
This one cohabits by the sea in Sydney with the Ank.

The sterling silver stamped tags – stamped Dream / Write were made as gifts to all the women who were on the writing and walking tour with me in June 2012. They all shared in a part of what was the beginning of my giant launch into a completely new and not unscary life. A shiny slip of gratitude for that.

I’m unsure how stones can have healing properties bestowed on them by we yoomans, but according to the magical beans of the interwebs, this is how it goes: variscite gemstones promote peace, harmony and relieve stress; sodalite encourages endurance and inner peace; haematite is a stone of grounding and protecting.
So there. If nothing else, these stones are gloriously coloured.
This was given as a gift and lives on Monte Amiata in Tuscany.