Recently I have been exploring the technique of adding balls (or as I like to call them 'pebbles'!) to my jewellery designs.   I started by adding little silver balls to wire as in these Ethnic Heart Earrings:

The process of soldering the balls to the hammered wire was quite a challenge and in the end they became fixed by a mixture of soldering and fusing.  I do like the final look but realised that controlling the heat of my torch was very important to whether the balls or the wire ending up fusing together.  This technique will need more practice!

Following on from the soldering/fusing idea, I then added pebbles to a ring as in these Pebble Trio Ring:

Over the past couple of weeks I have been creating jewellery based around the same theme.  I am naming this jewellery collection 'Rustic Discs'.

The first pieces I made with this theme were a pair of stud earrings that came about as an idea for a birthday present for my mother-in-law...

I cut out some little sterling silver discs with my trusty disc cutter and experimented with some textured stamps that my husband passed onto me that had belonged to his grandfather.  I decided I really liked the random texture created by one of the stamps and the marks it left on the metal.  I soldered on little misshaped balls (deliberately squashed and battered a bit) and earposts and put them in my tumbler.  This is when a little bit of magic seemed to happen because when the came out after an hour or so, the texture had taken on an extra sparkle (bottom photo).  I chose to oxidise them for my mother-in-law (top photo) and this gave the texture an interesting depth.

Following the earrings, I made a little Rustic Disc Pendant creating another texture on the larger disc...

A few days later, I created a necklace and another pendant.  I love the way the light catches on the texture and the doming of the discs seems to help the light to bounce around...

The necklace sold really quickly and I offered to make the customer a co-ordinating pair of earrings.  Like me, she doesn't really wear stud earrings (I have wonky holes!), so I offered to create a pair of earrings with earwires...

 Another addition to my collection is a stacking ring which can be worn alone or alongside other rings...

I am currently pondering a Rustic Disc bracelet or bangle... watch this space!  In the meantime, if you would like to see further details about any of the jewellery in my Rustic Disc collection, you can find them in my website shop.