Rings, raffle prizes and lots of copper spirals

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a rush, with lots of work to finish to pending deadlines. Because of promises I'd made, birthdays coming up and favours I needed to repay, only a small part of this work has ended up as paid work, but I've got through a significant volume of work - and all on time.

I'd promised my mother-in-law that I would make a couple of items for a raffle she was holding - it was her 80th birthday party at the weekend and she wanted to hold a free raffle to give her guests back some gifts as she holds many fundraising raffles and is always asking people to donate prizes or buy tickets, so she wanted to give something back, for free.

Chalk turquoise and antiqued copper spiralled bracelet.

So I looked what beads I had a decent stock of and decided that bracelets are fairly universally worn - most people can wear an average size and it might prove easier to get right than earrings or a necklace. So I made two copper bracelets, one with some chalk turquoise beads and another with mahogany obsidian.

Mahogany obsidian and antiqued copper bracelet made for a raffle prize.

With raffle prizes, it is my practice to gift wrap the item and place it into a sealed gift bag with a photo label describing the contents tied outside the bag - it saves the packaging from being disturbed to see what it is and if it isn't to the recipients taste, it's already gift wrapped to give as a gift. So, having taken some photographs for that purpose, I decided I might as well list them for sale as 'made to order', so took some more photos for that purpose - considering that its often the most tedious part of the selling process and I'd already half done the job.

My mother-in-law is a long term arthritis sufferer and experiences great pain in her hands and a little while ago bought one of my one of my rosebud knot rings to see if there was anything in the reputed health benefits of wearing copper. She absolutely swears that it has significantly improved the comfort level in the finger she wears it on and asked for another ring for the finger on the other hand that gives her most pain.

So I wanted to make her a selection of rings, for her birthday, in the size we'd established would suit so that she could mix and match - so I made two decorative rings and a pair of co-ordinating stackers. The main feature ring is polished raw copper featuring a central twist section. My favourite I think is a slightly hammered copper band with a solid nugget or pebble of Sterling silver. I've oxed it darkly to highlight the silver.

I supplemented the decorative rings with a plain, square profile chunky stacking ring and a simply made and rather rustic antiqued faceted stacker in a slightly finer gauge.

My other work entailed making several sets of necklaces and earrings featuring the spiral coils of copper between stones that I've blogged recently. I got some gorgeous Indian Fancy Jasper stones from my friend Maisy to make a set up for a very good customer in the US who fancied the idea of some of the stones in this design of necklace and I'm very happy with how it has turned out, the blue green of the stones looks fabulous with the antiqued copper tones.

I hope that the customer will like it when it makes its way over the Atlantic to her.