The Wild Inside

Ch ch ch ch changes ...

2011-03-04T09:18:00.008-05:00

Maybe it's just that my brain is wired in a strange way, but when I get a commission to create a special piece, it almost always starts out in my mind one way and inevitably ends up being something entirely different when it's completed. Perhaps this creative process is common in those who do this kind of thing; all I know is that it's a fun, stressful, creative and frustrating adventure every time .. and I love it. Especially since the end product is usually as much of a surprise to me as it is to the recipient!

This Remembrance Anklet began as a request by a friend of mine on behalf of five women (the five named on the tags) who wanted a special retirement gift for a friend of theirs. The recipient wanted an anklet - I don't make many these days, because they just don't sell much up here, but got the measurements and started thinking about how to go about it.

The spokesperson for the group and I went back and forth regarding using initials, versus entire first names, and whether or not to add crystals or stones to indicate birthdays for each of the five and to create a little sparkle in the piece. I also toyed with different clasps .. a commercial clasp vs a handcrafted item. I decided I could do complete first names; but putting five name tags on a length of chain (even ten inches of chain) is going to take up most of the space. So I had initially looked in all my various supplier catalogs for existing blank sterling tags of a particular size and shape with pre-punched holes on either side. The longest name was six letters, so I needed something long and narrow, yet high enough for the letter punches I have in the studio.

I wasted a lot of time in that process .. most of the blanks I found were round, square, too big, too small, not pre-punched, etc. I knew I wanted a sort of elongated oval .. that was my ideal; and perhaps there's a source out there somewhere that sells exactly what I was looking for, but none of my usual sources had anything like it. So the sterling chain and charm piece I had originally planned on wasn't going to work. There was nothing for it but to create the thing from scratch. I have some sterling sheet and could have cut out five ovals and punched them all in the appropriate places before adding the individual letters. But as I had some PMC3 on hand .. the strongest of the three silver metal clays .. I decided to make the thing entirely out of fine silver. An added benefit of using PMC3 is that the initial letter size would end up being about 10% to 15% smaller when they all came out of the kiln (which wouldn't have been the case if I'd stamped directly onto sterling silver blanks).

Well, the decision wasn't exactly a mistake, because I loved the finished piece, but geeeeeeez! Can't tell you how many times I rolled and re-rolled a piece of clay because I didn't get the letters P E R F E C T. I finally decided that as this was a handcrafted piece, the natural flaws in the piece were indicative of the "handcrafted" process and were to be enjoyed as part of the love and attention that went into the giving of the gift and the making of the gift. Not your machine-made piece of perfection, but a solid piece of backbreaking work (believe me, all that micro sanding of each and every little name tag charm was indeed back breaking ). And I won't even mention the trouble I had with the kiln .. oy!

After I had all the charms cleaned up, fired, tumbled, work hardened, and then dapped to create a slight curve, I wound and cut a length of fine silver wire into all the rings used to connect the pieces and create the additional chain needed to bring the length out to what was needed (plus a little more, just in case). For just a moment .. and a moment only .. I thought about adding the "birthday crystals" to dangle prettily at the end. But it wouldn't do .. it was no longer the kind of design that would support crystals aesthetically. So, what I used were small Thai silver beads .. which are also fine silver. They're a lot sturdier than the crystals would have been .. and they meld into the design so much better. As the rings in the chain were large enough, I was able to create a long, narrow hook clasp that I'm certain will prove to be secure and which could hook into any of the rings along the length for a perfect fit. Once all the rings were fused, I went down the entire length of the chain and tapped around each and every ring on an anvil to work harden them for strength. And after all THAT, I dipped the entire piece into a dish of liver of sulphur to blacken it .. I mean really blacken it. Then I systematically went over the entire piece with steel wool to clean up most of the blackening, but allow the letters to "pop" on the name tags. The final touch (like adding the title page to a paper you've slaved over for weeks!) was tapping my business name into the back of one of the tags.

I hope the recipient was as truly happy with the end result as I was .. not having sold it directly to her, I only have the word of my go-between (which was positively glowing ). It's always great to sell a piece I've made .. but these particular kinds of sales never fail to make me feel like I've really accomplished something. The emotions attached to it are a little more intense and personal, and that just makes it all so much more worthwhile.

With all my heart

2010-08-13T07:25:00.010-05:00

I honestly believe that necessity is the mother of invention. There are books (and websites) full of this kind of "positive attitude overcomes adversity" type quotes and phrases .. heady things like Nietzsche's "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger" as well as lighter fare, "When given lemons, make lemonade" .. and the more poetic "Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head .." by Shakespeare. I love that. It really gets to the heart of the matter. Sometimes there is a silver lining. And sometimes things happen for a reason .. whether or not one can work with that is up to the individual. Easy enough to feel sorry for yourself. I tried not to do that, but when you can't work (and I really couldn't at first), it's a bit depressing. Spent a lot of time and money looking for a "quick fix" .. chiropractic, physical therapy .. acupuncture.

All of which helped a little; but my all-encompassing issue has always been chronic yeast and I think I knew down deep that it was feeding the inflammation and I'd have to do something drastic dietwise before my wrist would begin to heal. So, I finally got down to it about six weeks ago. While strictly monitoring my diet in an effort to beat out the yeasty beasties and ever so slowly repair my painful wrist, I've had to rethink my jewelry designs. Things improved dramatically after I went on a modified allergy elimination diet .. and I continue to be able to do things around the house and in the studio that I couldn't back in May and June .. but it's still not quite 100% yet. There are more than a few designs in my inventory (or long gone) that were real wrist-wrenchers in their creation. I'm aching - so to speak - to get back to the elaborate and time-intensive chain maille and wire wrapped bangle designs that leave me feeling so incredible satisfied when a piece is completed! However, while I attempt to keep from doing any more harm to my wrist while I continue to pump up my inventory, I've necessarily had to change course a bit. Stringing was the least painful thing I could do, but, you know .. been there, done that. And there are more beaders out there than ants in an anthill. If the right design comes to mind, I will still occasionally toss in a beaded design (and there are some old beaded design favorites that continue to do well) .. but I'm all about new and different. I like learning and trying new things.

So .. went in a just a slightly different direction with a new line of Talisman necklaces (bracelets may be forthcoming, we'll see). I'm not one to believe in things you can't see, but I do believe - as I've already explained - in attitude adjustment. And sometimes we need to be reminded that "every little ting will be ahright" .. that we hold the key to our happiness. It was this "key to happiness" thing that had the lightbulb shining over my head this time. I bought a bag full of old skeleton keys from an antique dealer when the whole Steampunk fad emerged as the "new thing". I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with them, but I'd also purchased a bunch of old watch parts (and got a bag full of old watches, too) in a casual search for Steampunky components. I'd had visions of resin-encased bits-n-pieces pendants, but am still experimenting with clear resin .. and wanted to stay away from chemical fumes while I continue to heal. One day I was just messing around with some fine silver fun phrase tags I'd made .. affirmations, declarations, cliche things .. and came up with this lavish piece I call "With all my heart" (inscibed in french on the little fine silver tag). It just kind of took off from there.

I haven't yet photographed them but I've also created "Sea Change" and "Live Juicy" (a recommendation made popular by the colorful and ever-positive Sark). And I have additional tags awaiting their own necklaces for "Je ne sais quoi", Jois de vivre", "one day at a time", "this too shall pass", "In vino veritas", and one about an acorn that I'm still working on. I had toyed with calling them Affirmation necklaces .. but "Talisman" had a better feel. One of the definitons I found was, "anything whose presence exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings or actions." That was closer to what I was trying to do when I thought about the idea behind the pieces.

These jingly and sometimes musical little pieces make me happy .. I've tried to make each of the three I've created so far different in design from each other, but this, the first, is really glorious! It's got almost three feet of patinated sterling chain; bright, bold coral; and a little puffy Thai silver heart. It's long and substantial, yet when I wore it around last weekend for a test-drive, I forgot I was wearing it .. well, until someone mentioned it. Which happened a lot. This is one of those pieces I may have to keep.

I'll try to get the others up soon, but things are a little crazy at the moment .. I have a two-day show this weekend here in Ogdensburg. A 2nd "annual" Wine, Beer & Food Festival .. for some unfathomable reason split between two locations: the Lockwood Arena over on the corner of Main and New York Avenue and The Dobisky Visitor's Center down by the water. I'll be in the Dobisky Center with a bunch of other artisans .. the better of the two locations, I'm thinking. Especially since that's where all the beer, Bar-B-Que and entertainment will be. Saturday 11:00 to 6:00, Sunday Noon to 5:00 .. stop over if you're in the area! It's supposed to be an absolutely gorgeous weekend!

(Thanks to Heather Wynn for the design idea!)

Still Spinnin'

2010-06-20T15:54:00.009-05:00

I've been doing a whole lot less stringing over the last year or so, mostly because I've been having fun with wire and metal clay, among other things. But I've had to put my beading cap back on and come up with some designs that put less strain on my wrist as it seems, after almost five months, that I'm still dealing with some pain and discomfort. For a while I couldn't even make a simple wrapped loop on an earring. That isn't the case any longer, but working with anything thicker than 18 gauge (dead soft) wire has me reaching for the Ibuprofen before bedtime. I feel a little improvement now and again, when I realize I can do something I couldn't do even a couple weeks ago without pain, but it's been very slow. I have every confidence that I'll get to the other side of this, but while I'm waiting I have to think about the few shows I have coming up. So .. I rummaged through my collection of materials this week and found a whole box of Czech glass seed beads!

There are any number of secreted, forgotten surprises down in my studio .. boxes, bags and baskets full of stuff stashed away for later use. You know how it is .. if it isn't out where you can see it, you tend to forget it's there. Most of the seed beads I have are 6/0 size .. a bit larger than what I wanted for a multi-strand necklace that began materializing in my head. I needed something that would allow three or four strands to fit nicely into the sterling Bali cones I also found while rummaging. These matte black beads were perfect for the job! (There are some other colors I found to play around with as well .. this one just worked with the color scheme I needed at the moment).

The little pale green beads are chrysophrase, a real pretty stone that often looks like it's illuminated from within. They're interspersed with 4mm sterling silver round beads.

The cones that capture the strands at the clasp are absolutely gorgeous examples of granulation. These were hand made (not cast) by artisans in Indonesia .. each one of those little dots is applied one at a time. You should be able to click on any of this photos and see the piece close up.

The toggle clasp is also an Indonesian hand made component. You can usually tell the difference between truly hand made Bali components and those that are more cheaply cast by the way they look upon closer examination. "Bali Style" components which are cast look sort of like they were partially melted in the sun. Because the silver is poured into a mold instead of created from scratch, the individual design features lack the sharp detail of individually placed design segments - they run into each other instead.

The pendant is turquoise and is hinged in the center .. it's also removable, so you can wear the strands without the pendant, if you choose. The first thing I thought of when I put all the colors together was a panther .. you know, black as night .. with green eyes? But I couldn't name it "Black Panther" without thinking about the 60's and the negative connotations .. so I called it "Jungle Cat" instead.

It's currently in a beautiful Arts & Crafts oak display case at Mare's Wares Pottery on Route 37 in Morristown .. the site of an upcoming show on July 1st. Look for more information about the show at either www.artisansoftherivervalley.com or on Facebook at "Mare's Wares Arts Fest". If you're in the area, stop over .. it's going to be an incredible day!

A Positive Spin

2010-03-29T07:23:00.006-05:00

I've been out of commission for several weeks due to a repetitive strain injury in my right hand/wrist. It just amazes me whenever I do something like this to discover just how much we use a particular muscle or body part! The problem was caused by a little too much laptop data entry .. it seems I overworked the joint in my right thumb, which created a little swelling in my wrist, just below the thumb pad. I feel like I've gotten a rather painful anatomy lesson. It's difficult enough turning the ignition key in my car, or shifting, or washing dishes, or opening a jar, or dressing, or putting on a jacket, or brushing or drying my hair .. making jewelry was out of the question.

However, after cleaning up portions of my studio - which could be done without hurting myself and was sorely needed - it was tough not to develop a whole bunch of ideas while putting away wire and pearls and stones and findings and stuff. It was an idea from an artisan friend though that finally had me thinking about what I might pull together, despite my (hopefully) temporary incapacity.

The idea was a donation .. she and I and several other friends are part of an artisan group covering three local counties (check out the link to the Adirondack Artisans Guild over on the right). My friend's daughter is coordinating a fund raiser at the school where she works in California and suggested that our group might open ourselves up to a whole new market if we were to donate as a group. I'd totally forgotten about it until the last minute, so didn't have a whole lot of time .. plus I couldn't pull together the sort of wrist wrenching wire work I would have liked to have created for what I saw as an opportunity to advertise along with my tax deductible contribution. I always think of California as ahead of the curve in style and accessories .. I wanted something a bit different and eye-catching.

So .. I pulled out one of my funky fine silver toggle clasps .. this one is about 8 grams of pure silver and is textured on both sides, as you can see from the photos here (one side is a sort of checkerboard, the other is a wavy pattern). I might have normally fused some smaller fine silver rings to both ends and attached something with stones and silver beads and more fine silver connectors. But I thought that stringing a bracelet would be less stress on my wrist, which turned out to be the case. The clasp is about an inch across though .. a single strand, unless relatively large beads were used, would be overwhelmed by the large clasp.

I spent an entire day working out the design, color scheme and additional beads to be used before I finally began to assemble it. It was seasonably warm and sunny last week when I put it all together .. mid 40's, which is seasonable for this time of year in northern New York! I had initially chosen some peacock blue pearls .. they looked fabulous with the silver accents, but it was so dark. So I went rummaging through my pearl drawers and found these pretty, bright, and very Spring-like Celadon-colored fresh water pearls. And as it happened, I had some similarly colored 6/0 Czech glass beads to fill in the strands. I originally tried to use them to make the bead loops attaching the ring portion of the clasp to the strand, but they turned out to be just a tad too big. It was difficult to get the bar part of the toggle to fit through the hole when the 6/0 beads were taking up so much space inside. Fortunately, I found some smaller seed beads that fit the bill .. both in size and color. The rest of the strand is comprised of little three-sided Thai silver beads, some tiny little fine silver nuggets I made, and some very cool "gear" shaped beads made of silver-coated ceramic.

I have to tell you, it's been a LONG time since I've used crimp beads in a piece. I spent a good half hour looking for both crimp beads and the special tool one needs to attach them to a strand. All of my strung pieces use either beads tips or French wire to attach a beaded strand to a clasp .. but I couldn't figure out a way to attractively do it. The problem with crimp beads is that if you crimp a little too enthusiastically, you'll destroy and weaken the integrity of the wire inside the crimp bead; if you don't crimp firmly enough, the wire will ultimately work its way out of the crimp bead and all your beads will slide off and disappear.

I was delighted both by my ability to still be able to crimp properly AND with the design and look of the bracelet when it was done! It's very bright and Springy .. I called it Spring Fling. Hey, I was on the clock .. it was the first thing that popped into my head. It'll do : )

The event is scheduled for May 1 and is called Moroccan Nights: An Evening in Casablanca .. and doesn't THAT just conjure up a whole bunch of wonderful images in your mind .. dark, smoky jazz clubs, slinky gowns and swept up do's, mysterious strangers ... Bogey?!?! The paperwork suggested that ALL items will be put online for bidding unless the donor requests otherwise .. and why would anyone request otherwise?? The school is www.vistamarschool.org .. and I'm assuming there'll be a link somewhere on their site to the silent auction items once they have them all in their possession. I'll certainly keep you posted! : )

UPDATE: The link for the online auction portion of this event is up for viewing. Though bidding isn't possible until April 13, you can still scroll through what they've put up so far. I'm told there's a whole lot more to come. The site may be found here. If the link doesn't work, just copy and paste this: http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/AuctionHome.action?vhost=vistamarschool

Sweetheart Pin with pearls

2010-03-01T08:16:00.005-05:00

This large and fabulous pin design has taken on a life of its own. It began with a project by Sherilyn Miller from one of the many jewelry magazines to which I subscribe. I made the pin exactly as the project described, and even sold a few - which hadn't been my intention. I usually view projects like this as a chance to stretch my skills .. you make the project and hope that what you've learned spurs you on to other things. Even better, this one project has been the springboard for more variations than any other design project I've ever tried. From this simple pin design I came up with a beautiful bracelet idea .. called Tranquility (though I called the one I gave my friend for her April birthday April Showers). I did so incredibly well with those bracelets - which varied slightly in size and stones, though remained always a soft shade of blue - that I'm working on trying another color scheme for it this year. It was the pin's most recent transformation that made me think that pearls and crystals might be the way to go.

I might have ultimately come up with the pearl idea on my own, but it was a potential customer who saw at a small show in Watertown a similar pin I made for a friend of mine (who was wearing it at the time). It was the same size as this pin (I have made a smaller, more delicate version, but neglected to photograph it before someone purchased it) but was covered in three different stones representing the birthstones for my friend, her husband and their son. I explained to her what the stones on my friend's pin represented and she asked if I could do one in jewel tones. Not a problem, I told her. But after subsequent back and forth emails with multiple scans of various stones and crystals, she asked if pearls and crystals would work. Even better, I thought. Clean, simple, romantic .. with just a little sparkle.

I was pleased with the finished pin .. about five or six of the crystals are small, 4mm round, clear crystals with an AB (aurora borealis) coating on them. It adds just a little flash of color without going over board (though no matter how many shots I took, I couldn't get that little flash of color to show in a photo). I've got several drawers full of white and cream pearls, so I was able to create a pleasing mix of different sizes and shapes.

For the moment though .. it's 2009 year-end and taxes that are scrambling the synapses in my cranium .. so the creative side of my brain is taking a break while the analytical side takes over. And that, my friends, is where the trouble usually begins ...

Stay tuned!

It began with a bead ..

2010-02-07T09:49:00.005-05:00

.. in the spring of 2009. The bead belonged to my potter friend, Mary Ann Evans. I had been showing off a bracelet I'd made which contained an old African trade bead, and she pulled out this large, colorful bead to show to me. It's about an inch and a half long and a half inch wide and appears to be a glass millefiori trade bead.

Beads similar to this can be traced to ancient Rome, Phoenicia and Alexandria. Archaeological sites in Ireland uncovered canes dating to the 8th century that were probably made in Venice. Prior to the 15th century, glass makers were only producing beads from Rosetta canes. Like Chevrons, Rosetta beads were made by adding a number of layers of colored glass in a mold and then pulling it from either end into a long cane. The cane was then cut into short segments.

Large scale Millefiori bead production began in the late 1800's. Beads were made by hand, one by one, built on a center glass core with solid color. Thin slices of colorful Rosetta cane were then pressed into the surface of the wound glass while still hot. Millefiori became one of the most commonly traded and popular beads. My friend's bead looked to be of a similar type .. singularly handmade. The glass core is black; and you can see two entirely different Millefiori slices were pressed onto the core. Here's a link to some similar examples: Millefiori trade beads

She handed the bead to me and said "See what you can do with it." So .. I took it. And it sat inside a little zip lock bag on an area of my work bench where I could see it pretty much any time I was working. She had suggested "a pendant or something" .. but it kept whispering bracelet to me.

Things were pretty crazy between June and November last year; but I think an idea began percolating almost immediately. Since the bead was so large, the piece had to be on an equal scale. But I didn't want it to be big and bulky, since the few things of mine Mary Ann owns are rather delicate. However, after discovering her wrist size was a nice average 6.5", I felt she could carry off what I had in mind.

What I ended up doing was making it entirely out of fine silver links .. in a gauge heavy enough to allow for some attractive hammering and forging without the weight. The five links attached to the hook mimic the design splotches on the bead, and the mother of pearl and blue sponge coral beads pick up a couple of the dominant colors. Despite the heft of the trade bead, the bracelet is very light weight.

The larger of the links contains wrapped 2.5mm mother of pearl beads on fine silver wire.

I've already given Mary Ann the bracelet or I would have taken another shot of this link .. there's actually a front and a back to the bead, and this, much to my dismay, is the back. The wire extending up to the bead isn't as prominent in the front. It still looks good, but I'm sorry I didn't notice that when I was taking the photos.

As I've mentioned in previous posts about pieces containing fine silver, one can "harden" fine silver by giving it a good going over with a hammer. This changes the composition of the metal's crystals in such a way that a very malleable piece of wire becomes very rigid. It would be difficult to bend several of these links without a bit of effort. Because fine silver IS so soft, however, it's easy after flattening and hardening a link to add a little surface design interest with whatever might be at hand .. in this case, the smaller ends of several different types of hammers in my arsenal. It's a funky piece, to be sure; and I like it enough to maybe try a similar design with a slightly different focal bead. I have a whole lot of them from which to choose, so we'll see what kind of interesting pieces I can get out of this idea. This particular piece I called Manic Millefiori.

Might be time to purchase some more fine silver wire!

Prolific Progeny

2009-12-10T13:51:00.006-05:00

I used to do "Progeny" bracelets all the time about six or seven years ago .. the kind with the little square sterling letters that spell out the names of the recipient's children or grandchildren. I still have some of those little letters, though I haven't used them in quite a while .. and they certainly would not have worked for this commission, which needed to represent 17 grandchildren! I doubt the recipient has a wrist sturdy (or long) enough to endure the weight of 17 little sterling names! But then, there are always birthstones ..

What I like about this style of bracelet .. a one-of-a-kind special order using stones instead of names .. is that it's so very much more personal and private. Someone could look at this piece and have no idea that each and every stone represents a special little person. There are no doubt some women who would prefer the conversation-starting style of a bracelet with several names on it .. other women know what those names are and are bound to ask. And some women would love nothing more than to relate the glowing and talented natures of each and every name on her bracelet. This design allows for more subtlety .. someone might see it and comment on it; the recipient is then able to either simply express thanks for the comment (a positive comment, I hope) or go on to explain what the stones represent. I like the mystery of it. Some women like to keep a few special things to themselves .. or not. And sometimes it just depends on the moment.

I will admit that 17 birthstones seemed a bit daunting at first; but I think I came up with a design that is not only balanced, but doesn't even seem like it contains 17 stones at first glance. I have a "Modern" list of birthstones posted in my studio, and it's this list that I use when anyone wants to talk about making a piece like this. I made myself nuts hunting up a list I could use .. there are so many different versions. I finally just found one that seemed to contain most of the recognized standards. This particular list contains alternative stones for several months, which turned out to be useful for this design, as I was able to use one of each for months that represented more than one child. The 17 stones used for this piece are as follows:

4 Jan (garnet)
2 Feb (amethyst)
2 Mar (aquamarine)
2 May (emerald)
2 Jun (pearl, moonstone)
1 Sep (sapphire)
2 Oct (opal, pink tourmaline)
1 Nov (topaz, citrine)
1 Dec (blue topaz, turquoise)

The only segments of the bracelet that use sterling silver are the lobster clasp, the wire used to wrap the small dangling briolettes, and the half hard wire I used to connect loose stones to each other or other segments in the bracelet. Everything else .. the CHERISH and heart charms, the large patterned rings, the smaller jump rings, and the ball-end headpins .. are all hand made and work hardened by me from fine silver. I would have liked to have made the entire thing from fine silver, but I couldn't work harden the wire I used to connect segments without mangling it. Even drawing the wire through a draw plate didn't harden it to my satisfaction (not enough to hold up under heavy wear, which these kinds of bracelets tend to get) .. so I compromised a little.

The photo above shows the little heart charm and a fine silver extension chain to which is attached a small fresh water pearl disk, a peach moonstone, and a faceted lemon citrine briolette.

Once I started thinking about it, I was able to come up with a design idea relatively quickly - though it ended up taking me five .. almost six .. months to complete (it was intended either for the recipient's birthday on November 30 - missed that one due to my anal retentive, gotta get it right, attitude - or Christmas). I would lay out some stones, but would keep coming up with new configurations. Then I'd be unhappy with the stone selection I had for the few more precious versions that were included: I had sapphires, emeralds and blue topaz, but they were all very small and wouldn't have stood out as a part of the piece the way I had wanted them to. Fortunately, I found a fabulous new supplier from whom I could purchase precious stones in small quantities (most stones and pearls come on 16" temporarily strung strands .. more spectacularly cut stones or specimens come on 8" strands or are sold by weight). This made all the difference! A full 16" strand of emeralds, sapphires or blue topaz like those used in this piece would have been hundreds of dollars. It took me a while to find all the replacement stones I wanted .. but it was worth the wait.

The pink stone on the left is actually an opal .. not the usual Australian type but rather a pink Peruvian variety (Peru has blue opals, too, but they're much more rare). I did finally find some traditional Australian opals .. but even though the strands were a bit costly, I was so very disappointed in their quality when I received them, I couldn't possibly have used them in this piece. The pale blue stone on top is an aquamarine. Since there were so many garnets, I used the smallest ones I had. They hang on either side of a sapphire on the left and a Swiss blue topaz on the right (and isn't that a pretty stone!?!)

There's the second aquamarine on the left, two beautiful amethysts on the right, and two emeralds and a little pink tourmaline hiding behind them in the center. The large ring from which they dangle is made of fine silver (that's .999, or as close to pure as you can get) and is patterned on both sides. Adding the two patterned rings allowed me to add those smaller stones without taking up any length on the bracelet.

The CHERISH charm was an after thought .. I knew I wanted to add a charm like that somewhere on the piece, but I wasn't sure what I wanted it to say, where I was going to put it, or how big or what shape I wanted it to be.

It wasn't until I began to assemble the pieces that I got a better idea of what I wanted and how it would fit in. I knew what size the bracelet needed to be and had to lose a larger coin-shaped fresh water pearl in order to use the rectangular charm. I ended up putting a smaller coin pearl on the extension chain .. and was thrilled that it ended up balancing well with the little disk-shaped peach moonstone! I love it when it all works out!

I call this one .. what else .. Cherish. Just in time for Christmas, too. Whew!

A little sunshine on this dreary day ..

2009-10-23T07:35:00.007-05:00

I don't make nearly enough pieces in gold, but when I do they're nearly always eye catching. Not that my sterling and fine silver pieces aren't eye catching as well, there's just something so sunny and bright about this metal! I call this one Southwest Summer .. it just oozes the colors of sage, adobe and dry heat - with a few fluffy white clouds and a blindingly bright orange ball in the sky.

This burst of color is one of the things I love about lampwork glass beads .. that and the infinite creativity the artisans who make them seem to harbor in their bosoms. It's difficult not to feel a sense of fun in a piece full of lampwork beads!

While I have several pieces that are solid metal, I think I will always include pieces that speak to me of a place or an emotion or a time which can be expressed with color. Some color combinations are like a song .. or a smell .. that invoke a wealth of thoughts or memories. A sort of sensory placeholder that just sort of pops up when the right combo is put in place. These memories or thoughts most often reveal themselves in the names I choose to give my pieces .. some are obvious, others not so much.

This one seems rather obvious, doesn't it? Despite the fact that the design is based on a similar silver version called Twilight .. which used pale blue/violet color- changing lampwork glass beads .. Southwest Summer seems to fit the piece well. And if I hadn't told you of the design similarities, you might never had made the connection.

OK .. I'm off to begin piecing together a commission for a grandmother's bracelet containing natural stones representing 17 grandchildren! While I've got a basic idea of the design features, I've yet to lay out the individual stones and decide what goes where just yet. And I'm thinking I'd like to make as much of it as I can out of fine rather than sterling silver, which will require a bit more care in keeping connecting pieces sturdy. Stay tuned ..

A Good Day Was Had!

2009-10-18T10:29:00.004-05:00

I have no idea how I missed logging and photographing one of my higher-end pieces, but I did. And thankfully, when the customer who bought it wanted it reproduced in another stone, she was willing to give it up for a few days so I could log the materials used and photograph it for my records. It must have just been one of those crazy weeks when I was multitasking beyond my abilities. It happens.

The necklace in question is called Emerald Isle and is composed of a faceted, graduated strand of emeralds separated at intervals with 18k and 22k gold beads and ending in a handcrafted 14k wire clasp. One of those simple but elegant little pieces. She bought it back on July 1 during the Mare's Wares Art Fest up here in Morristown; but she came to the Studio Tour our River Artisans put on in mid-August and asked if I could make another using the same gold beads but with a strand of aquamarine in place of the emeralds. I ordered several strands of aquamarine and found one out of those that fit the bill .. a very pretty 5mm faceted strand (the only graduated strand I could find began with a rather large 7mm center bead .. a bit too large).

The only change I made was in the clasp .. the emerald necklace originally had an 18k gold hook clasp which I replaced with the 14k gold wire one I made. I explained to the customer that I still had the 18k gold clasp; and as the aquamarine necklace was a gift for her daughter's 40th birthday, she was fine with using the 18k clasp instead of a handcrafted 14k clasp on the piece.

My only complaint about the whole thing was that neither necklace was easy to photograph .. or maybe I've just been away from my camera too long! I finally succumbed to my old routine of flat bed scanning the pieces .. though the true color of the two was still illusive, one of the things I have always liked about flat bed scanning jewelry is that there's little concern about clarity or fuzzy shots. The pieces are always pretty clear .. even if the colors aren't ; )

I have to admit, I was a little iffy about combining a pale aquamarine stone with gold .. the customer's daughter had expressed an interest in her mother's emerald necklace, which is where the idea came to purchase one for her daughter in her March birthstone. When I delivered the two necklaces on the 16th, even SHE thought she might not like the result; but in the bright light coming through the windows, it sparkled like sunlight on water. It really was a lot prettier than I would have imagined. She was equally pleased. I love it when it all works out!

Of the two photos of the aquamarine necklace shown here, the one on the display device is closer to the true, pale shade of aquamarine. Though I think the scan is a bit sharper, and allows a better look at the clasp. It's nothing special .. there's a little Bali granulation at the base of the hook .. but in 18k gold, it was about 45% of the total cost of the piece. Invest in gold, folks!

It's funny, but I've been on a sort of familia hiatus for the past couple of months .. helping out with issues revolving around family members .. and haven't been actively selling or doing any shows during this time. Then all of a sudden I sell two high-end aquamarine necklaces in one day! A nice surprise .. much needed and appreciated.

I sold the second necklace .. a longer, 21" faceted strand hand knotted on silk with a pretty little Bali toggle clasp .. to my mom's tenant! Go figure. He's a full-blooded Italian from my mom's old "Italian flats" neighborhood in Watertown and has been occasionally surprising her with lasagna, stuffed shells, and other gustatory delights on weekends when he has time to cook. It just happened that I was staying with her last weekend when he brought over enough for everyone. We got into a gab fest and after a bit the jewelry topic came up .. I had some fun pieces with me (including the emerald necklace which I had just picked up from the customer on the way down to my mom's). I think he told me he needed something for his ex .. who's birthday is October 22nd. What a guy, huh? So when I had to drive back down on the 16th, I brought the hand knotted aquamarine with me for my mom to show him that night. He called later that evening expressing amazement at my talent (I love those calls) and asking how much he needed to leave with my mom for the piece. He also expressed an interest in the solid silver necklace from a couple posts ago for a drum playing nephew named Sam. I'm still a little attached to that one .. but not so attached that I wouldn't sell it! Ah, who knows .. perhaps it was just the several bottles of beer talking .. dunno. I'm not a high pressure kind of sales person, so I'll just wait and see if the topic comes up again .. stay tuned!

Justice at the Museum

2009-08-31T14:46:00.003-05:00

My husband, Ed - the Executive Director of the Frederic Remington Art Museum here in Ogdensburg - went in to work today expecting a special visitor and wasn't disappointed. He was able to sit next to Sandra Day O'Connor during a luncheon at the museum prior to the curator, Laura Foster, whipping off the group with whom she arrived for a cook's tour of the galleries.

Being the tactful, sensitive and thoughtful guy he is, he asked her all about her .. how she felt about being the first woman appointed to the court, and the fact that women still make up such a small percentage of it, etc. What a treat! He called me once they were all in Laura's capable hands to tell me all about it. A brief brush with history .. and a photo to commemorate the occasion. Doesn't she look great!

A year in the making

2009-08-30T11:39:00.006-05:00

Someone more experienced than I in the field of jewelry making once told me that in response to a customer asking how long it took to make a particular piece offered for sale she will tell them "about 30 years and a couple hours" .. because, of course, so many casual shoppers fail to think about the total amount of experience involved in making any piece when they ask a question like that. There is a flip side, of course .. the customer who oooohs and ahhhs over even the silliest little piece of frivolity (we love those customers .. especially when they're loud and vocal). But, it's the "how long" question I get more often than not; though in fairness, it's often in awe of a particular piece that the question comes about. But still, I think I may incorporate my jewelry acquaintance's response into my own response repertoire when dealing with that inquiry in the future.

And with regard to the fine silver necklace which this post entails, the added time above and beyond experience was a year. If I had sat down and done the thing from beginning to end, it might've been more like a couple days (the precious metal clay portions require drying, connecting and kiln time) - but it began with a book, then a class .. then just recently some fine silver wire and deciding how to complete what I'd begun.

It was actually a little over a year from start to finish, since what got me started was a book on metal clay that I received in the mail in the spring of 2008. The thought of making chain with metal clay really intrigued me, and I purchased some PMC3 specifically to give it a go. As often happens with these things, my show season began in earnest and there was little to no time to experiment or play in the studio. So .. I fired the few rings I'd made and tossed them into a round metal tin until a time when I could carry on with the project.

It wasn't until early December 2008 that I thought of those rings again .. when I saw a week's worth of precious metal clay classes offered in Toronto .. by the author of the book I'd purchased! And, one of the classes was chain making! Major body vibrations. A trip to Toronto from Ogdensburg was about a four to five hour trip .. definitely doable. So I did it. Couldn't afford it .. did it anyway. Wasn't sure if the opportunity would come along again. A class scheduled the day before chain making was PMC Findings, so I signed up for both and was off to Toronto in mid-May.

Much of the findings class was familiar to me, as I'd been making my own ear wires for some time; but there were some very cool tips, tricks and style innovations in a couple other areas .. like how to make a nifty little bail device out of 12 gauge fine silver wire (that I've yet to try, but I haven't forgotten!), or adding funky little PMC ends to a piece of fine silver wire to create your own headpins (sterling doesn't hold up well in a PMC kiln). I kept notes, not to mention scribbled all over the poor woman's book (well, my copy of it) because at $250 a pop for the class ($100 material fee was separate), you don't want to forget anything when after paying for the class you can finally dig up the funds to buy the materials necessary to make more of all this stuff!!

I made the two large "ring" segments for a toggle clasp that first day in the findings class (she had some awesome pastry cutters that are on my list for PMC use and purchase). I haven't yet fired the item that looks like a finger ring .. I have plans for it involving resin, and am still experimenting with clear, two-part resin. The smaller rings result when cutting the holes out of the toggle ring, and are saved for .. whatever .. miscellaneous projects later. I've got a collection of little rings and other various fired PMC pieces that'll find a place on a design when the mood strikes.

Thinking ahead for the chain making class, I brought the PMC3 rings I'd made in the spring of 2008 - good thing because it takes a LOT of PMC to make all those rings and a couple toggles! The rings I made previously (at home) set slightly above the larger clay rings in the picture of my work station that day. You'd think from this photo that the resulting chain would be pretty long once all the links were connected .. and you'd be wrong. As I was. The resulting length after firing was about 10.5". Too long for a bracelet, not long enough for any necks I know. Since I have a kiln of my own, and wasn't staying for day three, I very delicately wrapped all of my dried clay pieces up after day two and drove them home to fire them. I was absolutely thrilled with the results! But, of course I wasn't finished. I had only part of a chain!

The process of making and linking PMC rings was pretty time intensive (and relatively costly) so I decided to finish the necklace with fine silver wire. Easier and faster, by far. After one of my best shows in July, I bought 12 ounces of fine silver wire in 12 and 14 gauge (not sterling, which is .925 silver vs. the .999 of fine silver). The PMC segment of chain varied between small and large links, and it seemed the most desirable thing to do would be to continue with this pattern.

I wound and cut all my own rings in 12 gauge, 14 gauge and 16 gauge wire then fused all of the 12 gauge rings together before connecting them to the 14 gauge and PMC rings. I added the smaller 16 gauge rings at the ends last .. I needed them to be smaller to fit through the hole on the toggle. Because the bar portion of the toggle is so long, several rings needed to be able to fit through in order to allow the bar to get all the way to the other side of the hole.

Several folks asked about the sturdiness of the piece - being made totally of fine silver, which is notably softer than sterling - but I can guarantee that every single ring is seriously work hardened; and it would require a lot of force to bend one.

This is one of those pieces I'm feeling just a little ambivalent about selling .. I've been wearing it, dripping it slowly from one hand to another, listening to the soft clinking sound it makes from hand to hand - it's just a little hypnotic, like a slinky. I'm even amazed at how fabulous it looks all crumbled up into a pile of little links on the table! I was going to patinate it, but I just can't bear to do it .. I mean what's the point of making a piece entirely out of fine silver, which is quite tarnish-resistent, only to blacken it all up with a bunch of Liver of Sulphur?

This is an example of what all those high-end juried art shows mean when they say "handcrafted" .. totally made by me, all of it. It's just under three ounces and has a wonderful heft, and yet has been very comfortable to wear. I think I'm in love.

Addendum: Should I have been surprised that the questions I received on this post were mostly "how long did it take to do the wire link portion of the necklace?" Not so much ; )

The necklace is about 22" to 23" long, so about 5.5" on one side and 6" on the other is made up of fine silver wire links .. it took me the good part of an afternoon to wind and cut all the rings and then fuse them all together (the 14 12 gauge rings I cut with a super flush cutter, the 14 and 16 gauge rings with my jump ringer blade). I just purchased a new (and better) butane torch, as the one I have isn't as hot and is a bit slow. I'm not sure how much of a difference in time it will make in fusing and assembling future chain in this fashion, but I had a chance to use one like the one I purchased, and it WAS a whole lot hotter and better for the task. Time will tell.

The necklace is priced at $680 .. and in response to the customer who wrote and asked why a piece" just under three ounces" isn't closer to the $14/ounce that silver costs, lemme 'splain.

Today (August 31, 2009) the 24-hour spot silver price posted at Kitco is approx. 14.88/ounce. This price represents the cost for a 1000 oz bar of .999 silver. This isn't the way those of us who make jewelry purchase silver. We buy raw materials - either wire, sheet, granules .. or precious metal clay. All of these versions of fine silver require fabrication in one way or another. It does not cost me $14.88 an ounce when I buy fine silver wire .. more like (recently) over $20/ounce. And a 25 gram package of PMC3 (28 grams = an ounce) cost me $34.50 in July 2008 .. the package of clay is actually 27.8 grams but yields 25 grams worth of silver after the binder burns off in the kiln. And then there's the time (and experience) it took for me to create the piece. A great analogy would be the cost of the wood it would take to build a house .. quite a bit less than what you would expect to pay for the completed house, no?

A lost relic comes home

2009-08-30T10:56:00.004-05:00

This is probably the most unusual personal story I've ever experienced .. it encourages me to believe in the return of more recently lost treasures, especially since this one was lost over 30 years ago while I was working at Community Savings Bank in Watertown, NY (and not surprisingly considered gone for good). The relic in question is my high school class ring.

The story began with a Facebook "hail" from a classmate asking if I'd heard from her boss regarding my class ring (I vaguely remember a first cousin being involved in there somewhere as well, and having spoken to him .. but I can't remember where he fit in the story, so we'll just leave him out).

After waiting several weeks or more to hear from my classmate's boss, my classmate just took the bull by the horns, snagged the ring and sent it to me with the story, as she'd heard it .. in her words:

"... Someone finds your ring and gives it to the Watertown cops. They, in turn, hand it over to the Carthage cops. Carthage cops, with all the latest technology, go to the local donut shop to do a little detecting. With only a minimum of clues (high school, year of graduation & initials), they decide that it is unsolveable and they put it in the cold case files (or in this case, Chief of Police takes it home and puts it in his underwear drawer. I know - horrible thought - you better get that ring cleaned!) Anyway, 35 years later, said cop's daughter finds the damn thing while cleaning out said underwear drawer. (I can't stress to you how important it is to clean that ring!) Cop's daughter says, 'Hmm, one of my employees graduated in this class, I'll ask her.' 5 minutes later, Eureka! Moral of the story - don't trust the cops!"

I laughed out loud when I read it. And, of course, when I looked in my class yearbook, I am the ONLY KMC in the entire graduating class .. how difficult could it have been? Well, I guess when you're up against donuts, pretty damn difficult.

As a result of this little personal mystery, I've connected with a classmate who I didn't really know in high school and who in my estimation "clicked" almost immediately after we began exchanging notes (a great sense of humor, you must admit) .. and have an invitation to check out a relatively new and highly recommended restaurant in Carthage next time I'm in the area (my mom's only about ten miles away, so it'd be an easy trip) .. as there are few restaurants of that description up here in Ogdensburg, I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to give her a call!

.. and the ring still fits.

Addendum: Yes, folks, I cleaned the ring .. in my tumbler with steel shot, liquid soap and ammonia .. for about an hour!

Knotty .. in a good way

2009-07-30T11:28:00.007-05:00

A new customer, recommended to me by Mary Ann Evans (of Mare's Wares Pottery), brought me a tender little knotted necklace while I was at Mare's July 1st Arts Fest and asked if I could put it back together again. Despite having had it in my possession since July 1, I only just recently completed it because I had trouble finding red cord of the right diameter, the color which had originally been used to knot between the beads.

The biggest surprise, however, was when I cut the necklace apart to begin knotting .. I initially thought the beads were red (garnet, was what I was thinking at the time), but it was the little red knots between the beads that caused that optical illusion. When the beads were all cut apart and sitting in a little ceramic dish, devoid of red cord, I discovered that they were carnelian .. a very pretty deep orange and not red at all! And to complete the weird optical illusion aspect of this venture, the silk cord I finally found that fit size-wise was burgandy .. though when next to the carnelian beads looked very much like a deep brick color, and matched the shade of the beads exactly! The brain is a wonderful thang!

The problem I encountered with the burgandy thread, however, was that there was no longer a marked contrast between the beads and the knots between the beads .. I knotted about 20 of them with the burgandy silk and, while very pretty, decided I'd better call the customer and ask if the contrast was important .. and explain what the new configuration looked like. Turned out she was fine with the lack of contrast (I would have had to order another spool of thread, too .. though I was happy to do it) and suggested I carry on. If you click on the photo, you should be able to tell the beads are carnelian. From a distance, they still look red though .. don't they?!?!

After this little exercise, I found myself in a knotting frame of mind and looked through my bead drawers to see what else I might put together in the same vein. I had several little baggies of rectangular pendants I had purchased from Silk Road Treasures at a show five or six years ago .. one little baggie with pale green jade, one with dark green jade and one with lapis. I pulled out the pale green pendants and found about ten or twelve different stones that would provide some nice contrast and completed the tin cup design shown here .. which I call Mountain Ash.

It's a nice mix - there's Mexican opal, green garnet, hessonite garnet, yellow turquoise, orange aventurine, jade, carnelian and pale yellow quartz (plus some Czech glass and #10 seed beads). At about 21", its one of the first long ones I've made in a bit. I added a very simple gold-filled hook and eye clasp .. it's very light weight. It was the colors I saw in our own three mountain ash trees that stand between the house and the river - and can be seen from my studio window - that gave me the idea for the name.

After that I was on a roll and just kept rummaging. I've got a couple drawers full of turquoise, but haven't done anything with any of it in a long while, so found some pretty faceted rondelles with small enough drill holes to allow for knotting and put together this really nice piece! I used turquoise-colored cord, so it blends in quite well; and the knots between the beads allow for a really nice flexibility in the strand. The clasp is handmade in Bali and is a design I sought out for what seemed like months after purchasing a necklace for myself with this same clasp from a little boutique in Albany. Was so delighted when I finally found them, I purchased five or six at the time .. there are only two left. I've tended to use them sparingly; but this piece seemed to call for it. I don't have a name for this one ... any ideas???

The green design came about after I ordered and received a strand of Labradorite marquis cut oval beads, one of which plays center stage here. I tried multiple times to get a close up of the pendant with its hidden opalescence .. but it just stayed hidden. All I could get was the reflection from one of my lights. Labradorite is a type of feldspar .. moonstone is in the same category - they both remind me of opal with their little internal rainbows brought out when the light hits them in the right way or in the right spot. There were several of the pendants on the strand that were rich with these surprising little bursts of color .. all the more likely with so much visible surface on such a large bead.

The strand, on the other hand, is not Labradorite but tourmalated quartz .. both the strand and the pendant have some naturally occuring bits of black in them, so I used black silk to knot; and I couldn't have been happier with the result! It's at once both simple and stunning - I gave it a spare and simple sterling toggle clasp .. I didn't want to take away from the strand in anyway. I call it Green Lagoon because the particular shades of green made me think of a sandy, warm and tropical place.

I'm now working on some variations of the Mountain Ash piece (I might pull out the darker jade and use a couple of those and/or assemble a whole 'nuther collection of stones and work with the lapis pendants) .. and I've pulled a bunch of little baggies full of possible strand and pendant mixes for some more knotted combos after that. AND (I forgot to mention this) since the catalyst for this knotty run - the carnelian and citrine necklace at the top - was completed using French wire, I've finished all of these using French wire instead of bead tips to attach the clasps to the body of the necklace. When done correctly, French wire (a tiny, itsy bitsy little wound wire tube) creates a little loop through the clasp and protects the cord from abrasion. It also looks very neat and tidy and is often used on high-end pearls. I haven't used French wire in a long time .. it's always good to refresh one's skills occasionally, no?

I expect there'll be a whole area of knotted pieces by the time the Stone Mills show in LaFargeville (August 7, 8 and 9) rolls around. I had a request for pearl bracelets at my last show though .. so gotta balance my time. There's so little of it, you know : )

Whirlwind production!

2009-07-16T06:22:00.004-05:00

In an attempt to pump up inventory for a couple of upcoming shows (one small, but last year very good, local show is here in Ogdensburg on Sunday, the 19th at the big golden dome - 10:00 to 4:00 .. stop by!!), I've been tossing my pearl and stone storage and reverting to some old tried and true designs, a few beaded things and some pieces involving chain. I did manage to come up with one more bangle .. a medium weight version. I sold two high end bangles at Mare's Wares Arts Fest on July 1 and had hoped to get two or three made for the next venue. But, it's the designing of the things and not the actual creation of them that takes time - hence my reverting to some quicker things in the short run. This bangle is sort of a cross between the colorful warmth of Sun Drenched and the design aspects of Blue Bayou .. and it contains some of my favorite things: a couple of ancient trade beads, several handmade lampwork beads, three fine silver discs that I made and more twisted wire. I call it Honey Dripper.

This is a fine gauge Byzantine necklace .. it's a little over 18" long and took me forever to finish! Not because it was particularly difficult, but because I kept putting it down to work on other things. And when you're working with smaller rings, it just necessarily takes longer to get any length outta the things. I began this while I was doing a trunk show at Captain Spicer's Gallery in Clayton on June 27. I never used to bring projects to work on during shows, but the process of assembling a Byzantine chain is very impressive .. and it gives me something to do while folks are browsing. I brought it to Mare's on July 1st, when I'd hoped to finish it .. but only completed it this week on my dining room table. I'm thinking of bringing more of the same size rings to the golden dome with me on Sunday and making a pair of earrings. I had a bracelet that went with it, but it sold at Mare's. Not a bad thing .. just have to make another!!

I wore the necklace around for several days after completing it .. it's got a wonderful heft and felt marvelous around my neck! Even after all the time it took to make the thing, I'm now thinking I've gotta make one for me to keep. I mean what's the point of having the materials and knowing how to do it if you can't make one for yourself!! In the photo to the left, it almost looks as though I had patinated it (the best I could do in Photoshop .. it was either make it blindingly bright, or turn up the contrast. And it's the contrast that makes it look patinated). The photo above is more indicative of the look of it .. I tumbled it when I was done, so it's nice and shiny. If you wear it alot, it'll stay that way .. otherwise, it'll slowly patinate itself over time (called tarnish, for those of you less romantic types). And if you're big on sulfur type foods (onions, garlic, eggs) .. it'll patinate itself even quicker!

After finishing up the Byzantine necklace and hunting around for some interesting stones, I found some beautiful briolette and pear shaped stones I'd purchased four, five .. maybe six years ago .. and had forgotten about. These came strung on 8" instead of the customary 16" strands .. really pretty things I kept separate from my other beads because of their cost. I have one of those tall plastic units with a bunch of little drawers that you often see in garages full of nuts and bolts .. well, mine is full of beads, and several of the drawers have rubies, emeralds, sapphires, lapis, vesuvianite and other precious and semi-precious delights hidden within.

These two chain and stone necklaces use vesuvianite .. a really pretty olivine green stone that looks a lot like peridot. I have so many of these pretty little shapes in various stones, I think I may do a little production line after the show on Sunday and make a bunch of them. All those I did over the past couple of days use 14k gold filled chain .. mostly because the stone colors I was using looked best against gold. But I have some briolettes in my larger unit of bead drawers that will look better with sterling: rose quartz, apatite, kyanite, citrine, and onyx.

While this photo may look like a single necklace, it's actually one necklace with five stones and one with a single stone. I've been trying to make matching earrings as I finish up with a necklace .. because people always ask! And it's easier while all the materials are already out. Despite this recent propensity, I'm in serious need of a couple days of nothing but earring production! Especially a couple of the more popular wire wrapped seed pod earrings that sell as fast as I make them .. I could use one of those little time turner devices Hermonine used in HP and The Prisoner of Azkaban!!

Here are a couple more stone and chain necklaces .. I did another of the five stone versions in a smoky topaz (absolutely gorgeous stones, purchased by carat weight!!). I was almost tempted to put them on 14k chain instead of 14k gold filled, but it's already a $135 necklace with just the gold filled chain. And I'm saving the 14k chain for some 3mm faceted tanzanite stones I've had stashed.

The blue stone is lapis .. the strand from which it came was graduated, so I've got several different sizes. Made a couple pair of earrings, and am thinking of doing another necklace. I was going to do this one on sterling, but the lapis has some really pretty gold veining in it .. so there's was no question of suspending it on gold. If you click on the photo, you can see them all up close.

While rummaging through my pearl drawers last week I found several varieties of smaller pearls and brought back a design I'd made six or seven years ago .. a double strand of pearls with a removable pendant. The original pendant was an incredible olive pear drop pearl. But that strand is long gone; so I made a variety of them using stones instead. The three across the top are a pale green kyanite, a gorgeous shade of blue apatite and a golden carnelian. That beautiful large blue stone at the bottom is an aquamarine. I've got eight or nine more of those and use them sparingly .. they come from a fabulous strand I got at a wholesale gem and lapidary show in western MA five or six years ago. When they're gone, I'd be surprised if I find another strand anything like it.

The kyanite is strung on white round pearls, the apatite and aquamarine on a pretty shade of beige rice pearls and the carnelian is on chocolate rice pearls. I quickly sold the five or six versions of the original necklace with the pearl pendant and wouldn't be surprised if these do well .. the removable pendant is appealing because sometimes all you want are simple pearls, or a simple pendant. And the pendants are attached to an incredible handcrafted Bali ring (Nina Designs .. wholesale only, but stunning stuff!) that looks great suspended from a sterling chain. It's all about choices, folks ..

With all the successful rehashing I've accomplished lately, I may need to dig out my old jewelry photos and see if there are any other pieces I can update. When you're low in inventory, you do what works, yes? I may have to save the time-consuming new designs for another time (i.e. when there's more of it ... time, I mean) .. but then, everything seems new to most people stopping by my booth lately. Most of my old photos are pre-light box .. back when I used to flat bed scan them, just to have a record of the things I'd created. And most of those designs were long gone before we re-located to the North Country. So ... everything old is new again!! Happens occasionally. Thankfully.

Sun Drenched Redux

2009-06-25T08:20:00.000-05:00

Because it seemed to me like I'd gotten into a "blue" streak with the last several entries here .. a bracelet called Sun Drenched seemed like a good post.

I originally posted this back in April when I'd first created it, but I hadn't yet fired the little sun charm, so this is the finished product. Love these sturdy bangles!

Twilight

2009-06-25T07:11:00.004-05:00

Like the book(s) .. or not. Vampires were not what I had in mind when I created it .. but there is a little magic in this bracelet, so if you want to think of Edward and Bella .. and all the other magical personages within Stephenie Meyer's imagination .. it's OK. It works.

However, the magic in this piece comes from the glass used for these hand crafted lamp work beads .. I have other lamp work beads (as well as Swarovski crystals) that have the same kind of inherent magic - an ability to change color in different light. I have no idea how or why it works, it just does. Under the lamp light I use to take photographs - and beneath the lights in my studio - these beads appear to be pale blue. Sky blue, if you will. However, when moved outdoors (and perhaps beneath some other as yet untried artificial lighting) they turn an ever so soft and tender violet. The way the sky changes .. at Twilight.

I've had this one on the tip of my brain for weeks .. I continued to let it stew in there while assembling some pretty, delicate, sparkly little beaded pieces recently - until it finally emerged. With the exception of that one gorgeous rectangular sterling silver India bead (and my pure silver logo charm), this is strictly sterling silver wire and lamp work glass. I wrapped and cut all the connecting rings, made and work-hardened all the sterling eye pins holding the lamp work beads in place, wrapped the 26 gauge wire around the horseshoe link and made the little spiral charm and s-hook clasp. I think there's balance here - what do you think?

It fits my EZ-Size bracelet device at 7.75", so would comfortably fit a 7.5" wrist with a little room to spare. I love this piece!! I have a drawer full of smaller (and all absolutely gorgeous) lamp work beads from talented lamp workers from all over .. and am now thinking I might have to try this in a more delicate version. Or even something in 14k gold-filled wire!

While I'm eternally grateful that my creative muse still pops in occasionally and sits on my shoulder .. I'm hoping she'll stay a little longer this time. She makes me happy when she's sittin' there smilin' down on me.

Something Blue

2009-06-12T07:16:00.006-05:00

I put this bracelet together back in May .. it's been a little nuts on the home front since then. But I didn't want to miss posting it.

I had originally wanted to include two or three 10mm sterling round beads in this piece .. all I had on hand were 8mm though, and they just didn't look right. The balance was wrong. Being the impatient creator than I am, however, I just pushed on anyway with the whole "blue" theme. I call it Blue Bayou. Next time I place a silver order, I'll get some 10mm silver beads and do a similar design. I guarantee the silver beads will give it an entirely different look. It's a bit .. busy .. in its current manifestation, but it works.

That large black and pale blue item is a fabulous lampwork bead (one of a small collection from the same glass bead maker) .. I love it and had been wanting to do something with it for some time. It was easy enough to find several corresponding beads to add .. several of them (three to be exact) came from one of those ancient trade bead strands I've been hoarding: the teal bead in the foreground (to the left of the logo tag), the little black bead with dots to the right of the large lampwork, and the darker blue bead to the right of the clasp. (Hard to believe, but all three came from the same strand .. a really gorgeous mix of all kinds of trade beads. I'm a sucker for those - you get so much more to work with that way). There's another small lampwork bead - next to the pale blue resin bead - several ceramic discs and a whole lotta twisted wire (my favorite thing to do with wire!).

This is a hefty and substantial bracelet .. made for a woman who knows herself well, and is comfortable with what she knows. A strong woman .. with a strong wrist! ; )

Stream of Consciousness

2009-05-12T09:49:00.008-05:00

Back while I was making the "Sweetheart Pin" .. which is a good sized piece of jewelry .. I was already thinking of a smaller, lighter version with some pearl embellishments wrapped around the larger side embellishments (with much lighter gauge wire). And, as it sometimes happens with these processes, it immediately struck me how cool it would be to make a bracelet using that kind of wrapped embellishment! Which is where this bracelet idea came from.

Before I'd even finished the smaller heart pin (which remains on my work bench awaiting embellishment), I had some copper wire out and was experimenting with some ideas for the bracelet. The tight-against-the-base-wire wrap on the large pin(s) didn't appeal to me for the bracelet (though maybe for a necklace!), so I had to think about how the larger swirly part might work.

Before I even began with the design of the swirl or wrapping stuff though, I had to think about the core bracelet. I was afraid if I made it as a simple large letter "C" cuff bracelet the act of opening it to put it on would stress not only the core wire but also the added swirl and wraps. I was able to use more core wire (and hence more swirly design wrapping) by moving the ends out and away from each other (sort of one end above the other). This way, it's easy to slide onto the wrist without having to pull the ends directly apart from each other. If any additional opening is necessary, the ends can be pushed a little bit further away from each other instead. If any of you are familiar with the proper way to open and close a jump ring, it's the same concept. Once you've got it on, you can then gently squeeze it to fit .. leaving the comfortable-for-you, top-to-bottom distance between the ends as is for continued ease in putting it on and taking it off. Did that make sense??

Anyway, once I had that figured out I moved on to designing the swirly part and then attaching it. It was a bit tricky .. and didn't occur to me right away .. but I ultimately decided that rather than wrapping the swirly embellishment wire around the bracelet core and then adding the beads with finer wire in and around it, that I'd attach the swirly embellishment wire with the fine wire and beads. Took a while to work it out because the swirly wire kept sliding around on the core wire while I was trying to wrap and attach the beads. It becomes a little easier after the first few beads are attached.

The little dragonfly is actually a Thai silver charm I worked into the design. I had originally purchased them to use as one of the little trio of charms on the Thai trio necklaces I made, but the picture on the website where I purchased them showed the jump ring/bail on the charm was attached on top of the dragonfly's head .. not the case when I received them. The ring is in the back .. and low enough that it hangs funny if suspended from a chain. I was so incredibly happy to have found such a great use for them!

Very pretty, very feminine .. and it has a lovely weightiness. I'm still thinking about what to call it .. April Showers perhaps? or maybe Tranquility?? It's very Spring-like .. makes me think of a misty, moisty April morn.

UPDATE - Several folks wrote to ask what the stones were .. sorry, didn't even think of mentioning it! The large pale blue stones are aquamarine (there are also some smaller, more translucent aquamarine rondelles as well), a few small Swarovski pearls, several "Alexandrite" color-changing crystals (pale blue to pale lavender), a few darker "Montana" crystals, and some 2.5mm faceted blue sapphire rondelles.

Sweetheart Pin

2009-04-17T13:37:00.003-05:00

I just love this pin! It's a big bold one though .. about three inches high and around two and a half inches across at its widest. But, boy, does it look great on a big 'ole bulky sweater or holding a beautiful knit scarf in place!

I made two just because I was curious how the difference in the wire gauge I used might affect the finished pin. The first one (on the left) was made using 12 gauge wire for the base and 14 gauge for the curliques on the sides .. and it's a substantial piece of jewelry! I've made pins that could poke through fine knits without leaving a hole .. however, the weight of this alone would be problematic for anything less than a bulky sweater, shawl or scarf.

The second pin (on the right) was made using 14 gauge as the base and 16 gauge for the embellishments (you understand that wire gets thinner the higher the gauge, right?) Were you to hold one in each hand, you would notice the difference in weight. A design plus in using the 12 gauge wire is there's more wire to pound in those areas where I forged (flattened) and added texture. When I tried that with the 14 gauge wire, it really flattens it (whereas the 12 gauge still has a bit of thickness to it even after some pounding). And you can't really see the indentations on the lighter pin in this picture .. they're just barely visible on the photo on the top (and that's partly because the heavier pin is patinated and the lighter pin is not).

I was playing around with this really cool wooden hand I bought years ago and ended up with one of the best pics of the pin I think I've gotten yet. I find that these kinds of props usually provide more distraction than any positive effect, but it was the first - of all the many photos I took of the thing - that showed more of the detail, so I couldn't resist including it.

I'm working on a design that's about 3/4 size using 16 gauge wire as the base .. and instead of strictly wire embellishments along the sides, I've been playing with winding some small pearls with fine wire in and around the heavier wire embellishments. And THAT idea lit the light bulb over my head for a new cuff bracelet!!

I think the warmth and the birds, the peepers beginning to chirp at night and the promise of a real spring finally arriving has gotten some of the creative juices flowing again. My, but it's been a while ...

Trial by Pearls

2009-03-25T14:51:00.007-05:00

If you've kept up with me out here for any length of time (or even if you've gone back over old posts), you know I love to knot pearls. I've been doing it for a long time, I occasionally teach other people how to do it, I've done it from scratch with new pearls and I've cleaned, disassembled and restrung and knotted old, stretched strands to look like new again. But I've never had a strand put me through my paces quite like the graduated strand I received from a lovely and patient customer I encountered at a show last fall!

They arrived in their original blue velvet box .. a tender little strand with obviously stretched silk needing a little care and attention. Knowing what I know now I'm sorry I didn't look at them more closely before cleaning and cutting the strand apart. The first thing I discovered upon removing the old thread was the pearls were not real. This was a surprise - with the naked eye (my naked eye, to be exact) - they looked real. In fact, I'm still searching for any information on the company whose name was on the inside of the box they came in (Styled by Crosby is what it said) .. more out of curiosity about the surface treatment than anything else. Most old faux pearls I've seen look fake. But, the fact that the pearls weren't real wasn't the problem .. what I discovered was that the holes in the larger center beads were too big for the size D silk thread that would look best with the smaller 4mm beads that made up the bulk of the necklace. I didn't recall that the knots near these larger center beads were problematic in any way before I cut the thing apart, so I haven't a clue as to how this issue was addressed previously. I looked closely at all the little lengths of silk I'd pulled out of all the pearls and couldn't find anything that looked out of the ordinary.

And after attempting to knot the strand twice - once with size D, once with size E - I was stuck. No matter how careful I was near the larger beads, the knots would just slip inside the holes and disappear. As pearl holes are notoriously small, I've never needed a size larger than E before .. and didn't have any larger than E except in black, which wouldn't do. And besides, anything larger wouldn't fit through the 4mm beads.

I kept the customer apprised of my progress .. and lack of progress .. as I continued to search for some way to make this work. If I encounter this problem while stringing stone or glass beads, I just add very small seed beads, liquid silver tubes or little rubbery spacers that separate briolettes on higher end strands (which I always save for this purpose) .. but while the holes were larger than normal pearls, they weren't large enough to accommodate any of these. I told the customer I was considering something a lot less conventional (and much more drastic) like stuffing the holes with something like white two part mold compound or polymer clay.

Fortunately, I didn't do anything until I sent an inquiry to a jewelry forum in which I occasionally participate. It didn't take long for suggestions to come pouring in. And I must say I am somewhat embarrassed not to have thought of the solution offered by most people, which was to add another needle with doubled thread when approaching the larger beads. Simple, elegant, nothing new to purchase .. and no need to muck around with the pearls (a thought that troubled me greatly).

Easier than it sounds though .. and I spent last weekend with some beads other than the pearls experimenting with this process. After playing with various combinations of doubled thread (and then doing a dry run with just the nine center beads), what I ended up doing was using size D to begin; then four beads in from the center I added size E for three pearls; I then cut the original D thread and added a second size E for the center and the two pearls on either side of it; then worked backwards to a combo of D and E, then back to one long D to finish up. The combination of the two doubled E threads (four strands of thread total) made knots perfect for those middle three pearls, but was way too much thread for any of the others. The process took me longer than it might normally because I applied a thin gum arabic beading glue with a fine brush to all the knots that had an added tail of thread in the pearl behind it or had a double strand cut away from the knot .. and I gave the glue a good ten minutes to set before proceeding. This process necessarily weakens the strand at the center, but one doesn't expect a lot of rough tugging and pulling on one's pearl strand; so I can only hope that it will be just fine.

As this was the third time I'd knotted the strand, I held my breathe through the center nine pearls .. but I was really pleased with the end result. All the pictures here were taken after I'd finally gotten it right. If you have any knowledge of the company name, please let me know .. I'd still love to understand that great surface treatment! Otherwise, I'm just going to thank my lucky stars for Orchid and all its kind and helpful followers, be grateful for having learned such a nifty new trick .. and hope I never encounter another strand that needs it!

The Gallery Event - March 6

2009-03-13T12:39:00.008-05:00

Which, in reality, doesn't look much different from the installation photos, does it?!?! Though there are a few shots here with people other than the artisans milling about - just to prove it was an actual event with real guests!

It was a fabulous evening .. everything looked so professional, colorful and artsy, there was great food, laughter (as promised), intelligent as well as silly conversation, lots of wonderful folks pumping us all up with praise .. and a few things even sold! Well, it's a month long, so there's plenty of time for more of that.

Here are a few more pics to add to those from the installation post. Several of us arrived early, and I used the time as an opportunity to take a few photos before people began to arrive. I really wanted to capture a few shots of the tile floor, which lends itself so well to the environment - a piece of art unto itself!

The photo with Mary Ann's pottery in the left foreground shows one segment of the downstairs gallery at Creative Spirit from one end to the other. There's a hospitality area down on the other end where a couple of tables were heaped full of fruit, desserts, crackers, cheese, wine, home made salsa and chips (from the Cantina Grill behind the Gallery), wine, punch and all manner of munchables. There's another long interior gallery off to the right.

This empty gallery shot is taken near the center looking into the interior gallery .. that's my jewelry in the case .. and you can just see some of Bill's bowl's and his table, Sally's series against the back wall, and a few of Steve's things on the left interior wall ..

Once people began arriving and milling around, I only took a few shots .. mostly those that included an artist or two in them. This one in the inner gallery shows Deb Monteith (in the black cut-out top) ..

This one has June Ross (in blue on the left), and a friend of the group's, Mary Harding (with her back to the camera)- a jewelry and ceramic artist.

And this is just another shot of all of us!! Who doesn't like a party! Kyle Hartman is on the far right .. he'd put together an incredible historic preservation exhibit called "This Place Matters" in a smaller gallery down near the food. Lots of photos of wonderful old buildings, most of which are still being used, with a person or persons in front of the building holding one of Kyle's "This Place Matters" signs. What a great idea!! : )

Quick Correction

2009-03-03T11:24:00.001-05:00

Should any of you actually be interested in visiting Conrad's website, the URL is www.northernwoodworksonline.com. I apparently fat-fingered the keyboard the first time through!

A Gallery Installation!

2009-03-03T09:30:00.004-05:00

My local artisan group (one of two great artisan networking groups in which I enjoy membership) spent several hours last Saturday setting up for a group exhibit at the Creative Spirit Art Center in Potsdam, NY - which runs from March 6 to April 3. The exhibit's Opening Reception is scheduled for this Friday (March 6) at 7 PM. There'll be music, food and the pleasure of our company as well as some smiles, awe, and amazement over our collective creativity. We're a talented bunch .. even if I do say so myself!

Creative Spirit, while off the beaten path on a side street in Potsdam (Raymond Street, off Market .. around the corner from the University Book Store), is quite a large and impressive space. At street level are several large rooms full of jewelry, pottery, textiles, photography, woodwork, music, books, greeting cards and glass, among other wonderful works of art .. the Artisans of the River Valley exhibit is located on a lower level, spread out among multiple light and airy rooms. What you're met with as you descend the stairs to the lower gallery is a fabulous mosaic tile design on the floor that wends its way through the gallery .. a work of art all on its own!

This is Steve Kroeger - who has an incredible skill for expressing light, shadows and reflections in his works.

This is Deb Monteith who, prior to just recently, was creating works involving primarily the St. Lawrence River and its surrounding environs. She's recently experienced a renewed burst of creative energy and has shifted her focus. In the photo above she's placing a placard with a piece of poetry on it that goes with the large canvas to her left. The beautiful wooden cabinet in the center (the doors on the sides swing open) is one of Bill Smithers' pieces ... that's my mom reflected in the mirror. As mentioned in the previous post, she was visiting this past weekend and went with me to this gallery installation extravaganza.

John Miller III lining up a display of his Thousand Island Picture Paddles .. if I remember correctly, there were several other free standing versions of his paddles in other areas of the gallery. The little sculpture is one of Wayne Brown's whimsical structures made of forgotten, scavenged and recycled machinery and obsolete tools.

Bill Smithers .. woodworker extraordinaire .. fussing (as we all were that day) with a table of his turned bowls. Another of Wayne's fanciful creatures is in the foreground; others of us are milling around working out our own displays. My display cabinet is on the other side of that wall with large shell painting ..

Last fall - back when we knew we were all going to be participating in this exhibit - the director of the gallery explained that anyone requiring a display case for small items would have to provide something of their own. As it happened, I had met a young woodworker at a show we both did at Clarkson University - we happened to be side-by-side. He had wooden toys, small jewelry and trinket boxes, cutting boards and other small things at the show; but he also had a portfolio full of furniture and cabinetry that really demonstrated his talents in the extreme.

I have a truly inexpensive, flat, 24" square tabletop display at a small gallery down in Lewis Co. .. I felt this exhibit, however, required something a bit more ... artsy and elegant. So I called this young man and told him what I needed .. I sent him a check for the lion's share of the cost (based on his estimate) while I still had money in my business account (!!). We went back and forth a few times - he, sending preliminary plans based on my initial description of size and design; I, returning comments and edits on the design until he was set to begin.

We had discussed my needing the cabinet for this exhibit, so he had completed it for pick-up on Feb 21. I sent a small check representing the balance, but didn't pick it up until last Saturday on my way back home from the exhibit set-up. Turns out the gallery had an extra display case; and as it provided a bit more room than the 34" high, 14" square display cabinet I had commissioned, I decided on using theirs instead of mine.

Mine is now slated for a space at Mare's Wares Pottery .. sometime in June when the summer resident population (and sales) pick up. I had told him I would love to have something in a Mission or Arts and Crafts style .. he came back with a computerized design that included a little Mission flourish around the top:

I responded with a photo of a Mission-style mirror I had seen at Cherry Tree Design's website and asked if we couldn't do something like that instead .. including the little flair of the post extensions at the top. And the photo below is what I got .. it's absolutely stunning (the photo doesn't do it justice)!! And a spectacular value for a handcrafted piece of cabinetry.

I spent a lot of time looking for something like this online .. and the closest I could find was almost twice the cost, not nearly as handsome, and mostly metal and glass. This one is oak. Should you wish to see some other things of Conrad's, you can view some of his portfolio at www.northernwoodworksonline.com. Tell him I sent cha!

Time passes, things change ..

2009-03-02T08:03:00.003-05:00

A lot can happen in two months. While sales are usually slow (if not totally non-existent) this time of year, it's generally a time of renewed creativity and production. I lost this time last year to my thyroid - pretty much the entire winter and early spring was a wash due to lethargy, anxiety, apathy and a total lack of motivation .. all because of a little butterfly shaped endrocrine gland in my neck. Who knew one little organ could cause so much trouble?

This winter the flow of creativity and production stopped due to my dad's on-going ill health and resulting death on January 18. It seemed like things were going along swimmingly, but the body and brain are strange and wonderful things .. they often react in totally unexpected ways. Most of the stress I experienced was worrying about the effect my dad's death would have on my mom and a brother who lived with them. While it takes time to assimilate these kinds of life changes, the waters seem to be calming a bit. After a fabulous visit by my mom this past weekend - something she had never been able to do in the past due to her care taking duties - I'm feeling a whole lot better, and she got a much needed break away from her usual routine and environment. Some interesting things are happening in my brother's life as well .. so perhaps despite the fact that a part of our lives which was so familiar is gone, we've all found a little peace to help get us to the next chapter in our lives.

I'm still moving a little slowly .. but the days are getting a bit longer, we've had a couple brief thaws to remind us this dark and snowy period doesn't last forever, and some promising artisan things have been happening to propel me into a more creative state of mind.

If you're interested in shorter, but more frequent posts, check out my relatively new Facebook profile (Karan Marie Cross). I find it easier some days to make a quick note there, and I'm sure you'll find it likely that show dates and links to show events will find their way to Facebook in a more timely manner .. at least during this period when I'm still trying to gear up and get back into the swing of a routine.

Moose on the Loose

2009-01-01T13:44:00.004-05:00

I was thinking about cleaning up my hard drive of extraneous files .. and the first place I usually begin is in "my pictures". I have a tendency to empty my camera, clean up a few pics, maybe upload one or two, and then just leave the rest in that day's file. They tend to add up after awhile .. like scroll forEVER when I open "my pictures", with files from every month - full of pics I may or may not have used. Soooo many photos to go through .. it's daunting. I should keep up with it .. but I should keep up with my business bookkeeping, too .. and that ain't gonna happen either. I try for a month or two, then fall back on old habits. Human nature. It is what it is.

Anyway .. I began at the end (the most recent files first) and had almost forgotten about a quick series I took while on my way back home from a show I did in Saratoga Springs around the end of November. I came through the mountains on the way back because it had been awhile since I'd been through there, and I was hoping for an opportunity to stop and browse in all the cool little shops I never had a chance to peruse when my husband and I occasionally made that trip from Albany to visit his dad in Massena. From Saratoga it should've been about a four hour trip straight through to Ogdensburg .. with all my little stops, it was more like seven. Wish I could have stopped at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, but that would have been pushin' it. For another time, I think ... like late spring perhaps!

I was only about a mile or so from the old Olympic ski jumps near Lake Placid when I came around a corner and saw cars lined up on both sides of the road. As I had no idea what was going on .. and because the amount of road left to drive on was severely curtailed on both sides due to the parked cars ... I slowed down. People were out of their vehicles, or getting out of them .. and they all seemed to be looking at or heading over to the left side of the road. All it took was a turn of my head to see what they were all staring at or photographing.

I could barely believe it. There was a moose .. just standing there. It was difficult to tell if it was OK with all the people standing around, or scared stiff and unable to move. It turned it's head now and again, but pretty much stayed put while more and more people - including me - collected on the side of the road. It looked like a young 'un .. no horns evident; and as its hind quarters were facing the woods, I could see no "equipment" beneath, so I have no idea if this was a bull or cow. There were several vehicles on a side road watching, too .. I walked over and took a couple shots from there, too (which would be over to the right of this photograph) ...

It wasn't until I was on my way .. just past the ski jumps .. when I saw the State Police heading in the direction of all the commotion. Hope everyone got all the photos they wanted .. and the moose was able to lumber off with no ill effect.

I was so happy to have come upon the scene when I did .. it was all I could do to keep from walking up to it and giving it a little scratch behind the ears. Instead I have this little photo memory of it .. and that's OK, too.

Newbie Doobie Do ...

2008-11-21T20:36:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to pull a few of these tender gems together since people began asking me about the little three-charm necklace I almost always wear. I made the original back when Thai silver was 50 cents a gram. It's now a whopping 110 cents a gram .. and that's at wholesale pricing! I protested somewhat at the cost (it'd been awhile since I'd purchased Thai silver), considering that the current price for silver was about $4 less than the last time I purchased from these folks almost two years ago. I was unable to confirm the explanation .. something about the Hill Tribe people not getting a break from their Asian silver brokers when the price of silver goes down. Whaddya gonna do?

Anyway .. the little three-charm version on the right of the grouping here is as close as I could come to my original .. I had the other three designs in my Thai drawer from previous purchases. They're all strung on itsy bitsy teeny weeny little pure silver beads .. I mean, put your magnifiers on to string these kinda tiny! And, of course, the charms/pendants are all pure silver as well (well, .996 to .998 - much closer to pure than sterling silver). The only sterling in the whole piece is the little sterling Bali toggle. I tried several other clasps, but this one provided the best overall balance to the piece. Despite their delicate nature, they have a nice heft to them!! Delicate but substantial.

I'm sort of delighted, sort of disappointed to report that this one sold at the first show to which I brought it. I may have to make another one!! I called it Gaia, as it's all pretty much "of the earth"... the two little dotted balls are handmade by me out of metal clay; the two mottled gray and white wheel-shaped beads are granite from a strand of ancient trade beads; the large black item is lava rock; and the red rondelle is coral. I hand wrapped and twisted all those wire segments. I think it was one of the first times I was hesitant to see a piece go. I put a lot of time into this one! A very elegant woman bought it, along with another funky piece, to give to her daughter, who lives in NYC. It was a bit of a consolation to know that it'll be bouncing along on the streets of such a cosmopolitan home.

These are the last three of this design I have left .. they're made of solid sterling using "liquid silver" tubes and intricately handmade Bali beads. They're all about 22" long, but each is comprised of slightly different components. Another really elegant piece with a comforting weightiness. I sold three of them for between $265 and $275 each by just wearing one at a show.

If you're scrolling along on my blog, and not just reading this in an email, you should be able to click on any of the three photos here and see the pieces up close.

Not an awful lot of time left to shop for the holidays, but you can reach me any time between now and a couple days before Christmas if any of these appeal to you (or someone you love (grin). I'm at thewildinside at aol dot com (make sure you put it together in the traditional fashion before clicking the SEND button!).

Embroiled with the Evil Empire

2008-10-10T09:35:00.003-05:00

My sincere apologies for the incredible long absence from my blog (long, even for me!) .. besides being crazy busy over the last several months, I had a long and frustrating battle with Verizon over my dial-up connection. Initially, the problem manifested itself with frequent disconnects .. this as long ago as last winter. The course of additional actions on my part throughout winter and early spring included wiping my hard drive and reinstalling EVERYthing all over again (fearing a recent Trojan detection may have been the culprit in my connection's erratic behavior), deciding to forego reinstalling any software that wasn't necessary or regularly used, and installing a new modem in my laptop. After all the frustration and time & money spent, it turns out none of this was necessary. It wasn't until after the new modem was installed that I finally began thinking about the possibility of my connection, because not only did I continue to have problems, but they were getting worse. Sometime in early July, I couldn't connect at all. I wasted countless hours dragging my laptop to the local library (or using my husband's office computer) for credit card sale processing, online banking, ordering, answering emails, etc. Little jewelry was being produced during this period while I tried to just keep up with administrative activities I was normally able to accomplish first thing every morning in my studio.

My adventure with Verizon began in mid-July with the first of many calls to customer repair. Having worked in the telecommunications industry in Albany, it was quickly evident that I knew more than many of these customer service reps., which only added to my frustration, as none of them were willing to concede to my certainty regarding the situation. The one argument I continued to hear was that "Verizon does not guarantee data, only voice transmission" .. and they assumed that would be that. Sorry .. not the case. I'm a bit of a bulldog in that regard. Especially when my business was at stake. I couldn't continue running into town three to four days a week for online-related work .. my inventory was suffering!!

After about eight or nine calls to customer repair .. during several of which I was certain I was gonna bust a vein .. I had managed to create three repair "tickets". None were successfully completed. What should have happened with the first repair ticket was a complete point-to-point test .. from our home to the nearest Central Office. What actually happened on both the first and second repair tickets totally ignored the line from our house to the ready access terminal on a pole in our yard. I had to speak to a supervisor in order to get a technician to test from the Network Interface Device (NID), or the demarcation point, at our home, where the connection to Verizon actually begins. The line from the NID to the ready access terminal in the yard is called the "drop" .. and by plugging my laptop directly into this line and bypassing the house wiring I was able to determine that the problem was most certainly NOT inside wiring, but the drop! On the third ticket, the technician conceded that something indeed was wrong - but also, as an aside, mentioned it'd be too much trouble to repair because the drop is buried. There it was, in a nutshell. Too much trouble to repair!! Not the kind of thing you mention to a bulldog ... especially one who's telecom savvy.

As this third ticket, like the two before it, was closed (accompanied by an automated message delivered to our home phone that the ticket had been closed "successfully") with no chance of a fix, I gave up. As a rural home owner, I thought our only choice was a dial-up connection, but I found an alternative in a wireless modem through AT&T (I'm sorry now I didn't think to go with a Wi-Fi connection, since my laptop supports it). It plugs directly into a USB port in my laptop, and actually allows me to use the laptop anywhere there's a signal. Very cool uptick! After a 30 day trial period, I decided it'd probably be fine and went with it. It's not as fast as a cable connection, but it IS better than dial-up. So perhaps everything happens for a reason : )

Not the end of the story, however. We only occasionally get calls on our home phone .. we both have cell phones; and most people who know me use my cell number. I would say 85% of the land line's use was dial-up connection. So (thank you Carrie and Darryl for the idea - I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it!!), I called AT&T to see about switching my Verizon mobile phone to AT&T service. And as part of the deal we turned our home number into a mobile phone and added it as a second phone to this account ... and disconnected the Verizon land line entirely. As my old friend and Sprint Long Distance partner in crime, Mark Foss, would say, "my heart soared like an eagle" at the thought!! And there's more ... when we received our "final" invoice from Verizon for the land line, they had tacked on a $91 charge for "inside wiring repair visit". I smiled inside, for I knew this one was a battle I could actually win. My first action was to call Verizon customer repair and explain that this charge was unwarranted under the circumstances .. what I got was "inside is inside, the charge applies". I loved it. Onward and upward to the Public Service Commission's site to lodge a formal complaint. This is the pertinent piece in that complaint:

"It is my understanding that the NID belongs to the public switched telephone network provider (Verizon in this instance) .. and the fact that it is located inside rather than outside our home should not be a reason to charge us for an "inside wire repair visit" in order to perform point to point testing, which should have been done during the first open ticket. Third, inside wiring was not the problem; I had disconnected the inside wiring and tried to dial-up direct through the demarc, and still had no success .. and told them so. Additionally, the tech, during the third open ticket at which time he finally came to test at the NID, agreed that something was definitely wrong from the demarc point out. When I suggested the problem was in the drop, between the NID and the nearest Ready Access Terminal out in our yard (and that this cable is buried), he commented that it would be "too much trouble to replace." "

We received a call from a Verizon higher up located in Syracuse the very next day. Ain't life grand? The fee was waived.

And that should have been it, right? Wrong .. there was still Verizon wireless, from whom I received a "final" mobile invoice earlier this week, with a $170 charge for "Early Termination". Well, folks, long before I decided to switch my wireless service from Verizon to AT&T, I called Verizon wireless about some other long, ongoing error I had only just noticed on my wireless invoices and asked in passing when my contract was up. Turns out it had expired back in April and I'd been running on month to month ever since (I probably would have waited to do the switch, otherwise). So .. not only did I get an immediate $86 credit for the "ongoing error" I'd discovered during that initial phone call, but I also just got the $170 waived when I called this week and suggested I knew better with regard to this charge .. didn't even have to go the PSC for that one!! : )

The cost in lost time has been enormous during these last couple of months, but I feel like I've come out on the winning side against the evil empire! And the additional good news is that the signal strength for ATT's network is significantly stronger out here on the Oswegatchie River than Verizon's ever was .. no more dropped calls! Life IS good.

I'll try to get a new piece or two up within the next week or two .. thanks so much for your patience!

Gold and Sapphires Revisited

2008-06-24T10:55:00.004-05:00

I had purchased a couple new display pieces specifically for photographs, and they just arrived; so I had to give this necklace one more try. They work much better than the black display devices, which seem to suck up all the light and mess up the white balance. I have to admit, the necklace looks a bit better against the white ... but ya still have to get up close to really see this piece. And it's tough to get up close in a shot like this. So .. double click on either pic ... and get up close.

Gold Rain

2008-06-24T10:29:00.003-05:00

Here's another one that really needs to be seen close up .. I haven't done a double strand necklace in a looooong time. Don't know what got into me, but I really like the outcome. It's made with pearls and 14k gold filled tube spacers (called "liquid silver" when done in sterling) and ends in a circular filigree box clasp.I have a tendency to favor bracelets and silver when new ideas hit. So I've been pawing through my gold and gold filled materials lookin' for something to trigger the light bulb phenomenon. I'd forgotten I had those tubes .. and gold and pearls always look great together.I spied some smoky topaz briolettes that I might dangle from some 14k gold (read: not gold-filled) chain next .. warm and elegant comes to mind. Gold is like that. Stay tuned.

Studio on the Weir

2008-06-24T10:13:00.003-05:00

A denizen of the area stopped to chat with me at the Remington Museum on June 14 during the Festival on the St. Lawrence and upon seeing the address on my business card asked where, exactly, I was "out there". We're about five miles south of Ogdensburg and while still close to the "city" (and I use the term loosely), we are most definitely "out there. So I told him we were the big brown place that could be seen from the bridge over the Oswegatchie River. "The big A-frame", asks the denizen? Well .. yes, but no. Not an A-frame, exactly. So I suggested to Denizen to keep an eye on the URL shown on the card and I'd post a couple photographs of the place from the side (from the bridge it does look like an A-frame). The one below was taken last fall .. from the other side of the river. The one above was from last summer .. that's Cara in the lower right .. keeping the river safe from any Amish daring to float their fishing boats close enough to the shore to trigger her territorial sense. My studio is beneath the deck on the left .. that two-pane horizontal window looks right in on my soldering area. I get a great view of the River year 'round .. which is very nice summer or winter. The door is on the other side. On a dry summer day, I'll open it and get a wonderful breeze .. on a hot, hazy, humid day all I get is rust on my tools. Sad, 'cuz I like the fact that fragrance floats deliciously on the air on days like that .. but when I bought that gallon of Evapo-Rust a year or so ago, it wasn't my intention to empty it. Small concession for such a great location though.

Cluster Bangle

2008-06-22T12:54:00.002-05:00

And now for something completely different ... well, sorta. It's still a bangle, which I love doing, but a whole lot different, design-wise.

Once again, it was a lampwork bead that got me started. They're perfect for this application because they tend to have larger holes. I loved the colors in this one and was easily able to find several beads to echo the purple and soft blue green shades .. and there's about 8' of fine-gauge wire keeping all those little beads on. I used amethyst, aquamarine and amazonite and popped on one of my logo charms as a signature. There are a LOT of beads in this .. the piece ended up costing out at about $225, but it's definitely a one-of-a-kind piece!

Another funky entry ..

2008-06-22T11:02:00.002-05:00

This bracelet echos the bracelet posted a few weeks ago called Gold Coast. As it often happens, someone saw the gold version and asked "do you make one in silver"? Story of my life .. if it'd been this version out there, someone would have inquired about a gold one. But they're fun to make, and it pumps up the inventory volume everytime I follow up on a remark like that .. so here we go.

I call it Sweet Summer Folly .. dunno why. It began with that very cool little round lentil lampwork bead and just moved on from there. The hand faceted purple stone is, of course, amethyst and the glowing pea green round bead is resin .. I just love those resin beads. They really do glow!

I made this one with 18 gauge rather than the 16 gauge I used for the gold version .. it's about the same length as the gold bracelet, but just a tad lighter. The "garage springs" and the eye pins running through the coiled beads use half hard wire, which is a whole lot more springy than the dead soft version I normally use .. the half hard wire makes up for having used a smaller gauge. I'm really liking the coiled wire clasp embellishment. It's been fun coming up with new ways to use those wire skills!

Like snowflakes and fingerprints ..

2008-06-22T09:43:00.004-05:00

I got a slow start this spring with the PMC leaves .. I thought the thing to do was to catch 'em as they came out; but it seems leaves (for my purposes, anyway) are just a tad too tender at that stage. The thing that's most important to me besides size and shape is veining. There are a vast array of really interesting looking leaves out there that have absolutely no veining, (at least not protruding veining) and so are useless to me for this purpose. And new spring leaves kinda fall into that category. Just not fully developed enough for the clay. So, I had to wait. And within a very short period of time, the thing that becomes apparent is that a good chunk of your best specimens have been destroyed by critters. Then the hunt begins in earnest! As I found a lot of great samples in August in September last year, I know they're out there. But you do have to search a little harder.

With the exception of the larger birch in the center - which was sent to me via the US postal service on a damp paper towel inside a ziplock baggie as a memento gift from a tree with a sentimental connection to the gift recipient - these leaves all came from the three-acre property where we run Cara leash free. It boasts mostly maples - and in so many varieties I can't even identify the specifics with a good tree book - but has an interesting variety of oak as well. And then there are all the cool little things springing up among the honeysuckle, or popping up right in the middle of an open, grassy area. There's a nice mix and a large enough area to find some attractive little possibilities.

But even with all I have available to me there (not to mention the additional three acres on which our home sets), I now find I'm much more aware of the flora when I find myself in a place where an intriguing variety presents itself. Cara and I accompanied Ed to the Remington Museum Saturday morning while he took care of some minor chores there; and I and found myself looking at the incredible garden at Kid's Place next door with new eyes. All kinds of possibilities .. though with Cara in tow, I didn't have the chance to take a closer look at that time. Perhaps this week when I'm out running errands ..

But, back to the leaves at hand. These were just cut and dried .. nothing else. If you click on the pic, you can see the rough edges. I think I might patinate these, so I may not spend as much time cleaning them up as I normally do. And the slightly darker leaf in the upper left corner is clay .. clay clay, I mean, not metal clay. A local potter gave me a huge hunk of the stuff to play with, and we thought we might collaborate on the leaf thing in a slightly different medium (have I mentioned this before?!?) I also went out and found a LARGE oak leaf and cut out what would end up being a sort of "trinket leaf" rather than something you wear around your neck. A little something to put next to a bathroom or kitchen sink for rings or on your dresser for loose change. But after I'd draped it over a large plastic ball of Cara's to dry .. and got very excited about the possibilities .. I broke off a segment when cleaning it up with a piece of fine sandpaper. I broke off a chunk of that very funky red maple in the lower left corner, too, during the same process ... but I discovered that metal clay repairs much better than clay clay. So .. I have a large hunk of useless dried leaf with nothin' for it but to maybe pulverize it down to powder and make slip with it. Hate to waste it.

I'll make the bails this week .. I have a really cool informal, don't-know-what's-gonna-happen Art Fest at Mare's Wares Pottery on July 1, and I'd like to have them completed by then. If you're actually in the north country and are around on Tuesday, July 1, stop by! She's right on Route 37 in Morristown (you can't possibly miss her big brown sign!!) .. and she's hired a band, a great food vendor, a brand new porta potty (she was very excited that it was not only a new unit, but that it boasts a sink!! .. it's the little things, folks) and there'll be 15 or 20 artisans on board trying to make a living and having a ball in the process. In case you're wondering, it's Canada Day. And we get a lot of Canadian traffic up here on the border with our northern neighbors. Plus, a lot of folks with homes along the St. Lawrence River take that week off for the July 4th holiday and come up early. If the weather cooperates, I think we're gonna have a major event on our hands! Come on up!!

Gold and Sapphires

2008-05-28T08:09:00.003-05:00

While I feel I've definitely improved on the photography front, there are still occasions when I find myself stumped. Recording an image of this stunning piece seems to be one of those occasions. I thought of using the elegant black plastic hand once again, but the piece is so delicate, it just barely shows up as being part of the picture .. at least not without an extreme close-up. The other issue - once again - is sparkle .. or rather lack thereof. It's been a humbling adventure, this photography thing .. I have a lot of respect for those who do it well.

I'll try this one with the hand and see how it goes .. I probably should have just tried it while the tripod and camera were all set up, but I tend to get ... impatient. It's the Type A thing ... or maybe it's just ADD.

Anyway, I tried a couple different things here .. mostly so the piece could be seen in its entirety .. one shot on the clear support above and another on the milky white one below (I really need to get a black background before I can use the black surface successfully, otherwise everything reflects back onto the black surface. If you go back to early shots last year, I did take a few photos with it using natural light from a shop window).

I can't even begin to express my frustration at my inability to show this for the delicate but exquisite piece it is .. especially since it was so long in the making. I had purchased these lovely little 2.5mm faceted sapphire rondelles back in 2003 or 2004, just because I couldn't resist their sparkle - and because I had been slowly adding a strand or two of precious gemstones to my inventory at every wholesale show or two I was attending back then, and these were a great find. However, after purchasing them, I couldn't for the life of me think of a way to use them that would set them off. It would have been unthinkable to just string 'em up on wire and add a clasp .. just too darn boring for such beautiful little stones. So, I broke up these little segments with 14k gold chain .. and if you click on the photo, you can see tiny little 14k gold granulated spacers at either end of the stone segments. The clasp is unusual, too .. it's called a pelican clasp. This one is 18k, but I only just found a place where I can get them in 14k in three sizes (they're hard to find). If you clicked on the photo to enlarge it, you'd also see two tiny little 22k gold stardust beads on the ends of the chain where the clasp is attached.

There's a thread going on my favorite jewelry forum on photography, and one woman eschewed all the expensive lighting, light cubes, light clouds, etc. for natural light out on her deck. She just places the piece on rice or coffee beans to set it off, and actually comes up with some pretty nice photos. I'm afraid this piece would get lost between the grains or beans .. but it has set me to thinking ... stay tuned!

Viking Knit meets Glass Blower

2008-05-27T15:13:00.005-05:00

I've finally found a way to distinquish my fine silver Viking Knit necklaces from the sterling versions .. hand blown glass cones!

I had seen some glass cones in one of the many jewelry magazines that arrive in my mailbox occasionally and got very excited .. until I visited the web site and saw how much they wanted for them. Egads!!! A pair of them were significantly more than a pair of intricate Bali silver cones (more than three times the cost) .. the site offered a 20% wholesale discount, but the cost remained exorbitant.

Still .. even though they were a little roughly hewn, the thought stuck with me.

So I got the bright idea of contacting a local glass blower .. we finally connected in February and clicked immediately. I ended up spending much more time there that afternoon than I had planned - not only picking out some bright spring glass colors once he decided he could and would make them for me, but finding a wealth of little artistic commonalities which ended in his inviting me to come and make use of his studio any time in my enduring quest to learn how to make glass beads and pendants.

I picked up eleven pretty and colorful pairs of them in April and have only just gotten around to attaching them to a fine silver weave I initially brought along with me back in February to show him what the larger end diameter needed to be. I'm really pleased with the end results (so to speak) .. not only are they superior to the versions I'd seen in the magazine, but (while still more than a pair of sterling silver cones) they were also a lot closer to wholesale in price.

Here are the rest of them .. patiently awaiting their own fine silver weave to embellish. I have some ideas for necklaces that use only a partial segment of Viking knit .. the rest being chain or beads. In that way, the cone colors may be used to complement another segment of the necklace .. like rose quartz, lapis, amethest, opal, or any number of other shades. And I'm already thinking about the possibilities of warm, Autumn glass colors and 14k gold-filled wire for
the fall!!

Redux

2008-05-27T14:39:00.005-05:00

This is a repeat of a piece I made about seven or eight years ago .. except this time I made the clasp, too. The piece from which it is derived is just a tad darker with shades of garnet and jet included -but basically they both shimmer in shades of blue and lavender crystals. And, per usual, the picture doesn't do it justice. Even my little "sparkler" light couldn't make the thing pop the way it does live and in person. Trust me .. it sparkles!

What prompted me to make it were the inquiries whenever I wore mine. I had made multiple versions five or six years ago in different shade families (once when I found some 5mm vermeil granulated spacer beads, I even made a stunning version in Autumn shades with a gold-filled clasp), and they all sold very well. But .. well, we move on, don't we. Being the curious Type A, over achieving, anal-retentive, perfectionist that I am, it's difficult not to be lured into learning new skills and processes .. and then working hard at making them my own. And with so many wonderful artisans out there willing to teach them to you, how can you resist?!?!

Though, having said that, returning to a comfy design or skill set is kinda like finding a favorite pair of old jeans at the bottom of your drawer or closet .. you'd forgotten they were even there and how good they feel when worn.

And sometimes when revisiting an old, comfortable skill set, you may find yourself so relaxed in the steps and motions you find your mind is able to let go of the task at hand and feel around at the outer edges .. and it often happens that this is when the lightbulb comes on over your head.

Due to the whole thyroid thing this winter, I was feeling a big "squished" creatively, and so reverted to some old skill sets and designs to allow some relaxed creativity to emerge. As it happens, it seems to have worked! Yay!! This little creative rush I've been experiencing, combined with a recent increase in Synthyroid, has helped tremendously. Having fun again .. ideas are beginning to flow .. now I just gotta keep up with 'em!

This bracelet, called Pizzazz, is another old friend. A gallery owner in Lowville (one of my Adirondack Artisans Guild homies) had requested a couple of these when she saw one I had left in inventory. I made a couple for my display there, then dug through my Bali bead collection and made a couple more. The intricacy of these beads never fails to astound me .. and they make for a really unusual piece.

If you're reading this on my blog rather than in an email "post update", click on the pic and check 'em out up close .. all those little dots and wires are added one at a time. The process of adding all those little dots is called granulation, and I've tried it .. it ain't easy. One .. dot .. at .. a .. time!! I'd have to shoot myself after a few hours of doing that .. and the silver artisans in Bali, Turkey and Thailand who do this kind of work do it all day, every day. Well .. practice really does make perfect! With silver at inflated levels, these aren't the cheap thrill they once were, so I haven't yet tried a necklace .. though it's been in the back of my mind, so watch out.

Redux Deja Vu

2008-05-26T13:10:00.010-05:00

I first fell in love with glass beads when I saw pounds of colorful David Christiansen cane glass at a wholesale bead show years ago. From there it progressed to ancient glass trade beads to more recent handcrafted lampwork glass beads and pendants made by artisans with skills I cannot even begin to comprehend. The cane glass craze came and went .. though I still have several pounds left over from major wholesale purchases. Occasionally I'll use them to make a piece for a friend, or a friend's daughter, or to donate to some local cause; but I'd all but forgotten about them until I came across them by accident while looking for something or other in the shop (sometimes a frustrating hunt turns into a delight of lost treasures). Almost all of the past designs I created with them included sterling beads and clasps; but when I found the black cylindrical cane glass beads above laced with dichroic gold, they screamed for a black and gold version. I could only find six of them, so I used two for matching earrings. The round, faceted beads are onyx (though the smaller black beads on either side of the cane beads nearest the clasp are tourmaline); the two donut-shaped items are simple dichroic lampwork glass with a clear casing; the crystals are Dorado (a pretty taupe with a gold coating); gold-filled and vermeil beads make up the balance. I call it Caravan ... as in Middle Ages, Crusades, gold, incense, Damascus swords, assassins, camels, tents and precious jewels. Evocative.

I originally made this as a three-piece set in sterling .. the necklace included a lot more soft and subtle colors (gray pearl, rose quartz, blue quartz and more creamy pearls), there were two or three different matching bracelets and about four or five different earrings. I sold the last several pieces to a jewelry store up here last November and just decided to try it in gold. The granulated star spacers are vermeil (which is 24K gold over sterling .. at least these are), the wire and jump rings are 14K gold-filled as is the clasp. These are fun to make and .. as I'd made a few wrist-wrenching wire wrapped designs lately .. they also give my wrists a break

I seem to have a gold theme going on here .. so let's continue. The bracelet below was also originally a sterling design called Sparkle. I made them in Tahitian, light green, bronze, chocolate and peach (with matching tones of Swarovski pearls and crystals).

THIS version came about because my husband and I were both going to be gone on May 10 - he was actually away from the 8th through the 11th on a Museum-related trip, and I was doing an Artisan Home Studio Tour (as a guest) with my Adirondack Artisans Guild about 90 minutes south of here. As a result, the dog was going to be alone for about 15 hours - the longest she'd ever been without us before. Fortunately, we have some friends who adore her, and she them .. so they picked her up that morning at 5 AM and I left at 6 AM .. not to see her again until they dropped her very happy self off again at 8 PM that evening. It was a long day .. for both of us. She'd already been missing my husband for two days; and our friends said she just shook and shivered for the first several hours they had her .. poor girl. But she had her favorite fleece bed, some toys, a few treats and a large marrow bone (i.e. all day sucker) .. which helped. The next day (May 11) I made this bracelet as a thank you for the Mrs. and some Chocolate Raspberry Nut bars for the Mr. and delivered them both on Monday. She loved the bracelet, and I was so taken by how good it had turned out, I made a second one that afternoon, and then a third with bronze pearls in place of the cream rose pearls used in the first and second versions. The first name that came to mind was Opulence.

By the way, I was at a little artisan gathering just outside of Canton on the 17th along with seven other women, two of whom had brought along their own glass bead making paraphernalia so that the rest of us could learn how to make them. We all brought food and spent the day firing up some little MAPP gas tanks and suspending colorful glass rods in front of the flames, rolling, tamping, adding color, and basically having a helluva time.

But the reason I bring up the day is because I met a young woman there who teaches ... elementary math practices (or something like that) at SUNY Potsdam .. but who also makes and sells jewelry on the side. She's totally lost in the magic that is Swarovski and her mention of it triggered a Swarovski conversation in which one of the two women who brought some of her glass making goodies along for the day mentioned to us how she first learned the proper pronunciation of Swarovski. I have to say, I've never had a problem with it, but I've encountered plenty of people who just stumble over their tongues trying to get it out; so I was delighted with this little anecdote I could pass on .. which came from a Swarovski dealer/shop this woman came upon in her travels .. when pronounced correctly, it sounds like "Swore off Ski". Sparklin' crystal snow, ski .. Swarovski! Great little mnemonic device, don't cha think? I can't wait for the first opportunity to pass it on!! Can't help it, sometimes it's the silly little things that tickle me.

A tangled web

2008-04-13T12:06:00.003-05:00

If anyone has actually popped out here regularly, you will have noticed the little blue "Welcome" note off to the right .. slowly evolving as I began and then became embroiled in the process of developing a website. I actually started in earnest last year around this time by talking to the graphic designer who helped me design my logo, stationery, note cards, etc. For the purpose of design consistency, it made sense that she'd be the best choice to incorporate into my web the same look used for my business cards and other printed materials. I was right .. she did a great job. With only a few changes, this is the look my home page will have.

The next part is where it gets kinda tricky. The design segment was emailed to the folks who will be doing all the coding to make it work .. a couple months ago (though I've already been using since August the credit card merchant that will be incorporated into my online shopping cart). Haven't heard a peep outta them since the graphic designer alerted me that she'd sent it. 'Course, I could step up and give 'em a shout, which I may do soon, but then that means I'm on the radar. A good thing, until I have to come up with the funds for the work to begin .. and there's the rub. So I'm taking it slow and biding my time .. hoping the state of the economy doesn't preclude good attendance at shows this season or from people reaching deep down into their wallets for the more time-consuming, high-end pieces.

And then there are those things for which I will be held responsible, and without which the web will be unable to go live .. little things like photographs and text. No small feat. So .. I've once again changed the blue text over on the right to reflect my personal reality. There is little chance I'll be able to (1) decide which pieces get to go up (2) photograph them all if I haven't already (3) create the descriptions and all the extra boxes if alternatives within a piece are available (4) create the text for the About Me, Customer Service, and other necessary pages just off the cuff - even if the completed web were presented to me tomorrow. For your typical Type A personality, this stuff takes time! It needs to percolate. I should be working on it now, but then who would make all the jewelry?!? It's times like this that some really cool Star Trek type cloning machine would come in handy. I've mentioned this need before, haven't I?

Alas, there is no such machine and only so many hours in the day. I know from watching the process when my husband went through it for the new Frederic Remington Art Museum web site over a year and a half ago .. there's a lotta back n forth communication - is this right, can we do it this way instead, please change this and, oh, is it possible to ...... etc, etc, etc. And since it's your livelihood, you want it to be right. I'm thinkin' the time for all that has passed this year, and it won't come around again until after the show season has ended around Christmas time. I'm hoping my thyroid hormone levels will have been under control for a while by then and I won't feel an overwhelming need to sleep the winter months away as I did this winter. Funny how a single little body part can have such a stunning affect on one's life .. then again, I guess there are other more troublesome body parts than one's thyroid. And I guess that's 'nuff said!

Catchin' Up, Part II

2008-04-11T13:03:00.008-05:00

These are two remaining leaves of the four I posted November 24 before I'd fired them .. I'll almost be sorry to sell them (almost) as I've been wearing them all winter. But soon (very soon, I hope!!) it'll be time to harvest some new leaves!! My friend Mary Ann Evans and I are going to collaborate on some ceramic leaves this year, too (at least that's the plan). Mare is a potter, and I'd point you to her website if she had one, but she's too busy makin' stuff to bother; and as she's got an awesome studio/living quarters right on the highway up here, she's got maximum visibility, so is probably doin' just fine without one. She'll supply the clay, I'll make the leaves, she'll apply glaze(s) and fire them, I'll finish them with leather cord or rattail .. or sterling. Who knows. Sometimes you just have to wait to see where the piece leads ya. Can't wait!

This was made by request for a customer who had originally provided her own beads from a bracelet that had belonged to her mother. She'd seen one of my herringbone weave bracelets and wondered if I could make one with her beads .. she thought they were lapis. Turns out they were a pretty cool glass imitation. So I gave her a couple choices, as her beads were only about 7mm or 7.5mm - kinda small for this weave: I could make a very delicate version with her beads - there were 15 of them, so plenty for the task, or I could find some lapis in an 8mm bead and make the bracelet out of those. She chose the latter, and I found some "denim lapis" (a lighter version) and whipped it up in time to deliver it to her at a March 29 pearl knotting class of mine she was attending. Though there was some sentimental value to her beads, she really just wanted something to wear with blue jeans .. and she's still got the beads if she decides to do something else with them.

This is another version of "Pearls with Attitude", which have become very popular. All the charm, charisma and class of pearls ... with a little Ooooomph! (And you can always wear the clasp in the back if you want). These were freshly knotted just before I took the photo, which explains why they're a little hinky on the left side. I don't use a jig for those clasps, so every one is a little different. This one is attached to a strand of Oceanic Blue Pearls .. if you're reading this on the blog and not in an email, you can click the pic to see them up close. They're a gorgeous color .. and I think this is the last strand of them I have (I'd buy another dozen if they were still available).

This little gem is yet another type of bangle, this one uses Swarovski cream rose pearls for an incredibly elegant look! I was amazed when it was completed. I immediately went hunting for other beads that size to see if I could make one with stones ... it took about 120 of the little buggers, so it would tend to be a bit more pricey if made with peridot, smokey quartz, turquoise or some other spectacularly colored bead. But I may have to try one or two, just to see. In the interim, I may make another one with pearls .. this one fits me perfectly, which means it won't fit about half the population of jewelry buyers. It looks so good on gold, I may even do gold again!

I'm still waiting for the return of my The Wild Inside stamp, which I sent back to the company who made it for a replacement. For some reason the bottoms of the letters T H and E were deteriorating, and the W in Wild was beginning to disappear as well, so that all my tags were starting to look like I wasn't hitting the stamp hard enough to make an impression. They couldn't figure it out, so I've got a new one on its way. I've got a pile of new stuff waiting for jewelry tags, including this piece.

We interrupt this program ..

2008-04-11T12:49:00.003-05:00

Yes, I have a few more jewelry images to post, but I wanted to point you to a relatively new site .. not a whole lot going on there, but the concept is one dear to my heart:

Click on the "Why Buy Handmade" link on the right of their home page for more information and a ton of great links.

OK, I'm done here.

Catchin' Up

2008-04-11T11:32:00.008-05:00

It's been awhile, I know. Sorry for the extraordinary gap, but between thyroidal madness and some bugs that snuck into my laptop, it's been difficult to get out here. Got a few new posts for you though, so here we go ..

First and foremost, I must tell you that at the end of February, the woman for whom I'd repaired a bracelet (see The Dark Side of a Sole-Proprietorship) came through with a check! On one hand ya could've blown me over with a whisper when it arrived, I was so surprised; on the other hand, it confirmed my belief that she just finally got around to sittin' down, writing the check and dropping it in the mail. It made me feel a whole lot better .. especially since I've had a couple of additional opportunities since then to send a package prior to receiving payment for it. I'm still inclined to believe Bruce Baker may be right to trust in people that way.

OK .. new jewelry .. sorta. This is a turquoise version of the olive caged and coiled bracelet I included here a few posts down. They're real eye-catchers. I still plan on making some additional colors, but it's creatively refreshing to break away to something else ... in between.

And here's a little bit of the "in between" .. three more fibulas. I apologize for the slightly out of focus images, but I took about 15 shots of each of the three and still couldn't get a clear, crisp photograph. I think I may have just been away from the camera a bit too long!

This one, which I call Gold Coast (the name just bubbled up from inside my cranium .. no idea where it came from), is downright opulent!! I got a little wild with the clasp this time and added that fancy wire wrap to spice it up a bit. The lentil and donut shaped beads are handmade lampwork glass, the pale brown nugget is smokey quartz. I call those three large connectors "garage door springs" . This picture doesn't give you a straight on perspective so you can see the "spring" aspect, but trust me, they look just like industrial springs. And they're pretty darn sturdy. I've previously used them as a base for bulky (i.e. heavy) charm bracelets, where they can't really be seen very well because they're smothered in beads. This is the first time I've used 'em right out there in the open. This version is a little bit too big for me and would probably fit a 6.25" to 6.75" wrist. I'm thinking of doing another with a lighter gauge wire. Oh, and there are earrings to match the lentil bead (which is about 15mm round) .. they're very light weight.

I've got more, but as my internet connection is dial-up, I'm sensitive to others in the same situation .. and for those who have subscribed to receive new posts via email, I know how long it takes for all those images to load. So I'll include the rest in another post.

A Winter's Tale

2008-02-14T16:19:00.009-05:00

With the days getting just a tad longer - interior lights aren't needed now until almost 5:45 pm - my mojo seems to be slowly returning. I had little energy or motivation to do much of anything in January .. oh, except shovel snow, of which there has been much! We had another north country dump earlier in the week; and for one of the first years in memory, we have some serious snow banks. Romping with the dog in her usual three-acre "dog park" is an adventure in deep snow .. we both get twice the workout slogging through it. I'm still debating whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

One definite good thing about the return of the light is the corresponding return of my need to create .. and I've been spending time in the studio again. I actually had full-spectrum lights installed back when we were making the decision about such things; but they were my choice for their ability to reveal true colors rather than for anything having to do with counteracting Seasonal Affective Disorder. And I'm not sure they really have much affect on that malady, anyway. Though I will admit, the longer I'm down there working, the more I want to stay!

I had been looking for some time for the beads I used in this bracelet .. and back in November found and purchased multiple strands in multiple colors. It was orange for which I had been searching, but snagged olive, emerald, purple, turquoise, peacock and a soft, subtle washed out gray. They remind me a bit of crysophrase or chalcedony. Though not nearly the same value as those beautiful stones, the beads nonetheless seem to be illuminated from within. Real eyecatching.

When I was first learning how to create this piece, I used lava rocks - black, pitted and full of personality - and called it Ancient Civilizations. It was a substantial piece. This time I scaled it down and softened the effect .. I used a lighter gauge wire for the caged beads and as the core in the coiled wire beads. It's much lighter, both in appearance and weight, as a result. I've learned to take notes when doing this sort of piece, so when I want to repeat the design, I don't have to try to remember what length I cut various pieces to make it all work with as little waste as possible. This made it so much easier to begin this time .. I just had to find my notes!

The Dark Side of a Sole-Proprietorship

2008-02-05T15:13:00.000-05:00

It was an interesting year, 2007. No doubt you all have your own highlights .. events or even small incidences that come to mind immediately for the joy or pain or surprise and delight they caused. While I had many positive memories in 2007, one thing that I and many of my artisan friends recognized was an overall slow down during the year .. smaller crowds at shows, more frugal buying habits .. things that alert us, without a doubt, to an economic downturn.

Perhaps it was because of this economic decline that I had a couple of unique experiences that highlight 2007 for me with a big red flag. I had my first ever theft at a show. It just boggled my mind at the time .. it still does. I saw the movement of the hand into a shopping bag. Due to things immediately preceding this action, I knew without a doubt what had just happened; but I didn't actually see the earrings plucked from the rack and popped into the bag - I only saw the tail end of the movement. It was only after the customer (and I use the term loosely) left my booth that I was able to confirm my suspicion. The earrings were gone. I was absolutely certain that this person had snagged them, but much like with the O.J. jury, there was reasonable doubt. I couldn't approach her for fear of embarrassing us both. And I had never encountered such a thing before, so I was frozen with indecision. I was a mess for the rest of the show, fearful that another similar incident might occur at any moment. This feeling was worse than the actual loss of a trifle.

Another relatively unpleasant situation involved having to become "collector" for monies owed. Again, a brand spankin' new ordeal for me. Anyone who has ever been owed money knows how uncomfortable it is to have to request payment for some object, service rendered, loan or whatever .. one would hope that a sense of obligation to pay would be enough. But when it isn't, what do you do??? Well, the "big league" sends out Over Due notices once, twice, maybe a final third time ... and with continued lack of response, it gets turned over to a credit agency, and they get to do the dirty work. Not being anywhere near the big league, my first choice was to print out the original invoices and include a little printed note at the bottom: "Did you forget ..... to remember?", along with a friendly little piece of clip art. I'm not into high pressure. Besides, people forget. I forget. Been there, done that. I didn't want to be nasty, I just wanted to be paid.

When that didn't elicit a response from either of the two parties to whom these reminders went, my second choice was a phone call. One of the two reminders went to one of my larger wholesale customers for a good chunk of jewelry they purchased in early December for the holiday season. It took two phone calls and a couple of days to elicit payment. This was the big one .. this was the check I needed to be able to order supplies not only for three pearl knotting classes I'm teaching this year but also for supplies necessary to re-create some popular designs that several other of my wholesale accounts have been requesting. It was an incredible relief when the check arrived. I fear many of these folks fail to understand that THIS is what I do .. if I'm not selling jewelry, I don't make money. I don't have a full time job on the side. There is no paycheck waiting for me at the end of the week. That invoice IS my paycheck. This is my job ... sell, sell, sell. That's the only way my business account goes from red to black.

And this brings me to defaulter number two - no less distressing for being a vastly smaller amount. A customer (again used loosely) by virtue of owning a bracelet of mine given to her as a gift. As it happens, the bracelet was purchased from one of my other wholesale customers in Clayton, NY. I can't remember how she got my business number, but she called and related a tale of woe - the bracelet had sentimental value as it was given to her by her sister. Plus, she just loved the bracelet. I don't normally do repairs, but I'll always take in one of my own .. and I have done restringing contract work for local jewelry stores. She said she wasn't sure if there were missing pieces, but when she described the bracelet, I knew exactly which it was (a special edition bracelet called "1000 Islands Sunset" made exclusively for this wholesale customer), and was certain I could replace anything that was missing .. so I told her to send it me. She even relayed this piece of information to me via email, which strengthens the sentimental value of her sister having seen the name of the piece and buying it for her:

"Thanks for all the info. My older sister .... came across the bracelet. My grandparents have had a cottage ... on Wellesley Island since the 1950's. The story goes you can spend all weekend in the islands but there are no sunsets until Sunday when the majority of people go home for the work week. So after a few years my family decided to make our plans to stay over for Monday morning so we can watch the sunsets. ... I really do appreciate getting it done so fast. Thank you. I have passed on your website to a few .. here ... and will definitely keep you in mind. Have a Wonderful Holiday! Thanks again, [customer]"

And I DID turn it around fast. In the midst of holiday craziness, both with my business and at the museum with my husband, I set out in order and cleaned every single piece of glass, crystal and sterling silver on the piece, restrung it, and sent it back within a day or two. I replaced a headpin (as well as a couple pieces I neglected to add on the invoice) .. and, my bad, I added one of my "the wild inside" jewelry tags at no charge, but neglected to put it on a separate line with n/c .. so perhaps that annoyed her, I don't know. But I did call her with the intention of finding out if there was something about the returned bracelet or my invoice that displeased her (the total invoice was for less than $20 .. I even charged her my wholesale price for restringing the bracelet!). That was my feeling .. I must have done something wrong, else, why would she withhold payment .. especially after I alerted her the day I sent it out and got this reply:

"Thanks so much for getting the bracelet completed so quickly. I will put a check in the mail for you today. I love the bracelet. It is a sentimental gift from my sister. I used to wear it everyday but I think now I will wear it to work. Any suggestions for cleaning it without harming the wire? Thanks again, [customer]"

But the fourth nasty truth hit me right smack in the ears when I called her .. she said she'd mailed the check two days ago. Yep, the check was in the mail, folks. Despite what turned out to be an ... untruth .. I still wasn't prepared to believe it and waited a couple more days before reality finally struck, thinking that perhaps she'd quickly mail a check out the day I called. Nada, zip, nyet. I would have been fine with a complaint about the misunderstanding regarding the addition of the jewelry tag, perhaps the newly strung piece was now a bit too tight ... whatever. Tell me the truth, and I'll fix the problem. Bruce Baker, a hero to those of us who need a little help out there in craft show land, tells us to trust our customers ... he assures us that to do little things like sending out their purchase before it's been paid for creates trust in you, sends a little arrow of warmth to the customer that strengthens the relationship. I guess I need to drop a note to Bruce and ask, "OK, what now???"

So, dear readers .. I am more disappointed than you can imagine. I thought of calling her again this weekend; but that would have been an uncomfortable confrontation for us both. But, of course, I will be forever hesitant to trust an unfamiliar customer again because of this. As a small, sole-proprietor type business, I'm angry, hurt, amazed and resigned all at once. I know I should just shrug it off, but "anxiety R us" .. I just can't help letting it hang there.

Even after all this, a little spot in the back of my brain still insists it's an oversight .. that this woman's life is so jam packed there's just no time for the task of writing a check, addressing an envelope, putting a stamp on it and dropping it in a mailbox.

If any one has any ideas or suggestions, for this or future similar situations, I'm all ears.

Last of the season's leaves

2007-11-24T09:21:00.000-05:00

I sold the last of my finished fine silver leaves in Lake Placid on the 18th; and until spring when new leaves burst out for me to collect and use, the four shown here are all I have left. I had rolled and cut these some time ago, but have found that they clean up so much better if they're left to dry natually .. the longer the better. Any moisture left when you put them in the kiln, and bad things happen.

Shortly after taking this photo, I added bails to all four and they're currently drying. I'll be able to clean them up some time this week. (I'm sorry I didn't put a half dollar in the middle so you could see the size comparison. I'll have to remember that next spring).

I've found it easier to add the bails later rather than trying to work them into the design when cutting out the leaf. They just end up looking so much better. And it's easier to clean up and "polish" the dry clay without the bail being in the way (I've broken one or two bails this way, one of the reasons why I switched). I've toyed with the idea of creating the bails, letting them dry separately, and then adding them later. But I've been making the leaves with Standard (or original) PMC, and I haven't been able to find paste (or in clay terms, slip) in this version of PMC, so I have to make my own PMC Standard paste. And the few times I added water to the PMC powder that results after sanding, I ended up with a moldy mess when I went back to use it. Not good. Scary, in fact. So now I still collect the powder, as the stuff's too expensive to waste; but I keep it dry in its own container, and create paste as I go by just dipping a wet brush into the powder. Takes a lot of wet brush dippin' to create the kind of paste blob one occasionally needs to "glue" one really dried piece to another. So .. while at least the bails are still moist and willing to stick to stuff, I form them with greased up little straws, attach them, muck around with their placement, and hope I've been able to create enough of a sticky mess at their connection points to meld in the kiln (the PMC version of soldering!). I haven't been disappointed yet. Mostly 'cuz I'm a bit of a stickler for overkill. Not a bad thing in cases like this.

Anyway, I was really pleased with these four .. I think they're the best I've done all season. Can't wait till they come out of the kiln!! The one on the far left is my absolute favorite local leaf with which to work. It sticks nicely to the clay while still being easy to remove when I'm done with it. It has a lovely shape, great veining and they're the perfect size for working with both Standard (which shrinks 25-30%) and PMC+ and PMC3 (both of which shrink about 10-12%). I can't tell you what it is - I've tried to find out, but can't find it in any of our collection of books on trees and local flora. It comes from a grapeleaf like vine and is found at the base of several of the maple, oak and apple trees on our property as well as in among the honeysuckle the birds have "planted". If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to know! The next one is a birch and the third and fourth examples are a red maple and a white maple (one of which is already spoken for, just don't know which one yet).

OK .. I'm off to run errands. One of which is to stop at the local Agway and see if they have any house plants from which I can raid leaves over the winter! I haven't really thought about house plants as a source, but there just may be one out there with the perfect PMC leaf! I'll keep ya posted.

Rubber stamps .. not just for scrapbooking!

2007-11-23T07:02:00.001-05:00

In between all those shows, I do occasionally have time to create something new. This piece came out of the discovery of a local rubber stamp dealer at a show I did at Clarkson University's Cheel Arena back in October. I purchased several from her over a couple visits to her booth (from among a collection SO much more interesting than what's available at Michael's or the local JoAnn's!!), but this particular one was the only stamp that barked at me for immediate use. I really liked the long twining vine theme. I initially thought I might attach the precious metal clay piece that resulted to a strip of leather, as I've been toying with the idea of creating some sort of leather design with a sterling clasp - but for some reason I decided on something more delicate. The pearls are faceted, dyed teal and are hand knotted. Aren't they a great color!?!? I call the piece "A Secret Garden". The silver piece is a 1/4 ounce of .999 silver, yet it's still a dainty, elegant bracelet.

The Show Circuit

2007-11-22T14:55:00.000-05:00

It won't be long now before the 2007 Show season will be over .... whew! I'm not even out there every single weekend like many of my artisan friends, but I'm still tired! And longing for January when I can dive back into some new designs, play around with some cool new PMC tools I've been collecting and try out some of the tutorials and lessons I've purchased over the last year (as a reward here and there when I did well at a show!)

The photo above was taken in early November at Jefferson Community College in Watertown. It was one of the last times I used the black velvet table covers. It's a nice look; but I had originally purchased several different sizes of velvet to fit over a variety of display cases at the show that followed this one - and they weren't meant to be long term (though I've been using them now for two years). They're wide open in the back, which leaves all my boxes, tubs, bags, lunch and stuff visible whenever my booth doesn't have a good backing ... like another vendor's stuff or the back panel of a pop up canopy.

This was taken at the next show, the Jefferson County Historical Society, also in Watertown. I was the featured artist here in 2005 and have tried it a couple more times with good results - thanks to several great fans from the area! These are three women from my Artisans Guild - all four of us were at the JCHS Holiday Victorian Faire on the 9th and 10th. From left to right, Carrie Sweredoski , who makes awesome handmade soaps, lotions and potions using real essential oils - no fake 'r phony scents here. She and her husband are off to California Dec 15 and won't be back til Spring. Color me green; Moi, in the navy jacket; Mary Ellen Tyner in front of whose decoupage plate booth we are standing. She's an FIT graduate and can actually make a wedding gown from scratch - this skill amazes me - AND while a student there, she's the one who designed the famous Isotoner glove!! No recognition for that whatsoever .. life is most definitely not fair; Susan Lyth makes beeswax candles .. the kind of candle EVERYone should be burning in their homes instead of those high-pollutin' wax and so called "soy" (not 100% soy, but soy and paraffin blends that are sold as soy candles) .. or those especially nasty, artificially scented things you find in the grocery stores and gift shops .. yes, ladies, I include Yankee Candles in this category.

It was fun being all together at the same show .. that doesn't happen very often. Though several of our group will be at Lisa Nortz's Open House at the Fire Hall in Croghan on the 24th - if you happen to be in the area, stop in! Lisa does silver jewelry, Marcia Walligory makes gorgeous baskets (including sturdy pack baskets), Lis Barsuglia-Madsen is a weaver and makes all those warm winter things you like to have this time of year, as well as very cool woven handbags, table runners, placemats, etc., Susan will be there with her candles, I think Sharon Stewart will have her herbal blends, teas and animal treats, and Lisa's husband will be displaying his wooden lazy susans and cutting boards. Worth stopping in if you're the type who likes handcrafted things. We're a pretty cool bunch, even if I do say so myself.

These shots are from a show on the 18th at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake. It was the first time I used my new table covers!! A very good friend of mine made them for me from material I found on sale at JoAnn's in a color that matches the blue on my business cards and stationery (I can do buttons and hems, that's the extent of my sewing ability) . . and I had a graphic art company in Watertown put the logo on the front of one of them. It was supposed to be only six inches from the top .. I'm not sure what happened, but it still beats hauling that little wooden sign around with me, and I love the way it turned out regardless! Oh, and the covers all have back flaps that velcro shut .. so I've got a ton of privacy for all my show "stuff" now! I just love progress!

An "Oooops" is saved

2007-10-08T12:23:00.000-05:00

I had to come up with a piece for the St. Lawrence NYSARC Art Benefit recently and, as the deadline was fast approaching, decided on pearls. I've still got several strands of these "marine teak" pearls, and they're perfect for this time of year; I just needed to knot a strand and pop a clasp on it. As it happened, I had this little piece of 16 gauge squiggle left over from a fibula pin I had inadvertently destroyed with a misplaced snip (see "The Same .. Yet Different" post), and it was the perfect size for the pearls. After finishing the necklace, I thought I might throw in some earrings to go with it and found myself struggling over making a pair spare and simple or a bit more funky. So I did both. The simple pair is just a pearl on gold-filled leverbacks; the funky ones echo the clasp. I liked THEM so much, I may have to pound out a few more!! One thing often does lead to another ...

One Thing Leads to Another ...

2007-10-08T10:40:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting folks, but in between custom orders, pounding out new things for shows and coming up with those "single piece show stoppers" for auction donations (oh, and cleaning, eating, sleeping and walking the dog), I have been a bit busy. Already looking forward to January .. I'm a lot more together than I was last year at this time. Got some interesting roads to follow, and am chompin' at the bit to get to it. But .. gotta get through these next three months first.

OK, so here we go with the purpose of THIS post! These pieces go with the Athena necklace I made for my husband's friend back in Albany. She couldn't decide on the earrings, so I sent 'em both .. still waiting to hear back. And the bracelet is what I came up with after wasting several days agonizing over it with false starts.

It was such a bear to create .. very tricky around those little loops that capture the jump rings from which the beads dangle .. that I was afraid I was going to aggravate my finally recovering wrist inflammation.

But I was so very pleased with the way it turned out, I promptly set out to create one with a different color scheme in sterling. And, of course, practice makes perfect - so I then felt inclined to warm it up a bit and do that same Autumn color combo I'd just completed in silver in 14k gold-filled wire .. and THAT version is what I've posted here. I just love it! I'm now thinkin' about doing an Athena necklace to go with it. Right now I'm working on a few pair of earrings in both the sterling and gold-filled versions to match the bracelets .. one thing at a time is all I can handle until I grow a couple more hands.

I've been thinking about a sterling version in cool aquamarine and soft green shades with cream colored pearls. A bit more "Spring" to be sure, but who cares; it's the color combos that are fun to work with. And there are SO many wonderful color combos I can imagine! It's incredibly energizing when the cogs are well greased and turning smoothly and the whole mechanism just hums!

Fit for a Goddess

2007-09-20T06:36:00.001-05:00

Despite the fact that I spent a LOT of time trying to get this one right (including special ordering that suede display device because the necklace just wouldn't photograph well against black), I must begin this post by telling you that more so than many of the photos I've taken recently, this one truly does not do this piece justice. It's warm, sparkly, elegant and delicate, all rolled into one (if you're reading this on the blog, click the pic for a closer look)! OK, that done, here's how it came to be.

The necklace is part of an order for a friend of my husband's in Albany - her son is getting married in October and she wanted two three-piece sets; one for the rehearsal dinner, one for the wedding. We actually got together back in May when I was in Albany for a show and she brought along the dress she'll be wearing for the wedding, which this necklace is meant to match. She'd emailed me with a general description of the colors included in both dresses, so I brought along a gallon-sized zip lock bag full of possible gem and pearl matches. The mauve pearls and the faceted smoky quartz beads were the two we matched to her wedding outfit. I filled in the spaces with other beads that I'd been tossing into a small basket when I came across them (and the little lightbulb came on for a good match). I've already got one set of earrings done and have an idea for another design I may try today (it's good to have choices!). My brain's been stewin' over the bracelet .. I could just do more of the same; but I'm inclined to make it match with a slightly different design. We'll see .. often times if I move on to something else, the right idea will fall into place simply because I've relaxed my brain about it. And there's still the second three-piece set to begin. This one in sterling. I'll keep ya posted (get it, POSTed?!?).

Anyway, this one's called Athena ... Greek goddess of wisdom, the arts, industry, justice and skill. Geeeez .... I hope she likes it!

Poetry & Rubies

2007-09-04T14:35:00.001-05:00

I think I'm finally getting the hang of creating clear and crisp images for upload! Though I took about 15 to 20 images each of the two pics included here .. the necklace and earrings with multiple display devices (the one below was definitely the best) .. so there would have been some tantrum throwin' had I not gotten at least a couple good shots out of a morning's worth of photography!

Anyway, as promised, here are a few (what's left) of the finished 'Poetry Pendants" I fired. I made five of the "expletive deleted" and sold four of them at the Clayton show the last weekend in August. I kind of thought that might be a popular one, so I made a few more over the weekend. I also sold the elongated maple leaf with the crack in the center (shown in a pre-kiln state in "PMC Impressions"). I was wearing it at the time. I love when that happens.

Since I had some new and some completed PMC pieces, I thought you might like to see a PMC progression .. so the photo below includes two freshly cut pendants (top) that still need some drying time before I can begin to clean them up (I collected some white and red oak leaves over the long weekend and hope to cut several of those to add to the collection of items to be cleaned up and sanded over the next week or two. I also intend to make several more of the poetry pendants to dry, as well).

Directly below the freshly cut "wild" pictured upper left is a "wild" that's been dried, cleaned up, sanded, and had a fine-silver cylindrical bail added. If I did it right, when fired the pendant should shrink down with a little space still left on either side of the bail. We shall see. The three fine silver pieces are what they shrink down to once they're fired. I hung them all from sterling chains cuz it was quick for show purposes .. but now I kinda like the look .. the "all silver" thing.

I went out searching for some additional "word" stamps over the weekend and found a wonderful site with not only some great additional single-word stamps to add to the collection, but a couple sheets of short sayings. Won't know if they'll work as well as these until I get them; but I'm hoping even if they're smaller, I can figure something out. Discovered several additional websites with unusual art stamps, too ... bookmarked for later exploration. New ideas are already percolating.

I felt compelled to add the necklace below because I sold it at the Clayton show and still have it only because its new owner wanted it shortened. Before taking it apart, it was 19" of slightly graduated, faceted rubies with an 18k gold clasp, delicate little 18k gold spacers and 24k gold coated Swarovski crystals. A purty piece, to say the least. Since shortening it required removing beads, I suggested to my customer that I make earrings out of the extra beads. As it happened, there were 32 total beads removed from either side of the clasp ... and it seems I got a little carried away with these freebies. If you're gazing at this on my blog and not via a new post notification email, you can click on the pic and see it up close. The earrings look like little bunches of red grapes! And since the bead holes were SO incredibly small, I had to dig through my supplies to find 26 gauge gold-filled headpins (whew! glad I had 'em!). I'm glad I didn't offer to do them in 18k!! As it was, even taking into consideration the fact that the rubies were already paid for, just the gold filled materials alone would have amounted to about $38 retail (16 little connections on each earring tends to add up). If you added in the cost of the rubies, the retail value goes to $78. I'd say she got a discount on the price of the necklace, all tolled! By the way, I have another strand of these rubies (grin).

The necklace is called Rubaiyat, which just seemed appropriate to me not only for the "ruby" aspect, but for the romance, and the Persian derivation (full of gold) and for one of the many translations I stumbled upon by Edward Heron-Allen, made in the late 19th century:

I desire a little ruby wine and a book of verses,
Just enough to keep me alive, and half a loaf is needful;
And then, that I and thou should sit in a desolate place
Is better than the kingdom of a sultan.

... from whence comes "a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou ..." (an entirely different translation, but with such an ancient language, translations are bound to be diverse!)

A little romance, a little decadence .. it fit. I may have to make another one.

The Same .. yet Different

2007-08-18T08:55:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine who'd been out here catching up on old blog entries saw the Fibula post I made a while back and sent me a link to a couple pieces from the website of the Smithsonian American Art Museum: Ramona Solberg . Hmmmm, says I .. that's kinda cool! And my first thought was this could be another way to show case some of the beautiful handmade lampwork glass beads I'd been collecting; my second thought was that unlike with the Thai Silver Leaf pin from the first Fibula post, I could do THIS version using gold-filled wire.

The thing about these pins is that in order for them to be strong and sturdy (and provide a nice spring in the pin part), a larger gauge wire is best. But when you start looking for beads that will actually fit on a heavier gauge wire, your prospects begin to decline. Most bead holes are tiny little affairs. Lampwork beads, however, are absolutely perfect for this application. The downside is they tend to be a little pricey. I mean they're made - one at a time - with colorful glass rods, a torch and a steel mandrel .. a tricky affair and much more difficult than you might think. And the glass artists who really have it down turn out the most amazing little pieces of glass!! I understand the cost aspect .. though I once wished I could learn to make the things myself to lessen the material cost of including them in my work. Alas, there's just no room in the studio for yet another set of tools and accoutrements! AND, to get to the level of some of these artisans would require givin' up all else for quite a while - even a few great lampwork bead makers have no time for making jewelry with their little works of art. If you're interested, here are a couple of my favorite sites (some of these sites have email "alerts" when new beads are available for sale .. if you aren't around when the email arrives, I mean right there to hear the thing come in with a 'ding', you miss out. With some of these sites, even ten minutes late, and the beads are all gone!). Bluff Road Glass - gorgeous sets, a couple hundred dollars a set (or more); Shibumi Glass - Round, flat, square, clear, rich and robust, Robyn Knapp's beads always causes severe decision-making stress; and Blue Iris Designs - you just know that when prices aren't visible, you shouldn't ask unless you're ready to do the deal!

Anyway, I babble. I was so excited about this slight variation on the fibula, that I created a bunch of 'em. Only a couple are in sterling; the rest are in gold-filled wire. I don't know if you remember the first pin with the big, gently curved Thai silver leaf; but the sharp pointy part of the pin slips beneath that little upturned part of the "shepard's hook". On this "new" version, the shepard's hook is turned towards the front and its entire large looped shape holds the sharp pin part in place.

Another little serendipitous event occurred when, while snipping and shaping the sharp pin point, I accidently snipped the shepard's hook and destroyed the whole pin as a result (whaddya gonna do, accidents happen). However, when I realized what I'd done and broke it apart to see what wire pieces could be salvaged for another project, I discovered that the squiggly wire part - with the addition of another hook at the top - would make a great new clasp! A clasp like this would work well for the Viking knit bracelets .. or even on a strand of pearls (though I'd probably use a finer wire gauge for that application).

And speaking of the Viking knit bracelets, another slightly different change on a current design is the addition of some gold pieces. I've only got four of them so far - dark blue, dark purple (think eggplant), and the red and black versions shown here. I found a nice, reasonably priced vermeil version of a short cone I could use on the ends. Since it's 24k gold over sterling, the gold in the cone is a bit more vibrant than the gold-filled wire clasp. But using gold wire is out of the question .. too soft and too expensive. It works as is (the red is particularly spectacular), so I'm putting them out at the Clayton show this weekend. I'll keep hunting for a gold-filled bullet or end cap; but I'd be very surprised to find one. And I was getting requests for gold versions, so I had to go with what I could find.

I can't remember if I've explained gold-filled wire before. I have a few "high gold" pieces containing 14k, 18k and a few 22k components; but most of my "gold" things are gold-filled. A perfectly acceptable alternative to gold .. and significantly better than plated materials, which involve a thin coat of a precious metal. Items made with gold filled wire are considered professional jeweler's quality and not fashion jewelry. 14k gold-filled wire is made by forming a tube of solid 14k gold which is then "filled" with a base metal. The gold is bonded to the base metal with heat and pressure. The base metal is also gold in color and is made up of almost the same mixture of metals (usually a brass alloy) used to bring 24kt gold down to 14kt, 10kt, etc. The exterior of the product is solid 14kt gold, and everything you can see or touch is a solid layer of 14 Kt. gold. This is why it will never tarnish, chip or wear off. The gold layer on gold-filled wire is approximately 100 times thicker than gold-plate and is bonded with heat and pressure. (Gold-filled wire is actually available in 10k, 12k, and 14k. In the symbol 14/20, the 14 stands for the karat of gold used and the 20 means 1/20 - the gold content is 5% or 1/20 of the total metal. I use only 14/20 gold filled components).

Oh .. I fired most of those PMC pieces earlier this week and have been tumbling, patinating, and tumbling some more hoping to be able to get most of the stuff into this weekend's show. No time for pics today, however. I'll take a few next week after all the hustle and bustle of preparing for the show are over. Everything turned out great .. can't wait to make a few more of the "poet pendants"!!

PMC Impressions

2007-08-11T07:57:00.000-05:00

I know, I know .. I've been bad. I apologize for the great gap in posts, but tis the season to be out there gettin' it done, so blog time is on the back burner.

I AM very excited about some new Precious Metal Clay stuff I've been doing though, and thought I might just pop a photo up real quick so you could see what I've been up to (up to this point, most of what I've been pounding out are repeats of existing pieces and LOTS of those colored wire bracelets and necklaces .. so you haven't really missed much).

A couple exciting things have happened to get things moving on the PMC front: (1) I finally received my logo and business name stamps, and (2) I serendipitously discovered an incredible little "rubber stamp poet" kit at a local antique show a couple Sundays ago filled with the most wonderful word stamps!! And that's all it took!

You might have to double click on the photo above to get a closer look (can't do it from an email "post update" folks .. go to http://www.thewildinside.com/ and click on the photo there), but the small round piece on the bottom shows my logo stamp. I used Original PMC for these, as they'll shrink down about 25% to 30% and will be perfect little charms for the Viking Knit bracelets. The stamp with my business name .. using the same OzHandicraft font as all my business materials .. can be seen on the back of one of the word stamps in the lower right. That particular stamp - representing "obsenities deleted" - made the whole box full of 80 stamps worth the $6 I paid for it! I just know that I'm not the only one who has days that such a pendant would perfectly represent! The other two, "Wild" and "Juicy" were among my first experiments with the stamps. Every single stamp uses a different font; and they're the proper size for either Original PMC (which will shrink down to make smaller pendants) or PMC+ or PMC3 (which shrink only about 10% to 12% and would create slightly larger pendants). And there are enough wonderful words to keep me busy making pendants for a while: Moon, Mystery, Beauty, Dream, Passion, Dance, Secret, Fate, Laughter, Heart, Always, Magic, Imagine, Soul, Secret ... among others that can be combined on one stamp or doubled up and suspended on chain, leather, ribbon, etc. The possibilities are endless!!

I've poked jump ring holes into several of the pendants above to allow them to be suspended from whatever necklace material I choose; but "Wild" I left alone, as I think I might solder a fine silver tube bail onto that one. I'd like to try it at least once to see how it looks before getting crazy with that idea .. but I've only just recently found and ordered some fine silver tubing, so we'll see how it goes. The inside diameter of the tubing I ordered is relatively small; so I think they might only be appropriate for something easily threaded through them - like leather cord, rattail or ribbon.

The leaf is from a maple tree ... again I used Original PMC, so it'll end up being only about 1.5" long after it's fired. I was really pleased with the way this one turned out. I'd been trying to find a leaf small enough to impress, but who knew trees stopped growing in June!!! Sheeesh! So it's been a trial hunting up an example that was not only small enough, but which also hasn't been destroyed by various leaf-eating creatures. I rolled this one awfully thin (not recommended), so it'll be very delicate once it's fired. But the thing that got me especially excited is that I pressed a little too hard in the center where the largest "vein" in the leaf is located; and when the piece dried, it cracked through to the other side. Normally, this would be cause for disappointment. However, in this particular case, it makes the leaf look so much more real, that I couldn't believe my good fortune! However, it ain't over 'til it's fired ... so I'm crossing my fingers that it holds up in the kiln. Once it's fired, I'll be able to bend some of the leaf segments this way or that way so that it's not completely flat. It was so thin, I hesitated to get creative while it was still wet clay.

For anyone who thinks PMC is a "faster" way to make precious metal pieces, think again!! If you want your PMC pieces to look GOOD when they come outta the kiln, ya gotta spend some time with 'em before you pop 'em in there. Once they're dry (and while I have a hotplate I can use to excelerate the process, I prefer to let them dry on their own ... less rolling up on the edges that way), you have to clean them up - soften any rough edges and sand, sand, sand!! I have really fine micron-graded abrasive finishing paper from 3M that I use, beginning with 400 grit and working up to 8000 .. slowly, one grit at a time. The more time you take with this process, the happier you'll be when they come out of the kiln. If you don't do it at this stage, you'll have to do it when it's finished .. and it's a lot easier to sand leather hard PMC than fine silver metal!

OK .. that's all for now folks! Oh .. one more thing .. I have a show coming up in Clayton on the 25th and 26th (in the heart of the Thousand Islands, for those of you unfamiliar with the area) for the benefit of The Handweaving Museum and Art Center, so I've got to get busy and pound out a few new pieces. It's at the Recreational Arena in Clayton, right off route 12. If I have time, I'll post a couple of the new pieces ... the ribbon necklaces have been getting some attention, so I may pull out the colors I haven't yet used and see what I come up with.

Ciao for now!

Remember the NBC peacock?

2007-06-25T09:27:00.000-05:00

In Living Color .. right?!?! The Baby Boomers among you will remember. It's that point in television history when a distinction between black and white television and color television was significant. And it seems I've made the same distinction!! That's what I've been doing for the last week or so .. ordering, and working with, colored wire! And boy, does it really(really!) dress up the Viking Knit pieces!

Today I hope to finish another necklace .. in dark blue with pale olive briolette dangles (I'm awaiting an order for more of those little bullet ends before I can complete it or any others). I'm also looking for a less complicated sterling slide for a slightly different pendant look. The pendant I used on the solid sterling piece, as well as the one on the left with the graduated peach jade briolettes, has ten little rings to which you attach beads. I'd like to find a nice slide with just a single ring beneath it .. maybe attach just a single stone or do a little multi-stone dangle with different colors and sizes (much like the bead burst pendants .. maybe a bit fewer beads .. two or three). I'm so excited about the possibilities I could just about explode! There are a couple colors I have on hand that haven't yet been made into anything, and a few new shades I ordered after a couple days of playing with the stuff ... matte lavender, purple, dark purple, red (hot cha!), and matte turquoise.

The bracelets below, while they look complete, are awaiting some sort of little charm(s). They look great as is .. I've worn each of them around already .. but a little dangle off the "eye" on the end adds a bit of interest. I ordered a stamp of my logo (the head with all the little elements popping out of it at the top of this page) to be used with precious metal clay; and I hope to make some little logo charms to attach to these funky, chunky style bracelets (the more delicate sterling jewelry tags just don't look right) .. perhaps together with a semi-precious stone. But, while I had expected the stamp to arrive by now, I'm still waitin' ... anxiously.

Anyway - from front to back - are matte olive, forest green, aqua green and dark blue shades. The shade differences are evident when you see them in person - and they're evident on my monitor, though perhaps not on yours. The wire is "permanently colored copper" .. baked on, per the company from whom I purchased it. Though I did discover that the color can be scratched off with a bit of careless plier action, it does hold up surprisingly well through the process of drawing the finished weave through my rosewood drawplate .. multiple times! So I have no qualms about continuing to use it for these purposes. I can't imagine anyone scratching the color off during normal wear; I even wore multiple chunky pieces along side for several days, with no problem. The rest of the piece is sterling.

And speaking of sterling, beginning in early 2008 I expect to start collecting a stock of Argentium sterling to use in these and other pieces. Argentium is a relatively new version of sterling - sterling silver being defined as 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals. Argentium is simply a modern adjustment to the sterling formula. It's still 92.5% pure silver; but it replaces some of the traditional 7.5% copper with a rare metallic element called Germanium. In general this results in a change in sterling's tendency to tarnish under normal use and to form oxides while it is being heated and worked. It's much closer to fine silver in its ability to resist tarnish .. which is nice, for those designs you'd love to remain bright n shiny.

I've put off participating in the whole Argentium craze because (1) it's more expensive than traditional sterling (and even traditional sterling is still relatively pricey these days); (2) the longer it's out there, the more information gets circulated with regard to its properties and peculiarities; and (3) initially only sheet and wire were available in this new medium - while one can now find Argentium earring findings, beads, bezel wire, etc.

In the interim, I've got a whole lotta traditional sterling to get through first! But those of you who are annoyed by the slow tarnish of your favorite silver pieces, keep a look out here for pieces made with Argentium .. next year around this time.

One more bit of news - I finally set the wheels in motion for a real website .. with pricing and a shopping cart and everything. However, I'm not expecting miracles. I'm using the same folks to do the programming who did The Remington Museum when my husband took over and decided the website needed updating ... and it took nine months to get theirs up and running. I try to keep in mind that my site won't be nearly as big or complicated, so perhaps by January the shell will be complete and I can begin loading photos and pricing and be on my merry e-commerce way! Time will tell. The woman who designed my logo, business cards and stationery is doing the design side .. she and the programmer will get together once I've settled on the design I prefer. And while all this is going on, I've got some decisions to make about what to ultimately put up .. and then there are ALL those photographs to take. Yep .. lots to be thinkin' about, lots to be doin'. I'll keep ya posted.

Ciao for now!

Solid Sterling Bangle

2007-06-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

Ta dah!! This is what the bangle in my last post looks like with sterling beads in place of the blue India glass. I used a shorter core wire this time, a slightly shorter focal "bead" (that elaborate wire piece in the center) and shortened each of the four twisted wire segments; and, while it fits a bit better than the blue version, it's still a little oversized for me. But my wrists measure a little under 5.5". So, I will, of course, keep tryin'!

Though I'm wondering if this bangle just wasn't meant for me. The larger gauge wire core and clasp provide a sturdy base on which to wrap wire and slide interesting beads .. but I've been toying for awhile with the idea of trying a significantly smaller gauge for a lighter, more delicate bangle design. Not necessarily THIS design .. but something incorporating some interesting little precious metal clay beads, smaller gauge twisted wire, etc. The idea is still stewin' for the moment .. so keep watch.

Temporarily back on track ..

2007-06-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

As all the massage, stretching and pressure point triggers were slowly working to relieve the Repetitive Strain Injury in my left hand, I got a little crazy this past week and churned out a bangle. If you check a post in May labeled "Silver is a nobel metal" you'll see a pic showing a couple others I made a while back .. quite a while back, like 2004, I think .. before we moved back to the North Country. Before I had the studio set up here I couldn't make twisted wire (the four smaller seqments on this bracelet) .. while in my temporary digs I had no place to attach a vise to hold on to one end of a length of doubled-up wire.

I've been wanting to get back into making these ever since. Got side-tracked with a whole buncha other stuff .. it happens. So many new things pulling in multiple directions .. sometimes it's difficult to focus .. for me anyway. If I was three people, it probably still wouldn't be enough to head off in all those different directions! ; )

Anyway, it's just like me to wait until the most inopportune time to do something inappropriate. There's a whole lotta wrist-wrenching necessary to make one of these - not necessarily during the wire-twisting part, but definitely during the part that requires you to wind the twisted wire (and in the case of the larger wire focal bead, half-round wire) around a wire mandrel. Dead soft wire, which is what I use for these, will get "work hardened" if you hammer, twist or otherwise manipulate it in some way. So dead soft wire, doubled up and then twisted is no longer dead soft .. and it's a bit more difficult to manipulate. And the core wire, the wire on which everything is "strung", is 12 gauge. Takes quite a lot of power to make the "eyes" at the end which contain the clasp. Silly girl .. don't know what I was thinking. But I plodded on and completed the thing. Only to have to ice my wrist when it was done. ; )

It was so worth it as it turned out great! I'm out of practice though and am already thinking of doing another to try getting back into the swing of it. This one's too big for me .. in fact, it slips right over my hand, even with the clasp in the closed position .. so I'm anxious to make another that will fit. And I may do another that includes large round sterling beads instead of the blue India sand glass. I just don't learn, do I! Sometimes enthusiasm can be a dangerous thing!

OK .. off to do Sunday chores so I can get back to SOMEthing productive on Monday ... got several knotted pearl orders awaiting completion (waiting for some materials to arrive for one or two). A much less strenuous task, as I think I've mentioned.

But my wire beckons ....

Maternal pride

2007-06-10T08:59:00.000-05:00

I don't generally advertise or promote the fact that I make these, but I love makin' 'em! Mostly because the women for whom they're meant wear 'em to death : ) It's difficult not to love a piece of jewelry with your child's (or grandchild's) name on it. Trust me .. I've had to restring more than a few of these due to wear n tear.

Both of these examples went to the same woman .. CALEB was a gift from me and my husband to his Administrative Goddess at the Remington Museum when she had her son in the spring of 2006; BRIELLE was a gift from her to her partner's sister, who just had a baby in March (the pale blue crystals represent aquamarine, the traditional birthstone for March).

As the first one was a gift from us, I was at liberty to get a little crazy - hence the vermeil (pronounced ver MAY) beads, the addition of the little gold-filled jump rings that move around freely (you'll probably have to double click on the pic to see them), and the heart-shaped lobster clasp. (Vermeil, by the way, is 24k gold over sterling .. at least that's the traditional definition).

I've got a ton of those little sterling alphabet beads, so I'm always happy to accept a special order for one. I made a spectacular double-stranded version for my sister-in-law several years ago that made her cry - happy tears, of course ; ) So .... if you're wondering what to get your mom or sister or other important female personage in your family, these things always make a big hit! Good for scoring points, big time! : )

What's a Weir??

2007-05-30T13:59:00.001-05:00

I just had to share this one with you! This is a cropped view of a picture I snapped out my studio window .. though I will no doubt go to hell for having taken it. I've never actually asked permission to take their photograph (though there have been many occasions when a shot begged to be taken), but as I understand it it's verboten. But there they were .. right in our "front yard." Couldn't resist. Took it through the window screen.

That's Cara on the right .. she thought they were in her yard, too, as it was her barking about it that brought me to the window.

Apparently it has always been the case that the fishing is pretty darn good on "Eel Weir" (pronounced "wire" locally), and the Amish can be opportunists when the situation allows. We've seen a Great Blue Heron out there catching fish, too ... and as anyone with a pond knows, Herons KNOW where the fish are!

For an interesting rendition of the job an eel weir performs, check out this site. And this is OUR particular Eel Weir .. my husband tells me (he's the historian here) eels caught at this sight used to go to upscale restaurants in NYC. In another time, long ago and far away.

OK .. beads beckon! : )

Back to the Basics

2007-05-30T13:11:00.000-05:00

After several weeks of some ache and discomfort in my wrist, I did a little research online and discovered that I seem to be suffering from an RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury. When you consider all the computer work and wrist wrenching that goes on in my studio, it's really quite amazing that it hasn't happened sooner. What I found online was a whole host of maladies that fall under this RSI heading, the most well-known being carpal tunnel syndrome. When my thumb began to occasionally feel numb about a week ago, I then went in search of some self-care sites. I found and have been using some stretching exercises, acupressure points and massage techniques - all of which have helped. Despite minor progress I made an appt. with an orthopaedic guy in town .. though as he's only IN town twice a week, I can't get in until June 13. So let us hope the things I've been doing continue to help and not hinder the situation.

In the interim I've been lightening up quite a bit in the shop .. there are several projects sitting half completed as they involve a lot of wrist wrenching activities. So .. it's back to basics for a while. I figure it took me three to four weeks to get to this uncomfortable point - it may take as long, or longer, to regain my strength and banish whatever is causing the discomfort. I'm thinkin' there are gonna be a lotta pearls and beaded things comin' outta here in the next coupla weeks! : )

The necklace above was completed during my artisan guild's Open House celebration at the Shops at 25 West in Little Falls on Sunday, May 20. Not a lot of pain in knotting. I finished it up here in the shop with a couple 14k jump rings and a 14k gold handcrafted "swan" clasp. The pearls are 5.5mm to 6mm cultured fresh water pearls in a color called Marine Teak - a really rich coppery brown shade - knotted on chocolate silk cord. As usual, if you're reading this on my blog and not in an email, you can click on the pic for a closer look.

Another thing I have to do is keep these posts short (my husband is no doubt laughing at the thought of my trying to do that ) .. I think it was computer activity and not jewelry work that did it. So I'm off to dig into some bead drawers and see what wonders are waiting to be rediscovered!

Ciao for now!

Fly away home ...

2007-05-22T18:12:00.000-05:00

Anyone who makes and sells stuff will eventually get approached by people looking for donations .. gonna happen, trust me. But I have always, pretty much right from the beginning, looked at charitable donations of my jewelry as a sort of advertising opportunity. Rarely, if ever, do the recipients decline my request to include a little placard showing other pieces I make, or a flyer announcing a future event in which I'll be participating. Plus I get a tax deduction for the material cost of the piece. I do try really, really hard not to think about the fact that I'm losin' out on the retail value of the piece when I'm takin' that material cost tax deduction, however. I may be charitable, but a saint I ain't ; )

Usually I just snag a piece out of inventory if I'm approached for a donation; but occasionally I'll get an idea for something specific. I'd been thinking for over a year about a piece for Waterfowl U.S.A., a local chapter of a larger national organization akin to Ducks Unlimited. An organization like this wouldn't even have been on my radar, but our contractor - a guy who knows pretty much EVERYbody in town - suggested their annual banquet and auction was something I should be involved in. This is the guy who was responsible for my making a spectacular sale to a local jewelry store back during the holidays; so when he tells me I should be involved in a particular annual event, I say OK, who do I call?!?! So, I called the current president of the local chapter last June (their annual banquet is in May) after I was made aware of the organization and their annual dinner, introduced myself, explained that a friend we had in common had suggested I participate in the 2007 event. He was surprised .. actually, neither one of us had been in this position before - an artisan offering a donation without being asked!! Egads! This is what it must be like in a parallel universe!! Anyway, we had a nice conversation. I gave him all my contact information and that was it.

Well, from that point on I started thinking about what I could do that would be duck related. Most of what was on the list of auction items from 2006 was artwork by a well known local artist, and many various duck decoys ... with only a few other items scattered among them (a hand made waterfowl quilt, an oak blanket chest, pottery, a hall entry bench ... nice stuff, to be sure). I was thinking I could include a couple of my nicer pieces ... a hand knotted pearl necklace and maybe a Byzantine bracelet .. but the "big" thing ... the "advertising piece" - the design that might spark some interest - needed to make a little splash, so to speak : )

It all began with some polymer clay beads I spotted on a site I monitor occasionally for new things .. they were pretty much the exact colors you find on a female mallard. So I bought 'em .. twelve little roly poly round beads and ten cylindrical beads, all using the same swirling color combos. I combined them on a sterling charm bracelet chain with smoky quartz, Swarovksi pearls and crystals, mother of pearl and coconut shell .. finishing it with a faceted apatite briolette on one end.

I had mentioned to the creator of the polymer clay beads what I was going to do with them; and when she sent them she included two additional freebies that looked exactly like little wings! So with the two extra round beads left over from the bracelet, and the little wings, I made earrings. (If you're reading this on my blog, and not in a "new post" email, you can double click on either pic and see it close up).

Once I had them all assembled, I made a little placard - mostly so the colors evident in the female mallard would be on hand for comparison. Gotta toot yer own horn occasionally. : ) Here's the set all together ...

I called the Pres again in February (or maybe it was March), just a heads up, and spoke to his wife. She was quite excited about the prospect of jewelry in the auction and thought the wives would all be delighted to finally have something of interest to bid on for once !! Another nice chat .. once again passed on all the usual information.

And here's the kicker: I never got a call. Didn't know when the event was taking place and didn't realize it had passed until I saw a little piece in the paper about it. So .. here's a whimsical n ducky set with no where to go.

I may put it out at a show or two, but I'm not sure if anyone other than a waterfowl enthusiast would care .. maybe I'm wrong. I may send a letter to Pres with the three Publisher pages I created for this set and the other two pieces (which I had intended to include with the pieces when handing them over) and ask if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could he please CALL ME next year. Not too much to ask, do ya think?

Crafts person is just one role I play ...

2007-05-17T09:33:00.000-05:00

... the other is "Mrs. Executive Director", aka Offsite Support. If you've read the bit over on the right about why we're now planted in northern New York, you'll already know that my better half is Executive Director of the Frederic Remington Art Museum here in Ogdensburg.

I occasionally get called upon to shmooz with attendees at events throughout the year, provide an extra pair of editing eyes for various publications, set up all the silent auction items for the end of the year funding raising event (in addition to digging up a few auction items as well), and am generally back-up support whenever needed. As our lives rarely coincided in this way while we were in our respective finance and telecom careers in Albany, this has been a new and fun melding of our individual talents.

One of the things we need to begin doing in this relatively new life we've entered up here is entertain more. While not total recluses in our other life (B.O. - Before Ogdensburg), we rarely if ever entertained .. friends and family on rare occasions, and that was about it. And for those of you for whom this skill comes naturally, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about when I say entertaining on a large scale intimidates me just a bit. We, like the good little students we are, have been working up to it. I'm happy to say that it does get easier with each and every opportunity. And I now actually look forward to the chance to try some new set up, idea, or recipe ... much like jewelry designing. What keeps it interesting is maintaining existing skills and incorporating some new ones occasionally to keep it exciting! : ) And, of course, the whole point of the thing is to get to know your guests a little better, if you don't already have a good handle on them and can just enjoy the opportunity of spending a little time with them. Being a gregarious sort, I like this part best, especially when there's someone new to meet or some interesting new tidbits to file away.

This week had a couple of wonderful "hosting" opportunities ... just last night we brought the assistant curator of the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute from Williamstown, MA out to dinner. He's here for the week researching some of Remington's sketches and journals for any information they might hold in helping him to better understand a piece of Remington art the Clark Institute owns (one of only three Remingtons the Clark has in its collection). The piece is one of Remington's nocturnes .. a body of work where Remington explored the many and varied sources of nighttime illumination. This particular one shows an Indian on horseback, snow on the ground, stars in the sky, a settlement of some sort off in the distance .. it's somewhat vague in its overall setting and meaning. And therein lies the need to research. The curator believes it may have been purchased by the Clarks shortly after its completion, as there is very little information about its being exhibited anywhere. He'd specifically like to understand Remington's mind in creating it. What kind of Indian (both the horse and the rider's accoutrements may or may not provide clues) and where is it set. Even the title of the piece has come into question. The curator (aka Cody) is even looking into the constellation represented in the night sky - though he feels he may only discover it depicts a location east of the Hudson, as this is where Remington spent most of his life. Still .. a wonderful little exercise in historic detection, and a lot of fun to talk about!

The other opportunity was here at the house Sunday night .. the museum was hosting a couple of personable guys (an engineer and a sales rep) from a company whose primary product is aftermarket turbine parts. They had approached the museum to discuss the possibility of providing an exciting new way of creating Remington bronzes (for sale). They had sent a mock up ahead (kept under wraps by the curator on punishment of hard stares and a severe chastising if unveiled before the formal presentation) and were driving down from their arrival in Montreal, where they were doing a tradeshow on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Though it's only a couple hours to Ogdensburg from Montreal, we really had no idea what time they'd be arriving; so we decided to keep it simple with a variety of cold cuts, fresh bread and sandwich makings and a bunch of fresh greens and salad fixings. We initially thought dinner out would be the way to go, but being Ogdensburg, little is available or was open .. and the one place that WAS available was shutting down at 7 PM (and on Mother's Day, too!!). As it turned out, they arrived at the house around 8:30. I set everything up on the island between the kitchen and dining area and everyone helped themselves. Informal is sometimes best .. and I used to travel a lot; I know a heavy meal after a long haul tends to weigh ya down - especially so late in the evening. Sandwiches and salad were perfect .. and apparently they thought so too, as they were the reason I now have the incredible floral arrangement you see at the top of this post sittin' on my diningroom table. Totally unexpected, but received with a great big smile! The piece is one of those designer arrangements ... Todd Oldman has tacked his name on it and called it Houndstooth Baking Dish (it arrived unharmed via FedEx in a cardboard container that must've been an award winner in engineering). Yellows, greens, a little white and those splashes of little red berries .. wow. I love flowers, but I especially like things out of the ordinary; and this little number is not your usual stickin'-out-of-a-vase flower arrangment!! Thanks guys! Ya shouldn't have, but I truly appreciate that you did : )

... Though I'm wondering if the "Baking Dish" theme means I should offer a hot meal next time?!? ; )

Silver is a nobel metal

2007-05-14T08:59:00.000-05:00

I had hoped to get these two images posted before last weekend - when I had a couple shows to do and a trip to Albany to get to the second of the two - but things don't always go as planned.

I've got a little breathing room this week - though I have a gallery Open House in Little Falls on Sunday, so will probably spend the balance of the week trying to pound out multiples in copper and silver of several of the chain maille designs you've already seen here.

The image on top is another new one called Harvest Moon. Though I must tell you I found it nearly impossible to photograph the thing in a way that allows the viewer to discern the pattern. I even tried hanging it from a decorative hook inside my light cube. When viewed this way, it was easy to see the pattern - but then, like earrings when I try to snap a clear, unblurred image, it wouldn't stop swaying long enough to get the picture. It's a light weight, delicate design, though a little tricky to put together. The alternate name for the pattern is Tomato Sandwich, because - when held taut on both ends - the pattern reveals a series of rings "sandwiched" between two rings. The Harvest Moon aspect is also visible when the bracelet is held taut .. three inter-connected rings seem to represent a waxing or waning moon.

I took the second image in an attempt to get a quick representation of a variety of different types of wire bracelets I've been working on .. and hope to create as the design ideas flow (as I have a TON of beads, it's my Design Muse I'm waitin' for!!) The top bracelet is a variation of the Byzantine chain with the addition of some gorgeous, handmade Bali beads; the bottom is the Harvest Moon bracelet; and the two on the sides are "brangles" - a term coined by Connie Fox, one of those wonderfully creative jewelry folks out there willing to share their skills with the masses (brangle, of course, being a combination of bracelet and bangle). These are created using a large gauge wire core on which twisted wire, ancient trade beads, handmade lampwork glass beads, sterling, and various handmade and purchased charms and dangles are added or attached. They're best made to order, but I've found that, like regular beaded bracelets, there's an "average" size that fits most people. The good news for those who revel in their individuality is that these bracelets are usually one-of-a-kind. There is a solid sterling design which can be repeated; but when you're working with old trade beads and individually made glass lampwork beads, it's difficult to find two exactly alike. But then, this is what generally makes handcrafted artisan jewelry desirable. I stopped wanting to look like everyone else around age 16 ... when I finally decided that Karen spelled KarAn was pretty cool afterall. I'm like that with my jewelry, too.

OK .. to explain the subject of this post, I must begin with the mundane: making and cleaning rings and finished bracelets. Wire is a pretty cool medium in which to work .. I haven't yet mastered it, but I get a little closer with every new project, tutorial and design. The task of winding rings on a mandrel and then cutting them is an assembly line kinda routine. I try to make as many as possible when I have all the devices set up to do it. Once I have a little pile of ring spirals, I go through the process of cutting them, suspending the cut rings on a piece of teardrop shaped copper that gets twisted at the top to hold them all on, and then dumping them all into my rotary tumbler with some steel shot, some water, ammonia and a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Tumbling for an hour or two will both "work harden" them a little bit (as did the act of winding them onto a mandrel) and clean them up as well. After I've made a bracelet with the resulting rings, I dump the bracelets in and tumble them for another hour or two. Mostly because after handling the rings in the making of a bracelet they get a bit dull and a little marred. They always come out of the tumbler sparkling. I'll often toss one of my own solid sterling bracelets in along with new ones, just to clean them.

Just before the show on the 5th, I had several copper and several sterling bracelets I wanted to tumble for a bit and so dropped them all into the tumbler together with my usual solution, set the thing in motion, and went off to romp with the dog and run some lunch time errands. When I returned to the tumbler a couple hours later, my sterling bracelets would about blind ya, they were so bright n shiny. The copper bracelets, however, were no longer their lovely coppery color, but were totally washed out. Or at least that was my initial impression. What I had discovered I'd inadvertently done by putting both copper and sterling in the tumbler, together with ammonia, was to plate the copper with a thin layer of silver. Apparently the ammonia worked as an electrolyte. If I had tumbled the copper along with iron, it would have been the iron that would have emerged plated with copper. Something about Silver being more "nobel" than copper allowed a layer of silver to come off my sterling and overlay all the copper in the tumbler. So, instead of copper I now have some "silver toned" copper. Next to the sterling bracelets, they don't quite look like sterling ... and I have no idea how long the silver will last or how easy it will be for the silver to wear off. It will tarnish, however. I at first thought I might run them all through the tumbler again ... without the ammonia this time .. and see if I couldn't tumble them long enough to remove the layer of silver; but they're really kinda pretty the way they are. And at the copper price, you get what looks like a silver bracelet!!

Who knew you could silver plate in a tumbler?!?! Kinda cool, kinda humorous .. but definitely a lesson learned!!

OK .. back to the bench. Got a busy week ahead! Talk to you again soon : )

Pearls just wanna have fun!

2007-04-24T12:17:00.000-05:00

Pearls aren't always so serious; they've been known to be whimsical on occasion. These are 6mm oceanic blue/green fresh water pearls hand knotted on silk and attached to sterling silver stars with French wire. (French wire, also known as bullion or gimp, is a very fine coil of silver or gold-filled wire used by jewellers to conceal and/or protect beading wire or silk when attaching to a clasp. Proponents maintain that French wire gives jewelry an elegant, professionally finished look while also protecting and strengthening the ends of the beadwork. I tend to agree. Most of the pearls you find in jewelry stores use French wire.) The hook-in-the-front clasp is a handcrafted "pendant dependent" on which hangs a stunning blue faceted apatite briolette. Pearls, like girls, just wanna have fun.

This piece is headin' out to a silent auction for St. Marguerite D'Youville Academy here in Ogdensburg .. though I have two or three more strands of these pretty blue pearls if you'd like one for your very own. : )

THIS was almost going to the silent auction, but I couldn't quite part with it. This is a Sequential Byzantine chain. The origin of the Byzantine chain is a mystery (trust me, I've looked); but I have seen variations of it in several of the books I've collected for my studio library. One variation on my list of new things to try is called Inca Puno .. it's a similar repetitive sequence of knot formations without the connector pairs in between. I've been making the Byzantine for several years .. but generally only when someone has seen the one I wear and asked for one of their own. They're substantial pieces .. lotta silver. Both of the other jewelers in my Guild make them regularly (out of both silver and gold), so I thought the Inca Puno might be a nice variation to work on instead. I cut enough 16 gauge rings for the Byzantine above to make four or five of them .. and I can whip one out in about an hour and 15 minutes now .. so I made a few for a couple upcoming shows. This one, however, is the only one with an ornate clasp. The others have lobster or toggle clasps. It's a little bigger than the others, as well. I can slide it over my hand with the clasp closed .. just about 1/8th of an inch under 8 inches. A show piece, to be sure.

OK .. gotta make three or four more of those funky copper bracelets and a buncha earrings! I'll try not to stay away so long next time!

Lacy weave

2007-04-17T18:29:00.000-05:00

Well, color me pink and call me embarrassed!! I can't believe it's been just a couple days shy of two weeks since I last posted! Time surely does fly by when you're having fun. You'll be pleased to know I haven't been loitering, though. I have been a busy little jewelry elf. And part of the reason I put off posting this particularly elegant piece was because it was to be a gift .. and as it's now been given, I have no fear of giving the surprise away. There are earrings to match - however, surprising as it may seem, they were a little trickier to figure out!! So they've been put on hold while I get some more inventory holes filled in.

If you click on either of the pictures here, you can get a closer look. First time I've done this one, though it's a variation on a European 4 in 1, much like the bracelet a few posts back (Chain Reaction). Took me a good part of a day to do it though. Per usual, the first time is copper .. I haven't figured out what the cost might be for a comparable piece in sterling, but it's only 20 gauge wire, so it might not be too bad. The only downside is that the little bead dangles have to have a hole large enough to accept 20 gauge wire. I really, really wanted to use smoky quartz beads for this one. I thought that as the copper slowly tarnished to a deeper and richer copper color, a pale brown smoky quartz bead would set it off nicely. Couldn't find any in my infinite collection of smoky quartz that fit the bill. And I didn't have the time to ream them to fit. So, what I used instead were some No. 6 Czech glass beads in a pale peach color. They'll provide a nice contrast when the copper darkens.

The next - and newest - problem I had with this one was taking a good photo of it. As it took up a larger amount of space, I could no longer use the macro setting on my digital camera .. not unless I wished to focus on just one particular spot on the piece. So I had to pull back and do a normal focus. I've since created a slightly different set up with my light cube using light gray paper and coming in from the top of the light cube instead of in from the side. I took a couple shots this morning of a new knotted pearl design and a spectacular Byzantine bracelet with a flower clasp.

Unfortunately, the dog is looking up at me with those big sorrowful eyes, indicating that it's time for her first romp of the day. So ... I'll leave you to examine this piece for the moment and try to get back this afternoon for the other two. Ciao for now!

Viking, Adorned!

2007-04-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

I thought I was going to post this yesterday .. had several other photos of the process all uploaded: the wire knit while it was still on the dowel, the rosewood drawplate, the weave being drawn through - looking down on it from above - so you could see the segment before and after it's pulled through the holes. But just about the time when I finally had all the photos placed just right, and the text that went with them was exactly where it should be, it all just disappeared. Poof. I swear I didn't touch a thing. The great cosmic blogger in the sky just decided it didn't work and took it all away.

So .. I thought I'd try again and keep it simple this time. I'll try the whole show n tell thing another time when I've completed another bracelet. Easier to photograph anyway, as the weave is so much shorter. I actually got a little carried away with the necklace and went just a little bit longer than I should have ... it's a bit big for me; but I know it'll be just right for someone else. Besides, this just means I have to make another one ... or two. Just to have some size variations. I know I should have taken a solo shot of the necklace - the handmade clasp is just a little different - but it's that time of year. Show time. Not so much the schleppin' to shows part, but the jumpin' through hoops part where you have to come up with x number of slides of your work, and one, or more, of your booth, and take out a second mortgage on your house for jury fees, application fees and all the overnight stays in far away places. One show insists that nothing at all will be allowed in a booth that isn't represented on the slides .. and you only get four shots at it! I get a brain cramp reading those kinds of applications. Almost makes me wistful for the wholesale customers who used to ask, "ya got anything else?"

So, I got a little extravagant. Couldn't help myself. Props are us.

Oh .. and I learned something today that I knew, but had forgotten. You know how it is, there's only so much room up there. If ya aren't using it, it gets pushed to the back of the bus. Anyway, found a whole rack of those laminated reference sheets at the UPS Store after mailing a package, and bought the one for PhotoShop. Huge segment on resolution .. the whole pixels or dots per square inch thing .. affects clarity and quality of the image. Important for things like printing ... and blog images. A computer monitor can only represent 72 dpi. This might explain why all my high-resolution images were looking kinda blurry. I have PhotoShop on my laptop; but it's a bit of a resource piggy. You have to shut down virtually all other programs to use it.

But, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to get a grip on tweaking photos with it for that time when I've actually got a real web site and have to put up a professional front .. make visitors think there's a whole crew of folks working in the background making jewelry, posting photos, making coffee for everybody ... when it's just me. Kidding! Well, not about the professional part; but I hope you'll all poke me in the eye if I EVER start speaking about myself in the third person, or refer to The Wild Inside as "us" or "we", or pretend that I actually have a customer service department. I'm the customer service department, I make the coffee, the jewelry and everything. Things could be a whole lot worse though. Did I mention I live on six acres ... on a river, with an adorable dog and a great life companion? It's our anniversary today .. been hanging out together for 30 years. Life is good.

A Viking Expedition!

2007-04-04T08:10:00.000-05:00

Well, here's a little bit of magic .. the Viking Weave in sterling silver. I can scarcely believe I've done this, I'm just so amazed at how well it turned out. The actual weave is done on a wooden dowel then, as I mentioned in my earlier post, drawn through a rosewood drawplate several times to compress the weave. It's not necessary, but I put a wire core through it - which ends as those loops that hold and catch the clasp. It's a dreary rainy day here today, so I think I'll take the time and try a necklace next! A tip of the hat to Andrea for the tips n tricks (and shortening the learning curve dramatically). I probably never would have tried it had I not seen hers. I feel a creative growth spurt! : )

This is a fibula!

2007-04-02T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well, it's one kind of fibula .. definitely not the anatomical variety. A fibula, if you didn't see the longer definition at the end of my previous post, is a clasp or brooch, often ornamented, used by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

This is another project I've been aching to get at .. if I had three or four pair of hands, it mighta happened a bit sooner. I like this one so much, I might make a few more, just to have on hand. I know if I wear this one, I'll get inquiries - it's really quite impressive when it's sittin' in front of you. The leaf is from the Karen Hill Tribe .. it's fine silver, not sterling. It's about four inches long and about an inch wide at its widest point. I worked on the business end of the pin with a file and 0000 steel wool long enough to keep it from snagging on even a fine knit sweater; though it's actually meant for a bulky knit or as a shawl pin. I've got some incredible conch shells I intend to try with a slightly different design. Oh, and my sterling bullet ends arrived .. so there will definitely be a sterling Viking weave piece this week! Stay tuned!! : )

Ain't we got fun?!?!

2007-03-29T08:16:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been an interesting coupla days! Lots going on! I whipped off the pearl bracelets for three individual donation baskets my artisan guild is putting together (and which I need to deliver at one of our all-day meetings on Saturday). The idea was for each of us to have a consistent value for the items we include in our group's charitable donation baskets so we can always use the same value statement about the basket as a whole. Keeps things simple. I didn't mean to get so carried away; but I love working with pearls and I love to knot. So I just dove in and did it without really thinking about what the end value might be. As it happens, these three work out to $58 each .. they're Grade A fresh water pearls (a pale peach color, in case your monitor turns 'em pink) hand knotted on pale peach silk cord (incredibly sensuous stuff!!) with a delicate hand crafted (as opposed to cast) Bali heart toggle and a little spiral charm I made (if you click on the pic, you can get a closer look). And, of course, I had to make up little individual paper tags with the name of the piece (it's Blossom), a brief description of the materials - and a condensed version of my blurb on the "care and feeding" of pearls .. not to mention my logo and all my contact information. I had initially planned on something in the $28 to $35 range, but I'm pleased with my choice. Since the donations are all for a good cause, the little heart toggle seemed perfect. But I'm not married to the design .. I can always create something else for the next round of baskets!

And THEN, I get online this morning to discover I've been awarded The Wizard's Hat Award!! How cool is that?!?! Wizard is an exceptional local photographer with the heart n soul of a true Earth Mother. Besides having an incredible eye (a Wizened Eye!) for things you and I would pass unnoticed, she's connected to the earth. I think it's probably this connection that allows her to see those things the rest of us don't. Anyway, we've been corresponding a bit and getting to know one another. So I've made revelations .. you know, the kind of revelations you make when you open up to a new heart. And in an independent twist of the ubiquitous blog award, Wizard has created one of her own .. for, in her own words, "artists recognizing artistry" .. and awarded it to five of us. I feel like I've just received an Academy Award or something! It's a trifle, yes .. but it's so much more satisfying to receive praise and recognition from a fellow artist .. someone who understands the grasping, frustrating, exhilarating, tryin' something new, fun of the creative process. However, the pressure is now on - to keep the flow of "ideas and creative energy" ... flowing!

And with great timing, and in keeping with that theme, I tried a whole new process yesterday!! I was so excited when I completed the thing, I tried to call my friend, Andrea, in Albany - who was both wonderfully open and forthcoming with tips and tricks for making it work and instrumental in helping me believe I could do it. Now that I've done it .. and another in a copper craft wire .. I'm ready for sterling, I think. I may make one more in the copper craft wire, as adding a new wire while weaving has posed a couple bumpy problems. I got such a rhythm going though, that the work moved along at a nice little clip .. it's kinda meditative in a way.

The process is called Viking Weave .. and it requires a LOT of wire. The first one I made (above) uses coated copper craft wire. I didn't read through the directions completely and carried on after an initial "starter weave" using just a single weave process, so it didn't use as much wire and was a bit more loose and open than the uncoated copper craft wire version I did next using a double weave. Tried to keep track, but I think it was something like 15' of wire on the second one. It just seemed amazing to me that I was weaving wire like this; but a truly incredible transformation takes place when you draw the completed weave through a wooden drawplate: it condenses down and becomes a tight little design. A drawplate includes a series of holes in progressive sizes. With this design you squish the leading starter weave so you can polk it through the largest hole, grab it on the other side with drawplate tongs, and pull it through. It's like magic, what comes out on the other side!! I pulled it through two additional smaller holes to end up with the tight weave you see here. This one has a core wire of copper running through for support (you can just barely see the copper through the black wire); and because I have no copper findings, I had to create my own copper end caps and clasp. When I knew I was going to be trying this design, I placed an order for some sterling end caps. They haven't yet arrived, but they'll provide great motivation to complete a sterling version once they get here! I can barely contain myself, I'm so excited to complete a sterling weave .. though I'm now thinkin' five sets of end caps aren't going to be nearly enough!!

But, in the interim, got a few other things I'm working on. I think I'm going to try a fibula today .. another new technique for me, but one I've been meaning to try. And I have a very cool collection of conch shell discs with which to work .. you'll be amazed! : )

Fibula: An ancient and often ornamented clasp or brooch used in ancient Greece and Rome to fasten clothing. It usually consists of a piece of bowed metal with a pin connected to one end with a hinge. The pin is pushed through the clothing to hold it together and is secured into the other end of the bow behind a catch plate. A fibula is sometimes referred to as a ‘safety-pin brooch’.

See ya again soon!

A bead tip is a wonderful thing

2007-03-27T09:08:00.000-05:00

I've been remiss in posting, I know; and it was looking like a week was gonna pass before I got something up again .. can't have that. Home owner issues, donation jewelry, orders that needed makin', and repairs have all impeded my regular schedule just a bit. So I thought I'd just put something up that I was working on.

This bracelet (called Roma) is comprised of Bali "barrel" beads, granulated "daisy" spacers and faceted garnet rondelles (aka roundelles, rondels or donut shaped beads). A good friend of mine purchased this at a show in November 2005. It fit, but it was a trifle snug. I offered to lengthen it; but she wanted it NOW. You know how it is .. you see something, you buy it, you want it - right then and there. Understandable. I was sorry I didn't persist at the point of purchase though - and was delighted to hear that I was going to have an opportunity to get it back for a little while. I could have predicted what would happen. The strain of the snug fit was finally too much, and the bar end of the toggle clasp came off. The good news is that I always use bead tips on my strung pieces .. these are little cups with a hook. The knot from the bead cord/wire sets snuggly in the cup, and the hook is what attaches to the clasp. When there's a strain on a piece with a bead tip, it's almost always the case that the little hook opens and the clasp falls off. Not a biggie .. easy to remedy.

However, what you often find on the ends of beaded/strung jewelry are crimp beads. I really, really don't like using crimp beads, and don't use them if it can be avoided (and it usually can). A crimp bead is a tiny little cylindrical tube .. you thread through a crimp bead once, then through your clasp, then back through your crimp bead a second time before you begin adding beads to your strand. You hold the crimp bead in place near the clasp by squishing it against the beading wire with a crimp tool. Three things are wrong with this: (1) Your beading wire is exposed to wear, as there is nothing between it and the metal of the clasp, (2) I don't think it presents a professional-looking finish, and (3) the only thing holding that crimp bead and wire together is the pressure you exert when you squish the two against each other. And what happens when there's a sturdy tug on a piece finished with crimp beads is that the wire inevitably breaks free and you have beads everywhere. And women (your's truly included) are extremely hard on bracelets. Bracelets get caught on all kinds of weird things. Bound to happen .. your hands are all over the place.

The only other alternative to bead tips I would use is French wire (also called bullion or gimp), an itsy bitsy little wire spiral you string through, capture your clasp, then string through the last bead, and then knot. It's used primarily with pearls - besides being a very professional way to finish pearls, it also protects the bead cord from wear. I wouldn't suggest it for bracelets though .. I've only ever used it on necklaces. Since you secure it with a knot at least one bead in from the clasp, it doesn't have quite the same breakage issues that crimp beads have; but it's not so strong that it wouldn't break with a really good tug.

So, the bracelet .. remember the bracelet? .. got a little make-over while visiting. I took the whole thing apart and tumbled the barrel and granulated beads for a couple hours; replaced one of the garnets (which had a chip out of it), added a couple of links to the bar side of the clasp and a sterling 5mm flattened "saucer" bead at either end. (At her request I also added one of my The Wild Inside tags). She didn't need much additional length - just enough so it's not so snug. She's gonna love it.

Not quite Spring .. yet

2007-03-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

I got an itch to do something a little more "Springy" the other day and pulled out a bunch of pale blue Swarovski pearls, some little Bali granulated spacer beads and an exquisite, hand crafted, two-strand Bali slide clasp. I bought several of these clasps, in a couple different designs, a while back and found them while hunting up any two-strand clasp I might have buried in my supply drawers. Each one of those little silver dots in the design is added .. one little silver dot at a time. A little bit of silver is torched until it balls up, then it's quickly "picked" up with a soldering pick and put in place. The process is called granulation. The same procedure is used to make the little "flower" spacer beads between the pearls. When you consider how long it must take to make one of these little gems, it's a wonder they don't cost a lot more than they do.

At the moment, this bracelet is filed on my Zip Drive as Bali n Blue .. I may change the name if another more suitable name comes to me. It's a pretty little thing .. the color of a little blue bell maybe. As there is still snow on the ground from a recent snow fall, it'll be a while before we see blue bells. And we awoke to frozen pipes in our master bath this morning .. Spring in date only.

Chain Reaction

2007-03-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

Ooooh, oooooh ... just made this new chain maille pattern and had to take a coupla quick photos and get it up!! Since I didn't have exactly the right size mandrel for these rings, I made the piece in copper instead of sterling. The rings were just a tad larger than required, but it seemed to turn out just fine. Though I think I may head over to JoAnn's this weekend - with my digital calipers - and see if I can find a knitting or crochet needle mandrel that's the right size and wind some more rings .. maybe in copper again .. before winding and cutting any rings in sterling.

Pearl knotting for the masses

2007-03-16T06:23:00.000-05:00

The adult education coordinator at The Remington Museum approached me last fall about teaching a class this spring. As I don't have a whole lotta tools to share, at least not for a class of more than three or four, I thought something that wouldn't require a whole lotta tools might be the answer. Pearl knotting seemed like the right choice. I wrote the class synopsis after thinking back on the tradeshows I did in 2006 - it really did seem to me that pearls have been experiencing a renaissance. They're always classic - like a well-made A-line skirt or a fine knit sweater - but I think I sold more pearls in the past year than in any prior year. And I was so surprised the first few times a 12 or 13 year old girl pawed through my pearl dish, or asked her mother to buy her a pair of my pearl earrings. Even more surprised when it continued to happen.

I bought some beautiful strands for the class .. a soft, pale cream/peach/mauve combo. Very Springy! I even purchased some little 3 x 4 embroidered pouches for the students' finished pieces. If you've got nuthin' to do on Saturday, May 12, give the Museum a call and join me! Their website link is available below on the right ..

Urban Girl Pearls

2007-03-14T10:18:00.000-05:00

For the woman for whom the usual pearl strand is just too sedate. 8mm seamless sterling beads on 16 gauge wire with an ornate, handmade magnetic Bali clasp. A show stopper.

Match Maker, Match Maker ...

2007-03-12T11:13:00.000-05:00

If I no longer have available an example of a piece I sold, I almost always have a scan of it or the original "recipe" (the list and costs of materials that went into it). I quickly learned that if you haven't made matching pieces, a customer will want one .. or more (though it's often been the case that I'll make the matching pieces all at the same time, and they end up selling individually .. go figure). So it's always handy to know which piece a customer is talking about when they ask if you can make earrings to match "the bracelet with the wired pearls and little heart dangles" .. 'cuz they aren't gonna remember the name I associate with the piece they purchased .. well, sometimes .. maybe.

I mention this, of course, because I just received a couple of these requests recently. The ruby earrings I made to match a ruby pendant are a few posts down; but I have a new email request from Friday.

This is a limited edition bracelet called Purple Phantasy - limited mostly because I had to drill/enlarge the holes a bit more in the large purple stone (called Sugilite) in order to get the wire gauge I wanted to use to go through it. I have an electric bead reamer for doing this, but it still takes a bit of work. The customer already has a pair of earrings to match the blue goldstone bead enclosed in a wire herringbone wrap and wanted a different pair. So I came up with five versions. I love doing this because I get to pump up my earring inventory a little .. and because it's always fun to see how many variations can be made. It's often the case that a bead that wasn't used in the piece, but is the same stone in a different cut or size, will also work as a match.

I did this in a couple ways here: in the pair below, I used a 6mm version of the 8mm Swarovski pearl used in the bracelet as a dangle beneath the granulated Bali bead cube;
the narrow, rectangular Fluorite "tube" beads here echo the striations in the larger, wider Fluorite bead; and then I combined a smaller ametrine bead with the wide Fluorite bead to create two quite different versions; the larger ametrine beads below were the best matched pair I could get out of the remaining beads from the original strand. This bead is a combination of citrine and amethyst; and I obviously chose beads for the bracelet that had more purple in them. These beads were two of the few that were not only the same size, but had enough amethyst in them to be considered a match. This pic shows them to be a bit darker than they really are.

And now for something completely different!

2007-03-09T15:48:00.000-05:00

I'd been wanting to make this one for a long time .. sometimes you just have to wait for the right moment. Don't know why today .. the mood struck. Took a while .. had to make all those wire "cages", add 'em to the beads, put an eye-pin through them all, connect them, then add the clasp. I was going to make a clasp for it, but I have a few of these Bali toggles .. and they seemed to echo the wire-wrapped cages .. so I used 'em. The beads are lava rocks - matte, pitted, earthy ... organic. Or rather, volcanic.

I thought about calling the piece "Rock On" .. but I have a couple other ideas for that name. I started thinkin' about lava .. which lead me to Pompei. So I call it Ancient Civilizations. It's a hefty bugger! Not for the 'faint of heart' or 'shy of accessories' person. Woof!

Happy 39th Birthday NCPR!

2007-03-07T18:02:00.000-05:00

I was listening to our local public radio station (North Country Public Radio) during their pledge drive today while making the custom order ruby earrings mentioned in the post below .. public radio is on most days - all day- around here .. and it occurred to me that another pair of ruby earrings would be perfect for a pledge donation. Especially since today, March 7, is NCPR's 39th birthday!

I went back and found the receipt for these stones .. I got them from an importer of precious and semi-precious stones in New York City (they sell strictly to the "trade"). I always try to jot down as much information as I can on these kinds of purchases, and my notes for the ruby strand says only: "hand cut, hand faceted graduated ovals". What this means is that they're rough cut .. one can easily tell the difference between hand and machine faceted stones. I have no idea how someone would "hand facet" a stone, but when you look at all the individual stones in this strand, discounting the "graduated" aspect, they do differ in girth and shape somewhat. But, while I love those gorgeous machine-faceted stones, these have an earthy quality to them .. more, I dunno ... organic.

I put these earrings on 14k leverbacks instead of posts, like the special order below, because they're a bit larger stones than the others .. and while I still struggled with getting the pair to stop moving (or to both face full front) for a decent photo, I think I actually got a better picture this time! Or maybe not ; ) I dunno. Anyway, comes with a nice gift box to the winner of the pledge value NCPR sets for them.

So NCPR .. these are for you! Happy Birthday .. and many more!!

Ruby in the Rough

2007-03-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

During a time when I was still living in Albany and going to wholesale gem and lapidary shows regularly, I purchased quite a few lovely, higher end strands ... some emeralds; tiny, sparkly little sapphires; beautiful lapis nuggets from Afganistan; some more obscure stones called spessartite in a graduated set of briolettes (an absolutely gorgeous root beer colored stone); tender little tourmaline briolettes; rich, deep brown topaz .. and several strands of deep, rich red rubies - as well as a handful of individual rough cut and faceted ruby "pendants". I've turned a few of these strands into pretty things, the others I pull out and look at once in a while, hoping something will come to me. It does, on occasion. Ya can't rush the creative process. With me, stuff has to "stew" for a bit. It's usually worth the wait .. but we can go into that another time.

A local woman twice, at two separate shows, saw one of the rough cut rubies I had simply suspended from a sterling snake chain. She asked about doing it in gold. Not a problem. Gave her my number, or I called her with the price .. can't remember which. But it was later her daughter who called and wanted to purchase the pendant for her mother for Christmas from her and her brothers. Did it up in 14k, packed it up and off it went. I'm sorry to say I neglected to get a picture of that one. Happens sometimes. But .. got another call just recently for matching earrings. This in response to a casual comment I'd made to the daughter about having a necklace I was thinking of taking apart. A graduated strand of faceted flat oval rubies with small 18k gold granulated beads and an 18k clasp. I didn't mind that it wasn't selling, as I got to wear it now and again (it's difficult to resist the "Ooooh .. what kind of stones are THOSE?!?) .. but, since the whole point of this venture is to actually SELL, I had toyed with the idea of taking it apart and using the beads for earrings and bracelets and little charms and whatever. It was this woman's call for matching earrings that finally found me at my bench cutting it up and putting its individual components into little zip lock baggies. Sigh. It wasn't going to sell up here in the north country .. it was a $1500 necklace. Better to put the pieces to good use elsewhere. Had the opulent pleasure of wearing them while I could, though! And there's still a VERY nice smaller strand of rubies that look darn nice with just a white t-shirt and jeans .. no kidding. ; )

Anyway .. I completed the earrings for this customer today. I even assembled a little photography station with the light cube n everythin' .. but, as it often happens in these cases, it didn't make a difference. I just couldn't capture them in the right light (and I tried several times without the light cube before I finally gave up and thought, what the heck, gotta set it up sooner or later). But here they are, looking like anything but rubies! I included the pic of the necklace so you could see their true color (the necklace was placed on a flatbed scanner) .. or at least closer to true than the earrings might suggest. They're very delicate and hang about 3/4 of an inch from the 3mm ball to the bottom of the loop beneath the ruby.

It was difficult getting them to stop swinging so I could snap the shutter. I deleted probably 10 or 12 blurred shots. I finally had to just sit there quietly and ... wait. The problem was that in order to get the camera into a good position, one of the tri-pod legs was on the shelf beneath the light cube .. so every time I even touched the shutter, the earrings would ... well, shudder. It can't be this much trouble photographing kids! I so hope I get to a point in this venture where this part of it becomes second nature.

In the spirit of "practice makes perfect", I also took a pic of another Flower Weave bracelet I did this morning, this one with a hand made clasp. A little bluish, but not bad. I guess the next bit of experience I need to acquire is with PhotoShop. Onward and upward!

OK, back to the fun part .. got a few more rings laid out all ready for assembling a couple more spiral bracelets. I'm off!

Not Yo Momma's Charm Bracelet

2007-03-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

Had a customer ask if I made charm bracelets .. well, there are SO many different kinds of charm bracelets out there these days. The ones I remember (back when I was old enough to have a boy buy me one) involved a charm chain and a long-term commitment to additional charm purchases for each and every "special" event or occasion. If you were VERY special, over time you'd end up with so many little jingles on your bracelet, your shoulder would hang lower on one side. I don't make those. Though I have been known to special order charms at a customer's request, I don't keep a ton of 'em on hand. I prefer to make my own ..

This is the kind of thing *I* really like to make. Out on the trade show scene I've heard them called "Cha Cha" bracelets. I do a lot of this bead burst kinda construction .. in earrings, pendants, and bracelets. I call them either bead bursts or "Melange" designs. They take a bit of time to design, and even more time to construct. But when ya get one right, it barks at cha. This one has something like 80 attachments .. but it was a real beauty. It sold at a show down in The 1000 Islands (Clayton) last summer.

These are some Bead Burst pendants on hand dyed ribbon, Greek leather cord and sterling snake chain. Two separate vendors called that first rectangular bead on the left Red Sunstone and Muscovite .. so I never know what to tell my customers. It's kind of a pretty strawberry color. The middle stone is chalcedony (kal SAID knee), one of my favorites .. whether it's a blue or green chalcedony, it almost always looks as though it's lit up from the inside. The stone on the right is sugalite .. once again, the photo doesn't do it justice. It's a deep, rich purple color. This pendant is from the same series as the bracelet above. Got a ton more hand dyed ribbons to play with, so I'm thinkin' there'll be some more Bead Bursts comin' in the spring!

But, I digress ... yes, indeedy, I do make charm-ing bracelets. What would you like??

Spiral, Captured

2007-03-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

Well, came down to the studio this morning, sat down with my nifty little spiral bracelet, quickly found the incorrect links (removed them), and - with a little more attention to detail - captured the end appropriately this time! Now it's a nice even spiral all around. It didn't help that Cara was thwapping me for a walk Friday afternoon when I was trying to end the thing .. she can be very insistent. And her internal clock is pretty darned concise!

Here's another try at the photography thing .. I refuse to scan it. I'll get this thing down sooner or later (just discovered this setting called "white balance" that seems to have made a bit of difference). At least I don't have to wait for my prints to come back any more .. ain't technology grand!
Oh, and while I was messin' with the camera anyway, I tried again with the Flower Weave earrings, too. At least you can now see that they're sterling! : )

OK .. now that I've got the Spiral weave down, I think the next few days is for making several additional sizes. Don't think I'm ready to give mine up just yet : )

A Busy Day!

2007-03-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

These are the earrings that go with the flower weave bracelet. They're amazingly light. I do believe I need to work on my camera skills .. either that or pull that light cube out and start using the thing : ) The picture really doesn't do them justice.

The earrings below are another of the finished PMC pieces I posted a week or so ago. I left these out to dry naturally and experimented with carving the PMC with small and delicate wood carving tools. I was afraid I'd put too much pressure on the piece and break them; but they were pretty sturdy in that stage. I kinda liked the carving aspect versus impressing a pattern into the clay while it's still wet. I had them tumbling with a bunch of rings I used in the spiral bracelet below, and just added the hand made earwires and dangles this afternoon (the dangles are an 8mm creme rose Swarovski pearl and a peacock blue freshwater pearl on a fine silver headpin. The pearls add a little elegant contrast to the primitive look I was shootin' for with the PMC portion. And, of course, after firing, the PMC becomes pure silver, fine silver, .999. Again, very light weight.

This is new chain maille weave for me .. tried it for the first time today. We lost power for a couple hours during a snow/sleet storm while I was working on it, so no radio, no tumbler, no computer, no nuthin'. It was VERY quiet. I almost wished I'd picked out a little more difficult weave for this time when it was so very easy to concentrate! Again .. my photo skills need work, I know. It's a continuous circle .. no clasp. You roll it onto your wrist. I was skeptical at first .. thought it might be too big if you had to put it on that way. Not the case .. it was perfect! Well, for me anyway. I'll have to make others another half inch to an inch larger. And while it was a real easy weave .. I understood the pattern quickly and was bopping right along .. the ending was a bit tricky. In fact, I'm certain I didn't get the last two connecting links quite right. Before adding the last two connecting links, you must tighten the twist just the right amount. Too loose, and the spiral pattern won't hold, too tight and it kinks up on itself. So .. not so easy after all. I'm wearing it at the moment, however (it really is a pretty little thing!), so I'll go back and get it right first thing on Monday. And I'll try to get a better photo of it at that time ; ) Promise.

Flower Power & Earthbound Joy

2007-02-26T15:58:00.000-05:00

I made a bunch of rings this morning and put this "Flower Weave" bracelet together after the rings had tumbled for a few hours. I got a little carried away, as I often do when I'm weaving rings, and made it a little bigger than I had intended. Too big for my little wrists, but at 7.5" it'll be fine for the average wrist. I make tidy little earrings to go with this weave .. they're up for Tuesday. They're made up of two sets of those three-ring "flower" segments and two sets of the double rings that connect them. I hang them from a simple French wire.

While I was waiting for the rings to tumble, I walked the dog and made a couple of these bracelets. Sometimes the name for a piece comes to me while I'm assembling the stones .. other times the piece sets on my bench for a while before a name will occur to me. Other times I get impatient, as I did with this piece, and open a Healing with Crystals book that a friend gave to me. Usually, just looking up the properties of any given stone will start the cogs turnin'. Smoky quartz (and these faceted stones are a particularly dark and rich example) has the quality of helping to focus energy internally. "Smoky quartz , with its quiet, calming energy is an effective grounding stone." Who knew. And when I turned to the page on Turquoise, right at the top of the page in bold letters is "Joy and the immune system." It goes on to explain that "Activating and strengthening the body's own defences (sic) naturally improves quality of life, bringing an increased sense of optimism and happiness. Both turquoise and aquamarine can be used for this purpose." So ... grounding + happiness = Earthbound Joy!

A couple PMC pieces ..

2007-02-25T13:19:00.000-05:00

These are two of the items I posted earlier as unfinished clay pieces .. the leaf was molded from an actual leaf I picked in the three-acre field where we allow the dog to run free (and hopefully "run down"). When I first oxidized it, it showed the most spectacular rainbow of colors .. I'm lead to believe that this is due to the minerals in our tap water. I made the mistake of trying to shine it up a bit, and the rainbow went away. That's the way of rainbows, I guess.

The earrings are three-way .. the fine silver centerpiece has a hole through the center. That 4mm ball with the aqua briolette hanging from it is actually a separate post earring that fits through the center hole. You can wear the fine silver piece as is, without the post, or wear the post solo. They're suspended from a handmade French wire.

We're in!

2007-02-25T12:23:00.000-05:00

Well, there's still some work to be done, but this is the basic set-up after we finished on Wed., the 21st. That's me, smack dab in the middle! Not my idea, my associates suggested it. The light hits it midday so that the jewelry in the case just lights up!

We have plans to put a small carpet in there as well as a rustic chair or bench. We also intend to replace the black lattice "walls", that separate our space with those on either side, with hanging burlap. And our resident artist, who at one time owned her own gallery, will add some of her work as well as a more experienced touch with the overall look.

We've made arrangements with the gallery owner for an official "Grand Opening" on May 20 .. we thought we'd wait till the weather was nicer. As many of us who can, will, be there that day. I'll most likely post a reminder as the Grand Opening nears.

Gallery Display Case

2007-02-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks a whole lot better on my laptop monitor, but you get the idea. I cleaned and tagged it all last night and hope to add a couple of those Precious Metal Clay pieces .. if I can get them cleaned up and finished today.

The case is an inexpensive pine box; and I was afraid it LOOKED cheap. But the addition of the linen covered carpet remnant on which everything sets helped a great deal. Though when I glued the remaining linen fabric onto floral foam segments, it made it all look so much more three dimensional.

I have some small pine cones and some dried flower segments I thought I might add in here and there. Or maybe not. We'll see how it goes and what the rest of our area looks like before I go crazy with additional extras. It may be fine just the way it is (sometimes less really is more).

The Shops at 25 West

2007-02-17T10:48:00.000-05:00

I seem to be on a roll today .. no sooner finished the last post and an email arrived asking about this gallery in Little Falls. It's actually called The Shops at 25 West, and it's all housed in an 1855 Stone Mill building on the edge of the Mohawk River. The entire first floor is occupied by antique dealers; the second floor contains about 30 spaces for individual shops. The pic above is what our space looks like at the moment. This was taken last fall when four of us took a trip down to see what the place looked like. We were courted by the owner, Linda Vincent (standing by the window), last summer when she saw our website. Her goal is to fill the spaces on the second floor with high quality, hand crafted artisan crafts (of which we all provide fine examples, thank you). I'm behind the camera here, but the other three who went down that day are on the right (excluding the woman in the pink outfit), Lisa Nortz (silversmith), Lis Barsuglia-Madsen (weaver) and Marcia Waligory (Adirondack pack baskets).

The display devices currently residing in the space are available for our use .. we may or may not need them. When we head down on the 21st, we'll have a van and pick-up truck to carry all our own display devices and inventory. I don't know if we'll be able to complete set up on the 21st, but if it looks halfway decent, I'll take another pic for ya .. at the very least, I'll take a shot of MY little table top display! I joke, but I feel very fortunate to be one among such a talented group. Each and every one is a stickler for perfection. A group after my own heart.

PMC Progress

2007-02-17T10:05:00.000-05:00

A couple friends have asked about the process I go through when making a piece with Precious Metal Clay (PMC), so I took a shot of a few pieces on which I'm currently working. The three sets of items on the left are made with Standard PMC (also called Original) .. it's water content is a bit higher than PMC+ or PMC3; and so once fired, these pieces will shrink about 28% (which makes my head spin when I'm trying to think about how large or small I want the piece to be once fired). I've been working on these items with files and consecutively finer sanding papers, which is why they look a little more "finished". I had to repair a break in the leaf, and so have a bit more sanding to do on it before putting them all in the kiln. Original PMC gets to bake at 1650 degrees for a couple hours. The two sets of items at the top will be earrings, the leaf a pendant.

The rougher-looking pieces on the right are impressed with a design and then hand cut from PMC3. I haven't yet done anything to them but impress and cut them. I have a warming plate on which just-cut pieces set to dry .. doesn't take very long this way. If there's any moisture left in a piece when put in the kiln, it will crack. Occasionally, I'll just let them dry naturally for a day or two. If you don't keep an eye on them while they're drying on the warming plate, they may curl up on you. A problem that can be fixed in a couple different ways .. but it's better not to have the problem.

The PMC3 pieces are slated for a bracelet. The piece with an additional hole in the center will be one part of a toggle clasp. I haven't yet cut the bar that will go through it. Since PMC3 has less water content, it dries out a lot faster while you're working with it .. you really have to know exactly what you're going to do, have all your tools and devices out and ready to grab, and get down to it .. quickly. I just wasn't quick enough to get that last piece cut .. as it was, the remaining PMC3 scraps were beginning to crack. I added some moisture to the mass of scrap, massaged it a bit between a piece of plastic wrap, and shut it up tight in it's original zip bag (and then put THAT into a glass jar with the lid on tight). Hope to get back to it today .. the PMC3 scraps should be a bit more pliable now after a day or so of "moisture management".

Additionally, I'll have to enlarge the holes a bit .. wasn't thinking when I made them. If the holes are not large enough, the 20 or 18 gauge wire with which I hope to connect the segments won't fit through. Easier to enlarge holes in this stage, when they're still just dried clay. I could also do it once the pieces are fired, but it's a lot more work to enlarge holes in fine silver than in dried clay! I'll also need to tidy up all the edges .. you can also see from the pic that a couple of the pieces did indeed curl up a little on the corners. I'll have to address that once they're fired. It won't be too much work to straighten them out with a rawhide hammer .. fine silver is usually pretty soft. It's difficult to see from the pic (I set up the camera real quick), but the impression came from a rubber stamp full of musical staves and notes. Upon reflection (hind sight is a wonderful thing), I probably should have cut the pieces on the diagonal .. for more visual interest. But it'll be fine ... next time perhaps. Maybe for a matching pendant!!