Design Beginnings...

I am trying out ideas for a bracelet line that will feature fine (.999) hammered and textured silver bangles and links. The toggle clasps are also handmade using the fusing technique. I truly love shaping and texturing metal with nothing but a hammer, and then embellishing it with whatever strikes my fancy that day. Making ball-ended head pins is great fun, as well, and they are perfect for swirling around hammered links. These two bracelet design ideas will be done again when I get some heavier silver wire delivered. The 16g I currently have is just a bit tooo thin to get the look I'm going for here.

Beautiful Labradorite

From the minute I first laid eyes on labradorite, I loved it. The form that I first saw was a soft gray and flashed with blue fire - this is still my favorite color of the stone that ranges from yellow to red to even black. I recently discovered that sunstone is actually a red form of labradorite. One day I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and won these gorgeous huge beads in an ebay auction by a gem cutter in China! So I guess now I'm an importer!! This bracelet features 18mm faceted labradorite beads accented with sterling silver and a single Swarovski crystal.

Casual Copper

I started doing copper pieces earlier this fall so I could perfect my texturing techniques on something less expensive than silver. Somewhere along the way I fell in love - copper is a joy to work with, and goes so well with all the lovely, warm colors and textures of the fall and winter seasons. Here is one of my favorite projects - a pair of hand textured copper earrings with onyx chip dangles. Very fun and casual....

December Rainbow

This piece is the beginning of a new series of crystal chakra jewelry. Each piece will have all seven colors of the chakra, as well as at least one clear crystal. Wearing pieces like this which contain a balance of all the colors are said to help in balancing your chakras and to keep your energy field in harmony. Whether or not you subscribe to this belief system, the jewelry does feel good to wear!!

Christmas is coming, coming.......

I love Christmas, and this weekend I really started getting in the mood. I've completed the first of several gifts, and am starting to think about decorating the house.....ho, ho, ho......
This set is a "wild" mix of sesame jasper, hypersthene, onyx, picture jasper, tigereye, freshwater pearls and animal print clay beads. The earrings are made from two of my fused metal circles which were hammered for a bit of texture, and dangle from hand forged ear wires.

Fresh Color

This necklace is another piece that was inspired by a WetCanvas! WAF theme-- one of artist Shannon Bowley's paintings. (shannonbowley.com)

I find that I really enjoy designing to a theme - it gets the mind going in new directions and gives inspiration for new collections. This one just might be the beginning of next Spring's new collection....hmmmmm.

Fun with Rings!

Still playing around with metal, and have found that I love making rings! I've started a new line of fused and hammered pinky and stacked ring sets. The

little pinky rings are made from handmade ball-ended headpins which are then bent and hammered into shape. I'm thinking about added some that also have little gemstone dangles - we'll see. The stacked rings are little sets of 3 or 5 fused circles that have been hammered in different ways to provide some texture. Stay tuned for variations on this idea, too - I'm thinking little tiny bezel-set gems would be fun here....