Reoccurring (Sometimes Weekly) Update - July 28th

So I'm officially an "artist"! Studio 54 Gallery in Enumclaw, WA picked nearly 20 of my jewelry pieces to display (and hopefully sell) at their gallery. Here's a few of what they picked...

I've also been busy making some new things, too.

Circle and Dot Earrings and Rings - available in my Etsy shop

Blue Lace Agate Hinged Cuff Bracelet

Fossil Coral Earrings

And straight off the jewelry desk (I finished them last night):

I was a little bit inspired by historical roman and medieval designs for these earrings. The labradorites have a nice blue green flash, too. They are pretty much my favorite stone.

I have a bunch more earrings and pendants planned out, I just need to get downstairs to my desk to start them!

Weekly Update - July 14th

I just want to pop in here really quick and share a couple recent projects!

These are Tanzanian sunstone and silver. I made the ball posts from scratch, too, which was fun.

And this was this weekend's project:

The top picture is my concept drawing and the bracelet after I had cut and soldered everything and fitted it all together. The bottom picture is after I polished everything and set the stones. I'm not sure what the stones are... they are a creamy white with purple and gray veins running through them. I DO know that soldering copper is a pain in the rear, though! I haven't soldered anything but silver in quite a while and I forgot how annoying copper is. I like the end result though! :)

I sprinted through this bracelet project because late last week, a local gallery contacted me and asked if I would be interested in displaying (and hopefully selling) a few pieces with them! I drive down and meet with them next Wednesday and I wanted to have a few more metalwork pieces to show them. I'm hoping to finish another large pendant and set of earrings tomorrow and Tuesday. Might be a little optimistic, but that's what I'll shoot for. 

Wish me luck!

Weekly(ish) update - June 7th - July 7

Well, I went to the gem show I mentioned in my last post. It was a bit of a bust. While it was mostly wholesale finished fine jewelry, it also had a lot of decently priced beads and a lot of expensive (but probably still decently priced) faceted stones. My storage boxes are already overflowing with gemstone beads, so I wasn't really in the market for those and while the sparkly diamonds caught my eye, they certainly weren't in my budget! (Or in my skill set quite yet...) So other than a box of cotton filled jewelry boxes, I walked out empty handed. Oh well... 

I did have a chance to sit down this weekend and make some new earrings. Sometimes I sketch out a design idea and then have to toss the idea completely out the window when I actually try to make it, but with this set of earrings, my drawn design worked out perfectly! Love it when that happens.

Ornate Malachite and Sterling Silver Earrings - available in my Etsy shop!

Isn't that malachite awesome? I think its the perfect color match for the Pantone color of the year (emerald green).

I also made a simpler pair of earrings with some nice London Blue Topaz beads I found.

London Blue Topaz and Sterling Silver Earrings - available in my Etsy shop!

That's about it for what I've been doing at my jewelry desk. It's a bit of a slow period for me, which is good because as I mentioned before my mother-in-law and brother-in-law are staying with us and we have been taking them sight seeing and shopping.

I did just get a package with some pretty new cabochons, so I'll try to keep the updates coming whenever I make something new!

Better late than never? What I've Been Up To Since June 1st

Wow! I've sadly neglected my updates... Very sorry! Here's what I've been doing (obviously not blogging!)

I made matching earrings and necklace from the pretty turquoise I bought during one of our road trips. It's really nice turquoise - probably stabilized but not reconstituted - a very nice typical "turquoise" blue with a nice dark gray/black matrix.

Turquoise and Sterling Silver Pendant For sale in my Etsy shop!

I also finished the jasper pendant I shared the in-progress picture of in my last update. I set it with prongs on both sides so it can be worn with either side facing out (although it does technically have a "front"). It's also in Argentium silver, which doesn't tarnish as quickly as standard sterling silver. I don't have nice pictures yet, and I still need to figure out if I want a cord or chain to hang it from. I'm leaning towards cord...

I have also been playing around with setting faceted stones. I ordered a whole bunch of lab-created rubies and sapphires and different colored CZs to give it a try. I made a ruby ring - probably just for myself since I cut the seat a little too deep in the setting and managed to solder the ring shank just a little off center. It's pretty and sparkly, though and I look forward to making more of these! I also think the 6 mm size stone would work great in simple necklace and earring designs, too.

My best friend and her mom came out from the Chicago area a couple weekends ago to visit and see Seattle. I had fun playing tourist with them for a long weekend. We did the Ducks tour (amphibious WWII vehicle driving downtown, then driving right into Lake Union for a short boat tour, with lots of puns and quacking), Pike Place, Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum of Glass. And of course, Mount Rainier. Everybody who visits us gets dragged out to Mount Rainier... Here's some photographic evidence:

My friend is also an artist, (with her own Etsy shop) and drew us portraits of our canaries and chickens while she was here. Love them!

I'm looking forward to taking the bus back into downtown Seattle for a gem show on Friday. Not sure what I'm looking to buy there, but I'll bet that I find something!

After that, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law are flying in to stay with us, so I'll probably be MIA from updating here for a while again. But hopefully not for as long!

What I've Been Up To - May 26 - June 1

Here's what I've been doing at my jewelry desk for the last week!

Another busy week here! But surprisingly, very few pictures to share... I had gotten a little backed up on orders from the holiday weekend so I spent the week pounding out a whole bunch of stacking rings.

My Mixed Metal Stacking Ring Set actually made it to Etsy's Trending Items page this week, too! (You have to scroll down and click "See More Items" a couple times, but it's there!)

I finally took pictures of a pair of earrings I finished almost a month ago. These are a "sister" pair to the labradorite circle hoops I made previously only these are rose-cut sky blue topaz.

In between all of the stacking rings, I've been slowly working on a new pendant. The cabochon is polished and has a great pattern on both sides, so I'm trying to make the pendant open on both sides with prongs holding the stone. I'm still working out how I want to attach the prongs, but here is the frame.

Then today, I took a short trip up to Everett to a gem show there and brought home a whole bag of new bright, shiny cabochons!

I'm so excited to go make jewelry out of these!

What I've Been Up To: May 19 - 25

Here's what I've been doing at my jewelry desk for the past week...

I've been swimming in a sea of mixed metal stacking rings! I spent most of my time this week trying to keep up with making custom ring orders. Here's just one (light) day's stack of rings ready to go into the tumbler.

I got to try out a new set of silicone polishing wheels, which definitely speeds up the clean-up time on the brass rings.

I did manage to make a completely new necklace this week, too. I've been holding onto some sterling gallery wire bezel that I've been trying to figure out where to use. I ran across a random pearl cabochon in my stash that was perfect for the gallery wire bezel. I got everything shaped and soldered and then dunked it all in some liver of sulfur solution to darken it and ended up with a rainbow of iridescent blue, green, yellow and red. I kinda wish I knew what I was doing to get these colors, because I always end up with them when I don't want them, but can't figure out how to get them when I try!

In any case, a quick polish brought the colors down to a more subdued gray (with still some green and blue flashes in the chain) and then I set the pearl (which is ridiculously easy with gallery wire, love it!). I still need to get some nicer pictures, but here's a quick shot with my iPhone.

It has kind of a medieval flavor to it and I really like the little handmade S-hook clasp I made with the little pearl dangle. I'm looking into getting some rose cut or plain gemstone cabochons to make some variations on this necklace. I think onyx would be a nice contrast. And of course I'm always partial to amethyst...

My husband and I went for a bit of a drive yesterday across the mountains, just to explore. We ended up in Ellensburg, WA and as soon as we rolled into town, we ran across a rock shop/bead store! Its like it was meant to be. They cut their own cabochons in-house, so I spend quite a while drooling over their rough slabs, wishing I had the space, equipment, and know-how to cut my own cabs, then I picked out a few finished cabochons.

The color isn't great in this picture, but that's a red jasper and three turquoise. I'm going to make the teardrop into a pendant and the pointed ovals into a pair of matching earrings. It's probably better for my wallet that this shop is so far away. My husband had to practically drag me out!

Until next week!

What I've Been Up To - May 12 - 18

Here's my weekly update from my jewelry desk...

Another busy week here!

I had my first craft fair this year on May 11th and a lot of this week was putting all my supplies and displays away and then catching up with online orders for that weekend. I'm still trying to catch up and I have a whole mess of stacking rings to finish on my desk right now.

I did manage to take photos and list my floral pattern wire and hammered wire bangle bracelets in my shop. Here are some pictures:

Floral Pattern Sterling Silver Bangle Bracelet - available for sale here

Hammered Sterling Silver Stacking Bangle - available in my shop

And I also took better photos and listed my Dragon's Blood Jasper and Garnet Necklace. I love this necklace! It's so dramatic looking.

I also played around with a larger cabochon cocktail ring style and made this Sterling Silver and Moonstone Cabochon Cocktail Ring. It's going to be one of a kind because it is a strange size of cabochon and I could only find one.

A wonderful box with a brand new propane torch arrived this week as well. This will replace my (highly overkill) MAPP gas torch as my larger project torch. I tried it out a little and it seems great! It has three tips for three sizes of flames and it attaches directly to a barbecue propane tank and uses ambient air. I will still probably use my little butane torch the most - it works great for the things that I make the most, like stacking rings - but this is a great addition to my tool box.

I also had my very first teaching experience yesterday with my Wire Wrapped Earrings class at Beadworld in Seattle! I only had two students in this first class, but that was a very good thing because we all learned that each earring project could be its own class. We ran more than an hour over the class time and I had to send them home with only one earring fully finished for each project. Luckily, they said that my project instructions (the ones that I had to scramble to finish last week!) were very clear and my directions in person were helpful and they would have fun finishing at home and making more earrings. 

Unfortunately the Bird's Nest Pendant class was cancelled due to low attendance. The weather has been too nice here for people to want to sign up for an indoor class! 

Still, teaching was a success. My wire wrapped donut class in June is already sold out and Beadworld has asked me to come back and teach classes for the next quarter - my two earrings projects - split into two classes, wire wrapped donuts, and a new wire wrapped cabochon class.

I'm also currently trying to transfer all of my pictures and shop documents over to a brand new laptop because my old one is becoming increasingly unpredictable. I decided I would rather spring for a new computer slightly early, rather than wake up to a Blue Screen of Death and have to scramble to recover all of my documents. I can't say I'm completely sold on the new Windows 8 yet, but I'm adapting.

That's it for my weekly update! I'm headed down to my desk to wrangle a whole bunch of stacking rings and get them ready to send out.