Silver Hamsa

Brass bonbon dish

It all started with a bonbon plate. A lovely brass hamsa shaped one with lots of detail that I found in a local craft shop O'de Rose. It's not just the engraved five fingered outline (hamsa means five in Arabic) but also the gentle cupped curve that I love. This plate begs to be picked up and held, despite the inevitable fingerprints the shiny metal finish acquires. The hamsa has long been used through out the Middle East as a symbol of protection representing blessings, power, and strength.

Ideas board

I was inspired to try making something this shape myself; a spoon or a tiny bowl perhaps? Eventually after trawling the web for inspiration I settled on a pendant. Pictures of Omani and other regional jewellery gave me the idea of hanging it so it would swing. This was to be without a doubt an ambitious project for a novice silversmith like me. I needed cut a silver hand shape, hammer it into a curved bowl-like shape, make and attach a tube and finally create a "hinge" with a loop at each end from which to suspend it.

The project was started before the summer at evening classes, and resumed in January when I joined Don Sankey's morning workshops at the Tashkeel Centre, Nad Al Sheba. He has good humouredly encouraged this novice through each step, demonstrating techniques and proffering much needed advice on how to do the trickier bits like soldering the final loop on the hinge which had to be done with the hand in place.

The result could have been used as a spoon but it was a pendant I was after. A heavy Italian made silver chain was acquired in Dubai's Gold Souk to complement the piece. It was a bit nerve racking to be cutting a relatively expensive chain but I'm pleased with the unique end result. I have learnt a huge amount through this process especially that a huge part of silver smithing is about filing and polishing! Despite the time it takes it is extremely satisfying to gradually bring a flat piece of metal to life and I can't wait to complete my next project(s).

The pictures below show the finished piece, though I had difficulty actually taking these shots as the convex side has a highly polished surface (and I suspect high maintenance). The reverse has a satin finish so it can be worn either way round to suit my mood. One thing I'm sure is that it will not spend much time hiding away in my jewellery box but has already become a favourite to be worn often.

Shiny side up

Satin reverse

Bracelet Inspiration

Pink craft wire coils made on a size 2 knitting needle,
blue glass beads and "silver" daisy spacers, 
all threaded on memory wire with a simple clasp

Reversible bracelet in right angle weave using creamy glass pearls,
green crystal rondals and gold seed beads,
overstitched with crosses in god seed beads 

Ready made caged beads joined with twisted wire jump rings
to create four circles of beads. Two circles were
placed either side of a larger bead as a focal.

A bracelet stack - four circlets of plastic beads threaded on
beading elastic with a couple of metal beads to add sparkle.

Crystal hoops - glass bicones on memory wire.
The blue and grey one also includes some African seed beads

Crystal clusters are easy to make. Thread 8 bicones onto
individual headpins and wrap a loop on top. Take 5 or 6 cm of
wire wrap a loop at one end thread on a bicone then all the
headpins top with another bicone then arrange the pins to
make the tightest possible bundle before wrapping another
loop in the open end of the wire as close to the beads as
possible.

Jewellery Design - the process?

I picked up some lovely shells on the beach at the yacht club recently. They seemed quite exotic to my British eye all swirly and spiky so I wanted to make some jewellery with them. But how, with what? There were no convenient holes to add a jump ring to or thread some chord through. For a week or so all the shells I'd gathered sat on my kitchen worktop and I simply admired them each time I put the kettle on. Some were shiney orange as if varnished others rough with barnacles but my favourite of all remained the white spikey ones. From a brief trawl of the web I believe they are some kind of "Murex" but shell indentification is not my forte. They are pretty however and I wanted to wear them. What could I do that would serve as a permanent reminder of my time in Bahrain (which is rapidly coming to an end) and which would compliment my wardrobe?

Earrings? There wasn't a matched pair of shells and my favourite ones were anyway far too spiney to be comfortable suspended under my ears, close to the neck. Bracelet? Too fragile. Pendent on a necklace... that seems right but what would show them off best? The design process is a funny one. Part inspiration and part perspiration.

First I needed to suspend my shell and was reminded of a email from one of the beading magazine publishers I received a month or so ago where an awkward shaped stone was wrapped in wire to make a pendant. I looked it up decided it wasn't really what I wanted and instead made a gentle spiral of thin 1mm gauge brass wire round a fat marker pen leaving plenty of spare wire at either end. This fitted over my shell with a bit of easing and teasing to fit the wire round and over the spikes. The soft wire opened up too much though and the fragile shell nearly landed on the tiled floor. for security I fashioned a U in one end of the wire and slipped it into the tight curl at the bottom of the shell, a few minutes of further fiddling and the rest of the wire curled round and up following the swirls of the shell and cumulating in a neat twisted loop. I had my pendant.

Inspired by my sucess with the pendant I dug through my stash of beads and ended up making two other necklaces with beads I uncovered before I hit on the right combination of colours and textures to suit my shell! I left the shell and various selections of potential beady companions on a tray over night, pored over it again whilst eating my breakfast and eventually in the afternoon made my choice. Pale round wooden beads interspersed with darker rice shaped beads also in wood. All threaded on tiger tail with a pale brown ribbon fastening, hinting at driftwood but so much smoother. Just right for a beach find but I'm still not sure I understand the thought processes that result in a pleasing design.