Reoccurring (Sometimes Weekly) Update - July 28th

So I'm officially an "artist"! Studio 54 Gallery in Enumclaw, WA picked nearly 20 of my jewelry pieces to display (and hopefully sell) at their gallery. Here's a few of what they picked...

I've also been busy making some new things, too.

Circle and Dot Earrings and Rings - available in my Etsy shop

Blue Lace Agate Hinged Cuff Bracelet

Fossil Coral Earrings

And straight off the jewelry desk (I finished them last night):

I was a little bit inspired by historical roman and medieval designs for these earrings. The labradorites have a nice blue green flash, too. They are pretty much my favorite stone.

I have a bunch more earrings and pendants planned out, I just need to get downstairs to my desk to start them!

Weekly Update - July 14th

I just want to pop in here really quick and share a couple recent projects!

These are Tanzanian sunstone and silver. I made the ball posts from scratch, too, which was fun.

And this was this weekend's project:

The top picture is my concept drawing and the bracelet after I had cut and soldered everything and fitted it all together. The bottom picture is after I polished everything and set the stones. I'm not sure what the stones are... they are a creamy white with purple and gray veins running through them. I DO know that soldering copper is a pain in the rear, though! I haven't soldered anything but silver in quite a while and I forgot how annoying copper is. I like the end result though! :)

I sprinted through this bracelet project because late last week, a local gallery contacted me and asked if I would be interested in displaying (and hopefully selling) a few pieces with them! I drive down and meet with them next Wednesday and I wanted to have a few more metalwork pieces to show them. I'm hoping to finish another large pendant and set of earrings tomorrow and Tuesday. Might be a little optimistic, but that's what I'll shoot for. 

Wish me luck!

Weekly(ish) update - June 7th - July 7

Well, I went to the gem show I mentioned in my last post. It was a bit of a bust. While it was mostly wholesale finished fine jewelry, it also had a lot of decently priced beads and a lot of expensive (but probably still decently priced) faceted stones. My storage boxes are already overflowing with gemstone beads, so I wasn't really in the market for those and while the sparkly diamonds caught my eye, they certainly weren't in my budget! (Or in my skill set quite yet...) So other than a box of cotton filled jewelry boxes, I walked out empty handed. Oh well... 

I did have a chance to sit down this weekend and make some new earrings. Sometimes I sketch out a design idea and then have to toss the idea completely out the window when I actually try to make it, but with this set of earrings, my drawn design worked out perfectly! Love it when that happens.

Ornate Malachite and Sterling Silver Earrings - available in my Etsy shop!

Isn't that malachite awesome? I think its the perfect color match for the Pantone color of the year (emerald green).

I also made a simpler pair of earrings with some nice London Blue Topaz beads I found.

London Blue Topaz and Sterling Silver Earrings - available in my Etsy shop!

That's about it for what I've been doing at my jewelry desk. It's a bit of a slow period for me, which is good because as I mentioned before my mother-in-law and brother-in-law are staying with us and we have been taking them sight seeing and shopping.

I did just get a package with some pretty new cabochons, so I'll try to keep the updates coming whenever I make something new!