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Thread: September Theme Competition

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    42

    Default September Theme Competition

    This Month's Theme......

    Harvest

    Hello everyone!

    September is upon us, where did the summer go?

    We love the rich colours, full shapes and organic feel of harvest. So, if you have any harvest themed designs then we would love for you to share them with us all!

    So post your design incorporating this theme within this thread with a little bit about the piece and the winner will be revealed at the end of the month!


    The Winner will WIN a combination Rolling Mill!!


    GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT'S INSPIRED YOU THIS MONTH!!


    A few legalities...

    Terms & conditions

    No purchase necessary. The closing date for the competition will be 30.09.2012. The winner will win a Combination Rolling Mill. The judging process will take place on 03.10.2012. Our Silversmith Judging Panel will make the final decision.

    The Competition is open to all Cookson Precious Metals customers who are UK residents and aged 18 years and over.

    Only one entry per person.

    There is no cash alternative. Cookson Precious Metals reserves the right to change the prize for one of equivalent value.

    The winner will be notified on the forum within this thread by 05.10.2012. The winner's name and county will be available by sending a stamped addressed envelope to: The Competition Secretary, Marketing Department Cookson Precious Metals, 59-83 Vittoria Street. Birmingham B1 3NZ.

    Employees of Cookson Precious Metals, their agents and families are excluded from the competition together with any person connected to the competition.

    Entry into the competition is deemed as acceptance of the rules. The winner agrees to participate in any publicity in connection with the competition.

    To enter the competition, simply publish your design/comment within this thread.

    No correspondence will be entered into. The judging panel's decision is final. The promoter is Cookson Precious Metals

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    56

    Default

    No one?

    I've spent the weekend finishing mine, just need to take some photos now, but really didn't want to go first! Saying that, it was an experiment that didn't turn out as well as I hoped, so at least there is hope of winning by default ;-)

    Are people uninspired by the theme of harvest, or are we all as desperate to win this prize as I am, and playing our poker faces til the last minute?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Central London
    Posts
    8,845

    Default

    It might not be a case of inspiration, fay144. Some of us don't even want to compete for a rolling mill. If you would like one, go for it now. Dennis.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    56

    Default

    True, I guess a lot of the regular competitors will already have one.

    I'll definitely take some photos this week and upload them.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    776

    Default

    Some of us might not be entering because the judging seems a little off ..................... I and not a few others were a little surprised that a one post wonder won last month over at least two entries that were really much better (for me the swallows hands down) perhaps we the "active" forum members should decide who is a winner by voting, not so terribly difficult a thing to do and perhaps the rules need to be tightened ............... a new piece for the competition not some stock item that has been lying in the drawers for ages (not sure how that would work but hey get a bit of honesty in your entries). I don't much care if this sounds like sour grapes, because I know I am not alone in thinking this.

    My entry for this month would have been a cornucopia (Cornelius is derived from the latin cornucopia) with stones representing the fruits but ...........the rules as they are say I cannot enter as I am a foreigner so I will save my metal and stones (even though I was told by the previous, now disappeared rep of Cookson that I could enter).
    Last edited by Kwant; 24-09-2012 at 06:30 PM. Reason: extra info

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    56

    Default

    Thanks for the reply Kwant, I hadn't realised that - I was busy with the day job last month and not paying much attention to the forum.

    It's a funny competition in a way - there were a few points while I was making my piece for this month where it occured to me that I could just superglue the thing together, for sake of the photos, and no one would ever know that it wasn't really wearable... But I resisted the temptation!

    I'm going to enter anyway - mainly because I really want a rolling mill. And also because I think I had an interesting idea this month, but choose the wrong technique to create it, and I'd appreciate advice from the people who would have done it better.

    I decided to use this month to try something I'd been thinking about for a while. I 'harvested' some long grasses, and coated them in 8 thick layers of metal clay paste. I fired them in the kiln, and then formed them into a braclet, soldering the blades together. This looked amazing, and I was tempted to take photos then, but it was far too fragile to actually wear. I strengthened some weak points with solder, but realised that it just wasn't going to work. So I added a strip of silver sheet in the middle, and soldered the metal clay to this. This added the strength that I needed, but it lost the delicate look that I loved - I wanted it to look like a single blade of grass wrapped around my wrist. I oxidised the piece, and then cleared most of it off, except in the deepest bits.

    I like this idea, but in pracise, I think metal clay was the wrong thing to use. It took hours of very careful burnishing to shine and work harden this piece, and depite this, the finish isn't great. And there is no way that the clay would be strong enough to stand alone without additional silver. This might be because I didn't coat it thick enough - I've not used silver clay often. But I think that what I really wanted to do was use electro-forming? I've seen examples on this forum of people using that, and I think that's what I was trying to achieve. Or once I did an organic casting in a class, and that might have been suitable, if I'd coated the grass with something first?

    Anyway, comments appreciated...

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    Last edited by fay144; 25-09-2012 at 09:09 AM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    Central London
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    Well it's still very attractive fay and it is unusual to offer advice in a competition, so I will say only briefly that you can send most dry objects for silver forming (Like silver plating and too toxic to do yourself). But it would still be just a fragile shell. I don't think it would burn out well for casting, but you could make it in wax first and get a stronger cast result. Dennis.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    56

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    Thanks for the reply Dennis!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    373

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    Due to juggling two small children & work, it's very hard to find the time to enter - as much as I wanted to :/ I do check these forums as regular as I can, while getting 5 mins to myself with a cup. I think what you said Kwant was rather spiteful. I was very, very proud of my design especially when you consider I am totally self taught & although I've been making component jewellery for 4 years I've only picked up smithing within the last 6 months. Trying my hand at smithing was always my main goal, but finding the money for the basic tools was a non starter due to having my two wee ones. The component jewellery making gave me alot of experiance with what people buy in terms of style, experiance with selling to people on a one to one basis and the moneys raised from those sales helped to buy me the smithing tools needed.
    I made my website and maintain it myself, between making more jewellery, child care, house work, educating myself on smithing techniques. I'm basically juggling more than I can manage at the moment.
    That particular item that Kwant is refering to took me the best part of a week to finish, the lessons I learnt from making it were too many to mention, it was an incridable learning curve for me.
    I can assure you that item was not a stock peice that was sitting in a drawer for months - it was designed and made by me - specifically for the competition. If you care to argue more I can provide you with original photographs of the item being made, these photos will have the date within the properties of the photo of when the photo was taken. These photos are already available on the internet on my webpage.

    I started the jewellery business when I found I was about to have a family 4 years ago. I was unemployable (as I'd just moved from my hometown in Scotland to be with my intended husband, who's from Stoke), pregnant and had no qualifications. I built my business up myself from nothing and learnt new skills along the way. I started it becasue I wanted to not only provide for my babies, but to also make them proud. I'm still in my twenties.
    I think, I hope, I've succeeded in my goal, and your opinion on what I'm doing Kwant - or how I didn't deserve to win, or that in some way it was a fix up, I can only assure you that it wasn't & although the things you said are very hurtful, it doesn't actually matter. I know how hard I work, I know how much blood sweat & tears went into that particular item and I'm STILL proud of my acheivements, regardless of what people like you express.

    I could go on, but I really don't think this is the place for it. If you've any further issues with me Kwant, please do take it to private messages, instead of hyjacking Cooksons forums with hate. Perhaps you'll even get a reply, if I can find the time.

    I wish everyone else a very good day & happy crafting =)
    Sian Williamson

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Cornwall
    Posts
    3,172

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    Hi Sian, please don't think that everyone agrees with Cornelius. I thought your butterfly cuff was lovely and especially so as you're just at the beginning of your career and that you used some quite difficult techniques to achieve it. I still think it was well deserved. Please keep posting and entering competitions.

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