Robin Eggs

My latest creation is a tribute to the robin that built its' nest just outside my kitchen window. The gorgeous Amazonite stones are robin egg blue. I've set them in fine silver bezels and backed them with textured sterling silver. I gave them a light patina to bring out the texture and hung them from handmade sterling silver ear wires. A little bit of springtime to wear!

They are in my etsy shop here.

Windswept Amber Earrings - YOJ 2011 - Week 9

I honor of the arrival of March and the promise of spring, the theme for this week's Year of Jewelry Project is "Windswept". I've created these amber earrings, aptly named "Windswept Amber".

Several years ago, while vacationing in Denmark, I learned that amber is formed from pre-historic tree sap that the wind swept into the Baltic Sea. There, it hardened in the cold water and sank to the bottom of the sea. Waves and storms continually wash the amber to shore, where it is now collected, shaped and polished, giving us this wonderful transparent "stone" to use in jewelry! Amber often has small inclusions of air bubbles, dirt and can even have bugs and bits of foliage embedded in it.

While I'm personally not a big fan of giant pieces of amber with embedded bugs worn as jewelry, I do love smaller, richly hued pieces of amber incorporated into beautiful jewelry. When in Denmark, I purchased a unique trapezoid shaped amber pendant with a contemporary brushed sterling silver setting. Ten years later, it still remains one of my favorite necklaces. Here's a photo of that necklace:

The "Windswept" earrings (top photo) are currently for sale in my etsy store here. Next time you see a piece of amber, take a close look at it and imagine how old that bit of tree sap really is. Millions of years!

My Solstice II Earrings are featured in a Treasury Today!

I'm honored today by fellow Seattle area etsy artist, Jill MacCorkle. She has included one of my jewelry pieces in her etsy treasury called "Let the Sun Shine"! My Solstice II earrings are featured in the top row, middle column. Visit the treasury today and explore all the wonderful things each of these artists have on etsy, and be sure to visit Jill MacCorkle's shop, too! Jill makes beautiful, colorful gemstone jewelry!
Let the Sun Shine, indeed! Have a great Day!

It's official - I'm addicted to metal - I can't stop!

I love metal! There's just something about working with it that draws me to it and makes me feel grounded. It's as if it calls my name and says - "Sandy! Come back to the office and make something with me!" I've probably spent 10 hours today in my office/studio, barely able to see the huge desk space (or the floor) because it's covered with projects. Copper here, sterling there, a batch of Viking knit on the other desk, some pieces being tumbled in the tumbler, a pile of steel wool dust from polishing off liver of sulfur, a photography corner, etc... Needless to say, my space desperately needs to be cleaned up and re-organized. But it's so much more fun to create! Tomorrow will be a clean up day so I can re-group and get back to metalwork next week.

It was a productive week though; I made a bracelet utilizing a lamp work bead that I purchased last summer in MN. The bead just screamed to be joined with Viking knit and I think it turned out really well. I pushed a 14 gauge wire through the middle of the Viking knit and put the bead in the middle. Even though it has a clasp that I made a clasp with the ends of the 14g wire, it is really stiff and feels like a bangle bracelet. I still need to do a little finish polishing before I take final photos and put it on etsy. I wish my photography skills were better, I spend a lot of time taking and editing photos, and I'm usually still not happy with them. I'm trying to make my photos a little more colorful with background paper; sterling doesn't really grab one's eye very well all by itself and I don't use much color in my designs.

A while back I purchased some alphabet stamps and experimented with them today. It's really difficult to get everything lined up straight and as you can see, I need a lot more practice! I can get about 3 letters lined up, and then the 4th letter is never quite right. Maybe I should just make some discs that just say LOL on them.

A couple of mixed metal earrings sold on my etsy shop this week, so I made a couple more pairs and listed them. Check them out on my etsy shop - link is on the right!

Another new toy!

I have another new toy in my toolbox! It's a doming block and punches. After some serious experimenting with copper (much cheaper than sterling) sheet metal, I graduated to sterling and made several new pairs of earrings. I used my disc cutter to make the circles, hammered and/or textured each and then used the doming block to form each into a gentle convex dome. Oh, such fun! I discovered a new tool store in the area (one that my husband didn't know about) and now he says I have to share! The right tool for the job applies to me, too!
Look for my new earring series in my etsy shop. They all remind me of planets and such, so I named them accordingly. I like them so much I made 2 pairs to keep for myself. If anyone has any great name ideas for them, please let me know!

Tools of the day

I recently purchased a disk cutter and today I made a couple of pairs of earrings using sterling silver sheet metal. First I cut the disks in the cutter by placing the sheet silver under the size hole I wanted, then I pound the cutting die through the sheet, resulting in a disk. My edges were rougher than I would like to see so I had to sand them smooth. I know it's not the best cutter in the world, but I will purchase a better one later on, probably sooner than later actually. I first did some disk cutting in a class I took in January, using my instructors' disk cutter. It was much better quality than mine and gave a cleaner and easier cut. Then, I sanded the edges and hammered some texture into the disks and brushed them to a satin sheen. Then I polished them in a tumbler with steel shot in it, to give it a nice, professional finish. I mounted them together by piercing a hole through them, placing a jump ring through each hole and connecting them to a pair of sterling silver French ear wires. One pair is now listed on etsy and I'm keeping one pair for me! Last night I made a mint green necklace and earring set, so be sure to check my website for new items!
http://scjjewelrydesign.etsy.com/