I have always wanted to see the ancient Korean art of Keum-Boo practiced and this week I had the opportunity.

Keum-Boo is a gilding technique of applying gold foil onto silver.  Although, the example I observed applied gold leaf and it does appear that this works just as well.  The silver needs to be fine silver quality or if 925 sterling silver is used then it needs to go through the process (similar to reticulation) of heating and pickling several times to ensure it is suitable for applying the gold.   It is absolutely vital that all items, silver / gold/ tools are exceptionally clean or the gold will not adhere.  The base item is heated to near fusing point and the heat is withdrawn.  Immediately the gold leaf or foil is placed into position with a pair of tweesers or similar and then rubbed thoroughly with a burnisher or suchlike.  Once it has been quenched, provided you cannot scratch it off with your fingernails, then you know you've done a good job.  It produces some amazing effects and here's an example of small piece of gold foil on a silver disc.

During the week, I also added to my Horse Jewellery.  This is one of my Collections where I have wanted to provide more choice for quite a while and the charm was a natural progression. 

I'm intending to add further to the equestrian selection as in the next couple of weeks I will be undertaking some learning with resin setting - now who knows what could come from this process?  What this space!

Lesley x

For the eagle-eyed among you, what changes have you noticed?  They might be subtle, but actually there's been a whole host of amendments to my website over the last week.

Firstly, I have upgraded the website with my web host - this isn't visible to anyone else, but what it does mean is that I have many new features available to me - and subsequently to you as a user of the Lesley H Phillips jewellery website.

  This is a major development.  A new payment gateway, exchanged from Cardsave who decided that they would bring in new Terms and Conditions from the 1st April 2014, which would inevitably have led to an increase in prices.  Having advised them that I will no longer use their services and upgrading my facilities, it now means that as a purchaser you don't even need to leave my website to make your purchase.  I share a full security certificate.  When you begin to make your purchase you will see the padlock appear at the bottom right of your computer screen and the very subtle change in the header bar means you will see the padlock again and the website address changes from http:// to https:// meaning that you are on a SECURE SERVER.

Http stands for Hyper Text Transport Protocol and the S at the end stands for Secure.  This means that no-one could 'eavesdrop' into your conversation with your computer and your credit card/debit card details are 100% safe!  If you use PayPal with my site, you'll see that you are taken away from my website to complete the transaction on PayPal's secure server.

What else is different?  I'm working my way through this change - the upgrade has allowed me to have up to 6 images to show you an item of jewellery from several different angles.  Take a look at the first few bracelets on offer and you'll see that you can click on any thumbnail to get a larger version - then click on that larger version and you'll see an enlargement of that.  Much better for you to get a good feel of what it is you're buying.

More improvements are available with this upgrade - and as I begin to roll them out, then I'll certainly let you know what the benefits are for you!

Thanks for reading my blog and if you have any questions or comments, do please make them,

Lesley x