Creating and Hallmarking Jewellery

In a strange quirk I don't wear a lot of jewellery myself (I very rarely wear make-up either), but I love creating it for other people. Much like a magpie I love shiny things, so gathering together silver, gemstones and enamels to make a piece of art that can be worn makes me very happy.

Whilst also setting up our pottery workshop before Christmas, my awesome husband Steve remodeled my silversmithing and art workshop. I had once naively thought about putting the pottery studio in there as well, but seeing how much space it takes up now that would not have happened.

The hot chocolate is the most important part!

Since then I have been working on new designs and learning new techniques. I have been enamelling since I was in my 20's but have only taken it seriously for the past few years. I now create enamel miniatures for another jewellery line as well as for my own. These are three pairs of sterling silver and enamel ear inspired by sailor's tattoos (below).

Enamel sterling silver and winged heart earrings by Archer Terry Studios.

Enamel sterling silver and bluebird earrings by Archer Terry Studios.

I feel like I have been making jewellery for ages without actually selling any, but that's because we have been busy setting up the pottery studio, and also the quirks of UK hallmarking laws. Any item of silver over 7.8g sold in the UK must be hallmarked by law. In general I quite like the idea of hallmarks - it's like having a little bit of history you carry with you because you can tell who made it, what year it was made, where it was assayed etc. The downside is that it carries a cost, and many other countries (the USA for example) do not need to hallmark their items so in effect they can be slightly cheaper than UK silversmiths. However, their customers do not know if what they are buying is genuine precious metal or not, whereas in the UK you have a guarantee of quality.

The other problem is that to be as cost effective as possible it is best to send somewhere between 20-30 items to be hallmarked at once. This sounds fine, until you realise that not only can you not send in different metals in to be hallmarked for the same fee, but you can't send in different fineness of metals either. So to be cost effective you would have to send in 20-30 items of 9ct gold and 20-30 items of 18ct gold, for example. Not easy for small businesses who might not have that size of turnover.

With all that in mind I'm hoping to send my first batch off for hallmarking this year. In the meantime, you can take a look at the following dealer's poster explaining hallmarking. Legally I have to show this on my website as well, which can be found on the 'Hallmark' page in the website's footer.

I hope that explains a little about why it's taking me so long to get new jewellery up on the website! I'll let you know when it's available for sale - I'm so excited to show you!.

Kelly x