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. 

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.

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-

Crystal and lucite necklace

Crystal, a photo by elizabethannwrightclark on Flickr.

Vintage beads on oxidized sterling silver.

Summer Sale, everybody is doing it....

20% off in my Etsy shop with the coupon code SUMMER.

Have fun!  

Trunk Show

I will be showing my work at the Chicago Craft Mafia's DIY Trunk show!

mark your calendar

Pink is nice

This time of year I am obsessed with pink, p i n k, [ pink ].  I see it everwhere, in the trees and flowers and even in my cheeks!  It is intoxicating.  

Have some for your ears.

Singular pink and white vintage glass beads are like the blooms of an apple tree, so pretty. I combined them with oxidized sterling silver. They are soft and sweet and if they could, they would smell lovely too.

{in the shop}

Butterfly garden

New to the shop is this sweet little object.  I just couldn't help myself, it had to be made.

Right in the sweet spot.

Tangerine tango trio

Tangerine tango trio, a photo by elizabethannwrightclark on Flickr.

One, stunningly bright and beautiful, bead three ways. Pick your perfect passion.

Spring things

There are two color stories going on right now.  The bright reds, corals, blues and greens of resort wear and the cool, sweet colors of spring.  I love them both.  These earrings have that not-yet-warm feeling to them.  They are sultry in every way, and full of hope.  

{it's coming}  

Coupon code for my Etsy shop, use the code FREESHIPPING at checkout. 

(this coupon is no longer valid - but the mother's day one is!)

vintage glass and lucite on sterling silver

Because I am leaving for a vacation at the end of the month, I am feeling generous in spirit so I just created a final sale section in my Etsy shop.  It's a place where I will be putting all those pieces that need a home.  Check it out from time to time - there will be some good deals.  The sale section does not include the pieces pictured below... they are either on the way to the shop or already listed.

#1 Beach necklace.... for obvious reasons.  (sailing)

Beach necklace

 #2 Layering lesson, the perfect combo of long and short with a great earring accent.

Perfect together

 #3 Just a beautiful pair of earrings with divine cultured ocean pearls in the softest grey and micro-faceted quartz beads from my archives of beads that I can not replace.

Old school elegance

OH joy! (I'm going sailing)

It's true!  I am going to sailing school with my Dad.  *thrilled*  


So to celebrate, I am offering free shipping in my Etsy shop for the rest of January.  I will close the shop for the first half of February - I can't ship from a sailboat!  


Use the code FREESHIPPING at checkout.  Yippee!

sterling silver circles

Skyline necklace

Skyline earrings

Back to the beach

I have no firm plans to travel as of yet but if I did..... oh I long to dive beneath the surface of the bright blue waters of the ocean and spend some quality time with my fish friends.

I have been meaning to list this necklace in my Etsy shop for some time, I guess that I didn't really want to part with it.  This is my favorite style of necklace, long and linked and fabulous.  Classic colors in a classic length, I always layer a necklace like this with a pendant necklace and my gold chains.  It gives my hands something to touch while I gaze at the horizon.  Hopefully your horizon will have some palm trees and an umbrella.

Hot Dame, vintage glass necklace on Etsy

pearls and silver

pearls and silver, a photo by elizabethannwrightclark on Flickr.

Mad Genius at Bergdorf Goodman

Since I moved to Chicago I didn't think that I would get to see the absolute genius creative stylings of the Bergdorf Goodman window magicians but I was lucky to be in the city for Thanksgiving.  These windows always get my creative juices flowing.  They also give me a bad case of the 'I wants'.

Enjoy.

Tiger tiger, pretty little things for your neck.

I bought these pretty little tiger eye stones a few years ago.  I wear mine layered, of course, with other necklaces.  I love the bold facets and high shine.  They are on oxidized sterling silver and will be in the Etsy shop soon.

Update: they are there now.  Use the coupon code HOLIDAY2011 for a 20% discount. 

Etsy

peppermint lasso 

These pink beads are from Mangum's Beaders Paradise, in Idaho, they are striped, streaked, stripy, striated and streaky.  They also have a pressed pattern on one edge and they are remarkably interesting - really.  I put them on a long linked necklace, my favorite kind of necklace, with some faceted grey and muted pale pink vintage glass beads.  It wraps around twice if you don't want the long-swinging-necklace feel.  (I like the long-swinging-necklace feel)  Also coming to the shop.  Currently sitting by my desk waiting to be posted...

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