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

New Work and Today's Bouquet

I've been concentrating on finishing some new work for the Glamour and Glow boutique up in Horseheads New York. This little boutique is so lovely, I wish I was close enough to visit! Some of my favorite jewelry designers have work there, including Emily Gray, whose work I've drooled over since I first saw it!

Her gorgeous Clementine earrings are a perfect match for the flowers currently blooming in my garden! I think today's bouquet is my favorite so far this year. I love the combination of the pinky orange in the Sunset variety of coneflowers combined with the vibrant Paprika yarrow, the classic purple coneflowers and the hint of sweet blush pink in the calla lilies.

My garden is definitely a source of inspiration for my work. One of the pieces I sent was this little daisy pendant with a black star diopside center. I love making these, and this design will be in the shop very soon.

Another new design is the fold-formed silver leaf that will become the first piece of several that I'll be putting in my shop. This one has a lapis stone highlighting it - I love the crisp look of lapis and silver. I'm working on a pair of earrings in this design, so simple, but still interesting and fun to make. I love fold forming, and can't believe I haven't gotten around to doing more of it until now. I'm finally setting my one of a kind stones, too.


I started a 'Stones of the American West' series last summer, and have never replaced the pieces that sold so I 'm working on those now too. Hope to finish an amethyst in Maury Mtn. agate ring shortly with this great little stone.

Something else I'm working on is new earring designs for the shop. I've got a new hoop design going with a forged ruffle. I'm going to adapt this pendant design into earrings. I've really been in the pendant mode lately, and I need to get some more earrings going. The problem is making two ruffled hoops that match, not so easy! Actually, making earrings is not my favorite thing to do because I never want to make the second one - I want to move and and make something else!