Rings--silver, stones, and more!

I've been working on a lot of rings lately--rings with funky and unusual stones and settings. Sometimes the stone does all the talking. Like this fire agate:

Simply brushed sterling silver shelf around the stone accentuates the cloudy edges and then the pop of the orange y-brown fire and the iridescent green--gorgeous stone!

And who can resist a large turquoise with black spider-webbing?! Oxidized to set off the large silver hammered balls. Everything is over sized and makes a statement in this ring. 

I am highly inspired by Native American and Mexican silversmiths from days of yore and can truly appreciate their skill and craftsmanship. I feel I struck a real Modernist look with this next ring.

It's a large round red agate cabochon that's bezeled in fine silver and off set in the larger circle. The outer edge is heavy square wire that frames the design. The inside is oxidized to set apart the areas of the ring.

Because I often don't repeat ideas or thoughts (sometimes on purpose, sometimes not), I thought I'd use some of the same design elements in another ring, but boy does it have a completely different look and feel.

A 6mm faceted blue topaz gemstone is tube set in the center of a silver bauble field. The background is oxidized to give depth and texture, while the outer square wire creates the same frame as above. I think it's pretty cool!

So many other things are on the bench, including some commissions that I'm finishing up. Lot's more to come!

Chandaliers --- Earrings that is.

They make a statement and are just plain fun!  I've been wanting to play with chandalier earring designs and finally had the time to play and create several pairs.  Here's the first pair:

Four tiny sterling silver daisies dangle alongside turquoise beads.  They wiggle and shake and are lighter than air to wear.

The second pair is simple, but oh so pretty:

Four tiny sterling silver daisies with centers, linked to eachother. 

Another playful pair features a larger daisy stud with dangling coral beads.  Sterling silver daisies dangle below.

And the final pair, for today:

Sterling silver graduated daisies with a little faceted blue chalcedony bead drop. 

Lots of fun new designs and lots more to come!

Rebirth: Old made New

What do you get when you have a client with a collection of antique Native American silver pins...:

 

...who would like you to make a "Squash Blossom" style necklace?

An amazing feat of beauty, nostalgia, and a whole lot of WOW!

This is one of my specialties--taking something you own that you don't wear or isn't your style and turn it (or them) into something you will.  Let me turn your history into your legacy. 

Thank You!

A quick thank you to everyone who came to the Jewelry Show and Sale on Tuesday night.  I appreciate all your support.  Next I'm heading back into the studio to get some inventory made for the Summertime Show in August in Falmouth.  Busy, busy!!!

MCA and Me

The MCA or Maine Craft Association is a wonderful organization that I belong to.  They support all Maine crafts and for the last 3 years have operated a retail shop in Gardiner where I am fortunate enough to display some of my jewelry. 

Each year 2 craftspeople are named Master Craft Artist and this year tThe Maine Crafts Association has named ceramic artist Lynn Duryea of Deer Isle, Maine as its 2012 Master Craft Artist. Duryea is one of Maine’s established, nationally renowned craftspeople with an extensive career in making, outreach, and innovating in craft.  Each recipient receives a gift of a unique Master Craft Artist pin made especially for them by a Maine jeweler and this year's jeweler is ME! 

I created this heavily reticulated silver pin with added silver balls and 3 turquoise cabochons.  The balls travel down the pin from the top stone and wiggle their way down to the bottom stone.  I think its abstract quality will speak to Duryea. 

This is the back of the pin--highlighting the award and event.  Wednesday evening, July 11th, the award will be given during a special reception at George Mason Gallery in Damariscotta Mills, Maine. The award ceremony will accompany the opening of the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts Founders Exhibition, featuring work by Lynn Duryea, George Mason and Chris Gustin.

I am honored to be a part of this!

Keeping it Up

I've been trying to keep my stride in the studio--working on a couple more new rings, as well as some commissions.  This ring is really great!  The turquoise stone is huge!!!  22 x 30mm--I wish the scale showed.   

The stone is bezeled in fine silver and the rest of the ring is sterling silver.  The shank is nice and heavy too.

Here's a new picture showing how the ring looks on--isn't it great?!

This next ring I struggled with.  We fought the whole time, but I persevered and got it done!  Not sure why some pieces go smoothly and others can be painful--something to do with the creativity gods I guess.

Here's a rose cut free-form blue sapphire and a 2.5mm diamond.  Both are bezeled in 22k gold and the accents are also 22k.  The remainder of the ring is sterling silver.  I love to mix silver and gold so you're not tied to one or the other.  The gold adds warmth, and the silver has strength. 

Put it all together and the results are striking. 

It's raining here, and it's supposed to get even worse tomorrow.  We need it!  Here's hoping I'll get another full studio day!

On a Roll--Rings

I was working in the studio this weekend and was drawn in by some new stones.  I decided it was time to make some new rings.  I started with this Labradorite ring. 

The Labradorite is a 12x12mm antique cushion cut.  It's bezeled in fine silver and the rest of the ring is sterling silver. 

The second ring I designed after selecting the stone--an 18 x 25mm Chinese turquoise.

The colors are turquoisey, underwater looking, and beautiful!  The bezel is fine silver with the rest being sterling silver. 

The third ring shows off a Peruvian opal: 

I wish the shimmer showed in the pics, but it's pretty tough to capture.  Doesn't it look like a landscape?  This stone is smaller--about 10x12mm and is bezeled in fine silver.  I liver of sulphured the sterling "plate", so the silver hammered balls shine in contrast. 

That ends this run of rings, but I think I'm going to continue!  What do you think?

A Few New Things

Happy Birthday to me!  Well actually it's passed now, but I'm declaring this to be my birthday month!

A gift of living flowers to brighten the house and the mood to start my birthday.  And then a wonderful dinner with my parents, husband, and friend (and dogs too).  And then a nice chunk of time to work in the studio.  And here's what I finished:

These are reticulated silver earrings with sterling squiggles and balls with 4mm amethyst cabochons.

Then I worked up these long, thin heavily reticulated earrings with balls and pale pink faceted tourmaline bead drops.

I also finished this pin/pendant on Friday.  It's been in process for a while but I wasn't happy with what was happening.  So, I kept looking at it and looking at it and looking at it and finally it hit me--I turned the piece vertically, added another small bezel and then the bead drop at the bottom.  The Sleeping Beauty turquoise just sings with the silver. 

I have a bunch of other thing in various stages of creation, so keep looking back here and you'll see a lot more new designs. 

Necklaces

Have I ever said that I really LOVE making necklaces?!  Well I do and I can't help myself.  Long, short, chunky, fine, beaded, metal, or pearls, I love the impact of jewels around the neck.  Whenever I go into my studio and I don't know what to do, I'm always drawn into creating a necklace and here is one of the latest designs:  

  

Flat turquoise beads are strung with two sizes of handmade double dome reticulated beads and finished with a sterling hook and eye clasp.  I used little 3mm round sterling beads between all the beads--it brings attention to each and allows for a gentle separation. 

Here's a close up of one of the double dome beads.  It is one inch around, knowing that you can see the turquoise beads range in size from wider than 2+ inches to the smallest at about 3/4 of an inch wide.  The turquoise color is bright and clean and fresh and mixed with the silver beads exudes a modern, yet classic look. 

Spring has been in the air the last few days.  Just wait to see what's coming next!

Save the Date!

Announcing my "Almost Annual" jewlery party show and sale being held on Tuesday, August 3, from 5 to 7 pm.  Please stop by Gleason Fine Art, 31 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor to see my newest  jewelry designs, as well as some older favorites.  Cases will be open and ready for you to try things on and take things home.

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! 

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.