This ring is the result of some 1:1 teaching that I have recently provided over a couple of sessions. There’s a lot to learn from this relatively simple exercise.
selection of metal – sterling &/or fine
soldering – hard , medium and easy all used
twisting of wire
rolling of wire
use of the piercing saw
work hardening
firescale
sizing
polishing
stone selection – shapes and types
stone setting/ burnishing
milligrain wheels
assay requirements
Plenty to talk about – maybe too much to remember. Repetition helps.
This is a first for me – I’ve never had work with the Common Control Mark applied. This means that the quality of the metal would be recognised by twenty countries.
CCM for sterling silver
Though to be honest, I have a couple of pieces where six hallmarks looks better than five.
Since I was commissioned in 2009 to make 21 as prizes, I’ve made over 80 of my silver hazelnuts and sold 75 so far. They are incorporated into jewellery from cufflinks to key fobs, but most are pendants.
Silver hazelnut keyring
Of those 75, as far as I know
One went to France
One went to Germany
One went to Spain
Six are in Australia
Two went to Canada
One is in Japan
Three are in the USA
The remainder are in the UK – from the Shetland Islands south.
I like it when people tell me why they were bought. Often it is for or in memory of someone call ‘Hazel’, occasionally associations with Julian of Norwich or just personal memories.
The lastest crop of full hazelnuts will be ready during January 2021.
Please if you live outside the UK email me for a price – don’t use the shop system.
This post is a little sad. My friend Richard Shock has passed away. he was a woodturner and one of his lines was paperweights with different centrepieces. He asked me to obtain some silver discs and have them hallmarked as centrepieces. This is about 11cm across and weighed with lead. We think the wood is ebony. He wished me to have an item of his work to remember him and this is the piece that was selected for me. Very appropriate.
These are the stands I no longer require. I’m looking for 50p for the smallest stands to £2 for the largest. £2 for the ring stands and £2 for the dog bone tags. £50 gets everything. Buyer collects.
3 black velvet bust stands
2 large earring frames
4 multiple earring stands
Pendant stand style 1
Pendant stand style 2
Bracelet stand and hand
6 stand range
7 black stands
9 larger stands
6 small black stands
Clear earring stands 1
Clear earring stands 2
Dog bone price tickets
Black ring stands
(Silver ring not included with the ring stands!) Some of the black stands need a clean to remove blu-tak and the odd scratch. Many of the black stands have extra clips on the rear to fix the chains to help positioning.
Recently I have sold hazelnuts to people following St Julian of Norwich, though others have told me a range of interesting reasons why they wanted to purchase one.
I’ve been casting solid silver ammonites for years – brooches, pendants, earrings, charms, rings, paperweights – and have a collection of fossils to cast from. However, I got myself into a complete muddle with descriptions of the various sizes, so I’ve developed a cunning plan.
All my fossil ammonites now have a number and I’ve added the number to the description. Below you can see images of the fossils and their silver equivalents. I’ve added approximate sizes and approximate weights of the silver pieces.
My real fossil ammonitesMy fossil ammonites as cast in sterling silver
Hopefully this will make it easier when you order from my shop as I will be relisting all the brooches, cufflinks, pendants and rings with their ‘size number’.
I’ve just added a range of new items onto my shop website. Many of them are featured earlier in this blog. I have made links from the blog posts to the shop.
I’ve just completed two 1:1 sessions showing how I cast using delft clay and cuttlefish. This was spread over two sessions doing delft clay first, though with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been better to do cuttlefish first. Prepaing a cuttlefish mould is easier which gives more time to introduce the actual melting and pouring part.
We followed the same format as the basic class – I do a stage, the student does their stage and so on.
Ammonite castings in silver
Silver bee casting
My delft clay castings are on the left and the student’s on the right. The bee is a little bigger than the ammonites.
This is a cuttlefish cast once finished and the amber stone mounted.
Abstract silver cuttlefish cast surround for amber stone
‘I had the pleasure of 2 casting lessons with John, delft clay and cuttlefish. I had the best learning experience. Prior to lesson John advised me on equipment etc so I could set up at home.
Hands on, informative and very inspiring. In 4 hours Johns vast knowledge and experience had taught me enough to go home and recreate, which I have been,non stop! Thank you’
Today, I ran a day course for two friends who wanted to learn the basics of working with silver.
In the morning I went through the stages of making a silver ring – we made one each. In the afternoon, the two friends made motifs to go on a bracelet. We made up the design over lunchtime and implemented it in the afternoon.
They experienced soldering, using the piercing saw, doming, and polishing and learnt about the metal, assay and various other tools and techniques.
I’m quite pleased with this repair. There was a similar dint on the opposite side that came out well too. It had been neglected and took a lot to bring the inside back to a shine.
Hopefully everyone will find it easier to use and more up to date. Please let me know if there are any problems or errors.
The shop remains the same – that seems to work fine and ‘it ain’t broke, so why fix it?’, but the new website should surround the shop seamlessly.
It is also a more secure site now, you should see the little padlock on the browser bar most of the time. There are probably a few links I need to fix still. I still have some content I want to move over or update.
I’ve trimmed down the examples of my work to about 100, but there’s more in the shop and on the blog. Also you can sneak into the old website areas for further examples.
Nothing too exciting, but I’ve recently updated my page on chains to include a further page with some photos of common styles of chain and clasp.
For example
Belcher chain with carabiner clasp
Please remember that if you like a pendant in my shop, I can change the style and length of its chain. Just contact me first, rather than ordering from the shop.
I have a photograph of pretty much everything that I have made. Although I’ve been silversmithing since 1978, I decided in early 2006 to record my work on a database. From that point, each new design or item, if individuals varied from the design, has been allocated a number ss001, ss002 etc, which is used on the corresponding photograph. Each item also has a number.
With the cow horn rings previous to this post, I’ve reached ss1500 so that’s about 150 variants each year. I’ve made 2800 items in that time. Most pictures are on my website, in my shop or in the blog.
Years ago my wife and I visited Sam Gimignano in Italy. I bought a box of bright blue tessera – the little tiles used as the basis of a mosaic. I occasionally make some earrings using them that usually sell well.
Blue mosaic tessera earrings
It was only recently that a lady visited my stand during Artweeks and said “I make mosaics and those are tesserae, but that’s the back which is pressed into the cement.”
I’d never given it a moment’s thought – that side looked best so I put it outermost. Of course, the other side being flat sits well in the setting. Few people normally see this side.
This silver backed comb has sentimental value to the owner and was clearly of no practical use. The problem here is usually to find a suitable replacement. The best fit was slightly too long and had to be filed and repolished and the teeth are shorter than the original., but it is now usable. If anyone else is interested, then please locate a comb that you think is an acceptable replacement and I’ll fit it.
Douglas Adams – the author of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ was born on 11 March 1952. He would be coming up to his 64th birthday had he not died in 2001.
I’ve always liked the Hitchhiker ‘trilogy’ and made a pair of these cufflinks for myself
Cufflinks to remember the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything
I’ve sold other pairs and there are two types of ’42’ available for sale in my shop. I have also made variants including ’52’ and H2 (for hydrogen – the 2 was subscripted).
I now have a new ring sizing machine that will be quicker and more accurate for stretching a wide range of rings and shrinking plain bands such as wedding rings.
Ring stretcher and shrinker
As ever, I don’t promise anything until I’ve seen the ring, but this new tool should expand my repertoire further.
If there is a price and a button then the item is available for sale. Unless you collect, deliveries will follow Royal Mail’s last posting dates of Monday 21 for items under £35 or Wednesday 23rd for other items. I need to have received the order by midday on those dates to allow for packing and transport to the Post Office.
If you would like me to send a shop sale or a commission directly to the recipient, then I am happy to do that. I will include a message from you and adjust my packing accordingly. I will still send you an email with the despatch details. Please put the message in the box on the shopping cart and use the recipients address during the payment process.
If whether you are based in the UK or abroad and the gift is going to a UK address, then just use the shopping cart system. If the gift is to be sent abroad, please contact me by email first.
I make several designs suitable as gifts to mark the birth of a new child or as a christening or similar ceremony for the young child. Please give me notice so that I can get the item hallmarked in the right year – retrospective date hallmarking is not possible!
Here are a couple of examples of napkin rings made for my children.
My wood turner friend, Richard Shock, has a line of paperweights with inlaid centre.
Silver disc paperweight
This is one from his range with a silver disc centre. I provided the discs and also the silver matchstick that is use to displace the disc by pushing from the rear. The disc can then be cleaned without the cleaner damagiing the wood.
silver matches
You can buy this paperweight from Richard’s website
My website has a page on cleaning silver. Recently I’ve started to use anti-tarnish cleaning cloths such as these.
Anti-tarnish polishing cloth
They are handy for a quick clean and very good for flatter surfaces. In fact I’ve decided to give one free with every commission sale or you can buy them from my shop, though to avoid postage costs they are better bought as part of an order.
Not only did I take my daughter up the aisle for her wedding last week, but I made their wedding rings.
I wonder how many brides and grooms have their Dad’s mark in their wedding rings?
My daughter’s 9 ct white gold wedding ring
The profile had to match with her engagement ring both in material and shape. No – I didn’t do the engagement ring – stone setting isn’t one of my best skills.
Thanks to Nerissa Parker and Sam Buckley, I’ve developed the process of gold plating. I also do Keum Boo which is fusing a thin gold layer onto fine silver, so Keum Boo is thicker and more robust than plating, but less flexible.
Here are a couple of examples. The first is a pair of fused style earrings, before and after.
Silver fused earrings – originalSilver fused earrings with gold highlights
These are my standard ammonite pendant. One is plated on one side, but with the ribs further polished so expose the silver again to enhance the contrast.
Solid silver ammonite pendantSolid silver ammonite pendant with gold plated highlights
I’ve been silversmithing for years and I’ve a photograph of practically everything I’ve made. I’ve just passed a milestone – kilometer stone would be better. Since I started tracking my work on a database, each photo of a design or variant has a unique number. I’ve just passed number 1000! – it has taken me 30+ years though.
Here’s number 1
Ornament based on a fossil fish with etched shoal
And here’s number 1000
Multi ring silver pendant
The next target is the number of discrete items made – rapidly approaching 2000.
I’ve mastered a feature of my shopping cart to allow items under £29 to be sent by recorded delivery rather than special delivery – reducing the postage costs from £6.50 to £3. The shopping cart sorts this out.
Some of you will have seen my sets of postcards with the red backgrounds, each showing a different selection of my work. You can see the cards if you put ‘John Huddleston Silver’ into Google and then click on ‘Photos’.
However, I’ve just designed and had printed a flyer with some of my newer work. Here are two low-res images and a link to a pdf version. Don’t forget it is letter folded in hardcopy.