Back at my Bench - Finally!

I'm back at my bench and inspired after a long hiatus. Yesterday, I took a class and had a great day making these fused fine silver earrings. The class was taught by Janice Berkebile of Wired Arts. I always enjoy Janice's classes because she's a great teacher and she makes her classes fun with her relaxed style and sense of humor. It was a full class with really friendly women, too. Anyway, I left inspired to finish the earrings I had made and ready to create more new items. The earrings are posted on my etsy site and called "Hidden Treasures" because there are so many cute little things about these earrings; many textures, balls on the front and back, waves, curves, movement and of course a couple of surprise spirals. I'm eager to show you what else I've been working on, but not until it's done! Stay tuned...

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42639673

Something new & I'm off to MN in the morning!

I love taking jewelry classes. Today's class was especially enjoyable with one of my favorite instructors, Janice Berkebile of Wired Arts, plus a really friendly, creative group of women. We laughed a lot today!

Today's class involved learning to make fused chains. We used fine silver wire, cut precision rings out if it, fused each ring (I was really out of practice fusing and ruined the first half of the rings I tried), then we stretched out each ring, folded it over and linked each one together to make this bracelet. I like it and am planning to make more after I return to WA next week. I think I'll play around a little with the size of each link and try to make something a little more delicate looking than this one. Janice experimented and put beads inside each link for a very interesting look. A necklace out of these links with large, sterling beads, stone and crystal accents is also something I'm planning to make in the future. Janice had one and oh, it is gorgeous!

Tomorrow, I'll be taking off to visit family and friends in MN for a couple of days. Hubby will stay home and mind the pets. I'll be bringing lots and lots of jewelry with me - most of it has never been on etsy, so if you'd like to take a look, give me a call and we'll see if I can fit you into my already busy schedule!

Look What I Made Today! Riveted Amulets

Although I missed being outside in today's nice weather, I had a great time in another jewelry class. Today's class involved making riveted amulets, taught by Janice Berkebile of Wired Arts. The two lampwork beads were purchased about a year ago in MN. The other sterling silver bead is something that I originally purchased to be a focal bead in a Viking knit bracelet, but it turned out to be too large and heavy for a bracelet. I think it worked out perfectly for today's project! It's my favorite of the 3 - I think I may have to keep that one for myself. I'll add a sterling ball chain to it to give it a little more of an industrial feel. I'm thinking about adding some form of embellishment to the tops of the bails, but I haven't yet decided on what they should be. When I finish them, I'll list them on etsy.
I wish I had taken a photo of every one's finished pieces. They were fantastic and each of us produced items that were very different from the others. I have ordered some river rock beads and I plan to use them in some riveted pieces.

I also now have 5 finished riveted rings and will be listing them gradually on etsy. I spent Thursday and Friday hammering and pounding away, making components for mixed metal bracelets. I have enough for 2 bracelets so far. All I need to do to finish them is do the riveting, which will I estimate will take me about 7 hours more. Fun, but very time consuming.

The rest of my holiday weekend will be spent enjoying the sunny Seattle weather! Yes, the sun really does shine here occasionally :) I hope you enjoy your long weekend, too!

Looking Forward

The past 2 weeks, I've been busy making special orders from customers in MN. It's been fun, but I've been making things I already know how to do. Not really stretching myself or experimenting very much. It almost feels like I've taken a step backward by making things that aren't challenging me. Mind you, I'm not complaining, I do appreciate the orders. I still need to make several things for summer and fall delivery to the shops I'll be selling my work at in MN, but I have some flexibility in what I'll have available to offer them when that time comes.

While I enjoy re-creating past success items and tweaking/improving them a bit, I also like to explore new techniques and keep growing with my jewelry designs. There are so many jewelry techniques I'd like to learn; soldering, piercing, rings, bezels, etc... The list goes on and on. I feel like such a novice when I think about how much I don't know yet.

At one of my classes this year, I was told by a classmate to take a look at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. I did just that and I'm so excited! I have signed up for 56 hours of jewelry/metalsmithing classes this summer! Today, I picked up 2 books that they recommended, "The Complete Metalsmith" by Tim McCreight and "Jewelry Making Techniques Book" by Elizabeth Olver. I've been perusing them all evening and drooling over things I want to learn. My classes don't start until mid June, but I'm already sketching things I want to try. Pratt has full jewelry and metalsmithing studios available to rent on an hourly/daily basis, so after my classes, I'll be able to go back and use some of their equipment that I don't have at home. Fire, here I come! Controlled fire, of course :) I feel like Tim Allen, grunting Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh oh...... at the possibilty of new toys!

For May, (I try to take at least one class every month) I'm going to take a couple of advanced riveting classes from 2 of my favorite instructors, Tracy Stanley and Janice Berkebile from Wired Arts . One class will be making riveted rings and the other covers making riveted amulets. I could probably do both right now, just looking at the photos of what we'll be making, but Tracy and Janice always give such fun classes and helpful tips that it's well worth it to take their classes.

I'm looking forward to a summer of creative learning and growth. Always evolving. Jewelry making is becoming a full time job for me and I couldn't be happier!