Happy Memorial Day Weekend

I started the holiday weekend with half a day off spent in the studio before the gala opening at the gallery on Saturday night.  During that time, I continued working on my reticulation series and came up with this design: 

It's mostly silver with a few gold balls, one 3mm blue sapphire gemstone, and three blue sapphire briolette bead drops.  The pendant piece is joined to a faceted blue chalcedony necklace.  It's a little different from the other pieces in the reticulation series and I'm pleased with the final result.

The opening went well Saturday night and launched us into what we hope will be a busy and exciting summer season.  I got some great feedback about my new designs and loved hearing what everyone was attracted to. 

Today, I started the day in the studio, playing with some tuquoise cuff links.  My husband always suggests making more mens jewelry--so I went with it and created these hammered 3/4 inch circles with 10mm turquoise cabochons.  They are highly polished and shimmer and reflect the light beautifully.

I continued working into the early afternoon on a new sterling ring.  It has a wide, low dome shank that is lightly reticulated.  A 10mm round garnet is  hammer set in fine silver and retains the subtle shimmer of the hammered texture.  Each side is embellished with two sterling and one 24k gold ball.  It's classic yet contemporary and wears well.   

That's all the studio projects for today.  I spent the rest of the glorious afternoon in my gardens--the weeds have definitely taken over! 

Circle Reticulation Necklace

After my last post, I continued to work on the new necklace--an hour here and there before and after work.  After one morning and evening of continued work, I had the necklace to this point.  All the pieces were embellished with silver balls and bars and a couple gold accents and joined with the balled sterling wire.  I cleaned the whole piece with a bristle brush that leaves a lovely, soft brushed finish. 

The following morning I found that there was too much space between the circles, so I shortened them and was pleased that the necklace sat much nicer around the neck.  I set the oval black onyx cabochons, then lightly polished the bezels and balls on the smaller discs for a highlighted look against the satin finish of the background. 

After a quick tumble, the finished reticulation necklace looks really great.  It has a real contemporary feel and I'm pleased to have completed it. 

Picking Away at Things

It was a beautiful "summer" day here in Maine and I found myself catching up on the less than glamorous things in jewelry making--small repair jobs, touch ups, and restringing and knotting pearls for a friend's shop.  The projects kept me busy working until some inspiration finally hit and I started a new necklace.  Working in my reticulation series, I chose 1 inch and 1 1/2 inch discs.   I reticulated them and added oval bezels to the smaller circles, as well as some sterling balls.  I'm considering adding some bars as well, but I got such a late start creating today, that I'll have to pick up where I left off tomorrow.  Check back again to see how the progress goes. 

A Weekend's Work

New ideas for rings keep coming to mind, so I started today by making several ring blanks with different profiles, widths, and depths.  I thought it would be nice to create stackables--rings you can wear alone or pile one on top of the other. 

For the first ring I used sterling half round wire and drilled seats for gold balls to sit in.  After soldering, I lightly hammered the balls to soften the edges and make it more comfortable to wear.  It has a high polish that accentuates the gold against the silver. 

 

As you can see the gold balls go around the entire band in a varied pattern. 

The next ring shank I worked with was 1cm wide, low dome profile in silver.  I selected an 8mm square tourmaline in yellow.  It's a lovely color and looks beautiful with the silver and gold metals.  It is bezeled in 18k and I've added 2 strips of hammered 18k gold.  The gold is highly polished, but the silver shank is brushed and creates a lovely softness to the overall design.

After taking some time to weed in the garden, take a walk and enjoy the beautiful weather, I came back to the studio to continue working on a few more pieces.  I always find if things are going well in there, keep working!  So, that's what I did. 

The next ring I worked on was a smaller low dome shank that I wanted to experiment with a metal inlay technique.  I carved out six hollows and filled them with 14k gold solder.  I filed and sanded down the overflow and polished the surface.  I added several file carved lines to enhance the overall design.  I wish the gold showed up more against the silver, but I think (hope) that as it wears, it will.

  

I finished the evening with this carnelian cabochon band.  The five stones are 3mm rounds and spaced evenly around the shank.  It has a brushed finish which allows the translucent red to really glow. It's super comfortable and is awaiting a companion with different stones to sit above or below.  I guess that will be my next project.   

Stealing Time

I've been stealing an hour before work and an hour or two after dinner to keep moving forward with some new designs.  I selected a pretty purple amethyst cabochon to be the center stone and started designing from there.  Keeping in the style and series of my previous rings, this bezel is 18k royal yellow gold with ball accents on sterling silver that is lightly hammered. 

Because the amethyst's color is enhanced by the natural light shining through, I cut the backing out and raised the setting off the ring shank. 

I hammer set the cabochon and highly polished the edge and gold balls.  Haven't quite decided if I will polish the whole ring or keep it with a brushed shank, but this is how the ring looks for now because--it's time to go off to work!

This and That

Days are flying by and I haven't had much energy for creating.  But...I keep trying.  Yesterday, I spent the day working on a new gold ring.  I've wanted to make a ring with a center diamond and thought why not do it today and jumped right in.  Working with 18k royal yellow gold, I made a tube setting for the .50ct diamond and soldered it within the lowdome ring shank.  I thought the ring needed a little something more, so I added 2 small Sleeping Beauty turquoise cabochons to either side of the diamond and went with it.  The finished ring is very comfortable and wearable.   

Today I needed a little help getting inspired, so I asked and my mom suggested links.  I love links--circles, squares, ovals joining to make bracelets and necklaces and earrings and thought this was as good a starting point as any.  I looked through my drawers of materials and pulled together all the leftover links I had from previous projects and decided to put them all together.  Small, large, round, oval, hammered and stamped, once linked together, they hang beautifully as a long necklace. 

The necklace went together so well (and fast), that I decided to go ahead and try to complete one more thing.  (I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I tried to use every minute of my day off today.)  Earlier I reticulated a small piece of silver and decided to cut it in half and make a pair of earrings.  These are 1 1/2 inches long and about 2mm wide.  I added the silver bars and balls and then the amber nugget beads to complete the design.  A successful design in one of my continuing series. 

Like I said, a little bit of this and that this weekend, but definitely all usable.  

Rings and Things

I've been trying to move forward with life and work and have fortunately been able to get some work done in the studio.  Been focusing on several different things, but really struck a roll with rings using some of my newest stones.  I started out with one of the beautiful large blue kyanite squares and mixed sterling silver and 18k yellow gold to create this--

I followed up with another new square stone, but this time a smaller bluish-green tourmaline cabochon.  It's bezeled in 22k yellow gold and has a small gem cut peridot on the corner and a few 22k gold dots.  The setting is raised off the shank and sits very comfortably on the finger--

This ring I finished last night.  It has a star ruby cabochon that is bezeled in 22k yellow gold with tiny gold dot accents and a heavy sterling ring shank.  It is highly polished and looks beautiful.  I couldn't get a photo showing the 6 pointed star, but will try again. 

It's a happy thing when all the pieces come together.  I'm going to keep going with the flow and make  more rings.  Still have lots of new stones to play with including all color tourmalines, kyanites, opals, sapphires and more! 

I love this photo showing the rings together.  Wouldn't you just love to have them all?!

In Memory of Buddy

Buddy, the best dog in the world, will forever be remembered.  His smiling face, softest ears, big poogaloo paws, and gentle soul...he is greatly missed.  All I can do is reflect and cry and try to deal with his loss while trying to continue on without him.  Although I've been in my studio trying to work, mostly I've been sitting vacant while asking him to stay with me. He was an inspiraton and devoted companion, the only one I could work with in the room.  Part of our family for 11 years, I needed to try to capture him in my jewelry.  

 

A silver Buddy silhouette--with his bandana. 

His big paws.

Buddy--forever in my heart.  I love you.