01.13.20 Bad habits...

New year's posts generally focus on resolutions for change or improvement. Not for me, at least not this year.

If you are a regular - or even occasional - reader of this blog, it will come as no surprise to you that I have a bad earring habit...just go to the search bar in the upper right hand corner of the blog and type in

I probably have more posts about earrings than any other single topic, and I know I have more pairs than I do any other variety of jewelry...but does that stop me from acquiring more...

NOPE.

The most recent earring spree started late last summer, when I rediscovered a pair of turquoise earrings that I have had since high school, because they are a great match to the pendant I made my with my first foray into gold.


In the box with the turquoise drops, I found some other old jewelry (including the moonstone earrings I repaired) that I decided I'd put in my Etsy shop...so off I went to do some comparative pricing.

You'll recall that after making the moonstone earrings wearable again, I decided I was done setting small stones. Furthermore if I wanted more (because I don't need more) earrings, I would buy them.

But...I digress...

I went trolling on Etsy and eBay for prices on pieces similar to the ones I wanted to list in the Vintage section of my shop.  I found plenty of things for comparison...

I also discovered lots of inexpensive vintage silver earrings for sale that didn't need repair - just some cleaning up or new earwires (either replacing old screwbacks or the cheap ones that people had put on them to resell)...and things got a little out of control.

I found about a dozen pair that were $10-20, so I bought them all...cleaned them up, put them on new earwires (some on leverbacks, depending on the style). I even bought a few as gifts because they were such good matches to pendants I'd made.

I probably ought to stop...but that's not likely to happen, because it's become a form of entertainment for me...can I find some unloved pair of earrings to bring back to life for myself...or someone else.

So, keep an eye on my Instagram, where (most days) I post #todayearrings, and you are likely see all the old, tarnished baubles I'm giving new life for myself...or in my Etsy shop.

So, maybe that's my new year's resolution after all - to give old silver some love, new life and keep it from the scrap heap.

Happy new year!

Until next time.

05.20.19 Gold Rush! Kinetic Jewelry 2.0, Part 3

With the hollow forms completed - including making sure the tubing and wires for hanging were the proper length - it was time to start thinking about embellishing the silver teardrops with granules of 18K gold.

At $1,300 an ounce, I didn't just snip off some of my gold wire and fire up the torch...no...I started by getting some comparably sized (20 gauge) copper wire, and experimenting.





I cut pieces of copper wire to different lengths and started playing around with the placement of granules on each side of the form.

I settled on an arrangement that corresponded to my original sketches; a larger, flattened single granule on one side, and three smaller ones along the bottom curve of the opposite side.


I wanted to use the gold granules on both sides of the earrings, so that when the forms spun on the interior rivet wires (the kinetic part) the details on each side might - or might not - match at any given moment.

Once I was happy with the placement, I cut up my gold wire, balled it up into granules, and with De looking over my shoulder, I lit my torch and fused the granules to both sides of each hollow form.



As luck would have it - Melissa, from the Creative Side staff, was in the studio taking photos and video - so I have a short clip of the forms spinning on their rivets, with the gold on both sides.

I was thrilled with the finished earrings, still had some gold - and time - left before the class ended...so I decided to make a simple pendant and add gold granules.

Photo credit: CSJA

I bought a small, oval turquoise from the stone case at Creative Side - I didn't want to invest a lot, in the event it didn't turn out well - and got started.

I built the setting with argentium silver, just like every other pendant I make, and under De's patient supervision, fused the gold granules down to front of the bezel.

The order of assembling a piece of jewelry is always important, because when both fusing and soldering, the fusing has to be done first (because it is as a higher temperature); adding gold simply means that there is another set of metal temperatures to consider.

In keeping with the spirit of the class I put a riveted bail with - gold wire - on the top of the pendant, and was left with just enough gold for one more small granule. I couldn't NOT use that last bit of gold, so I flipped the pendant over, and gave the cactus cut out a flower.

The granule on the back had to be soldered - so as not to melt the joints on the rest of the piece - and gave me the opportunity to work with gold solder in addition to fusing.

In case it's not obvious - I love taking classes at Creative Side...I love making shiny new things, I love learning new techniques, and I really love spending time with the fabulous people - instructors and other students - that make it such a special place.

I'm going to take a break from making and blogging in June, but will be back in early July.

Until then...have fun, stay hydrated and wear sunscreen.

05.06.19 A little precision goes a long way. Kinetic Jewelry 2.0, Part 2

It had been a minute (ok, more like three years) since my last attempt at making hollow form pieces, and those were in sterling silver, not argentium. 

This might not sound like a big deal, but it is; if you want to understand the difference between the two metals, you can read my post on the magic of argentium (which is 93.5% pure silver, and 6.5% germanium - not copper).

Making hollow forms with argentium silver is great - because there is no solder required - the metal can be fused together...but...this requires precision both in the fabrication of the parts and in the application of heat and flame.

I measured (twice) and cut (once) my frame pieces, formed them into teardrop shapes and drilled them before I fused them down onto sheet metal on the first side.

Fusing the first side is relatively straightforward - you have to be careful about directing your torch, so you don't melt the frames, but it's not unlike putting down a bezel for a pendant.  

The first fuse went beautifully, and once it was done I was ready to cut away the excess metal, clean up the exteriors, and fuse the second side...which is the part of the process that's really tricky.

If you over heat the metal during the process of fusing the second side to the form, it will slump, and instead of having a "hollow" form, you will end up with a "sunken" form...definitely not the look I was going for.

It was fine to fuse both the frames down to the first side at the same time, but to finish the hollow forms, I did them separately.  The more metal you are working with, the more difficult it becomes to control your heat - so the trick is to have enough back plate that it won't shrink away from the sides, but not so much that it makes heating difficult, or that you waste metal.

With De at my side, I successfully fused both forms together! 

The next task was to repeat the process of trimming away the excess metal, then sanding and polishing the forms to a finished state.  This wasn't the last step - because there was still gold to add to the pieces, but the surfaces had to be completely finished before I went any further.

Come back in a couple of weeks for the third installment in this series of posts - and learn about the excitement of fusing gold!

Until next time.

12.11.17 Happy Accidents (part 2)

In the same shipment as the turquoise chips, there were several pairs of drilled bars for earrings.  Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in shipping, one of the stones cracked.

I contacted my sellers, who promptly sent me a new pair of stones, but I hated the idea of not being able to do something with the broken one...

I asked a number of folks I know who work with stones if because it was a clean break, I could glue the pieces back together?

I knew I wouldn't be able to sell the earrings, but if it worked - I could keep them.


With information about the type of glue to use (clear drying two part jewelry epoxy) and some good instructions, I put the pieces back together, wrapped them with painters tape and waited to see how it turned out.

Lo, and behold - it worked!  If you hold them close and look very carefully you can still see the seam where the stone was repaired, but you have to know it's there.

There were several other pairs of stones in my order, and they made their way into my shop, but I'm still feeling pretty proud of myself for mending these...

...and I'm really enjoying wearing them.














Until next time.

PS - my time in the booth doing descriptive audio narration for the Nutcracker went really well! Here's a bonus picture of me - with my script and microphone - just before the show!

09.18.17 Beach Week

Getting our three adult children and their significant others in the same place at the same time is kind of like a game of Tetris. Last year (2016) we couldn't make it happen over the summer, although we were together for Thanksgiving...and that's when I started planning for vacation this year.

By May, plans were well underway. I'd arranged a Saturday to Saturday rental in Rehoboth Beach - only a couple of hours from DC, where both our sons and their girlfriends live - and made arrangements for the rest of us to fly in.

I was excited - not just to see everyone - but that we were going to be there for the Rehoboth Art League's Summer Outdoor Fine Art and Craft Show.

Friday morning we were packed up and ready to go when I received a text saying our flight was cancelled...I was not having it.  I had worked too hard to arrange for us to all be together.




Fortunately, through the wonders of the internet (and some very helpful folks at Southwest Airlines), I was able to get us on another flight out the next morning, so we were able to pick up our daughter at the airport and the keys to our rental house in plenty of time.  The rest of our crew arrived later that evening and our beach week was underway.

Sunday morning I got up and made crème brûlée French toast (because...vacation) before we headed to Helopen Acres for the art show.

Show program and souvenirs

The weather and the setting could not have been more perfect! It was 75 degrees and sunny, the trees were green and the sky was bright blue!  There was food, Dogfish Head beer, and of course, lots and lots of art to see!

With Hannah Long

I didn't have to wander far before I found Hannah Long, a fellow member of the Aspiring Metalsmiths group on Facebook.  In fact, had it not been for Hannah, I might not have known about the art show at all.  She had posted on the group page that she was going to have a booth - so finding her was at the top of my to do list.

I've written before about the wonderful people I've gotten to know - mostly online - in the metalsmithing community.  It was a really special treat to have a chance to visit with Hannah (and shop her gorgeous jewelry) in person.  I couldn't resist a pair of her fabulous geode earrings - not only did she set them, she did all the lapidary work too!

I didn't want to monopolize Hannah all afternoon, so I ambled on and found another jewelry artist - Courtney Gillen - whose silver, sea glass and pearl pieces spoke to me as well. Immediately I spotted her pearl vine earrings (there was only one pair) and I knew if I walked away without them, they'd be gone by the time I got back...so (no surprise) I snapped them up.

We stayed at the show a little longer - my family was happy, they had beer; I was happy, I'd purchased two pair of souvenir earrings (to go along with the pair I bought at Taliesin in Wisconsin) - and we headed back to the house.

The rest of the week was wonderful - although it went too fast - and I'm already thinking about where we will go next year (perhaps I should search for more art shows...hmm...).

Until next time.

06.26.17 The Shape of Things to Come

You would think, as much as I love earrings, that I would make a lot of them - right? Except, I haven't...at least not until now.

I mean, I have made some - mostly in classes - like the hollow forms I made in Fabrication 201, and the pairs I made in the week long argentium class with Ronda Coryell...

but until very recently I'd been making almost nothing but pendants.


I can think of several reasons for this - not the least of which is earrings are too small to put a cutout on the back, and to make a pair of bezel set earrings is almost twice as much work as making a pendant.  Not only do you have to do everything twice, the bezels are much smaller, and they are much easier to melt.


But then a friend told me she wanted a pair of earrings - and was pretty specific about what she was looking for...she wanted them to be stone, have both pink and purple, and be dangly.  Well, two out of three would have been pretty easy - but it took me quite a while to find something that filled the bill.

I looked and looked, and came upon a lovely pair of matched fluorite bars - but they were drilled - so instead of bezel setting them, I asked her if she would be ok if I just made some custom earwires? She said yes - and suddenly a whole new set of design ideas came into my head.

I realized that not every piece has to involve sheet and solder - but finding great stones and giving them elegant, hand formed earwires gives me the opportunity to make beautiful pieces that are not as expensive as my pendants (but do go with them very nicely) - because they don't require as much time, or metal.

In my bead box, I had some drilled sea glass, collected over year of trips to the bead store in the Outer Banks - and I thought - what the heck, I'll make earrings out of those, too.

Finally, I decided to create some simple silver earrings with small stones - which do involve a little bit of metalsmithing - and can be replicated because I can buy multiples of the 6 mm turquoise and coral cabochons.


I'm really pleased to be able to put some smaller pieces - at lower price points - in my shop...especially when it means I can still make beautiful things when I have a little less time to work with.

I hope you'll go check out the earrings - as there are more on the way.

Until next time.

05.23.16 The Magic of Argentium - Take it to the Limit

Photo credit: argentiumsilver.com

Argentium was invented by Peter Johns, a metalsmith who works and teaches at Middlesex University in London.  He was commissioned to create a silver that would not tarnish, or develop firescale (blackening) when it was heated, and thus argentium - and alloy of pure silver and germanium, was born.  The folks at Middlesex University must have known that argentium would be a magical metal...its hallmark is a unicorn!




For jewelry fabrication, argentium silver behaves much more like gold than like sterling.  This is what led Ronda, a master goldsmith, to working with the metal.   As both a jeweler and a teacher, she began to test - and push - the limits of argentium.  When we started our second project - the slumped leaf earrings, she said that Peter Johns told her "you shouldn't be able to do that"...but turns out she, and all of us in class, could in fact heat the metal just beyond its fusing temperature to make it "slump" over a wire frame.

At the end of the first day, we started the project by fusing a wire frame - a leaf shape - to sheet silver.  The center wires were left long to create earwires. 

On day two, we moved on to the next step, which involved turning the sheet over and heating the metal beyond the fusing point to cause it to "slump" over the wire frame. 

The result...a beautiful, organic shape that we then formed over a mandrel, (added patina, in my case) and polished into gorgeous, elegant leaf earrings.  The skills we learned in this project focused heavily on the the limits of the metal and the use of the torch - and we would build on that knowledge for the next two projects...

...including the one we started that afternoon.  Round pendant dangles with wire, granules (tiny bits of silver heated until they form spheres) and a bezel set stone.

We used thin (20 gauge) wire to make jump rings in three sizes, then annealed them and stretched them over a mandrel to make two uniform sets of concentric circles.  I think anneal may be Ronda's favorite word - and with good reason - it is a way to push the metal to do what you want...when it becomes work hardened, you can stop, heat - and you are in control of it again.

After making the rings the right sizes, we used the same technique as before to fuse the wires to a backplate and create the base for what would become (on Day 3) another pair of fabulous earrings with bezel set oval onyx (which are simply sitting on the backplate in the photo - not secured in any way).

Two days - two and a half pairs of earrings...

Until next time.

08.31.15 Treasures of the sea(shore)

We had a wicked good time on Cape Cod, followed by a short but successful stay in the Boston area to move my daughter in to her dorm for her sophomore year of college.

I am home and back at my desk, but happily in possession of both some wonderful memories and a few trinkets from our trip to the seashore.

We stayed at a small, family owned lodge called the Hyannis Holiday Motel.  It was straight out of a 1960's movie set - complete with the "return to" information on the key!  It was quirky (in a good way), convenient, and our kids thought it was way cooler than your average Hilton property.

Although we hung out primarily in Hyannis, we started our va-Cape-tion in Chatham (on the recommendation of very good friends who spend a couple of weeks there every summer).  After visiting the beach and the lighthouse, the guys found some bar seats at The Squire - a local pub - while my daughter and I ventured in and out of the shops along Main Street.
 
It didn't take me long to find a pair of  souvenir earrings. Longtime Chatham jewelers - Forest Beach Designer-Goldsmiths - have a lovely shop filled with work created by the owners, and other local artisans. 

My eyes landed pretty quickly on a pair of sparkly silver drops.  At first glance I thought they were covered with micro pave sized diamonds - but to my happy surprise - they are simply textured to create the sparkle (making them incredibly affordable)!  When I saw them, I said to my daughter, "these are going to be perfect with my lost wax pendant." I was absolutely right!

Hyannis Harbor Artist Shantis

After Chatham, we returned to Hyannis, where I found more local galleries and artists (and opportunities to shop!). Across from our hotel, along the harbor front, there are several small buildings - called Artist Shantis - where local artisans can rent space throughout the year.

In one of the buildings, sisters Christine Esperson and Jean Esperson-Golden, were selling their jewelry and accessories.  As I looked around, I visited with Christine about her travels, her jewelry-making and what drives creativity.  I knew I wouldn't be able to leave without a pair of her earrings, and settled on denim blue druzy drops, bezel set in an oxidized silver.  I expect, that much like blue jeans (with which the earrings share their color) these are going to be a pair that are easy to wear a lot because they will go with everything.

Photo credit: Dune Jewelry

A walk up the hill and into town led again to Main Street (every small Massachusetts town has one) where I was able to find the work of a jeweler I had learned about before our trip.  Cape Cod native, Holly Christensen,  makes jewelry from silver and sand.  Her company, Dune Jewelry, has grown from a hobby into a full fledged company - creating jewelry with sands from all over the world.  I had my eye on a pair of her "Sandbar" earrings before I ever left Austin, and found them - along with a lot of other beautiful things - at SoHo Arts.






Lest you think I'm the only one who went home with goodies - let me assure you - my daughter, sons and husband found things too, just not jewelry.

We visited two breweries - where the guys picked up tee shirts, glassware and some beverages to enjoy back at the hotel.  My daughter chose seaglass - but instead of jewelry, she decided on a sweet piece of 3D art for her dorm room.

We are now all back to our regular grinds - working or studying - but we had a wonderful time, and each have our own special memories and tangible treasures.

Until next time.

1.12.15 Happy birthday, Mom

This is my mom.  Today would have been her 74th birthday, but she died 10 days before turning 61.  Since she's not here to celebrate for herself, I'm going to fête her with this post.

In this photo, she's 52 years old - the same age that I am now.  Sometimes, when I catch a glimpse of my reflection I see her rather than myself - it used to freak me out a little bit, but these days I'm just fine with it.

A few months before she died, she insisted I sit down with her at the kitchen table and go through all her jewelry - piece by piece.  I resisted at first, I didn't want to admit what she had already accepted - she was dying.

As was almost always the case, she was right and I was wrong. Going through each item, reminiscing about where she got it, when she wore it, and how I remembered it - was one of the best afternoons I ever had with her.

I refused to take any of the jewelry before she died, but after the funeral, my dad insisted it go home with me. For the longest time, I couldn't bring myself to wear much of it - there were just many painful associations.  I kept thinking "I shouldn't be wearing this, Mom should."

It took a few years (yes, years) but finally I came to the realization that none of the jewelry was doing anyone any good locked away in the safe deposit box, and leaving it there wasn't going to bring her back.   I decided I would finally start to wear it.  However, when I did, I realized not all of it was really my style - for one thing, I prefer white metals (silver, white gold or platinum) and almost all her pieces were set in yellow gold.

I had an extended conversation with the fine folks at Russell Korman Jewelers, and with the help of their dedicated staff and master jeweler, Chuck Schaffer, things that weren't quite right for me in their previous form have since been transformed into wonderful pieces - for me, my daughter and my niece.

The first two pieces were earrings - a pair for myself and a pair for my daughter's 16th birthday.  I realize now, that it was in the process of resetting the diamonds - and giving them "new life" - that it first occurred to me that there could be (for me) more to jewelry than just buying and wearing it. 

I had Mom's solitaire stud earrings reset as dangles (because I have a beautiful pair of solitaires, that were a gift from my husband for my 40th birthday) in what Brooke at Russell Korman calls a "martini" setting - because it looks sort of like a martini glass.  I wear them often, and when I do - I feel like I have Mom with me.

For my daughter, I took some smaller diamonds, from a pair of channel set earring jackets, and had them put in a "flower"setting.  I know they make my very daughter happy, and I like to think Mom would be pleased, too. 

So, happy birthday Mom, you were like a diamond in so many ways - strong, brilliant, beautiful and rare.