oh dear.

hi, blog. Nice to see you.

I have some things to tell you:

1. Right now I am working on a slew of rustic goods with a slew of great little stones...including a super fabulous 12mm ruby that I'm kicking myself for. I'm kicking myself for not buying more of them in Tucson.

2. I'm not really sure why, but raw and rough stones are calling my name. I mean more than before. And pyrite. I really like Lady Gaga.

While it doesn't seem like those things are related, I think pyrite goes with Lady Gaga like peanut butter goes with jelly.

Obviously.



3. I think this little obsession was sparked slightly by the rough diamonds, but then bff Joe sent me a giant quartz crystal that I instantly decided MUST become a big stabby ring. I'm just in a really gaudy mood apparently. Maybe it's the weather.

4. Sisu #3 is done, photographed, and sent/received by sisu owner. I've been meaning to post the photos for a week. I will try. Tonight.

5. Rex and I have been attempting to cook more instead of going out to eat all of the time. We've not been terribly successful. BUT, yesterday I did make grilled tomato/basil/mozz sandwiches which were amazing. And tonight I'm going to marinate/sear a really nice tuna steak. Domestic.

6. I'm trying to convince myself I like green tea. I've attempted this in the past without much success.

7. My new jewelry plan of action is to breathe. I get so stressed when I don't have new work every week, or several pieces to introduce at once, or "not enough" work for the open houses. Balance in my life is important. I have a horse to ride, I have a full time job, I work at the barn part time, I have a life to organize and plan. I can't compare myself to those who do this as their job, or anyone really. Everyone has different priorities. I feel like I work incredibly slow - because I do.


But that's ok.


Cholula agrees.

It's a struggle to truly convince myself of this and be ok with not being a metal machine. There's a little guilt that creeps in when I choose to spend a quiet night at home instead of at my bench. But I'm trying.

And maybe next week I'll have a shop update for you!

***photo found at starpulse.com

Squared

You may remember this --

A friend liked the chain so much, she asked me to make one for a bronze pendant she had.


I wasn't sure how I was going to actually attach the pendant, seeing as I didn't want to risk melting it or ruining it somehow with my torch. But...I also didn't want to risk sending it off with unsoldered joints, and wire wrapping was not going to cut it (the mock ups were awful, to say the least).


But then I remembered that cold shield is awesome and oh, I have a tub of it.


Anyway, the results:



I love how well the chain compliments the pendant and stands up to the pendant's weight. Really happy with how it turned out, here is to hoping my friend is too!

Nesting Ring

boulder turquoise + sterling

Because my time in the desert lifted me up and filled my cup to the brim.

Because I was weightless there - supported and cradled.

Because the stresses of here melted away into the mountains.

Because I could just be for those days.

Because of the sense of home and light and a safe nest, if just for a time.

Weekend Cholula

I really cannot get over how adorable Cho pony is here.

She loves her food. So very much that she must cuddle into it and love on it.

My weekend was full of barn. Barn chores + Cholula. We went on our very first ride down the gravel road yesterday (and first ride outside of the year - yeah!) We encountered a pile of geese milling about a frozen (but quickly thawing) field. And a running and barking dog. And a car. And a giant pile of snow. And a bunch of other stuff in the distance. While all was worth looking at and noting, Cholula kept chugging along. She was fabulous.

I managed to find a spot of time to finish up a few custom orders, a few pairs of earrings, and a ring for the shop as well! Photos to come soonish.

My first...

I thought I'd do a series of blogging of some of my metalsmithing firsts. The idea was to do this in chronological order, however, I can't find some of the *very first* things I ever made (dating back to my junior year of high school) and I don't feel like spending ages digging for them.

When they show up, they'll be blogged on, fear not!

Some background: I took my first smithing class my junior year of high school. I learned all of the basics - piercing, soldering, bezel-setting (very badly), casting, etc. My senior year I took another class. I continued the trend in college and took 3 classes there - honing my skills and picking up some new ones. I have ONE item of jewelry I made in high school (senior year, I believe) that I wear all of the time and love. The rest of it is kind of embarassing. College was more successful.

To start off, these are the faceted stones I set. They were preceded by a prong-set irregular slice of agate. When the urge hits me, I'll teach myself to bezel-set faceted stones, but at the time I was itching to learn prong-settings!

This was in my 3rd metalsmithing class in college (except we just called it jewelry). I bought the largest faceted stones I could afford to make it a little easier on myself. My best guess is that the round is 8mm and I think the oval is 10x13?

Blue topaz with handmade chain -
One thing I'm incredibly grateful to my college jewelry prof for is learning chain-making. In fact, my very first project in college (long lost, I'm sure) was a handmade chain. It took me some 13 hours. We made unique links, often with 5 or so soldering points per link. The chains were interesting and unique...and taught us some mad crazy soldering skillz.

You can't see the backside of the stone, but the tip of the stone actually sits on your skin. The setting is exactly what you see there - a round wire frame with 4 prongs holding the stone. That's about as simple as it gets. Let's just say jewelry prof was not too pleased with me when she realized I "cheated."

Smokey Quartz -

For the second prong setting, now that I knew I could prong set, I actually did a basket setting. I remember this whole pendant being amazingly difficult (though some parts just sort of happened like magic and surprised me). I'm still quite proud of myself that I DID it and to the standards I'd set for myself. *Everything* is soldered. Everywhere you see metal touching. I've been picky about that from day one...I always risked ruining the inner workings of my clasps so that the tiny ring attaching them would be soldered. I know how hard I am on my jewelry, and I hate the thought of leaving anything open!

Stay tuned for another "firsts" post next week!

It is TINY!

Yes, necklace is tiny.

And I was mistaken - for whatever reason I had it stuck in my head that the doublet was 8x10...but it's really 6x8. Hee.

Weeeee!

Sunbathing.

Cholula and her bff Izzy

3/1/2010