Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season.

I've been quiet on this blog and social media, but not IRL.

I had a few custom orders to complete before Christmas (see below) and a couple of shows during the last part of this year (in addition to my "day job"), so something had to fall off.

These are the stones they picked out with draft designs

Anyway, I'm back now! One of the special orders was a pair of pendants. A couple of old friends whom my husband and I hadn't seen for more than a dozen years came to visit last summer. While catching up, I showed them some of my recent work and my studio.

Later, they picked out a couple of stones from my stash and asked me to create pendants for holiday gifts. Here are the stones: One is a snowflake obsidian and the other is a jasper or agate. The unknown is one that my mother cut and polished, but she couldn't remember what it was or where she acquired the raw stone.

Here are the finished pendants.

I sketched some basic designs -- simple settings that highlight the stones -- and emailed them for review. They were happy with that, so I got to work. Here is the work in progress and the finished pieces. I'm happy to report that I completed the pendants in time for Christmas, and my friend/customer was happy with the result.

Looking ahead to the new year, I have a few goals (not resolutions). Here they are:

1. Make more rings! I made a couple as experiments and my friends loved them. I sold the first three I made, then got an order for six more for Christmas. I guess rings are like earrings -- you can never have too many!

2. Start offering my best-selling designs on this website. I'll have a bit of work to do to get the store ready, so stay tuned.

3. Look for opportunities to get my work into more galleries and retail outlets. This will be the biggest challenge, as I am not the best salesperson.

If you have tips or suggestions about where I should try, please send me a note or comment on this post.

Thank you for reading. May your new year be happy and art-inspired.

Work In Progress: Silver Button Rings

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First silver button rings

As a jewelry artist, I usually make things that I personally want to wear. I love to wear earrings and pendants. Looking at my recent work, a majority of it is earrings and pendants.

Rings…not so much. I wear my wedding band and engagement ring all the time, and that’s it. When I’m working with my hands, I find wearing “extra” rings uncomfortable. (I find wearing nail polish uncomfortable as well, so maybe it’s an idiosyncrasy about my hands).

If I am to grow as an artist, and widen my customer base, I need to branch out where I’m not comfortable. I thought about how to incorporate the silver buttons I use in pendants and earrings into rings – in a way, add more pieces to the “buttons” collection.

Stamped buttons

 I made three rings, silver buttons on copper half-round bands. I posted them to Instagram and Facebook, and right away three friends claimed them. I shipped one and personally delivered the other two. Sarah, an animal lover, asked me if the button can be stamped. She had metal stamps of a cute kitty and Labrador retriever she had purchased for other projects. She lent me the stamps and requested I make wanted three more rings -- two dogs and one cat.

To make the buttons, I melt scrap silver into balls. After they’re cooled and pickled, I hammer them into round buttons. The hammering work-hardens the buttons, which makes it difficult to get a good stamped image. Once I hammered the rounds, I had to anneal them to soften metal so I could get a good stamp.

Rings in progress

I made simple rings from 10 gauge half round copper wire. After pickling and cleaning, I filed the join flat and then soldered on the button. Below are two of the rings after soldering, but before final finishing and polishing. Sarah, if you’re reading this, you’ll have those rings soon!

I think I’ll start making more rings. I’ve built on my metalsmithing skills and sold a few pieces in the process.

Custom Work: Sterling Silver Chalice

With growing frequency, I have been asked to create custom jewelry pieces. Custom work requires a delicate balance. I want to create a piece that satisfies the client, and at the same time, satisfies my artistic aesthetic.

Top left is the sketch I sent. Below that is the pendant in progress. The photo at the right is the completed piece.

The client has seen my work, and trusts my skill and vision. If they didn’t, they wouldn't hire me. But their vision and mine (and my skill set) might not always line up exactly. For me, communication is key. I provide updates of work in progress (including photos) and try to manage their expectations.

Fortunately, my latest commission was a true equal partnership. It was a simple piece with clean lines -- my aesthetic -- and exactly what he wanted.

The commission came from an old friend I hadn't seen in person for over 30 years. Facebook brought us together a recently and he has seen photos I've shared on Facebook of my jewelry. He asked me to make a sterling silver pendant depicting a flaming chalice, the symbol the Unitarian Universalist Church, on a long simple sterling silver chain.

I looked online for a source image and sketched out a design, the chalice with the negative spaces pierced out. I photographed the design and sent it back and he approved. It needed to be completed, for a birthday present, by the end of the summer. I worked on it on and off since the commission, sent an in-progress photo (which he loved) and completed it at the end of July.

R., thanks again for the order. I hope the recipient is happily wearing her new pendant, and appreciates that it was made just for her.

If you are interested in a custom piece, please contact me.