New projects and bold results, rings cast in bronze.

I have been hiding in my cabin, walking my dog, working in town. I did do an art fair but the best thing that has happened to me this year is my job at Habits, in Jackson Hole. I have the good fortune to work for my friend, of many years, Arcy Hawks, and her wonderful style has pushed my own designs in new ways. So for the first time in my jewelry making life I created rings using the lost wax cast method of making jewelry. It was very exciting and I was pretty happy with the results. I have a great deal to learn but I crossed some sort of line with this project which has opened up a whole new world of design for me. So here is to old friends who are supportive and encouraging, and new work which inspires and excites me. 

The first step is to carve the designs in wax. 

Then I sent them away to be cast into bronze. 

Stackers, I seldom wear just one ring per finger, unless it's really big. 

This one is my favorite, I wear it almost every day and the patina has worn off to reveal a beautiful golden bronze color. It's big, it's bold, and it's fabulous. 

They are available on my Etsy site or at Habits, Jackson Hole. 

A good day at work.

My schedule has been so busy that I have had little time to make jewelry of late. So when I do get the chance I work really hard! My fingers hurt, my neck aches, and I don't want to stop. 

Today was one of those days. After coffee, of course, and a wonderful skate ski out in the field, I totally ignored the mess in my cabin, did not put away my laundry or do my dishes, I just sat down and started to make these earrings. I am surprised by how well they turned out. 

They are easy to wear and lovely to gaze upon.

Hooray

 Little antlers, earrings in sterling silver

While making the earrings I started to craft a new pendant using patterned sterling ring stock that I have had for ... ever! I didn't want to use it for rings, (done before), so I found a new way to use it. I added a 14K gold "nugget" that I made from scrap gold and put it on a brass chain. 

Lovely

Linear pendant necklace in sterling, gold, and brass.

A little springtime madness

How about a little green? 

It's almost time, wouldn't you agree?

Woodland friend - a new piece in sterling silver.

I wanted to try something different, something more challenging, and an obsession with all things ... ungulate, resulted in this project. 

 First I sawed the deer head out of patterned sterling silver sheet, and filed the edges, (cleaned up my mistakes). 

I realized that the sheet would have to be backed with something to make it more durable.

I don't like "delicate" or flimsy jewelry

I sawed out another piece of sterling to frame the first and then riveted the two together. 

I really like it! 

Shallow DOF, (depth of field), and other things that I like.

I like green. A lot! I like it with gold, just as it is with these lucite and gold fill earrings. 

 I like chain, patterned chain is even better, just as it is in these simple earrings of vintage brass and sterling silver.

 I like pyrite, so much, just as so many other designers at the moment. I love it with these aqua blue, textured, vintage glass beads. I think that the two different shapes come together perfectly, and I love these simple, beautiful, earrings so much.

I prefer circles to most other shapes, Maybe it's just the way that they reflect life. I like connection and symmetry and these earrings are a physical representation of that.

I like simple, elegant shapes that do not snag on sweaters or catch in my hair. I like jewelry that is comfortable, wearable, and classic. 

 I love bokeh, and this photo has it. It also shows a perfect combination of warm and cool metals.

 Well, this might be one of my favorite images of my favorite earrings right now. I think that they are just perfect and I like the way that the image turned out. Shallow depth of field images are intriguing, like a good woman.

Things that I do when no one is looking.

I have been interested in making paper mache bowls for many years. Some earlier attempts were dismal but I am much happier with this effort.  Inspired by fellow Etsyians who do a wonderful job of making simple, elegant, paper mache objects, I decided to give it a try.  It is a great project for me since all of my jewelry supplies are still packed away in boxes.  I started the project in NYC with friends and then I got a little bit crazy when I got back to Wyoming. I currently have them all around the cabin and am wondering just what I am going to do with all of them!

  They are lovely and I like to gaze at them. 

 Have a look.

Nights in Italy - or Wyoming

It gets a bit quiet in Wyoming during the long winter months, perfect for reflection and dreaming, and the flow of creativity.  There is no warm sun beckoning nor long dinners on someone's porch.  It makes the natives restless and ignites a desire for foreign lands and other pleasant distractions. Cabin fever is real here.

This leads to all kinds of imaginings 

When I moved back into my little cabin this autumn

-my heart properly broken-

My lovely friend 

-happy for my return to the west-

suggested that I hang my chandeliers from the long log beams of my cabin ceiling and put up mirrors to reflect the lights. "It will be just like Versailles" she said, and that may have been what started our next idea. 

A night of pleasure

art

food

friends

cooking

eating

drinking

Italian style

Easy enough for her, she is an artist, she will paint food and images of Italian life,

but what about me? What kind of jewelry speaks of Italy? I have a limited imagination, partly because I have never been to Italy, so I had to go with chandeliers. In my mind that is the closest I can get to Italy. Besides, it's about distraction and fantasy - we just need some light and romance, (the kind that doesn't break hearts), around here.

So I opened a box of vintage chandelier crystals, (doesn't everyone have one or two boxes of those lying around?), and began to dream a bit of what kind of jewelry would grow from the collection.

Now, where did I put all my tools when I beat my hasty retreat from Chicago?

-of course I have waited until now, when it's snowing heaps, to think of going to my storage shed to unearth my jewelry making supplies-