UCA Rochester

Hi all!

Well a few days ago I went to the UCA open day at Rochester. I had a great time. I have been thinking for a while that I want take my skills in jewellery making further, so I started looking at university courses. I found a fantastic course at the University of Creative Arts Rochester campas. Its their BA (Hons) Silversmithing, Goldsmithing & Jewellery


These fantastic pieces were made by Rebbecca Lee, one of their former students on the course I want to take.

While I was there I had the chance to check out the Degree show. It was AMAZING and totally blew me away! The standards are so high, you can see exactly why this course as an excellent reputation within the industry. Everyone was very helpful and answered all of my many Q's lol. I also talked to a few of the third year students who's work was on display, their enthusiasm and passion was obvious. They told me about what their experiences were like, and how they have found it over the last three years.

Another very good part of the course is that there is a business element that runs through it too. Building up and excellent CV, finding contacts within the industry and work experience all feature. A lot of the final year students i spoke to had already been offered a job, some more than one!

I can honestly say that I really enjoyed my time at the open day. I found it to be very informative, and it has definitely whetted my appetite! I will certainly be applying in November, and will hopefully be starting in the September of next year, And I can't wait!! :D

Has anyone seen my Mojo??

Wow, OK, so its been a while huh?

After the wedding I decided to have a bit of a break for a week or too, but it turned out to be a bit longer than expected! I seem to have lost my mojo :0( so things have been a bit slow for a few weeks. Hopefully that's all starting to change now. I have myself a bit of a kick up the bum the other day and forced myself to sit down and make something, anything! It didn't matter what. I had no ideas for anything new so I went for a re-do. A while ago I bought this tutorial from JewelryLessons.com. I love to make these little beads, and they are so much fun. Also I thought that as I have made some already it would be easy to get into. Here are the two pairs of earrings I made with them.



The top pair I have used some glass pearls and Czech glass, and in the second pair I have used light and dark Amazonite, a some opal Czech glass. Both pairs are hung on handmade sterling silver ear wires and headpins.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to sit down and try and make something new. I don't know why its so hard at the moment. Do you ever have spells of not making things? If so how do you get over them? I would love any ideas :0)

Kaylie x

Bridal madness!

I have had my Best Friends wedding on my mind lately. Its in three weeks!!! I have finished all of her jewellery, and mine too, but it has left me in the mood for bridal wear.

I sat down and made loads of bridal stuff in one after noon. I had so much fun and I really love what I have made. Here is a small selection....

There are over 2oo clear AB 4mm bicones on here! I felt a bit cross eyed when I had finished with this one! lol

There is no photo that could do justice to just how much these catch the light and sparkle! I think these are my fave :0) The beads are on sterling silver hoops 35mm dia.

Sticking to hoops, there are from a tut that I bought on jewelrylessons.com I have to say that it was very well written and the idea is such a great one. I'm sure I will be making more very soon. The hoop are from Palmer metals, the same as above, and I used 24g sterling silver wire to wrap on the swarros.

I wanted to show you this last pair because I love rainbow moonstone!! I have to say that I did not set these cabs myself, (although I am learning how to do that) I bought them. The ear wires are hand forged sterling silver.

So there you go, just part of my wedding fever lol. I welcome feedback, so feel free to comment.

Kaylie x

I love tutorials! :0)

Hi all!

Today i am writing about tutorials. Well I couldn't do that without sharing with you all a fantastic site called JewelryLessons.com. Jewelry Lessons is mostly about wire working, but there are also a lot of jewellery artists on there who work in other Media such as metal clay and bead work. Take a look through their gallery so see many different types of work.

I love this site!! It is chock full of tutorials and tips. Most of the tuts on there you pay for, many are $10 or under. There are also a number of free tuts on there that are perfect for beginners in the world of wire work. This site was set up by a wire worker so there is an abundance of wire tuts. There are also other tuts. There are some basic metal smithing tuts, bead weaving tuts, metal clay tuts and poly clay tuts. There are hundreds of them!

I recently bought bobbiewireds Charming hearts tut. This is what I made.

I used 0.8mm sterling silver wire to make this heart. Then I hung it on a fine sterling silver curb chain. I love it. It was perfect for valentines day.

Bobbies tut was clear and easy to follow, with good instructions and a bit of humor. She also had some great ideas on variations we could try to make it more of our own piece. What is really great though, is that, if I had run into any problems with this tut then all would have to do is post a Q's about it on the site and Bobbie would be there to answer it. Or if for some reason she couldn't answer it, there are hundreds of other people on the who can. Now that is a great service! lol

So next time you are looking to create something but are lacking in a little inspiration, check out jewelrylessons.com and I'm sure you will find something there to get you going :0)

Kaylie x

Metal clay adventures

OK so a little while ago I tried my hand at Silver Art Clay. I have to say that I LOVED it! I made a cute little earrings and necklace set and a pendant. I used two 7g packs to make these and I have a tiny amount left. I am going to get some more at some point, as I have a few ideas, for a doughnut bail. I don't think that I will creating with this exclusively, but its fun to play with.


Here is the necklace that I made. I first rolled out the AC to 1mm thick, then I used a skeletonized leaf to add the texture. I then used a little heart utter to cut out the shapes before I put some holes in.

I then dried them in the oven and used my torch to fire all of the hearts. When they were cool I buffed them up to a high shine and LOS them. Then I polished them up again and made them into the earrings and the necklace. The ear wires and the chain are sterling silver. The earrings hand at about 2inches and the necklace is 17inches long so that it sits nicely on the collar bone.

I had so much fun making these, and I think they are quite good for a first go, but then I would! lol :0)

Here are some excellent Metal Clay artists that are awesome!

Lisa Barth

I love Lisa, she is so kind and generous with her knowledge. I love to look at her work, It is so full of detail. She is a level 2 Cert AC instructor.

Agnieszka Hopkowicz

I love Agnieszka's style. She has some really cool and interesting ideas. I know about her work from JewleryLessons.com I love this site as you get to see so many different artists creating a huge variety of stuff. Its an eye candy feast over there! lol So go and check it out!

Hugs Kaylie x

Hello, and welcome to my new blog!!!

I have decided that KEA Jewellery should have its very own, brand spanking new blog!
So here it is. Here I will be keeping you all updated with the latest from my jewellery making adventure. Also I will be sharing with you sources of my inspiration and and admiration. So come and join me on the ride!! :0)