make your own ring

‘Silver and Moor’ now offers you the unique opportunity to make your own ring.

Create something really special that will last forever:

Engagement rings

Wedding/Handfasting rings

Friendship rings

Birthdays and more…

You don’t need any skills, know how, or even materials. You’ll make your ring in a one to one session under the guidance of a

qualified Chagford Jeweller.

Ring designs range from simple band-rings to hammered, textured styles in

silver or gold.

A typical session will last between three to four hours, from designing to finishing your unique piece.

Cost: £25 per hour plus materials.

For more information and bookings

please contact  Miriam Boy on Tel: 07931887395
www.silverandmoor.blogspot.com 

 You can also see Miriam's work recommended in the Guardian.
Guardian weekend magazine.

inspiration can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes

a beautiful old door that I stumbled upon in exeter

nothing better than nature when it comes to blowing your mind

a masterpiece of beauty, perfection and clever design

our cats grace never fails to amaze me


After a few days of not being able to do any work at all (school-holidays are often very counterproductive ;)),
I can feel the itch in my fingers to get hold of some precious metal and bash it about...
I have a few good designs in my head, waiting to be made.
People sometimes ask me where do I get my ideas from, and I must admit this can't be answered in a simple sentence. Inspiration can be around every corner, literally just walking down a street  I have to stop to look at a beautiful door, or a spring-petal, or amazing feathers or I get lost  in the eyes of our lovely cat.

Inspiration can hit me in the face and it is like an urge to put what I have seen and ultimately felt into something that I  have created with my own hands.
I guess this is similar to most artists,  our experiences in life and the way we see things shape what we do and what we create.
This way of working is freeflowing, inspired, taking you to the unexpected, sometimes with hilarious results, and that is exactly what I love about it.

Another part of working as a jeweller is doing commissions, and although I enjoy the immediate payment at the end of it (of course ;)), doing a commission is often a nervwracking adventure.
what you make is another persons idea or design, and there is a million and one things that could go wrong.

every piece is still influenced by the way I work, but the process is dictated by the outcoming that I try to achieve.so in a way doing commissions is a much greater challenge and I really have to try and relax into the process.
the sense of achievement once I have done it to mine and the costumers expectations is fantastic though. and the knowledge that this piece of jewellery is unique and important to that person fills me with great pride.
I still get a tingling down my spine if I walk through my village and suddenly see one of my pieces of jewellery on somebody.that moment is worth all the effort, blood and sweat...if you know what I mean. ;)

the outcome

here they are, the pair of earrings I showed you during my last session.

I am very happy with the finished result ;)

earrings in the making

today I am going to show you in a few photos the process of making a pair of steampunk earrings! I hope you enjoy this little introduction of how I work and create my designs. I am sure at least one of the photos will make you laugh...guess which one :)

this is the nearly finished result, the resin needs to set and dry, protected from dust

           this is how I look like, ready to use the smelly resin, or maybe ready to take off....;)

                 the resin container...now you know why I look like an alien while handling that stuff!

                  the brass vessels with clockparts before I pour some resin on top

 

                                     polishing and sanding the metal to make it shine

                                                       

drilling a small hole for the earring -hook

    hammering the metal into shape and texturing it

                              shaping the metal on the doming block

                             cutting out the shape of the vessel with jewellers scissors

               shaping the heated metal on the doming block

 this is the beginning, cutting a piece of metal from a sheet, in this case it is brass

new steampunk designs

the latest designs in steampunk-style! tick tock !

copper pendant with clockparts set in resin

silver earring on silverchain with clockparts set in resin

recycled clockparts in new glamour..

here we go again!
making those steampunk designs is just so much fun , so here are a few more!
I used old clockparts and set them in resin ( very smelly stuff, I have to wear goggles, gloves and a mask and look like an alien),  the vessels are hammered either from silver or copper.
the silver chain is recycled from an old broken necklace...
it is great fun to bring all these different pieces together, and using the old clock pieces makes me think about the passing of time...even setting them in resin, immobile for eternity, does not stop time ticking away, my time, your time, anyones time....tick tock...use it wisely!;)

the last of the rings...

This is the last of the rings that I sold in the local shop/cafe.
with a heavy heart I decided to retrieve my display. last weeks event, when one of my rings went "missing",
made me rethink about where to show my jewellery.
luckily several up and coming events are in the pipeline, and also here I am in the big worldwideweb...yeehei! 

it's a mystery

unfortunately for the first time since making jewellery one of my pieces has gone missing.
I do have a permanent display of pieces in a small local cafe/shop and so far nothing out of the ordinary ever happened, until yesterday.
I went in to check my display, and the steampunk-ring had gone..my first reaction was "oh, great, somebody
else really likes steampunk",
but after inquiering who had purchased it, there was a blank reaction from the staff.
we searched the whole place, it didnt turn up.
this is highly annoying, especially because I was quiet tempted to keep that one for myself ;)
I am not expecting to see any money for that ring, as the whole exhibition is in the cafe on the base that I take the risk if anything like this ever happens.
I suppose that is a risk worth taking, but to be honest, I just never imagined anyone nicking anything like that in our village.partly because it is a small lovely community, partly because it is heaving with other artists who show great respect for each others work.
its a mystery.
the conclusion I came to is that it was propably either some kid, who fancied a bit of treasure,
or it actually got nicked by some visitors, which would be the saddest option, as it is just a little proof of how rotten a lot of peoples morals are.

what I have to learn from it is a lesson in letting go.
the hours spent making that ring, hoping it would turn out the way I had imagined it...
it did cost me time and energy, and I wont get anything back for that now.
and it annoys me now, not knowing what actually has happened,and probably never finding out either.

in the future I will have to work and create with that in mind, always remembering that we shouldnt get
too attached, that the creative process should be reward enough.

that is a big lesson to learn and keep in mind.
and I must admit, I am very glad that I at least got the photo of the ring...;)