New Year and New Work!

I hope that you are all having a wonderful New Year and a Happy 2012 thus far!

I have been busy working with my favorite materials: enamel, sterling silver, fine silver, copper, gold and gems.

[My favorite gemstones tend to be opalescent ones, like moonstones, labradorites, chalcedony etc. or fiery ones, like garnet, sunstone or fire opal etc.. I have a "fire and water" thing going on, I supposed. My favorite paintings have dark blue or indigo and warm yellow or orange also.]



I have been playing with some new enamels, since my last update. I have all sorts of fun opaque colors that have come in, from Tangerine Orange to Deep Red, Translucent Orchid to Cobalt Blue and, of course, Black and White for the purists out there!

Most of my enamel fine jewelry is for sale right in my Etsy shop, I also do custom requests, as the queue allows. Please feel free to stop by and take a peek around. My work is handmade, by me, in New Hampshire (USA). I do *not* order pre-made items and just tweak them, I design each piece from scratch and am a metalsmith / silversmith. I love to design custom pieces for my customers so please drop me a line if you'd like something You-Nique!




Some other things that I have started selling are handmade sterling silver hoops, (1" and 1.25" right now, though other sizes can be custom made), with or without glass rondelle / donut beads. These are a lot of fun and the beads can be mixed and matched, as needed, (or removed if you'd like your hoops without beads for a night)!




























I have started working with PMC again, (precious metal clay). I have been using the Copper clay, as I like it the best. I have posted a few enamel and PMC pieces as well as some gemstone and PMC items. It is a lot of fun to work with, my two favorite mediums rolled into one, ceramics and metal!















Above is a pendant out of copper PMC with enamels in it's recesses. To the right is a pendant out of Precious Metal Clay, (PMC), with a 3mm faceted Apatite gem and three glass beads. Both are strung on colored cotton and ribbon cords.







For the organic, but minimalistic, jewelry lovers I have started a line that I call "Pounded Pebble". These are items made from sterling silver, that I have melted and forged, (hammered / pounded), into a new shape. The ring set, toward the top of the page, has one of these stacking rings in sterling silver and below you will see one of the items that has become a best seller, from this line, my Pounded Pebble handmade designer earrings in sterling silver.

These little studs are quite adorable on and are organic but not over the top or sloppy. They have a crisp look, like a pebble that is shiny from wear and becomes visible as the tide goes out.

New Season and New Work!

Greetings blog readers! I have been busy making new designs and improving old ones. I have started working with PMC and CopprClay, which I haven't worked with since college, (our professor, Tim McCreight, was the metalsmith that worked with the original PMC developer). We got to beta-test the first PMC, which has improved greatly since then!

I have also been etching copper again, something I used to love to do in college, I will post photos of my CopprClay and PMC Silver as well as etched jewelry as I get them.

As for my enamel work, I have expanded my color range quite a bit, adding one or two clear colors and a few opaque as well. I have tried to take a few shots of multiple colors together and I have added my Elemental Post Enamel Earrings to my shops as well as some new colors and sizes of them.

Here are a few examples of the enamel pieces in various colors and styles, (all fine silver bases with sterling silver posts):






















Here is my new, semi opaque, green color:

Some of my favorite pieces are fused items, where the metal has been heated until it melts and bonds together, without solder. It's a tricky process but gives a wonderful organic look to the pieces. Here are some earrings that I had fun making, with Peach Moonstone cabochons, fine silver bezels and gold toned Glass Beads:



























Labradorite and Rainbow Moonstone are two of my favorite stones, which I use regularly. I love the flash of color, usually aqua but sometimes golden amber. They are wonderful gems! Here is a simple stacking ring that I made, with a rope band of sterling silver and a Labradorite cabochon in it's center:

Last, but not least, I have added some very cool glass beads to my hoop repertoire! Now many of my handmade, hammered / planished sterling silver hoops will come with removable glass rondelle beads! Interchangeable for varied looks to mix and match your favorite outfits. Here are a few examples:
















































That's most of what I have been up to, at the jewelry bench, and there's plenty more to come! I am looking at re-organizing my work space to make it more efficient and, hopefully, a little brighter also. Thank you for stopping by!

IF YOU'D LIKE TO PURCHASE ONE OF THE ITEMS SHOWN: please check out my Artfire Shop or drop me a line for a custom item. Have a wonderful day and I look forward to speaking to you soon!