The Olympics ( for horses)

Here’s a little peek of some of the jewelry that I’ve been making lately.

I have a HUGE show coming up in the fall ( my favorite season) and I’ve temporarily closed my ETSY shop because I’m going to need all of the jewelry that I can make. It’s going to be two weeks long and I’m doing it with two friends of mine.  It’s going on during the F.E.I. Games  ( it’s like the Olympics but for horses). We’ll be in Midway for the show which will have attendees from all over the world. I’m so excited about this.

My Secret Santa Recipient

My Secret Santa gift arrived for none other than Jan Thomason a wonderful paper artist. I’m so grateful to Molly Alexander  for hosting this Secret Santa swap because through it I’ve met two wonderful people that I wasn’t aware of before. My recipient Jan Thomason and my Secret Santa Cindy Wimmer .

The earrings are Argentium  silver. I  cut out the stars from sheet copper with my jewelers saw and fused them into the silver with the torch. I  cut individual beams coming from the stars into the silver with a cutting wheel using my flex shaft for sparkle. Shining down from the stars are pale pink and clear Swarovski crystals. The ear wire is sterling silver and also was handmade by me.

They’re very shiny which made them difficult to photograph but I did my best.

Merry Christmas to all of my friends, new and old.

Secret Santa you rock!

Today is the day that my Secret Santa gift arrived. I knew it would be something good because of the list of artists that Molly Alexander invited to participate. Such talented ladies that it boggled my mind. I was honored that Molly invited me too.

So, when the package arrived I savored the moment. Carefully, I opened it. The anticipation was overwhelming. I knew from the return address that it came from Cindy Wimmer . This was gonna be fantastic!

I untied the ribbon

Took off the wrapping

A beautiful box!

But Wait!!! There’s something inside the box!

What is it????

It’s a GORGEOUS necklace

It suits me perfectly. It can be worn long or doubled

and looks beautiful either way. I love the bright colors

of the beads that Cindy used. And her wire work is flawless.

Thank you Cindy for a most wonderful gift. I will enjoy wearing

it often and cherish it forever.

And thank you Molly for letting me take part in this fun swap.

Secret Santa

A few weeks ago I received an email from Molly Alexander asking if I wanted to participate in a Secret Santa jewelry swap with some very talented women. The recipient wouldn’t know who their Secret Santa is until they receive their gift.

I just mailed out the gift that I made to ( Oops, can’t tell ;o ) You’ll know who you are when you get it.

I was thinking of the Star of Bethlehem when I made these.

Merry Christmas to one and all

How do you like these?

I’ve still been getting more photos.These are some of  the latest.

Still doing a lot of  fusing.

I’m trying to get a lot more earrings going for all the shows that I have coming up.

I’ll be posting a list of those soon.

I made baubles

I took more pictures of some of the baubles that I’ve made. Take a look…..

These are fused Argentium and copper. Very light~~~I try to make all of my earrings lightweight.  No stretched out earlobes here.

Here’s another pair that I really like. These are Argentium Silver with copper bands fused into it. For textural interest I’ve hammered them and added three small holes in each one.

A couple more

Here are a few more of the pieces that I’ve been working on. These little copper and sterling flowers are very light and easy to wear. I thought copper would be nice for the Fall.

 

                                                                                    

This pendant is made of fused Argentium and copper.  I really like the fusing process and really get into the zone when I’m doing it.

I’m hoping to get a few more photos today. It’s a hot one here in Kentucky so I’m sure I’ll be indoors for most of the day.  Hope your all having a great week-end.

To the Gallery we go.

Here are a few more pendents that will be taking a trip to the Damselfly Gallery.

They are Argentium and copper.

All fused with lots of texture added.

I'm still here

Hi all. I haven't disappeared. In fact, I've been making a few new pieces, spending time with my grandkids and getting ready to teach my very first workshop.

I'm on the board of Artractions which is the cultural arts commitee for Shelby county. The members have been so encouraging and supportive of me and my jewelry making. They invited me to offer this class at Artists on Main in Shelbyville.

Am I a little nervous about it? You bet I am. I want to give my students my best and I hope I do well for them. I've kept the class small so I can get a feel for it, I'm easily overwhelmed. The date of the class is March 8. I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes.

In the mean time, here are a few new pieces that I've done. You can click on any of these to make them larger.

This one is made of copper and silver. The focal is copper with Argentium silver wire fused to it to make a bezel. Then I mixed up some two part epoxy into which I mixed some paprika for color and poured it into the bezel.
A couple of eyelets put in backwards look like little flowers.
The links of the chain are sterling silver to which were
added copper colored pearls and automotive fuses filled
with tiny little beads.

This is copper with Argentium silver fused to it.

This one is copper with Unikite

Here we have Argentium silver fused to copper. The chain is Sterling silver and copper with automotive fuses.

These earring are fold formed copper with Sterling Silver

fused to it. Then I textured them.

More Etsy

I've done another bracelet to put up on Etsy. I had fun with this one. It's sterling silver and copper. The center piece is copper with Argentium fused to it then hammered. Now I'm working on a couple of butterfly necklaces.

Good News

Well, the Christmas spirit is upon me. I'll be in the studio all the rest of the day today. Fortunately, the weather is grey, rainy and chilly. Good studio time,not very tempted to go out and about.

I also want to announce that I've been lucky enough to get my jewelry into Damselfly Studio and Gallery http://www.damselflybeads.com/1601.html in charming Midway,Kentucky.


Midway is the cutest little town. There's a train running right through the middle of it and it has shops and restaurants so you can spend a day there browsing (And hopefully, buying.) I feel as though I'm walking around in another century when I go there.


Here are a few of the pieces I've placed there.

I made this one with Argentinium silver with Garnet beads.

Here's one with silver fused to copper for the pendant. I made copper beads and those are Unikite beads at the ends of the copper beads. The chain is sterling silver...........

Remember this one from Deryn Mentock's http://somethingsublime.typepad.com/ summer challenge? I've finally decided that I can part with it. I can always make another, right? Although it won't look exactly the same.

And finally, a close-up of one the the fused silver to copper earrings. So, if you're anywhere near Midway, Kentucky do stop in at Damselfly.

More later, gotta get to work!!

Jewelry Challenge #4

Here is my take on Deryn's jewelry challenge #4. In this piece I used sterling silver,copper and brass metals. Each layer was cut and forged and heat treated. I drew a bead on the copper wrap. The charm at the end is brass,cut and textured, hanging from copper wire. The chain is made of annealed steel with the hook and eye clasp placed on the side. I'm happiest with the way the silver looks. I'm gonna use that texture on something else as well.

Busy,Busy,Busy

I've been making new pieces to put up on Etsy. Got a few up yesterday and need to get more pictures of some others. These are my favorites. I've fused sterling onto copper for this look. Sort of a moon over the ocean.

The most difficult thing for me is getting good pictures. I think these turned out o.k. but it took a long time. And thank goodness for digital camera's. I'd be going through an awful lot of film otherwise.

These were fun to work on because I got to use several techniques. The silver was heat treated then I polished all the high spot's to show all the texture. I've said it before and I'll say it again~~~~love my torch!

Well, that's it for now. I have more work to get going on and more pictures to take.

#1 and #8

Here I am with more to add to Deryn's Summer Jewelry Challenge. Finally got around to #1.

For this one I used copper,silver and brass. The copper piece at the front was flame colored and I added some eyelets, however, I have the back side of the eyelets showing to the front~~~ they remind me of little flowers like that. Next is a textured piece of silver~~~then the brass piece.

I'm loving the way this one turned out. I used some homemade tools on it to get the design. I hammered wire into it to get the spirals. Then, accented the spirals using a nail and a hole punch. Then I worked from the back with a small dowel to get the raised effect. Instead of a bead at the top of the bail I used a small gear that spins.

The neck chain is steel and copper that I formed then flame colored. Then I did # 8~~~ two of them.

Didn't have a watch to use so I made a center piece using the same technique that I did on the brass piece of #1. The rest is made with sterling silver,hammered and an eyelet added and hammered and flame colored brass. All connected with sterling silver jump rings.

This one is copper and brass and sterling connecting it all. The center piece reminds me of a Yin and Yang symbol.

The challenge is helping me stretch myself. Sometimes I get stuck in a certain mode that doesn't let me try new things or go beyond my comfort zone. Doing this is giving me that boost that I need to do the techniques that I haven't done in a long time.

For this I'm grateful. Thanks Deryn.