Jewellery Making Supplies Blog

It is that great period again: FREE POST is here!! Within the UK*, for any order over £50* which you place in the next 10 days you will benefit from our Free Post!! When we say it’s easy, we mean you won’t even need any codes or vouchers: just select “freepost” as the delivery  method at checkout and enjoy the experience!!

In case this is not reason enough to order, we hope to entice you with some of our great offers:

• Gemstone Extravaganza: 10% off selected stones. We have over 400 gems in a beautiful multitude of sizes and shapes – you’re sure to get your eyes on something!
• 25% OFF Top 20 Essentials: some of you are going back to school and some of you will only look to renew your tools, kits & accessories collection, in any case the bigger this is, the better! We have great prices on our Hand Torch, the Student Starter Kit, Starter Soldering Unit and Solder Block, PMC, Silver Chains and more!
• Our NEW Reflections Collection:  our great NEW Silver alloy, which we think it might even inspire you for your new piece! In case you need help with it, our team is there to guide you so just try something new!
• Moreover, there are new products in our Art Clay and Creative Metals at Cooksongold and always a great variety of over 11,000 jewellery making products. Just one stop and your jewellery will get the best treatment!! You’ll get fabulous prices and FREE POST!! Free Post ends on the 3rd of October at midnight, but don’t forget you can claim it more than once: make the most of it!! Click here to check out some of the products we thought you’ like!

We’d love to hear what you thought or what you bought so don’t forget to leave a comment!

This week treat yourself with some of the most exquisite GEMSTONES from Cooksongold! A good reason to buy: we have them NOW on sale!! You get 10% OFF and the possibility to choose from over 420 beautiful gems available!! You’re going to love our variety: we have around 30 stones and they come in more than 15 sizes!

Gemstones are fun for both beginners and more experienced jewellers!  However, if this is your first encounter with gems here are a few facts and tips you might find useful before you start.

• When just starting to work with stones, it is recommended to use large stones (cabochons) since it will be easier to make settings for them.
• Beginners find it easier and more fun to work with the following stones:

1. Amber – is a low-priced stone that is known for its fragility. It can be cut or carved with steel blades or abrasives but you might find it difficult to drill into. In this case, practice on larger chunks before you go on to your design.  When you are satisfy with your design put it in hot water to remove the glue from the amber but beware that excessive heat causes amber to crack. Did you know amber has been around from Palaeolithic times (9500BC) and it is also used in perfumes?
2. Amethyst – can be found in various shades of purple. Did you know this stone was included in the most valuable stones up until the 18th century (along with rubies, sapphires or emerald)?  Nowadays it is one of the most easily obtained stones, making it widely popular with jewellery makers and lovers. This stone increases its price with the intensity of its colour (some of the deep amethysts can sometimes appear almost black) and it also fades when exposed to heat.
3. Garnet – include multiple shades of red but it can be also found in variations such as green or yellow brown. The rarest variety is the Blue Garnet found in the 90s in Madagascar. It is slightly more expensive than the other gems but also slightly more resistant.
4. Opal - is visually a very attractive stone but it contains an increased amount of water therefore it is easy to chip or scratch. Fire opal is the only variety that can be faceted since most of them are very transparent.
5. Quartz – is an extremely economical stone in terms of pricing. The most popular categories of Quartz are Citrine and Smoky Quartz. These stones are easily cracked and, similar to amber, they will change colour or fade when exposed to increased amounts of heat or sunlight.

We have them all at Cooksongold in great variety … and many more too! So hurry up and grab this great deal before it ends on Tuesday, the 28th of September at Midnight!!

And since you dropped by why not subscribe to our blog? Just hit the subscribe button at the bottom of this page and you’ll never miss another great deal again!! We will also make sure to offer you some great hints and tips and keep you up-to-date with the latest news!

THE JEWELLERY GUIDE

We’ve just launched the 32-page Jewellery Guide for those of you who are going back to work, starting work or just looking for new pieces to buy for your workshop!!  It contains the essential products to every jewellery maker’s workshop: machinery, clay, starter kits, books, chains and bullion are amongst the many products you will find in this useful catalogue.  Our Top 20 Essentials at discounted prices -UP TO 25% OFF – will most likely catch your eye too! It’s sure you’ll find something you love or need for you next piece!!

and the best part…COOKSON TECHNICAL INFORMATION BOOKLET

What makes this guide even better is the booklet inside, which you can download here or order for FREE here (where you get the whole mini catalogue for a change). The booklet includes useful data sheets and answers frequently asked question on various techniques like soldering and polishing. It provides you with the best hints &tips you’ll want to know before starting to make an art piece.

We’ve been in the jewellery industry for quite a while and now you can benefit from Cooksongold’s resourcefulness even further by login onto http://www.cooksongold.com/technical/. Here you’ll find the jargon used in the trade explained, even more data sheets and instant conversion calculations. Our knowledge base is easily accessible: you can search specific words and you  can almost instantly view “Hot topics”, “Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions” or “Latest articles” .

If you have a question that hasn’t been answered already (or to which you simply cannot find the answer) you can always opt for “ask a question” and you’ll quickly receive a personal response!

So what do you think of it? Have you used it already? If so, is there anything else you would’ve wanted to see in it?

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UPDATE: Starting the 15th of March until the 31st of March 2011 you can try Reflections Silver Wire and Sheet for the same price as Standard Silver*. Click here to learn more about this promotion and start browsing through our fabulous range of  fire scale, tarnish- resistant silver.  Still looking for reasons? Keep reading and find out why we’re all so enthusiastic about Reflections Silver.

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Today we have launched the NEW REFLECTIONS SILVER COLLECTION!! You might have seen it on our website, but I wanted to give you some more information on this great new alloy!

We have over 100 (117 to be more precise) products including: Reflections Sheet, Reflections Wire, Reflections Finished and Loose Chain.

Here are a few reasons why I think you should try Reflections:

• It has enhanced tarnish (the discolouration of metallic surfaces)  and fire-scale (dark coloured copper oxide – forms when sterling silver is heated in the air) resistance when compared to standard silver
• It is age harden-able up to 90-110 Hv
• It can be easily processed using standard existing jewellery manufacturing processes
• It has 925 purity
• It is excellent for stamping, drawing, spinning and rolling.

However, there are several processes that you should pay attention to when working with Reflections alloy: soldering should be done in a darkened area, test first when hot enamelling and do not use for fusing (although it is possible to produce a weak fuse joint). When remelting use at least 50% fresh 50% scrap mix.

If the new collection caught your eye,you can click here to download a PDF copy of the Reflections mini catalogue or altenatively go here and order a FREE brochure! It is all free, you might as well have a look! We have also added a Reflections Technical Centre to our Knowledge Base and we hope this will answer some of your questions regarding the new collection.

Are you already thinking of your first art piece you could design with reflections? Do you need more details to convince yourself? – if so, do not hesitate to call or email us:

Telephone : 0845 100 1122 or email Birmingham.sales@cooksongold.com

Enjoy our weekend promotion: 5% OFF all our PMC PRODUCTS and 10% off our fantastic ART CLAY range!!

For as little as £7.13 for PMC or £7.07 for Art Clay you can start modelling your great piece of art today!!  There are 30 products to choose from! Our range includes: Art Clay 650 Slow Dry for a more elastic feel, Art Clay Cooper, Precious Metal Clay + and Precious Metal Clay 3.

Free your imagination this weekend! This offer is only valid until Monday, the 13th of September 2010 at midnight so hurry up!! And if you stopped here, we would love to know what you thought of our products!