Tans Shiny Things

Tans Shiny Things I restring & hand knot beads; create jewellery from old silver, copper, bronze, gold plus refurbish.

15/03/2026

For my birthday last year lovely hubby John bought us three girls (me, my sister and our mum) a long weekend staying in gorgous Chillingham Castle. We've never stayed in a castle before and it has been such a wonderful experience that we're planning to come back in September.

The trees shown in the photos are yew trees, which can live for a very long time. The early history of these ones is rather gruesome, but times were then. I love that two of the trees have fallen over, but are still going. It's not obvious in the video clip, but almost the whole of the canopy over the first tree is that tree, it isn't just hanging on with only a couple of branches.

If you can get to Chillingham Castle, which in Northumberland, UK - I definitely recommend it. (Unless you're afraid of ghosts - it is apparently very much haunted.) It's privately owned and full of interesting things, much of which you're allowed to touch. We even have free access to parts of the castle, just to wander in during our stay.

Home to our respective lovely hubbys tomorrow in Scotland, England and Wales.

Tania xx

10/03/2026

Hi everyone,

If you follow me you will have seen the huge amount of recent purchases I had to start going through today. I've now sorted through everything on the desk. Three of those have been added to our Etsy shop There are a few other small bits I want to do something with but most will go to crafting friends.

Tomorrow I'll start on the trays of stuff on my steel table. I doubt anything else will beat the lovely surprise of this coin though. It just goes to show, it's worth looking carefully - this coin was amongst other ones that are worth nothing.

Tania 😁

10/03/2026

This is the result of someone's garage clear out. They'd inherited all sorts of things years ago and kept a load of it in boxes in the garage.

It's a win - win situation. They get a tidy garage and some money, we get to find potential treasures.

The jewellery we can't sell will either be given to visiting children - or will go to crafting friends to be turned into something new. Very little is wasted.

Only the hand made jewellery is TsT. The shop is called MIH Bazaar and you can find us here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/L79SsL6zZi6Esu256?g_st=ac

Tania and John. Xx

08/03/2026

Hi everyone,

following on from my previous reel - this is the finished wax carved, sand cast, polished and stone set ring I made as a gift for our friend Gordon's 80th birthday gift.

I'm still very new to this wax carving thing, so quite slow. If you are local to Southport and want a fabulous, bespoke wax carved piece of jewellery, I suggest you go to , who are experts at it and lovely people.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

Tania x

07/03/2026

I don't have the same greens as Heather. This spring green is my nearest. As the outer surace of the bowl is meant to respresent grass (the inner is a pond) I'm just going to say this is bright green spring moss. 😆

The important thing here is that I have now used my own kiln. It's only sat there since July 2024 - I was too scared to try it. Now I'm ok.

I know there are others of you that have an irrational fear of a tool you've bought. Knowing I'm not alone in this, is one of the great things of our on-line community. Now I've overcome that fear, I'll be able to continue my enameling journey.

Cheers,

Tania xx

05/03/2026

So, this is what I got up to today 😁

04/03/2026

My very first day of wax carving in my own workshop! I'm really pleased how it's turned out so far. It will be interesting to see if this is strong enough to sand cast from tomorrow.

I think I'll do a bit more tidying up of the carved wax before I cast though, as I want to leave some of the sand texture in place, so want to keep final filing to a minimum.

Has anyone else started wax carving recently? Pics please and tag me if you have (or algorithms might not show me your lovely work).

Cheers,

Tania x

03/03/2026

I bought the extra two benches in a black friday sale a couple of years ago because so many customers were asking if I teach.

I don't want to teach regularly for a number of reasons. First and foremost - I'm still learning myself. Also, I'm technically retired - I'm not looking for a third full time career and I certainly don't want to end up teaching instead of making. Having said that, I never fell out of love with teaching (I taught secondary Maths and Business for 13 years), so the occasional workshop with up to 3 students, teaching only the basics, is a nice compromise. If anyone wants anything more complicated or regular I'm pointing them towards Heather.

So, I have three benches. My lovely big main bench. The smaller blue setters bench, where my hammer handpiece pendant motor and other setting tools are set up. The middle bench was largely unused - there just for an occasional student. Well - now it's my wax carving bench as well.

I'm so lucky to have all this space. I hope we get to keep the shop and workshop for a long time yet.

Photos of wax carving to follow tomorrow. It'll either be a 'yay!" if it works - or will give you a laugh if it doesn't 😆

Cheers,

Tania x

03/03/2026

I have a signet ring to make. After my wax carving weekend I've decided to make the ring in wax and sand cast it.

I only have shelves under my benches though (I use what are supposed to be a catch trays as a storage drawers.) So, after a tidy up (my kind of tidy - I'm not an empty work top kind of girl 😆) I'll need to figure out how to catch those pesky wax shavings.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Tania xx

01/03/2026

I've really enjoyed this weekend. We've learned a lot, laughed a lot and made new friends.

Pave setting, which I found so difficult doing in silver, is much easier in wax. I'm pleased with how it turned out - for a first try.

Thank you for organising it and Scott of for your excellent teaching.

😁

❤️

28/02/2026

If you follow me you'll know that I'm taking part in a stone setting in carved wax workshop this weekend at being taught by the incredibly talented Scott McIntyre of .

This is just a peep at what we've been doing. Obviously, the pieces are not perfect - not on a first attempt. But I'm pleased that they're not awful either.

The obligatory new tools have been ordered. (Why does every new course require new tools - regardless of how much you already have? 😆)

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. More photos to follow.

Tania xx

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Southport

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Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm

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