Time (at last) to assemble all of the parts…First things first, solder the bezel to the frame *don’t melt, don’t melt, don’t melt*Then set the stone… Pushing over the bezel…bit by bit…by bit…   Burnishing the bezel And (finally) assembling the brooch…

This weekend is officially dedicated to putting my Design Boards together!! No more time left to procrastinate, though I’m sure I’ll still manage ;)) Listening to KC – And the Racket They Made – to set me off on the right atmospheric track ;)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQaFxPeI1Vg&list=RDBQaFxPeI1Vg May have to put The Magnetic North on a loop later to really feel that Orkney spirit – the whole album mind, not just this one track – that would be a wee bit obsessive, even by my standards ;)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tb2Ebf0gYI

In other news, this week has been full of making! The Graded Unit brooch continues unabated, despite my best efforts to melt bezels and completely forget how to saw in a straight line…

Wednesday and Thursday: Cutting and Piercing the Brooch BackFriday: Findings, Bezel Settings and Choosing the perfect ‘stone’

Step One: Findings (and finding that the ones I’d made earlier now seem just a little too small!) The remedy, in four easy steps…

1. Making the (difficult) decision that the brooch findings are just too dainty (difficult, because I now have to make a new set!) 2. Soldering the new (less dainty) findings together 3. Soldering new findings to brooch back (slathered with Argotect – to try to prevent too much firestain *crosses fingers*) 4. Cleaning up brooch back and admiring new elegant just-the-right-size findings ;))

to be continued…

The last few weeks haven’t been all about the Graded Unit (thankfully!). On my recent trip to Arran, I took some pieces from my current collection along with me, and had loads of fun shooting new images on a gloriously sunny beach :))

Here’s a tiny sneak preview – with added bonus image of my (as yet unfinished) graded unit brooch… posing as a ring for the occasion!With special thanks to my first-rate location team and models (without whom, none of this would have been possible) ;))

Tried to fit the old outer frame around the new woven panel… but it no longer seems to fit! no matter how hard I try to hammer ease it into place…!Nothing for it but to make a new frame. Luckily I’m not working to a deadline… O wait… isn’t that the 1st of May fast approaching…! Quick, hand me that torch!Making the new frame from an already partially made prototype, hence the random angles…nearly there now…all ready to be cleaned up

The woven panel is at last finished, so now I only have to make the piece… ha! I’m off to the lovely isle of Arran for a few days first, with some even lovelier old friends, time to rest my weary fingers (and tired eyes!) ;))