Picture overloooaaaad

Isn't this lovely?

Too bad that line on the right side of the stone is a crack.

A crack that I noticed after finishing the setting.



Sad :(

I dug it out- it had split completely into 2, hopefully salvaged the setting, and will be sending it off to a very kind soul who has offered to cut me a cabochon to fit in the setting (please check out his shop...he has lovely lovely stones!) - stonesinmotion.etsy.com. It's a custom order so it's very much appreciated! I will take pictures of the finished product when it's fixed up.


Zeus looking very subdued this evening.

Custom order of kona cuffs (I love these all together...maybe have to make myself a bunch to wear):

New pendant in the shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27078954


Preview of new stuff I have to list but am being exceedingly lazy about (it's that whole writing thing, again):

Oh So MOD

Organics Hoops:
Pause ring, size 7:


I'm working with stones right now so most of the next batch will be full of them. And the batch after that. I have plans.

Yesterday after a bit of convincing I agreed to take the big mare out for a trail ride with 2 of her friends.

She's been having girl issues, leading to a sore back on occasion and obnoxious mare behavior, which is not like her despite the fact that she is very mare.

Anyway, so long as there are friends along miss Cho is content and happy and very well-behaved in the great outdoors. Maybe someday she'll learn to navigate down hill better and we can go on trail excursions & not just loops around the property.

I worked at the barn all weekend and fought being exhausted when I wasn't at the barn...so not much jewelry to show for it. I do have 2 custom chains & a custom bracelet I need to be working on, a few items to photograph, a few more to list. And a slew of things on my bench that are started. And I need to get my big torch set up, because I have too many big stones that want to be worked with!!

Oh, and then the rest of life (need to list):
Yoga
and cardio
and MORE RIDING
and buying a new car
and organizing myself better...

The days need to be longer.

Sad.Day.

It is apparently not my week. Thankfully the tumbler spill was just annoying and didn't break anything...the jewelry all came out fine and the tumbler is still functioning.

Tonight I didn't come off so easily. I was setting stones and got to the custom order necklace I've been making...I love doing custom orders where I can pretty much design and do my own thing, which this was. As I was tightening the bezel I noticed the stone was cracked. It was a turquoise that had a little pit in it but the customer picked it out in person. The crack started at the pit and seems to go all the way through the stone...it's broken in 2. I'm so so sad about it...the necklace was completely finished. Three hours of work for nothing.

I'm going to see if it's repairable with epoxy...if she doesn't want it at least I'll have a necklace that I made?

In happier news, there will be a little shop update over the weekend. I have a few pairs of simple earrings & a pendant to photo & list.

EDIT:
I just wanted to give a shoutout to the coolest thread on the etsy forums (nearly 300 pages and 3,000 posts strong!) "Mis-named Stones and Metals." It started in March and is a FONT of information regarding...well...stones and metals. There are GIA graduates, knowledgeable rock hounds, lapidaries, and jewelers. I have learned so much and discovered a ton of new material through everyone. If you have any interest in learning about this stuff it is the place to go! It's like a warm little mini community within the vastness of etsy. Highly recommended :)

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6092412&page=1

Disconnected thoughts on a Thursday

Writing is the bane of my existence [i think this phrase is really amusing because it's so DRAMATIC] and sometimes jewelry doesn't need a story. It'll make its own once it ends up where it's supposed to be.

These next few batches (once I figured out WHY my tumbler was on the floor when I got home last night, the little motor running away and steel shot all over the kitchen...) I'm really making just to make because I like designing and making pretty things.

Maybe they'll have stories by the time I'm done. As of right now, their working names are "pink opal necklace" and "spring green ring." I give stuff working names so I can readily identify it in the great notebook of jewelry, which includes all of my notes and pricing fun.

I will inevitably reach a point where my descriptions end up as short and sweet as possible as my little rebellion. I know this because that is what I do. My senior year of college I was so sick of every goddamn piece of art having to mean something that I made a video that meant ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO ME. When it came time in video class to discuss and critique the video, I let people say their thing and just smiled. When it came time to me explaining/justifying my work, I said "I just made this to make it. It doesn't mean anything, really, what it means is up to you...you're all right." and refused to say anything else. Oh I miss those days. I hope santa brings me a macpro + final cut this year. And maybe kicks my ass into film school? ...

I was going to keep writing and writing and writing about other stuff, completely unrelated, but when I saw how long this was I stopped. No one has that long of an attention span...and it gives me something to write about tomorrow.

I've been slacking!

The last of the newest batch is in the shop here:

Lavender Garden
(this one is a favorite for sure)

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26839037

I also made these things that are not up for grabs because someone already grabbed them:
Spiral Earrings (sold)
Custom Twiggy ring with a 12mm cushion cut labradorite:

Still here...

The weekend was full of wedding & friends & Minneapolis love. I have no pictures because I refuse to bring my beast of an SLR to take snapshots. Hopefully there will be some in the near future from others' cameras. For now, the picture above was taken 3 whole years ago, before we graduated. It's only 3 of us but that's better than nothing, right?

There was also a bit of shopping (new sandals for my travels & a prairie wallet).

The jewelry is coming along, slowly but surely. I'm finishing up some custom orders this week, starting a new batch, polishing, etc. I had a bit of a lazy week last week (or, rather, had so much other stuff going on my free time was used catching up on sleep...) so it's time to pick it back up again - jewelry AND riding.

Here's to hoping the humidity breaks.
And that I get to bed earlier the rest of this week.

random bits of this and that.

My huge silver order was so, so disappointing.

The second box came the other day. I asked my stepmom to feel the weight. She did, and then proceeded to ask if it was empty.

"Actually, it contains $78 of silver."

And through all of this? I forgot bezel wire. Sigh. New order will be placed today and it's terribly boring. Bezel, solder, chain for a custom necklace.

Speaking of chain, I was staring at a piece of chain last night - the 3 1/2" piece of scrap that's been sitting on my bench - and decided it needed to be in earrings. Along with a technique I've never actually done before (as it involves beads and wire) but I'm pretty sure I can teach myself.

Art notes:
Jewelry is largely about design for me because that is how it started out. My "outlet" art was photography and mixed media collages, later sculpture and video and installation (speaking of - if someone would like to hire me and pay me a salary to be an installation artist I think I may be content forever).

Jewelry was about making pretty things that I would like to wear. Eventually it evolved into small sculpture, but by and large it was jewelry and not art to me. There was more of a distinction then. It IS art but it didn't really fit into my definition as such...it couldn't compared to the other things I was working with. I put everything I had into my videos, my photos. I knew how to do that. It was a vulnerability but there was some sort of odd comfort in that vulnerability.

Metal is not a medium that naturally brings those things out. I'm starting to slowly branch out and not just do "design" pieces, but things with stories. Things inspired from other meaningful things. Words and emotions and stories and memory. It won't ever be the same as my pictures, but at least it will be something.

Art is my skeleton.

Here they be.

Echo::
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=26538562

S Ring::
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26537188


And the copper earrings from earlier:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=26516745

(2 more necklaces to list...saving the best for last)
Or, rather, I just haven't gotten to editing the pictures yet. TIME. NEED MORE.

Not in the cards.

This is the only thing I have newly listed.

This stuff was finished last week.

I left my notebook on my bench. Said notebook includes sizes and prices and whatnot for all of my new pieces.

These earrings are all I remembered without the notebook.

And now I vote for a nap.

picture picture

(Already bored of attempting to get a picture of the necklace on me.)

Taking photos of stuff is time consuming and more of a chore than anything else.

Especially when it's time to get pictures of the pieces on me to get an idea of their actual size and what they look like ON someone.

And it often turns into ridiculousness. And dozens and dozens of shots to get one that I am content with.
It also turns into self portrait time (I promise I'm wearing a shirt)Duh.
And that is how I feel about all of the pictures I have to cut down and edit.

Tarot, 2009, New Orleans

Giganto silver order is on its merry little way. Sheet in all different gauges! Wire of every sort! All kinds of chain!

Or, in other words, the largest silver order I've ever placed.

I could do with a little lot more patience -- as I've said before, I hate being so limited and I'm sick of waiting around for things that seem so basic.

Now to get the acetylene tank filled...

And stop thinking about enamel. Someday but NOT TOday. y/y? y.

The custom order list is growing and will keep me quite busy over the next few weeks.

And that is that is that. Nothing much of interest. I am taking photos of all of my new pieces tonight and they'll be gradually added over the next few days. I like working in "batches." It makes me feel accomplished.

dreary days

This weekend:

cold and rainy and dreary. I wouldn't mind, usually, except I had to work outside at the barn both days.

I

hate

mud.

On Saturday, my little sister graduated from high school.

And I ate a lot of cake.

(this one was taken for me...as I'm pretty sure she has no use for it as a senior picture. Eventually my 2nd etsy shop will be filled with photography prints)

Jewelry?

Worked on a bit.

Sold a bit.

4 custom orders in the works.

Shop update to come this week! - - -

there is something be said for silence.

I have a lot of stuff bouncing around, but nothing to really jewelry blog about. I don't want to be terribly boring, but I also feel like I should at least attempt to keep this up regularly.

I suppose I could tell you that the twiggy ring is freshly sold, which is bittersweet. It's quite a comfy, neat little ring indeed. And it stuck around just long enough for me to stare at it while I made another (easier than making things from pictures, you know). But, I'm glad it's off to someone who is excited to wear it!

I could also tell you that the twiggy ring I made last night has a stone & is a custom order. It will be finished by the end of the weekend.

As will a custom landscape (for my grandma, ordered ages ago!) ring.

And as 2 leave my hands, 2 more to come. A set of 3 mother/daughter bracelets (so sweet!) and completely separate necklace that may have a handmade chain - designs to be discussed in the near future.

Steady.
Steady.

A handful (literally) of pieces will be tossed in the polisher tomorrow and prepared for the shop too.

I also have another handful of pieces that need stones set and/or pictures taken for listing. I am being indecisive about which stones to use (I have an assortment of 3mm cabs). I am also not feeling like setting the tiny little things because it can be a real PAIN.

My supa mod pendant finally has a chain that is both sleek and flexible! It's also stainless steel. I think that's ok.

I have a big list of silver that needs to be ordered but I will have to wait a bit for that.

My car is going to be the death of me stress-wise.

My mouth still hurts; I look forward to when it's healed and I don't have to take pain killers for it.

And that is things.

So much for an early night.

Here is the summary of my day:
angry angry angry annoyed post drilled into my mouth angry angry frustrated annoyed.

Then I took a nap and all was better. Not perfect, but better.

Earlier, I started to write about the pieces I'm working on right now. I used to work very differently in jewelry than other art forms. I thought about it differently. I designed more than anything else and I didn't really use other things (music, horses, life, etc) as inspiration. They weren't inspiration-motivated pieces in that way.

I didn't make it with a whole lot of meaning behind it, basically. Until the end when I switched gears and did some small sculpture in sterling. But the actual jewelry itself I made pretty much purely from a design perspective. It was a way to take all of my sketches from pages and pages of "notes" from various classes and turn them into something tangible.

Now that I don't have a steady flow of photos, film, video, mixed media, and sculpture I'm working on to get that all out, it's beginning to take shape in jewelry.

Not all of it. But some. One of the pendants I'm working on now is from just that and it feels so satisfying to be able to say, yeah, I'm making art right now.

Anyway, this is in the shop. Everytime I sat down to write the damn description I just stared at the screen, eventually admitting defeat and going off to bed. Not tonight!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25876700
I love it a whoooole lot and would like to keep it for myself.