My summer ‘blog vacation’ is officially over!

And yes, this is finally a piece for my “Stones of the American West” collection.  One of my main goals this summer was to increase my production speed so I can keep up with orders and work for my galleries, but still have time to create new things.   Ha ha, and my goal for the Fall is to keep up with orders, make new things, and still have time to blog and twitter…….and we won’t even mention the benign neglect that my poor garden has to put up with!

Speaking of galleries and shops – I now have work in the lovely Spirit of the Hand gallery located in Dandridge, Tennessee, just outside of Gatlinburg.  I’ve shopped there for years, one of my very favorite places for Christmas gifts and fabulous pottery.  I’m so excited to have my work featured there!

I’ve also been busy this summer with quite a bit of custom work, which I am finding that I really love!  My customers are truly a source of wonderful inspiration for new pieces to add to my shop!  I’m making myself a pair of these Dragonfly Dreams  earrings that I made for Doris to go with her Dragonfly Treasure ring (originally inspired by another customer request!)  Doris loves iolite, and both her ring and earrings have gorgeous iolite stones.

 Another request from this summer with an iolite stone was this sweet pendant that I did for Robin.  This one will soon be available in my shop, too.  I’ll be calling it “Live, Dream, Soar”, a saying that I’ll be incorporating into several new pieces that I’m working on.  

 

 

I’ve also been playing around a bit with fold forming this summer.  I really love this technique, and will be filling out an entire line in the next few weeks.  I wish silver prices would go back down so I can do some pieces in silver, but sheesh, I hate to buy a bunch of sheet at today’s prices – it’s almost $17.00 per ounce!   Here is a sneak peek at my next cuff-to-be.  This is just a small piece that I was playing with, and unfortunately, not long enough for a cuff.  It’s not soldered or anything yet, I’ve just got the embellishments set loosely on the piece.  Not sure what I’ll be going with in the end.  I might end up making a brooch and some earrings out of this piece.  It’s made with 16g copper, requiring HUGE fire to get it hot enough to solder, but I love how the thicker metal makes such detailed ruffles and textures.  (had to get out the BIG hammer, too, lol)   This fold forming technique is the ‘line fold’ which has been hammered flat after it was opened.  It’s amazing what can be created with fold forming, such fun to play! 

That’s all for now, but I’ll be back soon with great Etsy and 1000 Markets finds, as well as more about what I’m working on, and of course, gardening and cooking tidbits.  See you all later!

 

Technorati Tags: Maury Mtn. Agate,artisan ring,sterling silver ring,amethyst,dragonfly earrings,iolite,copper,fold forming

Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy - 04/26/09

Another lovely spring morning is at hand, I'm on my second cup of coffee, and looking at my last tulip yielding the spotlight to Miss Nelly Moser. It's been a lovely spring for tulips here because of the unusually cold winter, and I've enjoyed every minute of their beauty.

I'll soon be heading down to the studio, and no, I'm not going to do my growing pile of dishes first. I've been catching up on twitter and facebook, and life in general after two months of being crazy busy. I'm still slightly behind, but not hopelessly so anymore. I have learned my lesson about keeping inventory on hand for wholesale orders rather than trying to fit them in and still keep up with regular and custom orders. Things have been slow in my Etsy shop for last week, so I should be able to work on several new designs I've got in progress soon. I've been having much fun with a custom ring shank design, which has now inspired a new pendant idea that I'm itching to do, too. I love when that happens!

Onward to the shopping for new Etsy treasures! I'm in the mood for an earring party today after finding these completely gorgeous earrings from Designs by Autumn. They were created with stunning multicolored sapphires, and I just love the design, it reminds me of bejeweled angel wings!

Another lovely I found in Autumn's shop is the gorgeous Paradise Reef necklace with yummy larimar and white coral. Just wow! And there's a bonus - the parts are interchangeable and can be worn in 4 different ways, from the single starfish to the full pendant shown here - great idea!



Then I found this great pair of pink and white lampwork saucer beads just perfect for a pair of earrings in my fellow Team Wetsy member's shop, Starlight Designs. I love the cranberry and white twisted stringer around the edge, they look good enough to eat!

I made a pair of golden grains earrings recently for a customer, and it reminded how much I love working with gold. I wish the price would go down so I can buy some gold wire and sheet. I'm starting to eye my gold jewelry and wonder how many things I could make if I melted it!


I found these gorgeous gold and emerald earrings in 2 Trick Pony's shop (gotta love that name!), who creates in a solar studio. I love the design on these and and warm glow of the gold that reminds me of a well loved heirloom.

Another pair of earrings that has the look of an heirloom is the lovely Yetkatarina Earrings from M. Augusta Woodland's shop. Such lovely colors and beauty with a slight touch of rustic. These so need to be hanging from my ears!! They also remind me that I need to get out my Russian filigree DVD and give it a whirl. I have wanted to do it for two years now, and it's time to get started.

I did actually buy a new pair of earrings recently, that I completely love - these beauties by Beth from her Mermaid's Den shop, one of my Team Wetsy and Wet Canvas friends. They are really beautiful, such a great design and workmanship!! Now I want more in different colors!

It's time for me to get the day started, so I'm going to go put on my new earrings and get going. 'See' you all later!

Sunday Morning Coffee and Etsy - 11/23/08

Good morning! This week I'm continuing to highlight my friends from Wet Canvas who have Etsy shops. Today, I'm highlighting the incredibly talented Andee, a jewelry artist and photographer from Germany. Her touch with beads and metal is truly inspiring, and even the most simple pieces have that special 'Andee' look to them. And her photography is nothing short of amazing. She has a way of looking at things that can make even the most ordinary a work of art.

Andee's photography talent clearly carries through to her jewelry. This pair of Peruvian opal earrings, 'Mopopal', are a brilliant study in blue, and the photography shows them off in a most spectacular way! And of course, since I am an avid gardener, I love the way her photos show off my favorite garden helpers - ladybugs!

New Earring Monday - not exactly earrings yet, but...

Okay, this is a pendant, BUT - I am working on earrings with the same design. I have wanted to make ruffles in my metal pieces for ages now, but didn't have the tools to do it well. Now that I have my new hammers, and have learned to make wooden forms, I am ruffling away! I am planning a series of ruffled pieces, many of which will hopefully be earrings. So, does this count for new earring Monday? ha, ha.....

New Earring Monday - 10/27/08

Today's earrings were actually a boo-boo I did at the retreat. I picked up tiny 4mm bezels instead of the 6mm, and didn't notice until after I had soldered them to the domes. I set little onyx stones instead of the 6mm denim lapis I had planned, but I thought the stones looked way too small, so I kind of set them aside for a while. However, the more I looked at them the more I liked them, and now I'm keeping this pair for me! I've decided they look a bit zen-like in their simplicity, and I really like the way they look on the ear. Soooo, they became this week's new design. I'll be making them with different colored stones - nice little red garnets, iolite, jade, moonstones, and whatever else strikes my fancy, or comes my way as a request. I'm making a pink rhodochrosite pair for my Mom - she likes them too!

This week's work 10/11/08

It was a good week! I've finished up the wholesale and gallery orders and am starting on new ones after the retreat. I finished up my retreat gift exchange piece (shhh, it's a secret), and made a new pair of fall earrings that I've fallen in love with. I had some little copper discs left over from another project sitting on the bench, and I made these little acorn earrings while I was waiting for some pieces in the pickle. The texture on the background is made with one of my new chasing tools. Hoping to get to try some chasing and maybe some repousse at the retreat.




Can you tell I am excited about the retreat? I've had to delay leaving from Sunday to Monday morning due to a problem with my house/sitter and parrot watcher's schedule, but that may be a blessing in disguise since I'll now have time to pack carefully rather than throw everyhing in the car and run! Ha, ha, I'll probably forget twice as much if I have too much time to think about it.

New Earring Monday - 10/06/08

One of my goals now that I am a full-time jewelry artist is to make sure that I am productive yet still fresh. I'm always thinking about new designs and sketching them, but they don't always become reality when I am busy filling orders. Everyone loves earrings, including myself, so look here every Monday for the week's new design. Today we have Casual Swirl earrings in handforged fine silver. They are just about 1 1/4 inches, and are great little everyday earrings, yet still a bit different. I put them up in the Etsy shop yesterday.

Earring Party!

I'm still short on time, so no torching or metalwork this week - I hate that!! I've got soooo many ideas that my sketch book is getting full. I had to make something, though, so whipped up a batch of earrings last night. At least I got to hammer stuff and make headpins and earwires! Made my first pair of long kidney earwires, too. These are fun, and show off smaller stones really well. I'll be making more, I think. Here's a sampling of yesterday's work, more are up on my Etsy shop. First, a pair of copper hoops that were patina'd with the torch. Then there is some great deep blue lapis on my handmade kidney earwires, and finally a pair using some georgeous bloodstone beads I've had for a while.

Hammerin' and Stampin'...

Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe it has been 10 days since I last posted! I have been busy playing with metal. Got some new stamps, and some lovely 18g copper discs. Here is a pair of earrings - 3/4 inch discs which I hand stamped with my new dragonfly stamp, then textured a bit with a hammer. Made some sterling silver wires to hang them on, and accented them with a little bali-style copper bead and a tiny sterling bead. I love these, and may just keep them for myself! I really like copper and silver together. Have also been making some chains from fused links - much fun. Have made a bracelet, and am working on a necklace to match. Stay tuned - hope to have these posted in the next couple of days.

Silver Swirls.....

I've been dying to do some filigree, but don't have the tools required yet. I was playing with my fine silver wire last night, and these swirly earrings happened. I love them (so much that I'm keeping this pair!) and they are fun to make. I think these will become a regular item on my web site. Tonight I'm going to take the hammer to a pair for a little different look. Stay tuned....