Day in the Life of a Metalsmith

So, I thought I would start a new bloggy series today. Figured it was as good a day as any, and I actually thought about it before it was too late.

This new series is called A Day in the Life of a Metalsmith. This first edition will feature the making of a cuff. Gasp. Can you believe I actually called myself a metalsmith?! I mean it's what I do, but, and I'm not fishing for compliments, I always think 'metalsmiths' are far more talented than myself. Anyway. This edition will show what goes into the making of a cuff from start to finish. This is not a tutorial but more a glimpse into the fabrication process.

First, I start out with a sketch. This design was actually inspired by the stone. As soon as I saw this handmade stone, I knew what it wanted to be and would look like. Then I cut out and dry fit all the pieces to see if anything needs to be changed.



Then I start soldering all the accent pieces in this particular design and again dryfit to make sure nothing needs to be changed or resized.



Now since that fits and I've got all the accent pieces figured out, I solder the whole thing together essentially making the cuff. Here's a pic of the cuff after the first sanding...



I could be done now with just sanding left to, but I felt it needed something else. So I added some resin in those circles, and since I'm a bit messy with my cloisonne technique..



And here's the finished project after all the sanding steps, added matte frosted finish, and stone all set. A really unique one of a kind cuff.



I hope you've enjoyed a peek into my process. Perhaps I'll show you the steps into making one of my Mad Hatter rings on the next edition of A Day in the Life of a Metalsmith. My psychedelic cuff is available in my etsy shop because you know you want it.

Jewel Street's Jewelry Review

Dun, dun dun dun, duh! Time for the Jewel Street Designs Jewelry Review. I should play music just for this each week. And, I really ought to put it on video with models and everything. Now if I just had you to model.

I was quite busy this week. And, I have to say I LOVE everything I made. So with no further adieu.....

A sweet little ring made just for you-Cubist Ring.

Love these! Magnolia Earrings are mini copper flower studs.

An ideal ring for that modern GQ man in your life- the Off Center Ring

Weathered Earrings have an organic feeling in an ususual shape.

A petite band ring- the Ammonite Fossil Ring

And finally, a dance until you drop cuff- Disco Dawn Cuff

All of these items are in my shop. Stop by and visit today. Hope you've enjoyed the Jewel Street Designs Review and will visit my little bloggy world again soon.

Birds, Birds, Birds

Well, the topic has been decided- the birds win- although I thought I would throw a few of the other suggestions in as well. Thanks to Craftymoose for giving me a suggestion for my next project! It's actually got me thinking quite a bit.

So, the majority of this post will be about my little bird friends. I have no idea what kind of birds they are, but there's a few of them. I have tried and tried to get a pic. So, I looked around and the closest I could find was a pic of a house sparrow. I have a whole flock of these birds because the original flock all had babies last year. Can't imagine how many I will have this year. They had been roosting in my being remodeled addition, but we thought we had gotten all the places where they would nest. Not to get rid of them completely, but so they wouldn't use my new studio space as a home. Can you imagine?!

Somehow, though, they still find their way in. They are tiny enough to fit through the door without a doorknob. I did mention this room is not completely done, right? They thoroughly believe that this room was built just for them. It's like their own personal atrium. Every morning two or three come in and fly around checking things out, pulling insulation out of the rafters, and playing tag. It's quite comical. I enjoy them immensely because my now workspace looks right onto this room so I can see everything they do. Most mornings they will come right up to my window and chirp at me. I like to think they are just my wild friends. You should see them in the summertime taking baths in my pond. I just know one day I'm going to have to go out there and rescue one of them from drowning.

I will save a Home Improvement Roundup for next week because I have a really big project going on, and I might even have a tutorial for you in that department. Not too exciting, but something that may come in handy one day.

Well, that just leaves me with my latest piece. "In the Shadow of the Toucan" ring was inspired by my creative challenge thread in the Etsy forums. Shadows was the theme for this week. Truthfully, this ring started out as one thing and morphed into this toucan creature complete with pierced eyes. He's completely created from sterling silver and can be found in my shop.

Not a terribly exciting post lengthy as it is, but it is what you asked for. I'm rather glad I wrote because I just realized it's all about birds. I didn't even think of that when I started typing. Well, until we meet again....

Blue Monday

I'm not really blue except for the fact that it's Monday. Even as a stay at home mom, I dread Monday's for some reason.

How was your weekend, my duckies?

Mine was less event filled than past weekends. I did end up going to the auction that I love. I truly meant to bring my camera so I could take pics of the place, but it wasn't a good week for that as it wasn't filled to capacity with gobs of stuff. Plus, I forgot my camera. I did walk away with a couple of deals though. K and I both got two still with tags Kenneth Cole jackets for $3 a piece. I also got a great bentwood rocker with no broken cane free. Actually, I paid a dollar for it, but some guy wanted a desk out of the lot I bought so he gave me a dollar. I also found this amazing never been used faucet that I picked up for $27. That's a lot you say? Nope. It's a big one with a pullout sprayer built in to the faucet and everything. I looked them up online and one like the one I got is about $200. Steve got some stuff too but nothing worth talking about.

Sunday I spent looking for things to improve my pictures. Always improving. Actually, some of you know my trials and tribulations with my pics. It's a never ending circle of love and hate. I think my magazine article exasperated the situation. Plus, I'm trying to redo myself for the new year so why not my pics? Onward and upward. Always improving. So I like to think.

I got to thinking this weekend that we have not done a blog slumber party in oh, so long. We should do another one of those.

Well, duckies, on that note I bid you a fond farewell until tomorrow. I hope your Monday is not blue but bright and sunny. Oh, forgot to mention those earrings in the pic are my latest pair, Rasberry Smoothie Earrings, and not with my new and improved pics.

I'm back! Again.

So many things to blog about and so little time!

Let's see if I can catch you up with my life since the last time I blogged. Hmmm. It's a good thing nothing happens in my life or we might be there all day. Last week was the big week. We had a friend die in an accident which was really hard. He was so bubbly and full of life and only 23. He was like an uncle to my daughter. Not two days after finding that out, I fell going to check my mail(darn Etsy packages!) and sprained my ankle.

The sprained ankle is an interesting story. We live on a major highway which is only two lanes. Who thought of that I have no idea! My mailbox is across the street so pretty much everyday I play frogger(if you remember that game) to check my mail. Did I mention this highway is also one of the deadliest highways for people falling asleep? Because of this, they have grooves cut into the center of said highway. Well, I stepped in one just right. Went rolling across the highway and couldn't get back across. I had to wait for ever and a day for no cars to come so I could hop across the highway to get to my truck. I drove the truck up my driveway then crawled about 200 ft to my house. What a day!

I'm getting better now. I only use crutches if I'm going out of the house because I can't handle uneven surfaces yet. I can walk though with a bit of a limp and pain. Grrr. I hate being broken.

Did I mention I'm in the Valentine showcase today? Leave it to me to pick the worst day possible. Only every spot is filled with jewelry people. They should just call it the jewelry showcase. lol. If you want to know the worst day to get a showcase, ask me.

You might have noticed the ring in the picture. That's my latest called "I love me" ring. It's completely sterling silver. The heart centerpiece has been created from individually cut pieces of sterling silver tubing. Everyone needs something that just says or reminds you to say I love me. You are your biggest fan. It can be found in my shop.

A Little Bit of Everything

Well, my duckies, how did your weekend go?

I was back to painting my mom's hall and second floor yesterday. With the cost of gas and the gas guzzler car I have, I can only afford to go to her house once a week as she lives over 30 miles away. Why did I ever agree to paint her house? Seriously. I'll be glad when this is done. I at least got some color on the second floor this time. Thank goodness. Don't get me wrong I love to paint, but this is just ridiculous. I think it's the color. I just don't like the colors she's picked out together. It's just too much. It was literally giving me vertigo.

Oh, I was on the front page of Etsy this weekend. Thanks, stephaniegibson, for letting me know! It was like all of 10 minutes so it's a good thing she told me. I do believe this is the first time I have been on the front page when it involved a treasury list. Last time was because of the Crest trunk show at the Labs, and the other was Christmas Day last year. Here's a screenshot just because.

See my ring in the top corner?

Btw, Project Runway starts this week! In two days as a matter of fact! Yay! I'm so excited.

Last but not least is my little oyster ring. It was inspired by the Creative Challenge in the Etsy forums. This week's challenge was to create something inspired by something under the sea. My little ring is all copper. The copper oyster has been soldered to the band ring, and then it was accented with white opal bead attached with copper wire. I just love it even though it's a substantial ring. I'm planning on doing a necklace just like it in sterling if the Post Office would quit taking holidays so I could get my solder. lol.

I'm Back!

Apologies for my being away so long!


Let's play catch up for a little while. Really truly not much has happened. Still haven't finished painting my mother's house. I'm on the upstairs landing so not much further to go. Hopefully, just two more trips. Cross your fingers for me. Still remodeling my studio and house. I cannot wait to show you photos of what we have done so far. Remember the roses growing inside the house? Well, they're gone, and that particular room is almost finished except for drywall and all that jazz. Moved on to the next room and have replaced the windows and started to vault the ceiling. I've learned how to put siding up. It's just going to be beautiful when done.




My biggest news of all is that I will be in the summer preview issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry. How exciting is that?! They want me to write a tutorial of my copper bubbles cuff. I'm so excited. I'm almost finished writing the tutorial. Now I have to take step by step pics then my headshot. I'm not so keen on the headshot. You don't suppose I could pass my Elephant spokesmodel off as me, do you? Oh, and you may have noticed the new Squidoo logo on the side. Yep I do have a lens so go check it out, leave me a comment, blog about it. They are actually quite fun to make, but I'm not quite good at getting people to it. lol.


The piece in the pic is one of my latest. It's from my men's collection that I'm working really hard to fill. It seems to be received very well by customers on Etsy and off. This particular piece is a simple sterling silver band ring. I wonder if men know how hard it is to design for them. Anyway, it can be found in my shop. If you would like to see the rest of my men's collection, check out my for men's category in my Etsy shop. There's only a couple of things so it won't kill you, and I'd love to have some feedback.

Cuffs

I like cuffs. In fact, I love cuffs. I like to wear them, and I like to make them. They never seem to go out of fashion. And, no matter how much weight you might gain or lose, they always seem to fit.

My Power cuff is one of my favorite cuff designs. It's a very simple design, but I love the width of it. It's a very chunky, make you feel like you could take over the world kind of cuff. My latest Power cuff is made of copper. Just finished and hot off the workpress, it's making its debut right here.

This cuff is a big fat 2"(5cm)wide. Makes me want to spin around the room like Wonder Woman. I went with a texture that is new for my designs, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. It has a satiny, rough appearance to it when, in actuality, it is magnificently smooth and soft. I adore it. You could literally wear this everyday of the week and never tire of it. It will be a fabulous edition to an evening wear outfit or the perfect touch to dress up those pair of blue jeans. It will be listed in my shop later today.

Jewelry Camp

It has been one of those weeks around here, and that's all I'm going to say.

I recently got the new Art Jewelry magazine. I can't tell you how much I love this magazine. I love the way it is arranged, the very interesting articles, and most especially, the gallery. In case you haven't read it, you should.

This month, they had an article on jewelry retreats. Summer camp, if you will, for jewelers.
There are several held around the country, and I'm quite sure there are more than they listed. The article focused on what to expect when you go to one of these retreats. It is very similar to the summer camp you went to as a child. The differences are that you focus on a single class, and now that you are grown, you have a drivers license.

I have always wanted to go to one of these retreats, but various things seem to get in the way. A week or two week intensive study is the best way for someone, a stay at home mom, to study when there aren't any local classes to take. I don't mind sharing a room with 13 others. I have two, Penland School of Crafts and William Holland School of Lapidary Arts, that I am particularly interested in. Both of these schools offer intensive one week classes, but they each offer very different courses in study. I could probably stay the whole summer at William Holland and not take all the classes I would like, but Penland also offers scholarship programs. This year I don't think it is a possibility, but maybe next year.

Here's the other schools that the article mentioned in case you are interested in finding one near you:

John C. Campbell Folk School(offers classes in painting, photography, and other points of interest)
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
MAKER: Metal Art Workshops and Educational Retreat