Starry, starry night

This piece includes etched bronze and copper tubing. I drew the image onto the bronze and etched it in a light acid bath. Then encased it in silver and soldered it in place. The side bails are copper tubing. The sun and flames were inspired by one of my favorite paintings "Starry Night" by Van Gogh.

More copper

I got really excited about mixing metals in my jewelry making and this is what happened next. I lightly etched the copper to give it some texture and added carnelian, garnet and peridot gemstone beads.

Redux

These 2 pendants are do-overs. I made the silver pieces almost a year ago and was not happy with them then. I felt they were too small but decided to hang onto them to see if I would be inspired to use them in other pieces. I am really happy now with the incorporation of copper. The one on the right also has garnets. I like the industrial look that the copper gives the pieces. Check out the post from June 14, 2006 to see what the silver looked like on its own.

Kyanite pendant and earrings

This pendant is one of the first that I've made featuring semi-precious gemstone beads. The large focal bead is Kyanite and so are the dark blue ones. The light green beads are Phrenite. There are more of the same stones incorporated into the part of the chain that is not shown in the picture. It has a short neck length with the pendant resting right below the collar bone giving it a current look. I also made matching earrings with the same gemstones.

Beach glass? shell? pearl?

Believe it or not this was a piece of beach glass. Actually I formed the clay over the beach glass. Then cut it in half and took the glass out and put the two halves back together and fired it. I have had a lot of interesting comments on it. People don't think it is silver at first. Some have thought it was shell or a huge pearl! I like that it is not immediately recognizable.

Circle of vines

I didn't have any desire to make a ring but was taking a class in traditional metal fabrication and it was one of the projects. My friend said she thought it would be good to learn the skills necessary to make a ring and I thought she was probably right. This is the ring that I ended up making. (click image to see the design) I am very happy with it. I shaped wire into a vine and hammered it into a flat strip of sterling silver. Then hammered the leaf shapes using metal stamps and added the dots as ornament. Then I shaped the silver into a circle that fit my thumb and soldered it closed. After that I oxidized it so that the design would be black. It is a fairly beefy ring, thick and wide but the design is more feminine due to the floral symbols. I had a lot of help from my teacher and it would take a lot more practice in technique for me to feel comfortable making a ring like this on my own.

Tropical Paradise

This is my "showiest" piece. It attracts lots of attention when I wear it. I love it. The gemstone is a Peruvian Opal. Be sure to click the image to see it close up so that you can see the tropical paradise landscape in the stone. Wish I was there right now! I also used copper in the bail at the top where the chain goes through. This is the first piece that I made matching earrings for and here they are. They include the Peruvian Opals and while I find them beautiful, they are not as exquisite as the one in the pendant. I bought these from a different source. These stones appear to be getting scarce. At least, I am having a hard time finding them. Although these look to be simpler in design than the pendant, they were actually quite a bit more difficult. For one thing it was hard to make 2 pieces alike enough to be earrings. Then when they were fired, the rate of shrinkage was different even though they were fired together. That is part of the inconsistency of the medium which is just something to know and work with. So the setting for the stone on one of the earrings had to be enlarged significantly by grinding which was difficult and tedious. I even ended up grinding the stone down a bit to fit. I recently took an additional class where I learned how to set stones using traditional metal fabrication which is more exact. I will post the product from that class when I am finished.

Fiber isn't the only thing that can be woven

This piece was fun and exciting to create. (click on image to enlarge) First I created a square pillow shape. Then I textured strips and wove them together over the pillow. The rivets on the side are purely ornamental but look like they are holding the strips in place. My husband really liked this one and I might make him cufflinks using the weaving technique.

It's elemental...

In most of the other pieces, I used texture to create the design. In this piece I textured the background then I drew in the design free-hand. (click on image for a better view of the texture and design) I used symbols that, to me, represent the elements of fire and air. It was fun to use my "drawing" skills in jewelry making which is more of a 3 dimensional art form. I plan to do more of this kind of work. Lots of ideas are cooking...

All tied up

This is my second set of earrings. They are made by extruding the clay to make a long spaghetti like rope and then tying the knots. These are my new favorite earrings because they are so simple yet fashionable. I get so many compliments on them. People are really surprised to hear that they are handmade.