I have a new vice.....

....no, not that sort! I'm pure, simple and innocent, me ;)

a proper tool type thing

isn't she a beauty?

I wanted one of these thingies purely so I could try my hand at rivetting jewellery....but they were £25 in Homebase and that's a bit much for something I probably wouldn't use all that often...

so I tried my luck with a WANTED ad on Freecycle and a lovely lady from Wanborough replied almost immediately to say that the previous owners of her house had left a really old vice in the shed, and as she had no use for it I was welcome to pop by and pick it up...

so I did! I love how it's all old and has such character....loads better than if I'd bought a new one, plus it was freeeee - I love Freecycle!

So - anyway - I used it tonight to make my first piece of rivetted jewellery...what do you reckon?


It's burnt copper on aluminium, and the rivets are sterling silver, which is probably a bit extravagant for a practice piece, but I only used a tiny bit, and I didn't have any other wire that fitted the holes :)

The rivets look passable from the front, but the first two I did are a right royal mess around the back of the pendant, good job this one is for me so nobody has to see the back :) I'd got the hang of it by the third and fourth ones though.

I stamped the pendant with a hug ("O") and a kiss ("X") for each of my three sons, inspired by my pal Michelle, who has a real thing for the XOXOXOXOs.

And yes, I know that two of them are way too old for hugs and kisses from mum, but tough :)

The letters are all over the place, maybe I should have used some sort of guide line or a ruler....oh well, I'll learn for next time....and in the meantime I shall pretend they are all out of line on purpose, to "inject a sense of whimsy" lol