Morgane Got Married!

A few months ago, I was approached on my Etsy site by a wonderful young woman named Morgane. She was plannig her wedding and had chosen ME to design her wedding ring! GASP! I have never done this before, and was both petrified and honored to be a part of such a momentous occasion! She really liked my bird's nest ring, so I made one for her with tiny sterling silver "eggs" in the golden nest. Perfect! Well......not so fast. She was in Mexico, and I have never shipped to Mexico. I figured three weeks in advance would be plenty of time....I WAS WRONG! I shipped the ring and assumed all was well until poor Morgane started contacting me as the wedding was suddenly days away and NO RING! Needless to say I was ill with panic. My first wedding ring and it might miss the wedding! On top of that, the wedding was to be held in FRANCE, and Morgane was getting ready to LEAVE WITH NO RING! I must say I was beside myself. Anyway, on the day she was to leave for France I had all but given up hope, when the ring arrived 2 hours prior to her flight!!! Talk about a close call! I don't know about Morgane, but I nearly wept with relief!

So, Morgane is married (to a handsome young man I might add) and the ring is on her finger. Thank you, Morgane, for choosing me and for sharing these photos from your big day. I wish you both nothing but happiness wherever your nest may be!!

Reticulating Silver

First, it was etching. I love etching. I am etching everything I can get my hands on and hope to some day afford an electronic etch system for silver. For now, I etch brass and copper like no tomorrow.

THEN, I discovered reticulating silver. WOW! This is really fun, and really simple. I've seen reticulated silver before, and figured it was created through some incredibly difficult process that was far beyond my skill-set. WRONG. The look of rugged peaks, valleys, bumps and lumps I love so much are created with heat, and patience. With my little butane torch I can easily heat stering silver discs and sheet to red, then, with steady, even heat, start the reticulation process. You can see the bubbles begin to form on the nearly molten surface, then you have to stop, and clean the silver either by pickling or by hand with patina prep or whatever else you like to use to clean silver. This removes all the impurities that are in the silver, which come to the surface when heated. Then, back under the torch. Keep your flame even over the surface, don't focus the flame in one spot or you might burn right through the silver. Do this several times until you get the pattern or look that you like, cleaning between each torch session. The silver will deform, so start with a piece larger than what you want to end up with. I love the deformed look, and usually leave it at that. When you are happy with the results, clean thouroughly, and burnish either by hand or with a wire brush wheel/dremel. Be sure to look at both sides, sometimes the bottom side turns out even more interesting than the top! From here you can hammer (be a bit careful here, reticulating makes the silver somewhat brittle), cut, and patina to your heart's content. COOL!

Pictured here is a ring I made combining etched brass with reticulated silver and a baroque freshwater pearl. I just love the ancient, organic look!!! More to come....

And Now for Something COMPLETELY Different...

I've been obsessively etching copper and brass for days--I get that way with a new idea or toy. So, I decided to pull myself out of that and refresh myself in a completely different direction for a project I hope to be a part of.

I heard about a call for artists to participate in a "Steampunk Inspiration" book to be published next year. I've been fooling around with assemblage jewelry for a while now, and have really enjoyed creating funky necklaces using antique German doll bodies. These porcelain figures are hollow, and make great pendants! I've created four so far, and this is the latest, my Raven God. The "wings" are made from hammered sterling silver wire and silver tubes. I inserted black turkey feathers into the tubes. It's multi-functional as well. The pewter raven head-piece is another necklace, the chain fits inside the doll body. Below is an adjustable sterling silver ring with guinea and turkey feathers suspended by a sterling silver hook. You can wear the whole thing when you need the DRAMA, or wear the smaller necklace and ring seperately. I used a sterling silver neck wire for this so it could be hung on a wall when not being worn. This is definately meant to be displayed! I submitted photos of this guy along with some other assemblage work. Hope I get in!!!

I still have three or four doll bodies left...I'm thinking of creating a botanical piece next....I'll keep you posted!!

More Experimenting...

Another package arrived from Objects and Elements...so love getting those! Their new line of handmade brass charms are so cool. Very ancient in appearance, so many to choose from! Can't wait to begin working with them. I did immediately pounce on the faux bone I ordered. In case you haven't heard, this stuff is really fun to work with. It's basically PVC in sheet form. You can cut, saw, heat, bend, scratch, and carve with ease. Age it with anything from shoe polish to glaze, buff it up, and you have the look of ancient bone. Robert Dancik is the genius behind this, and he is aslo a fantastic jewelry designer. Take a peek at his site and get inspired...Don't miss his tutorial on YouTube!

So, here are two new designs using some of the great stuff from O and E. The bracelet is made from a 7-inch brass bangle topped with layers of brass, faux bone, copper, sterling silver and a Michigan beach stone. I textured and aged/patina'd all the metals myself. This piece is cold-connected--held together with brass screws and nuts. The ring is a layered design using sterling silver that I impressed with a woodgrain pattern then colored with patina to bring out the design, topped with sterling silver, a text transparancey sheet, a cup of plexiglass, a copper washer, a brass bezel and sterling silver bead (again, held together with a brass screw and nut). Love them!

More to come soon....

Sunday--It was a Good Day!

Yesterday (Sunday) was a nicely productive day for me in the studio. My head was chock-full of inspiration from visiting my favorite artist's websites and blogs, and I was ready to try some new techniques and designs. I created four rings, each very different in style and appearance. One incorporates a vintage photograph and loose gemstones under a clear mineral crystal dome, one features a super-cool antique signet stone I found at a funky antique fair, the third features a hand-carved 800 year old bead from Africa, and the last is a huge stack of mixed metals hammered and heat treated with oil pastels. WHEW! Three of the rings are cold-connected, no soldering involved, and use my favorite copper and brass tube bezels in one way or another. I connected the elements using rivets and brass screws. How cool is that???

I'm most excited about working with oil pastels on metal (thank you again, Susan Lenart Kazmer). I had no idea you could work the colors into the metals (with or without patina), heat it with a torch or heat gun, then seal. The possibilities are endless, and I plan to do much, much more with this. I'll keep you posted...

In the meantime, here are a couple photos of the results. What do you think?????

All of these designs are available in my Etsy shop...