A custom & one for the shop

This ring may look familiar, as it's the same one pictured in my blog header. This was one of several pieces that I first made when I decided to venture into selling my jewelry. I didn't have any equipment nor the money to buy any (oh I miss the days of having access to a fully stocked jewelry studio...), but I did have dental tools.

I've done a bit of casting in all of my jewelry classes, and have cast everything from carved rings and pendants to seed pods and barbie hands. While I enjoy casting, I've always done it somewhat sparingly compared to fabrication - I would enjoy it for shorter periods of time and welcomed the break from torches and solder, but I was always excited to go back to them.

Since wax and casting were the only methods used in the beginning of my etsy shop, I got incredibly burned out. I still have various rings, pendants, etc that need to be cleaned up and photographed but I have no desire to do anything with them at the moment. So they sit, with their nubby sprues and bits of investment clinking around each other in my drawers.

And now that I have gotten completely off topic, here is the ring. She really liked the design of the cast ring, which I still had sitting around (though finished!) and wanted to add a stone. I brought in a random selection of smaller stones that I had and let her choose what she wanted and how she wanted it to sit on the ring.

And for the shop, we have a gothic set of stackers - 2 sparkling rose cut garnets in black and dark red.

For the record, (red) garnets are thus far the most difficult stone to capture with my camera. They usually just look black, no matter what tricks I pull out of my DSLR.

Also, I am on a mission to get my shop UPDATED with all of the items I have laying around! I have these rings, the tiny warm stack, a tiny stacker on its own, the persimmon necklace, a pair of mod moons, and that's just what I can think of off hand.

And the winner is...

Pot o' names

Mixing them up


Picking the one...
Who will it be?

Kate!

Please to be sending me your address, lady!

And for those of you who didn't win, I will be hosting more give aways in the future, never fear!

today

Today
is the last day to enter the give away for precisely one peridot pod necklace. Alliteration.

Yesterday
was a trying ride on the mare I called a few choice words in the midst of our arguing.
Eventually I just stopped. We stood there. I counted to 5. I picked up my reins lightly. She obliged, we made progress. Minutes later she was screaming to her trail bound herd mates, and that's about the time I realized I was dealing with Miss Hormonal during her heat cycle. Mares.

This morning
is a very large mug of english breakfast tea topped off with a bit of milk and sugar.

Last night
was a fat little ball of burrata cheese, a farmer's market tomato, crunchy sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and aged balsamic. Dinner.


This night
will be a lot of jewelry-ing.

(despite the fact that this picture makes me appear to be a responsible individual who wears masks as she should while making jewelry, I don't. This is actually my mask for cleaning my apartment. My asthma protests when I vacuum.)

And probably taking this new beast (belonging to my dad/stepmom) for a walk.

little drops of color

I think one of the most challenging things for me is getting photos taken of my work. It seems everytime I come up with a good solution for photo-taking, it's taken away from me or doesn't work as well anymore.

So, I'm trying out some new things and hoping I can find something I like the best ever in the near future.

Until then, mostly the same window sills.

Custom crocus stack, with prehnite and garnet instead of amethyst:

A tiny stacking set in warm tones - garnet, citrine, carnelian. These little guys are 3mm!

Time warp necklace with garnet:

it's just a jump to the left (and then a step to the riiiiiight), put your hands on your hips (and bring your knees in tiiiiiight), but it's the pelvic thruuuust, that really drives you insaaaaaane...

Lastly, here is one of the pods on - this one has sunstone beads and will be listed in the etsy shop!

Give away!

I'm 4 sales away from hitting 100. But really, it's just been awhile since I've given anything away ;)

Pod I


A hand cut circle has been pierced with a seed motif and dapped into a sweet little hemisphere. Two little wire-wrapped peridot beads have been added to the chain, the pod resting comfortably between each. A third bead has been added to the clasp.


This necklace measures in right around 16" with the clasp. The chain has been oxidized, the pod oxidized and brushed for a matte finish.

The first in a small series, a different way of working. I've been pushed into a different space in getting ready for this art fair. The rest of the pods will be available on etsy, as soon as they have their own photographs.


A little homage to the season of growth. An everyday necklace with a touch of color.



To enter:

1. Leave me a message at the end of this blog with your name and email!

Simple, like the necklace.

For additional entries:
2. blog about it!
3. post it on facebook with a link to this entry!
4. become a follower of my blog!

And of course, be sure to let me know in the comments if you've done any of these things so I can be sure to count your entries!

The contest will end on Thursday, June 24th at 10pm central time. Good luck!

summer, stackers, steps

The heat of the summer has been slowly creeping up, and in that all I want to eat is salad.

Fresh, crisp vegetables, a little sweet tang, and the bite of vinegar. That's all I want to consume. And lots of iced tea.

A girl can sustain herself on arugula and ceylon, right?

You should know that I have added these back to the shop, as a made to order item:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/28951025/sun-and-moon-stackers

They will vary a bit from the photos being handmade, but also because I'm now using 6mm rather than 5mm stones. I adore this pair of rings...one of many things on my list of jewelry to make for myself. Maybe someday...

I am officially preparing for my very first *real* art fair. It's scary. I don't really know what I'm doing. I have ideas for displays. I need to spruce up my packaging supplies. Gather trays and shelves. Buy a calculator and some receipts. Figure out how in the hell I'm going to get everything up there (I'm fairly sure a tent and table are not going to fit in my honda civic?)

The pressure of producing piles upon piles of jewelry has been relieved somewhat in that I can share a booth with someone else. This also means that as I find the time to photograph and edit everything, it will all be offered up in my etsy shop before the show.

Lastly? The afternoons have been bringing some hellish storms and preventing me from getting anymore photos of the GIVE AWAY NECKLACE. However, I'm going to edit the ones I've already taken, hope for the best, and post the give away tonight or tomorrow!

Pods

Here is a preview of the new necklaces. This is the first series I've made at once.

One of them will be for the give away in a few days :)

shiny things and ponies. mostly ponies.

Jewelry News: There will be a give away starting before the end of the week! I finished a little series of pod necklaces last night and will be taking photos tonight.

In other news, Cho and I had some quick photos taken after our schooling show class on Saturday:

And sometimes I make faces:


Check back for the give away, I'll be posting before the end of the week!

Weekend goods.

Now that blogger is finally working for me again...my post from yesterday!

Ok, one weekend good.

I love my weekends at the barn, despite the fact that they are exhausting. Yesterday I had the afternoon off and spent it working on various jewelry items. Today? I've been dragging since about 3pm. We'll try again tomorrow.

I did finish up one necklace that will make its way to the shop this week...of course I picked a rainy afternoon to photograph it, and also found that getting a picture with no glare was next to impossible.

Here she be, in all her glory - a lovely roundish cut of moss agate...doesn't it look like seaweed, lazily swaying in the water? The clarity of the stone isn't great, so maybe not...but I promise it does! Watery plants reaching up to the surface. A lake-inspired necklace from the land of 10,000.

Loch Ness Necklace:

It will be listed sometime this week.

Otherwise, I'm busy preparing for an art fair. More details later!

Squeeeeee!

Let me tell you the secret to a happy life: A good ride on a good horse.

Last night was a good ride, and therefore I'm still on a giddy high.

Cholula and I became bit stir crazy this winter. We were stuck in the indoor for too many months...I don't mind riding inside, but when you have no other option you start to get a little twitch. As soon as we were able to this spring, we were outside, down the road, see you later.

Not that this didn't come with its own challenges: Cho's trail experience is very limited. She went out a handful of times last year around the property with other horses - the end! This year I set out with a mission to have a happy, fun, controllable trail horse. So far I think our mission is well on its way.

Of course, we still have a ways to go. Cows? Psychological meltdown. We could barely even SEE the cows they were so far away (and behind a big fence)...hopefully the gods will take mercy on me if we ever come across cows closer to the road. Large piece of dark plastic? fabric? flapping around on a very windy day almost got me ridden into an electric fence. Big drainage tunnel under the road on BOTH sides? Wasn't sure we'd ever make it over that one.

Overall, though, Cho has proven herself to be a pretty good pony. Last night we were riding around the fields with one of the fearless teenagers (I miss those days...) and said teenager was going to canter up the path.

I shrugged, half expecting us to do the zooming trot up the hill in attempts to canter - if you've read my blog you know that cantering is an issue at this point. But, I brought myself into 2 point, threw caution to the wind, and kissed.

And we cantered. More importantly, we cantered the entire way up the hill. And then we rode around the loop, came back and did it again. Repeat.

I have cantered this horse under 10 times ever, and usually I only get 4 strides or so before she breaks to a trot. But, last night we discovered that cantering around the fields is probably the best thing ever. My nerves were no where in sight, overcome by the pure rush of cantering a long stretch, a grassy pasture on one side and trees on the other. This is what I've spent years dreaming of, this feeling, I thought. I wasn't disappointed.

Now maybe I'll be able to stop procrastinating on my artist statement? That would be a feat.

ARTIST STATEMENT

1st attempt: I like shiny things.

2nd attempt: I like shiny things and I like to wear shiny things so I make shiny things. Also, I have a stone buying addiction and have to support that somehow.

3rd: My hands are lonely so I keep them distracted with metal.

4th: Jewelry: because I don't have the space to make giant burlap sculptures nor the equipment to make art videos...JK! I just like shiny things.

It's been awhile since I was an art major, ok?