Locket

this custom locket was on order for michelle k. for waaaaaaaay too long. i FINALLY finished it this morning! sorry 'chelle! glad she liked it though :) it was designed in memory of her beloved cat, samantha. these aren't on the website yet, but if you want one, just fire me an email and we can chat.

i finished the mongo necklace today too (happy dance!), but it was too late in the day to photograph it well. hopefully tomorrow!

WIP #7

here is the progress on the mongo necklace so far. i still have to make the links to go the rest of the way around the neck, but it's close.

i've also been designing some new earrings. these pair sterling silver rods with coin pearls. have a great long weekend!

WIP #6

the wedding ring is done and delivered and the clients were happy! yea, always a good thing :) here is a picture of the finished product. the client's ring is the one on top. it begged to be propped against something and so i used my own symbols ring. in the photo, i noticed mine is a little worse for wear after 5 years! to order a custom symbols ring of your very own, go to my website.

tomorrow's post....back to the mongo necklace!

WIP #5

above you can see the shiny bits of the necklace are currently tumbling away :) it is spinning, you just can't see it and i didn't feel like filming it. tres boring.

and here are the ones to be darkened. they've been filed and flattened and just await a dip in the liver of sulphur.

and finally this is what i've been working on when i was suppose to be working on the mongo necklace. it's a rose gold symbols wedding ring for my friend james p. the symbols haven't been darkened yet and as usual i've posted a crappy photo, but you get the idea! you can see lovely, more professional photos of other symbols rings on my website (see at right).
have a great weekend!

On Hold

wips and other sundries have been put on temporary hold while i work on a wedding ring for a friend leaving for his wedding on sept 1 (hurry, hurry!). and use my olympic willpower to not watch too much t.v. :) have a great night!

WIP #4

this hardly qualifies as a work in progress shot, but after much deliberation, i think this the way the links will play out. the white will be the high polished, shiny ones and the gray will be the distressed, darkened ones. this may change as i progress and start putting the pieces together, but right now this is the configuration.

not a super productive day, but it was 95F/34C here today and i spent it wandering the zoo with the kids. am i nuts?! i think a glass of iced tea is in order :)

WIP #3

so i've finished all the torch work on the disks, took a little while! i have them all laid out and now have to decide which ones will be darkened for contrast and which ones will get tumble for a high shine. after those decisions are made, it'll be filing time. bleh, the most boring of jobs, but has to be done :)

someone asked to see a pic of my work space. it's way too messy to show you the whole thing, so here's just a wee shot. when (if ever) i get it cleaned up, i'll post more!

Working Away

okay, i didn't take any wips of these new pieces, but here's proof that i HAVE been working! the top photo is of 3 pieces that will eventually be pendants. they still require rivets to hold the layers together and a back piece to hang off the chain. okay, so maybe they are a bit of a wip :)

they are made with sterling silver and recycled gift cards. can you guess where each card comes from? the bottom photo will be earrings in the same vein. have a great weekend!

Nada

nothing new to share tonight in the way of wips....i'm been shlepping kidlets to swim lessons, running errands, arranging play dates and cranking out production lines during the inbetween times...of which there are few. so no new work on the mongo necklace, but its next in line. so stay tuned!

(my dog shiraz, bringing in the paper that i don't actually have time to read. actually this is my neighbor's paper. i think she usually reads it :)

WIP #2

here's the newest wip (work in progress) of the necklace i'm working on. it's coming along. i think some of the links, which are still rough and unfinished, will be flattened and darkened for contrast. still trying to decide if i will add any plain disks for additional contrast. your comments and opinions are most welcome. have a great weekend!

Work in Progress - The Very Beginning

in an effort to be better about posting, i thought i'd give you a work in progress shot. now, you're probably looking at this and thinking "what progress?!" its there, i promise! this is the very, very, very baby beginning of what will eventually be a one-of-a-kind necklace probably in my granulation style. not 100% sure of the direction it will take in the end, but i had a dream about it, so i figured i better get started. stay with me, it will progress...and hopefully the photo quality, though i don't make any promises on that point :) cheers!

PMC Guild Conference Report

well, i've actually been back for a couple of weeks now, but as usual, life gets in the way of life. or blogs in this case. i had an AMAZING time at the conference at Purdue University. i came back brimming with ideas and processes i wanted to try. unfortunately i am just getting back into the studio now and its back to work in a serious way since i'm hosting a group show in september and frankly have nothing to show! crunch time! as some of the conference ideas trickle into my show work, i'll post pix. for now here's a picture, just a smattering of the amazing people i met (including tim mccreight who was especially influential on my early metals education). and that's my roomie, nadine, 2nd from the right...thanks nadine! ciao and have a great week!