Stormy Weather - a pendant with thunder and lightning

The main focal stone in my latest pendant is a Purple Storm, mined in Utah. I love how you can practically see lightning and hear thunder crackling through this stone. There's nothing like a good thunderstorm to cleanse the spirit. The accent stone is a soothing lavender Holly Chalcedony and nicely picks up the purple in the focal stone. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I think this is one piece I may keep for myself. While I don't wear jewelry often, I find it a little ironic when I have an occasion to wear jewelry and I don't have a piece to wear that I've made myself.

Actually, this pendant has been a thunderstorm of sorts for me to create. I started it last January, sketching several different versions of a setting for the focal stone. I finally settled on the one I liked the best, created about 75% of it and then ruined it by frying the sterling silver with too much heat on the final solder. Defeated, I used this as a wake-up to take a break from making jewelry for awhile. I needed the break to concentrate on other things.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've recently been struck with a burst of inspiration to get back to my workbench. The components for this pendant; stones, sketches and fried silver have been sitting on my bench since last January, collecting dust and haunting me like unfinished business that needed to be taken care of before I'm allowed to truly forge ahead with new work. So, I pushed myself through the storm, crafting a few design changes as I went (including 3 different bails) and finally finished this pendant today, warts and all.

In my long wait for the storm to pass, I've learned a few things, both technically and personally. I've learned that it's OK to sit back and ride out the storm. Wait till the thunder passes. Then forge ahead when the time is right and you can see clearly again.

One more interesting thing about this stone that I didn't notice until today - I see a cross amid the clouds and lightning. Do you see it? Oh yes, this pendant is mine and I'm keeping it.

Fire in the Grass!

Fire in the Grass! That's the name of my new pendant. I bet the title got your attention, didn't it? It's a wonderful, labradorite stone with deep greens and lots of internal fiery highlights.

Truth be told, I've been slacking off from my jewelry making endeavors this year. I've only made about a dozen pieces and most of them have been custom orders and special requests from past clients. But on Friday, I had the pleasure of attending the Bellevue Arts Festival and was reminded how much I enjoy being at my bench, creating and experimenting with metal and stones. Freshly inspired, I dug out my stone collection, dusted off my workbench and started working on 3 pendants this weekend. This labradorite pendant is the only one I have finished so far. The other 2 are works in progress, but I hope to have them done by the end of this week. One features a blue lapis and the other will have 2 stones in it; a purple storm plus a holly lavender chalcedony accent stone.

So stay tuned, I feel a flood of creativity coming on!