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I had a request to make a simple, understated mount for a small piece of jade that she wanted as a pendant.

No problem!

Here we have a silver pencil cap that is about 50mm long, a large paperclip (~75mm) and a deltoid shaped pencil grip.  The latter is deep laser marked due to the difficulty of applying punched marks without damaging the design.  All have the full UK hallmarks including the Coronation mark.  I have another, slightly stubbier, paperclip in my shop.  I’ve made other stationery items for the sme client here.

A while back I made some baptism shells based on a Pseudopecten acuticosta fossil I had bought from a fossil fair.  These shells are shown here.  When I made another batch, I decided to cast the whole fossil to make a very attractive and tactile paperweight.

You can buy it from my shop.

I bought a new book* that has expanded my understanding of fold forming as a technique.  These are some test pieces in copper that I have made.  The star and shallow dish are about 10cm across.  The smaller dish is about 7cm.

I have also made the shallower version in silver.  See this post.

* new jewellery techniques  – Anastasia Young and Paul Wells. Hoaki 2022

A singleton repeat of a pair that I made some time ago.  Minimal soldering in this – just on the hook to make sure the two strands don’t get pulled apart.  Otherwise, it’s held together by the tube.  Below the plastic clips are the 2023 traditional marks and just below that, the coronation mark though it’s bearly visible in this image.

From November 2021 until the end of 2022, an additional mark is available to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee – 70 years on the throne.

Here is an ingot with the 2021 marks and a close up of the additional mark. For some reason the date letter is not available in 2021 with the Platinum Jubilee mark, but the arrangement shown below identifies the assay date to November or December 2021.  That’s the most precise dating in my collection started in 1979.  More detail.

 

 

Not content with a cap for a warthog tusk, I’ve added a hippo tooth cap to my list of unusual jobs.

This was the tooth as supplied – much bigger and heavier than I expected.

To make the cap fit, I had to cut off the area where it broke off.  My workshop smelt like a bad day at the dentist!  However,  the debris looked interesting.  Here’s the tooth with its hallmarked silver cap.

I decided to make a pair of cufflinks with some of the debris.

The owner of the tusk and cufflinks is very happy with my work.

I won’t tell you who AJ is, but this pendant was designed and comissioned  by her relations as a special birthday gift and I realised the design in silver. ‘ AJ’ will understand the story it tells.

The disc is about 50mm in diameter and involved fifteen solder joints and some very careful sawing!

These two sterling silver wedding rings are chunky – both are 3mm thick and the lower is 10mm wide.  The upper ring has a notch to allow it to sit with the engagement ring.  Both have a phrase  engraved on the inside and a (different) symbol on the outside.  The engraving was by Sam James Engraving.

My second handcuff (the first one is here).

With this one, I had a free hand in the design.  I didn’t like the idea of a locking device, so this design is secure, but can be operated by the wearer.

When closing the handcuff, the left hand side as we see it, clicks into one of two positions and then the shield comes down to prevent the  lugs from springing open.  This is the reverse side as the other side has the hallmarks and, particularly,  is stamped with the recipient’s name.

I’m pleased with this design!

Dr John Snow is famous for several reasons, but one is his analysis of the incidence of outbreaks of cholera in London in 1954.  He caused the removal of the handle of one particular pump in Soho, London that was dispensing contaminated water.  There is much more about him on the internet e.g. wikipedia.

This is a representation of the pump as a sterling silver brooch.  It’s about 7cm tall.

My client, an ex-medic, wanted a special gift that reflected his experience in epidemiology.

He said “John Snow pump received, looks just lovely, will be giving it to my wife later today.  So very many thanks.  A really wonderful and personal souvenir “

This is a collar to fit a leather bound officer’s cane.  The original had disappeared.  The tube was fabricated from sheet as it wasn’t a standard tube size.

I quote

The collar arrived safely and fits like a glove!  Thanks very much indeed for making it for me. It’s just what I wanted.

I make each collar to my client’s requirements and prices vary considerably depending on a number of factors including the diameter, length, whether it matches a standard tube size, size and positioning of hallmarks, any additional embelishments or engraving.  Prices start around £60 for a basic cylinder with discrete hallmarks.

As of 1 July 2020, I shall be working as a sole trader.  The company used previously – JJA Radley Ltd – has ceased trading and is being closed down.

All work in progress and associated deposits are transferred to my new trading status.

Something missing?

The left hand side is my delft clay copy of the original.  As it only weighed 2.3g, no additional hallmarking was required.  The owner was very pleased with the result.

Royal Mail increased their prices on 23 March 2020.  I haven’t increased my charges for some years as I have absorbed the costs.  Alas, I can no longer do that and so from today have increased my p&p charges by just 25p for the two price bands.

Remember that is the price per posting to one UK address, so if you order more than one item you only pay one p&p charge.

This is a development of some work I did making leather dog collars for very valued dogs.  This is a wrist sized version in 6mm black leather cord.

This is available from my shop, or, if this doesn’t fit, please consider it as a template for something else you might like.  There is a message in this bracelet, but if you know binary and HHGTTG then the answer is ……….

It started life slightly differently with a more adjustable clasp

but in practice this proved difficult to get on and off.

The UK assay date letter this year, 2019, is ‘U’

I’ve added this picture to my list of date letters here.

 

This is an example of my featured hallmark bracelet witht the new letter

Available from my shop.

Following my event at St Hilda’s College in September, I have now updated my website with my expanded range of ammonite jewellery and ornaments.  I have also added estoiles (stars with wiggly rays).

These were a special order as a gift.   Though the ingot looks much the same as my other ingots, it is  slightly larger and thicker so that it is twice the weight of my normal ingots.

I’ve just delivered a sterling silver ferrule for a customer’s walking stick.  Here is a photo my customer took having fitted the ferrule.

“It’s a lovely fit and has reallly finished the cane off – it looks great”

 

Everyone needs silver clothes pegs!  Mine are solid silver with a silver spring, which doesn’t have much tension.  They are great as ornaments or maybe paperweights, but not fit for the washing line!

Available from the shop where there are other options available too.

I’ve just made three silver buckles for leather belts – two were comissions, but one is available in the shop.  this image is of one of the commissions with a heavy duty black English leather belt.

The buckles were cast into a cuttlefish bone which was treated to bring out the bone structure and the delicate pattern seen here.

I made this for me as I wanted to move on from the style of copper/ silver bracelet that I’ve been wearing for some years now.

This has silver, copper and brass links to give an interesting variation of colour.  Because I’m hamfisted, I’ve made a matching toggle and loop clasp which even I can operated quickly.  Unfortunately it doesn’t stay this shiny for long.  Maybe I should make a red/white/yellow gold version!

 

A bespoke cat brooch – required to be like a treasured but lost brooch without a picture.  After several discussions and an intermediate visit, this is the result.

The owner is very happy.

Within thanks to Amanda, who I met at Art in the Barn, here is a delft clay cast of a eucalyptus seed which has a fascinating five fold symmetry. It’s about 20mm diameter and weighs 12g.

I tried hard, but the picture doesn’t quite do the casting justice.  I shall be making some buttons using the seed for a featured button on a single button coat or cardigan.

This is a classic, at least Roman, design of clasp.  This has been inspired by a design that I saw in a case at the museum at Wroxeter.

It is available for sale in my shop and is from the first batch from the batch assayed in 2014 with my new 1.75 mm sponsor’s mark punch.

I have three designs for sale at the Oxford University shop.  More detail at https://www.jhsilver.co.uk/Smile%20jewellery.html

I have had photographs of my work taken by Agness Lugovska.  These are much more artistic than the ones I produce myself.  You can see them at www.jhsilver.co.uk/Library-photos.html

These spoons are back from the Assay Office where they have been carefully marked in the bowl.  They need finishing – final checks and a full polish, then they will be made available shortly in my website shop.

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I’ve developed a 45-60 minute talk about silver suitable for local groups.  I cover sources, uses, price, hallmarking, how to make silverware and how to care for it.

I’ve given the talk in Radley a couple of times and it seems to go down well.

I shall be giving the talk to the Stonesfield WI tonight and to the Wantage Probus club in October.

Keum (or Kum) Boo is a process for affixing fine gold foil onto fine silver for decoration. See on my main website for more detail at this page.  Up until now , I have fused the gold onto fine silver, but i’ve just tried successfully to put foil on sterling silver by depletion silvering.  To pretreat the sterling sheet, I did the heat / acid/ heat / acid  cycle seven times, but the end result is good. I am pleased with the result and will do more.

New for me anyway – simple clean style suitable for fingers, thumbs and toes.  Watch for pictures on my main site soon.

I’ve just had back from the London Assay Office, two ingots with the Diamond Jubilee mark and hallmarked for next year i.e. ‘n’ not ‘m’.  These are trade samples and cannot be sold this year.  I’ll load a picture soon.

I would do it now but my Seagate Goflex home network hard drive is not working properly on any of our machines and I’m waiting for the third attempt at a solution from Seagate’s customer support.  Not buying another one from them!

My blog is really a convenient way of showing my latest work.  This includes commissions where appropriate and speculative work.  I try to give links where the piece is available in my shop.

Occasionally there’s some news too.