Jewellery Making Supplies Blog

We’re very happy to be sponsor’s of 2009’s British Silver Week, and just as pleased to bring your our newest Silver Mini Catalogue! So dive in, and celebrate silver with Cookson!

British Silver Week
British Silver Week makes a welcome return this June with a typically impressive programme of events celebrating silversmithing in all its forms, supported by a glittering array of leading industry names and new, cutting edge work by the UK’s best young silversmiths. Cookson Precious Metals are immensely proud to once more be the Corporate Sponsors for this important series of events. Click here to read more about the British Silver Week.

NEW Argentium Silver
This issue sees the launch of an exciting new Cookson exclusive. Argentium Silver might just be a revolution in silver – the most tarnish resistent, versatile and brightest silver product ever. Click here to find out more about this revolutionary new alloy. Alternatively, click here to view our entire NEW range of Argentium Silver products including sheet, wire, grain and findings. 

NEW Sterling Silver Findings
We are constantly adding NEW findings to our range on the basis that you can never have too many. As well as our NEW range of Argentium silver findings, check out our NEW textured silver beads from UNDER £1 each, as well as our NEW silver clasps and ear fittings. Also, receive a FREE sticky bead mat when you spend over £35 on silver findings.

FREE Silver Catalogue

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Why not combine a visit to the Cookson Trade Counter with a visit to the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.

The Museum has a preserved jewellery workshop offering a unique glimpse of working life in Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter. For more than eighty years Smith and Pepper produced jewellery from this workshop, founded in 1899. Explore this extraordinary industrial time capsule on a lively guided tour. Here you will find things left as they were on Smith and Pepper’s last working day.

The museum tells the story of jewellery making in Birmingham. The Jewellery Quarter gained its distinctive identity in the 19th century when Birmingham was known as the ‘Workshop of the World’. Today the city is still very much at the forefront of jewellery manufacture in Britain.

You can get a feel for this great industrial past and modern  jewellery trade as you wander through the Quarter’s tight-knit street, lined with jewellery shops, makers’ workshops and distinctive historic factories.

 

The Jewellery Quarter Museum

How to find the museum:

Telephone: 0121 554 3598

Admission is FREE!

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With so many projects and often so little time, keeping my workshop tidy is always a challenge. When designing, my aim is always to have a clear working space, with everything close at hand. Both tools and materials should ideally be kept within arms reach.  However, I don’t always follow my own sound advice, and realistically, most of my basic jewellers tools - pliers, files, cutters, torch, etc – are always left out on the bench. When all these tools are combined with all those exciting bits (that I leave out ‘just in case’ or for inspiration), such as findings, coloured beads, bits of wire, sheet and solder, that’s when I get into real problems! 

So, with the saying ‘Tidy desk tidy mind’  firmly in my thoughts, and spurred on by the launch of our new storage range, I decided to spring clean my workshop! I started by organising my tools, using a pliers stand for hand tools – ensuring that blades/jaws are kept away from each other (this also lengthens the life of tools). I moved all my reels of wire onto a workstation that allows me to dispense them easily, plus creating a dedicated area for soldering; with my soldering torch, block, Borax cone & dish all in one area.

 

Click here for NEW Storage

Then onto the BIG task: organising my jewellery findings, settings, and stock of sheet & wire. The bullion element was relatively easy, just ensuring that my 9ct sheet is kept separate from 18ct sheet, easily achievable with some simple drawers. However, organising components was unfortunately a much bigger job! I am forever being frustrated by having mixed sizes, colours, types of findings – or the worst case scenario – mixing up silver findings with carat gold findings!  I used a variety of simple containers, and plastic bags to organise my components. These simple, and thankfully cheap containers are all clear – so I could easily see the pieces, had tight fitting or locking lids – so no danger of losing any, and many of them conveniently stack together to save space.

Click here for NEW Containers