Where do the weeks go?

I have no idea what happens to my time. Another two-week hiatus since my last blog post, during which time I've been invited to help with writing the "definitive book on soldering for jewellers", found out that one of my pieces is featured on the cover of a new book on stone-setting, bought a new CAD/CAM mill, sold several of my show-pieces and continued to put together the collection for the show in Wales.

Can you spot it?!

Part of the reason for the hiatus was a break for a long weekend in Brighton, which was both relaxing and productive as I managed to find an out-of-print engraving book I've been after for some time, along with some other books, all for £2 in the Amnesty International bookshop:

The "Rings & Other Things" book is hilariously 60s!

I also finished the order for the skull pendants. I was very pleased with the way these came out as they are actually very commercial and saleable and it is always interesting working with other people. This is absolutely not the sort of work I would normally do, and I don't much like the cleaning up and polishing of multiple castings, but these cast from impeccable masters and they only really needed barrel-polishing and patinating after the sprues were removed:

I've also been working on the semi-production "bomb" pendants, made from the discarded CO2 cylinders used by cafés to make whipped cream. The original, "Dr. Strangelove":

This was entirely made by hand and after it was finished, I thought that it would be a popular piece to reproduce in a more commercial way, so I designed some vanes in Rhino, milled them out and cast them. This is the first of the new bombs, "V-2 Schneider":

And these then multiplied to give "F1-11: Love Missile" and "H-Bomb Girl":

With any luck, I'll get these enamelled and set over the coming week.

I'm off to pick up the mill tomorrow, to Ormskirk, near Manchester. It is a water-cooled 4-axis machine which is designed specifically for milling waxes for the jewellery industry.

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