beautifully crafted handmade jewelery
It was a beautiful weekend, and such a pleasure to be in the shop! Among other things, I finished these hollow form earrings with silky ruby. It’s getting easier and faster to make the hollow forms, and I’m really enjoying incorporating them into my work.
Fabricating these earrings has been both an amazing learning experience and a major pain in my ass. 😂 😂 But after a bunch of false starts, I’m very happy with how they turned out. If my health continues to be stable, these earrings will be part of a new collection called Groovy Summer. I hope… Continue reading Success!
Here are a couple of hollow form necklaces I’ve been working on following my class last week. I learned a lot, made lots of small mistakes along the way - especially in the round one with (pink) tourmaline. But I am more confident with the basics of constructing these now, and I look forward to… Continue reading Hollow form necklaces
A few months ago I registered for a virtual seat in two classes at The Makery Arts as a way to get back out to the shop. About a month ago, I took the Language of Flowers class with Taylor Saleem, and this time it was a class on hollow forms with Francesca Watson. I've… Continue reading Hollow Forms
I've had a couple of good weekends in a row, health-wise, and it's been a pleasure to be back out in the shop. Here is some of my latest work. These are not posted in the shop yet, but contact me if you're interested. The tourmaline at bottom right is not for sale.
More sawing practice. Work is getting cleaner but it could be a lot better. Still, I’m generally happy with how these turned out.
For me, one of the pleasures of metalsmithing is the improvements that come from simple repetition. After ten months away from my bench my skills are rusty (to say the least). So I’ve decided to relax into it, not be in a big rush to construct anything again, and just enjoy getting re-immersed in the… Continue reading Repetition
This weekend I had the opportunity to take a class with Taylor Saleem, whose work I have admired for years. She works in silver and leather, and I like how she brings botanical elements from her garden into her work. She also has some fun collaborations with her bestie, who works with enamel. The class… Continue reading The Language of Flowers
As much as I've been enjoying my current metalsmithing efforts, I also want to get away from work that is largely informed by the stones I have on hand. I am taking Heart of the Maker for the second time, and this time I am really focused on the design aspects. This post shares a bit more detail about what I've learned, and how I'm translating that into some new work.
Lots of work but very cathartic to be in the shop again.
Here is one final piece that I finished this past weekend. The main cabochon is called Iron Maiden Hotsonite. The photo doesn't begin to do justice to the beautiful subtlety of the pastel colors.
I finished up these earrings this past weekend, too. I just love the colors of this ocean jasper, accented with grey spinel.