Where have I been and what am I doing???

Well… I had a little mishap… I live in a cold place and sometimes that causes problems… I slipped & fell on the ice, face first into my driveway… the short version is I ended up with a banged up chin, scraped up left hand, and a cracked rib… If you'd like the long version you can follow the link to my main blog :)

In the meantime, I got a rolling mill (see my previous post about trying one out), and only today was feeling up to shifting it around so I could finish getting it unpacked and cleaned….

So working on my jewelry has been on hold (ho-hum)… but I'm planning on getting down into the studio tomorrow (as long as I'm still feeling better - hope I didn't overdo it today)… so I hope to have something to show soon…

In the meantime I snapped a couple pictures at our favorite local music store, and I'm thinking about doing some music-inspired jewelry (someday)…

They're already jewelry-like, not sure what direction I want to go with this…

A little something something...

I've really enjoyed my time in my metalworking class (see Playgrounds tab), and I've learned so much, but I really need to spend time working on my own and getting better at what I already know… so…  I was having my last day as a "regular" at Kirk's studio yesterday, and as such wanted to try doing a couple things I hadn't done before… one of which was to create a textured surface using a Rolling Mill - and I had a lot of fun doing that (don't know why I never tried it before)!!

I ended up with lots of little copper bits with fun textures, and I started making things out of them willy-nilly… and ended up with two fun & funky rings…

This one's curly-q ends up setting like a stone would set on top of the finger…

I used a hand-saw to cut out this little heart… this piece is fun & comfortable to wear & just plain makes me smile!!

Here's a photo I snapped with my phone of me wearing it (oops, a bit out of focus)…

That's all for now, I have more textured copper lying around that I'll probably make earrings or a necklace out of eventually… :)

That's much better...

I'd been a bit unhappy with a piece I made a couple weeks ago… it was one of my Whimsical Hearts pieces, the one with the skull bead… it just wasn't working for me… so today I reworked it, and I like this much better.

This now has three smaller hearts hanging down… no skull… Large heart is torch-fire enameled copper with a coating on the back to keep it from staining skin/clothes, the rest is sterling silver.

Water Garnet in Silver...

I love the colors of this stone, greens & purplish-pinks…

I decided on a nice simple setting - a backless bezel with a vine-like decoration…

Much simpler than my last piece, but beautiful in its own right...

It's Finally Done!!

You really can't tell from this picture what a pretty piece this turned out to be… the subtle changes side-to-side from rounded to flat… the hand bent little heart-shaped leaves… the wide variety & depth of color in the stones...

This finally got finished this evening, and though it may not look like it this is my most difficult piece to date - by far!!  More heart & sweat & pain & time in this one than any of my others…

This piece is Sterling Silver (bezels are Fine Silver), made with 10 gauge 1/2 round wire, and has 6 small Red Creek Jasper stones set in backless bezels...

A Favor For Mom

When I was a teenager my Dad bought my Mom & I matching Turquoise rings. Each had a rather large Turquoise stone which worked ok for me (I have large hands) but was huge on my Mom's slender hands (she wears a 4.5 on her ring finger).  My Dad passed away several years ago, so gifts from Dad are precious to all of us…

I knew Mom wasn't likely to wear the ring, so I offered to remount the stone in a pendant… I thought I'd do a double-heart motif, but that ended up being rather large & Mom doesn't go for large necklaces… so I called Mom & told her that wouldn't work, and she gave me carte blanche - that's right, she's not seen it & doesn't know what it looks like.  She'll only know what it looks like if one of her sisters shows her an online picture (which would be ok).

This piece challenged me, I was working with a heavy wire (that's a 1/2 round wire around the edges) and having to work it around the bezel.  Also I soldered the base of the bezel so that it would attach in the middle of the wire - on the back you can see that it's raised up in the center.

I've learned a few things, and hopefully I'll remember what I learned the next time I try a piece like this.  The hard work on this is complete, now I just need to get a lobster-claw clasp (I have some on order) and attach it to one end of the chain… then it will be ready to ship off to Mom - I hope she likes it!!

Garden Wall...

I'm calling this "Garden Wall"… that's what it makes me think of… a stone wall with vines…  made with Sterling Silver and Jasper...

And some earrings that "agree", again a vine motif...

This was the original concept model I got from just playing around a couple days ago...