Moonstone Blossom Pendant

 

 

I created this sterling silver blossom pendant for the Art on the Wabash exhibit at the Ivy Tech campus in Lafayette, Indiana.  The petals were individually roller printed from real hydrangea petals, creating delicate veined detail.  The piece was then hand fabricated. I soldered each petal to a decorative back piece and bezel set a moonstone in the center.  I individually hand formed each petal for a lifelike appearance and created a soft appearance and depth with a hand painted liver of sulfur patina.

 

Below is a photo of the back side of this piece bearing my maker's mark and quality stamp.

 

And here is a progress shot of the blossom, once it was soldered together but before setting the moonstone and adding the patina.

New 2013 Designs

I've been busy at work in the studio this month.  Here are a few new designs for 2013:

Inspired Initial Jewelry

A couple years ago, I wrote about the engraved initial necklace given to me by my grandmother.  Since then, I've wanted to create an entire alphabet of etched handwritten initial necklaces but never found the time to do.  I was thinking about this project again at the end of August and decided it was time. Tears came to my eyes when I realized that day 2 of this project, August 28, was my grandmother's birthday.  How fitting since my initial series was very much inspired by the necklace my grandmother had given to me, which was given to her when she was born.

Owl Necklace

A couple months ago at the Indiana Artisan Marketplace, a sweet customer asked if I would consider making an owl necklace.  She loves owls and wanted a necklace with a cute little owl.  I thought of her as I was sketching some new designs last week.  What started out as a doodle turned into this tiny owl sitting on a branch.  I thought he was rather cute (especially since for some reason he also reminds me of my cat, Rufus), and I said to myself "why not put him on a necklace?"  I hope the customer who made the request checks out my shop and discovers him there.  She did say she'd be watching for an owl, and I think she would be delighted with this little guy.

A Personal Project

This week I've been working on a special personal project, a necklace to honor the memory of my dog who died on March 23 at the old age of 16. We had been together since he was just 7-1/2 weeks old, and he had been a constant studio companion since I started my jewelry business. I am grateful for the time we shared together, and I miss him deeply.

For the necklace I created a sterling silver, locket-style piece with his photo etched inside a cupped pendant, to be worn close to the heart. A sterling disc nests within the cupped piece and bears a Native American sentiment that I've handwritten and etched into the metal: "We have walked together in the shadow of a rainbow." These words have special meaning for me and remind me of our years together.

Rest in peace, my sweet boy.

Indiana Artisan Marketplace

While I've taken a bit of a break from blogging this year, I've been busy at work in the studio creating many new pieces. This weekend I'll be exhibiting at the Indiana Artisan Marketplace. If you are within an hour or two of Indianapolis, this event is well worth a road trip. It's a great opportunity to purchase some fantastic artwork from Indiana and Kentucky artists and sample and purchase edibles from the food artisans. Visit the website for details. I hope to see you there!

Green Amethyst :: Ring No. 52

My final ring for the Ring A Week challenge features a 10mm cushion rose cut green amethyst that I've set in sterling silver. I've given the ring a brushed finish. I fell in love with this pale green stone.

Participating in the Ring A Week challenge has been an incredible experience. At times, with a full schedule, it was hard to keep up but I'm so glad I was able to finish in time. I've really enjoyed seeing the creations of other challenge participants. You can see the entire pool of Ring A Week rings on Flickr.

Tension Setting :: Ring A Week No. 51

This is my first attempt at a tension setting, in which the stone is held in place solely by spring tension. I formed the ring from square wire, allowing the two ends to bypass each other to hold a 3mm faceted peridot between them. The shape is not perfect, the band twists just a bit and does not flow quite as I would like, but I still think it looks nice on the finger, since the back of the band is not the focus. It was challenging to spread the two ends apart and insert the tiny peridot, yet incredibly satisfying to hear it snap into place. It seems very secure.

Ovals :: Ring A Week No. 50

For my latest ring, I decided to start with the same basic components as the previous ring, solder them together in the same sequence, but alter the components and finish to change the look of the second ring. After cutting five circles and then cutting smaller circles out of the larger circles, I rolled each piece through my rolling mill to create ovals. I then soldered them together. I oxidized the larger, open ovals for contrast and gave the small ovals a bright, brushed finish. I really like the effect. Below are the two rings side by side.

Circles :: Ring No. 49

For Ring 49, I've cut small circles from larger circles of sterling silver and soldered them all together to make this simple ring. I've given it a brushed finish.

I've fallen just a bit behind with my Ring A Week challenge. (Thanks to my fantastic customers this holiday season has been very, very busy, with not much free time for creating rings!) I still intend to meet my goal of creating 52 rings by year end--three more to go! Stay tuned....

Walnut Nautilus Ring :: Ring A Week No. 48

One of my first rings for the Ring A Week Challenge was a ring made of wood. As I near the end of this year-long challenge, I've again revisited wood for one of my final pieces. I've hand cut and shaped this walnut ring, giving it a soft, smooth finish. I then etched my tiny hand drawn nautilus shell design into a small sterling silver circle. It is soldered to a post that is inserted and secured in the wood shank.

Feather Ring :: RAW 47/52

Similar to a recent leaf ring (RAW 43), Ring A Week 47 features an imprint. This time, I've imprinted a small feather into sterling silver. I then hand cut and fabricated the ring, and oxidized and hand finished it to show of the delicate lines of the feather.

Let it snow :: Ring A Week No. 46

I've continued with the snow theme for a second ring, etching my handwritten words "Let it snow!" into this hand fabricated band. The background texture is interesting and also a bit of a mystery. I have a particular strip of silver that reliably produces these textured lines when etched. I've etched a lot of silver and always clean and prep it in the same way, yet whenever I cut a piece from this particular strip to etch I get this result, no matter how well it is cleaned and prepped first. I find it more interesting than troublesome and really enjoy the effect.

Below is a Let it Snow! necklace, with a smooth background (available in my shop):

Snowflake :: Ring A Week No. 45

I love the delicate beauty of snowflakes, and at this time of year I cannot resist drawing them. I etched one of my hand drawn snowflake designs into silver to create this ring. I oxidize most of my snowflake pendants to show off the delicate designs, but I loved the frosty appearance of this ring and decided to instead burnish the delicate lines of the etched design to create subtle contrast against the frosty, brushed background.

Hydrangea Blossom :: Ring A Week No. 44

I've had a lot of fun imprinting whole, dried hydrangea blossoms into sterling silver. (Necklaces are available in my shop.) For this ring a week ring, I imprinted a four petal hydrangea blossom, hand cut and formed it, and soldered it to a hand fabricated sterling shank. The oxidized finish highlights the delicate veins of each petal.

Leaf Imprint :: Ring A Week No. 43

As I was walking my dog this week, I noticed some lovely fallen leaves that happened to be just the right size and shape for a wrap around ring. I collected a few and this weekend I imprinted one into sterling silver using my rolling mill. I hand cut it from the silver using my jeweler's hand saw, following the fine, serrated edge along one side of the imprint. I wanted the ring to feel comfortable on the finger so I chose to create a smooth bottom edge. I love how the tip and the stem of the leaf overlap and envisioned that detail being the front of the ring. However, I think it actually looks nicer on the finger with the overlap to the back.

Go and wake up your luck :: Ring A Week No. 42

Every now and then I visit my mistake drawer for inspiration. For my latest Ring A Week ring, I combined two pieces residing in that drawer. The etched piece, which reads "go and wake up your luck," was originally to be a pendant. I wasn't happy with the shape or the etched lettering and so it went in the drawer. I made the wide band from a piece of silver into which I had attempted to imprint some grasses for texture but didn't love the result. I sanded away the texture before fabricating the band and soldered the the organically shaped etched piece in place. I then gave it an oxidized, somewhat shiny finish. I am glad to have found a use for a couple pieces that had not turned out as I intended. It feels great on the finger and is a ring I will likely wear from time to time.

Curl Ring :: Ring A Week No. 41

For this latest Ring A Week ring, I challenged myself to make a ring out of a piece of scrap silver from a failed rolling mill experiment. I first cut the piece into a freeform organic shape and then smoothed the sides and edges. I formed it into a ring shape and then curled the ends. Finally, I gave it a soft matte grey finish. It reminds me of ribbon.

Pressed Petals :: Ring A Week No. 40

Inspired by some lovely dried hydrangea blossoms, I've created this ring by overlapping five hydrangea petals and imprinting them into sterling silver using my rolling mill. I then hand cut the silver, following the organic contour of the petals. The oxidized finish highlights the intricate veins in each petal.

Below are individual petals that I imprinted in sterling silver and 14K gold and turned into pendants. Both necklaces are available in my Etsy shops.

The fall of a leaf :: Ring No. 39

I recently came across this Russian Proverb: "The fall of a leaf is a whisper to the living." I love the sentiment and I immediately knew I had to somehow incorporate it into a new piece. I hand lettered the quote in calligraphy and then created smaller versions of my maple leaf design to dance above the words. I hand cut around the tops of the leaves for an interesting jagged edge. I had thought of separating the leaves from the text to make a set of two stacking rings that would fit together along a jagged edge at the bottom of the leaves, but it was turning out so nicely as one piece that I didn't want to risk messing it up. I may experiment with the idea though. I did try a mock up, cutting the two stacking rings out of paper which actually turned out well so I may give it a try in metal sometime soon. In the meantime, I'm pretty happy with how this ring turned out. Below of are some progress shots so you can see a couple stages of the process.