Celtic cufflinks

Phew, that's the December rush over with! I can't complain too much about being busy as that means I've got business coming in, but it has been a mad month with only 2 days off between working on pieces and manning my stand at a few craft fairs. The next few posts will be showing off what I've been working on as Christmas presents (both for others to gift and one for me to gift too) starting with one I know has already been given so there's no chance of spoiling the surprise for the recipient!

A customer came to me at the beginning of October looking to commission something as a gift for 'her beloved'. All she had was a sketch of a celtic motif that he liked, and a rough idea that either a ring or cufflinks would be worn and appreciated. As the motif was square I suggested cufflinks as a ring would have to be very wide to accommodate the full motif, and of the sketches I presented to her she chose to have the motifs split across 2 rectangles per cufflink (joined by a chain to go through the cuff).

After much experimentation the design was rolled on to a strip of silver, which was then cut, filed and emery-ed to make the individual rectangles and given a light polish.

Once two of the rectangles had been hallmarked by the Assay Office (one mark per cufflink in case the pair get separated at any point in the future) it was a 'simple' case of polishing each rectangle to a higher shine, soldering the chains in place then giving the whole cufflinks their final polish.

Fortunately the customer loved them, and I got a text from her a few days later to let me know that the recipient had too, which is always good to know!