What I've been up to--finishing commissions

I started into the winter with a number of jewelry projects to be designed and then created. Slowly, I've been ticking away at the list and here are photos of some of the finished projects.

This pendant was made with vintage jade buttons that were carved and suggested butterfly wings. the client and I came up with a butterfly inspired pendant set upon reticulated silver and baubles--touches of 18k gold.

Reticulated silver earrings with 4mm diamonds that are tube set in fine silver. The lower disc swings on the Inspired by a pair the client purchased a couple years ago and wears every day.

This cuff was inspired by one in inventory but added several little diamonds that were from the client's own ring--she didn't wear it anymore and thought let's use them in something else. 

This ring is 18k gold and silver with carnelian and lapis lazuli stones. The colors were chosen to correspond to an antique Navajo bracelet.

A lot more work is coming out of the studio. Will write again soon!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Yes, it's that time--already!  Christmas is here and I'm still trying to catch up from all the busyness from the year.  I was lucky enough to be able to create a few beautiful pieces to be given as Christmas gifts this year.  One being this necklace for a special woman. It has a reticulated silver pendant with a square black onyx and strung upon a strand of faceted black spinel beads.  A lovely combination!

Another piece, a simply classic reticulated silver cuff. 

I hope everyone enjoys their new goodies! 

Silver Cuff Bracelet with Labradorite

I've had this idea to turn a ring I made into a new design for a cuff bracelet.  I finally got all the pieces to come together.  This is the ring that was the inspiration:

A sterling silver ring with rose cut labradorite stone that I made for a commission. I think this ring actually reads much larger in scale and thought it would translate beautifully to a cuff.  So I selected a stone:

This large labradorite cabochon -- 45mm (1 11/16")  high and 25mm (1") at its widest.  The blues and greens shimmer in the light.  I thought the scale set the right tone for design.  Once that was decided, I worked the silver sheet and heated and reticulated and textured and formed.  I added large sterling balls around the fine silver bezel and felt the cuff was really coming together.

I placed a few more balls for balance and the design was complete.  Set the stone and polished the bezel and baubles to a high shine and voila: 

Strength and beauty--I think it's a pretty spectacular piece! 

Reticulation with Liver-of-Sulphur Patina

I love the look of reticulated metal and the jewelry I've made with it, but lately I've felt the need to play with it a little more.  So I thought it would be fun to really work with the texture by using liver of sulphur on the metal and then highlighting the baubles with a high shine.  The effect is wonderful!

This ring was the first experiment with the oxidizing effects of liver of sulphur and it's quite striking.  The apricot sapphire glows with the shine of silver surrounding it, while the blackened background sets a real mood. 

In this pin, I experimented with using less patina--I sanded away a lot of the black from the surface with steel wool, while allowing it to stay deep in the grooves of the highly textured surface.  I'm intrigued by the watery feel to this piece.

I'm loving this cuff!  The overlap, sprinkled peridot gemstones, and shiny baubles are set off by the blackened background.  I think this combination has a lot of potential and I'm eagerly looking forward to continuing with this new direction. 

THE Book!!!

You might remember me talking about a book project I started quite some time ago that involved one of my most fabulous collectors.  Well, it is finished!  And all I can say is WOW!

This is the cover:

It's a hard-cover coffee table book with a dust jacket to boot!  44 pages in all featuring our amazing collaboration--the fashion and clothes of Linda and the jewelry I've created for her.  (If I can figure out how to upload a pdf, I will show the whole book, but until that time), here are some of my favorite pages:

I was fortunate that my local paper did a story about the book project and you can read that here:  http://www.boothbayregister.com/article/artist-and-collector/10003

Another exciting result from the book is I'm giving a talk at the Boothbay Harbor Library on April 17th.  I'll be talking about how to make a book online using blurb.com, including all the steps from start to finish.

A great big 'Thank You' to Linda and Tom for inviting me into their lives and home!  I treasure our friendship!

A Cuff Kind of Day

I got on a roll creating cuff bracelets last week and found that I continue to LOVE designing and making them.  Each one being so different and unique--playing with the texture and deciding on stones. 

In this piece, I wanted to play with an overlapping seam, so I created a separate front section to have the side pieces overlap that front piece.  I continued adding balls and curling the edges to soften the look.  Finally I added a rose cut Umba sapphire in a greeny-gray color.   

The cuff is substantial standing 2 inches high.  I just love the icy look.  Thinking I might try this one out for a while!

Studio Sunday: Cuffs

It was so nice to see the sun today and even feel a little warmth.  Relative warmth--22 degrees!  We've been in a cold snap and have been running 3 woodstoves, a furnace, and today I finally plugged in my little portable electric heater to keep my feet warm.  I'm so looking forward to the cold weather breaking!!!

After days of making earrings for inventory, I was inspired to create something more. It's been a while since I made a cuff, so I thought that was a good place to start.  I had a thin piece of metal that I reticulated and textured.  I made the front off-set and added sterling balls around the piece.  It's about 1 inch at the widest point in the middle.  Simple and classic!

Once I was working on this, I started another cuff made with pieces of silver that I fused and soldered together. It's 1 1/2 inches at the widest spot.  I added lots of balls along the seams and a single, rose cut iolite gemstone that is bezeled in fine silver.  The stone adds the right touch of color and texture that was needed.  



Here are the two cuffs together which makes their scale easier to see:

More creating tomorrow!

A New Bracelet Commission

As the end of the year approaches, I've been trying to complete the remaining commissions that are still on my to-do list.  One of those projects is for a friend who's been wanting (and waiting for) a labradorite piece.  So back in the early summer, we came up with a rough bracelet design and picked stones.  I admit the style was different for me, so I knew I'd be working through some technical difficulty and probably the reason I delayed making it. 

So, I started with sketches:

Then I worked up the base of the bracelet in heavy rectangular sterling silver:

I made the fine silver bezels for the labradorite stones:

And then soldered on the 3 bezels, set the stones, and gave the bracelet a nice brushed finish. 

The finished bracelet in 3/4 view to the left:

You can see the simple yet effective hook clasp for easy wear.

3/4 view to the right showing my hallmark on the back band:

  

Back view:

Top view:

And the final shot on my own wrist.  Look at those stones glow!  I think she's going to love it!  (And definitely worth the wait!)

One Down...

I've been busy, busy, but am back in the studio and ticking the to-dos off the list.  First one done is a commission for a reticulated cuff.  She really liked the overall design of this cuff:

But wanted to have different colored stones, no gold accents, and possibly 2 or more stones.  So I sketched a few designs--one with 2 stones and one with 3 stones:

The client liked the 3 stone design, so with a few modifications, I started the bracelet.  Here's the cuff formed with the selected 3 rose cut, rhodolite garnet stones.

And here's the finished cuff:

Compared to the drawing--a pretty good match!

More to come soon!

Commissions

I've been lucky enough to have some commission work to do this winter, so I've split my studio time between creating the commissions and mixing in a new piece for inventory.  Here are some of the completed commissions:

A silver reticulated cuff with balls and silver curves.

 

Reticulated silver earrings to compliment the above cuff. 

Sterling silver clip earrings with 18x25mm black onyx cabochons and 1 3/4 inch double dome beads with stamped pattern.  These are to wear with this:

A three-strand renewed necklace with carved beads, black onyx, and stamped double dome beads.

Another reticulated commission is this cuff--a little thinner with silver balls and a 4mm faceted apatite gemstone:

Isn't that turquoisey color gorgeous?!

Next up--some of the new inventory pieces.

New Photos

I am so excited!  I finally had some professional pics taken and they look great.  Thank you Robert Diamante for doing such a beautiful job.  These will be used for show applications and advertising.  Here are some of the flower series: 

What do you think?


And here's some from the reticulation series:
 

 
I can't wait to see them printed on 8 1/2 x 11 inch photo paper--they are going to shine!