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.

I finally managed to spend a bit of time in the shop this weekend. I took some inspiration from Jessica Cote's Embellished Bezel class, and used these little mandalas to make a couple of pendants. The light blue is aquamarine, and the pale orange is glass. They'll be posted in the shop soon!

I have a few more pieces to share today, with more to come soon. I haven’t been feeling so well health-wise, so I haven’t had much energy to post. Making some updates to my shop this week, so please drop me a line if you see something you like that’s not online yet!

Here are a two sweet little pieces I made a few weeks ago. The first is imperial jasper, and the second is a wampum shell. These will be available in the next shop update.

I had a fun and productive weekend in the shop. These pieces are more complex - I can only finish one per day. But I’m really loving these construction techniques and the ability to combine stones in new ways. These will be in my shop in the next few weeks, but if you are interested… Continue reading Productive weekend

I've been experimenting with some different packaging ideas. Nothing final yet, but I've ordered some new materials to play around with. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek at some work in progress ...

Much better day in the shop today. Finished off this beauty, really happy with how it turned out. The sapphire doublet (with quartz), Tiffany stone, and manmade amethyst and lavender cubic zirconia. This piece isn’t fully polished yet, but couldn’t wait to share.

Rough day in the shop yesterday - I feel like everything I touched went awry. This lovely chrysocolla malachite crumbled while I was pushing down the last prong. And then I tried to set the agua nueva agate for the second time, but the bezel was uneven. Again. And then the gallery wire on the… Continue reading Rough day in the shop