Welcome to the weekly Feature and Giveaway! Every Monday, we’ll be featuring a lovely craftsperson, artist, or  artisan – and every week you’ll have the chance to win something from their shop!

This week we welcome Cathy, from Designs by Cathy – maker of gorgeous personalized jewellery…

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Where do you live?

I live outside of Dallas in Plano TX.

Where do you do your work?

During the day I work at the US head quarters for 7-Eleven, Inc as a Product Information Manager in the Merchandising Business Systems Dept…whew!

What’s your favourite place in the world, and why?

Costa Rica- I love the natural state of the country.  It is peaceful, beautiful and the people are great. If I was to win the lotto I would have to move there, or at least buy a place there so I could visit often.

Tell us a little bit more about yourself! Your ‘day job’ or business, family, hobbies…

My day job is hectic…we are moving to a new business model which has been in development for about 2-years and we are getting to the point of roll-out…I’m so glad I have a hobby that I love to help me unwind.  Also, in May I became a grandmother to the sweetest boy ever.  They don’t live far so I get to see him several times a week and every weekend…You can’t miss a week because they grow so much!

What did you want to be ‘when you grew up’?

I wanted to be a designer…and I was thinking the other day what was it that made me change to business…I can’t recall…but I do wish I was a designer full time.  I tell my boys all the time- choose your path wisely as every decision you make counts…

How did you first get into your craft/art?

I would say I come from a family of artist so it came naturally.  As a small child my parents would buy me creative toys for Christmas.  I would wait up and find – paints, easel, sewing machine, Tandy leather kits, you name and I made it as a small child.  I really love them for that..

What do you make?

For Designsbycathy.etsy.com I make Jewerly that tells a story…your story…everyone has one…LOL  Mixed metal personalized jewelry.

What are you most proud of making?

The “We loved you the moment we saw you” piece for my new grandson.  It has so many charms on that necklace..my daughter-in-law wears it almost every day…

What do you like the most/least about selling your wares online?

Well….sometimes I make mistakes and I think that people may wonder who they are dealing with since there is no personal connection…

I love…

my family more than anything.

It drives me crazy when…

people can’t make up their mind…make a plan and stick to it!  If you need to change it, then change it…but have a plan.

What’s your favourite word?

Hudson…my grandson

If you could sum yourself or your work up in one sentence, it would say…

Express yourself…smile, I do!

Visit Cathy Online!

Shop:  designsbycathy.etsy.com

Cathy is giving away a $20 gift voucher to be spent in her lovely shop – and it’s open to all to enter!!

To Enter:

1. Visit Designs by Cathy, and come back here leaving a comment about your favourite piece from the store.

2. For additional entries, leave a comment saying that you: followed or subscribed to Epheriell Designs (or already do); have Twittered about the givewaway; have shared the giveaway with friends on Facebook, or; you have written a blog post about it.

3. Entries close next Sunday night, the 4th of October, at 12pm Australian EST. Winners are announced the next day as part of next week’s Feature and Giveaway post.

Remember to leave me a way of contacting you.. and Good Luck!

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The winner of last week’s giveaway – Deb D!

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Just a quick post to share my newest creation with you all!

I’m really excited about this one – I feel like I’ve really tapped the mind of the great jewellery goddess this time!

These little bits of gorgeousity will take you anywhere…

Introducing the ‘Classic Hoops’ range:

In Sterling Silver…. $34

In Brass (with Sterling Earwires)… $27

In Copper (with Sterling Earwires)… $27

So, what do you think?

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Welcome to How-To Tuesday – a new regular feature on Epheriell Designs. Each week I will publish a video showing you a skill or technique to help you with your jewellery making.

Video Tutorial

Text and Picture Tutorial

Tools & Materials:

• Sterling Silver wire
• Soldering torch and gas bottle
• Matches
• Soldering tweezers
• Quenching water
• Wire cutters

1. Cut an appropriate piece of wire. 2 inches is a good standard length. Make sure to have your soldering torch, tweezers, and quenching water ready. Oh, and make sure to tie back long hair!

2. Next, use matches to light the torch, and make sure to be careful! Pick up your silver wire with your soldering tweezers (not normal tweezers – soldering tweezers have a wooden handle so you don’t burn your fingers). Make sure to hold it near one end.

3. Turn your flame so it is pointing directly upwards. Then turn your wire vertically, with the longer end downwards. Place it in the flame. Make sure the end of the wire is resting in the hottest part of the flame – where the light blue flame comes to a point.

4. As soon as the wire heats enough, it will start to bubble and form into a ball. Hold it in the flame until the ball is the size you want, then take it out of the flame and put it straight into the quenching water. Be careful not to overheat the metal or it will melt and run!

5. Voila! Place your newly made headpin into pickle to remove the black firescale, and then it’s ready to use.

I use these to make things like this!

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Subscribe or ‘follow’ Epheriell Designs during July 09 and go in the draw to win a $40 gift voucher to use in my shop – Epheriell. Details here.

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*This is me grinning*

The first day of my silversmithing course was just awesome! I’ve learnt so many new skills already  I don’t know where to begin… and, of course, I now have a long list of expensive tools I want to buy!

We began the day learning how to use a jewellers hacksaw, with tiny, tiny blades. First, we had to cut a straight line. Then a curvy one, and then a zig-zag. It was really quite easy – except it kills your hand having to hold down tightly to the metal!

After that, we progressed to making our first project – a silver ring.

For this, we had to learn to solder with a torch, then shape and texture with a mandrel, and finally polish and finish using a bench grinder.

The second project for the day was a pair of domed earrings – using many of the above skills also. Here are the finished products – I had time to finish my ‘practice’ brass ring as well..

I’ll take some better, close-up photos tomorrow – but the light had almost run out by the time I got home! As you can see, I left the earrings as a matt finish – I think they’re quite beautiful like that! I’ve textured both rings, but it’s hard to see in this photo.

Tonight, I have homework – I have to work out the design I want to use tomorrow on a pendant. We’re going to be ’sweat soldering’ – where you solder one piece of metal flat on top of another.

I also met an absolutely lovely bunch of people at the course! Really looking forward to tomorrow

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In case you can’t already tell, I’ve fallen in love with metal. We’re making some beautiful children together

My latest creation is one that’s been floating around in my head for a while, and I finally got around to making them yesterday – have a look…

Metal Trio...

These are totally handmade, with sterling silver earwires, plus sterling, brass and copper strands of handforged metal. I love the combination that these metals make together.

A lot of people only work in Sterling, but I really like all three metals. I think I’m going to aim to make some more peices that combine the three – what do you think?

Here are some of our other babies…

Spirals - Brass Earrings

Sprials - Sterling Silver Earrings

Branches - Brass Necklace

These little guys are all for sale on Etsy. 

I’ve signed up to take a silversmithing course in a few weekend’s time, too! I’m really excited. I am, however, very bummed out over the fact that they cancelled my painting course! Apparently not enough people signed up. Boooo. But I used the money I’d paid for that to pay for the silversmithing course instead, so not a total loss – I’ll just have to muck around with paint a bit more by myself for a while!

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