Updates coming...

It sure has been a long time!!

I have updates coming... in the mean time here are a few photos of pieces I've created - including a before, after and NOW picture of my last foster. 

This is Plum... now known as Sage - she came to our home a week after being
pulled off the streets of Memphis where she was living with a pack of dogs.
The pic on the left is her an hour or so after being caught at her first check-up
and the pic on the right is her a month and week or so later after her last
check up before heading north to live a wonderful life with her
canine sister and a great Mom and Dad.
She stayed with us from Halloween until early December.

THIS is Sage a taken 6 months later with her sister.
She is big, beautiful and LOVED.

Pieces currently in my calDESIGN Naturals etsy shop include but not limited to these -
EXCEPT the bracelet on the blue denim - which was a custom order. 

Back in the Studio...

Climbed back up on the horse after looking at late 2012/2013 year in review and seeing how few pieces I posted. No wonder I've been feeling "out of sorts"!! To much what I call "work-work" not enough creative play = "out of sorts" Cindy.

Fine Silver Locket...

I took a "hinge-less locket" class at the Memphis Botanic Garden in mid January and after making my piece I have ideas for how to change it up, improve on the piece I did (example - I did a deeper curve on mine so it was a bit smaller than the rest in class so my bezel should have been smaller... next time I will take all that into consideration. :o) ). I love taking classes - even if it's a repeat which I do quite often - I tend to learn something new each time OR get ideas on how to tweak projects and make them my own. (Next class is spinner rings! :o) )

earth prints in Sterling Silver...
On Jan 9 - 31 I took part in the Memphis Botanic Garden "Incognito Artist Silent Auction". The idea is that

 all pieces submitted are not "signed" (as most of them are paintings that is easy to do) and bidders are encouraged to "bid on what you love, not who you know". I created Sterling Silver versions of my "earth prints" in the form of a bracelet and an earring/necklace set. I loved every minute of creating these pieces! They speak to me and the "clean" edges on these - as opposed to the more organic look my latest bronze pieces have been was a fun different look for these. 

The pieces were pretty well received - they were on display from 9th thru the 31 with a big Gala event the evening of the 31st when the silent bid auction took place. My necklace and earring set brought in a winning bid of $125 and my bracelet brought in a winning bid of $50. Not a bad donation for the Garden Education Department.

Bronze earth print:
Cilantro w Amethyst ...
On even better news - I posted the Bronze Cilantro w Amethyst crystals earth print I wore to the Incognito Gala on Facebook to show how cool it looked with some organic ceramic beads and SOMEONE ASKED TO BUY IT! - Ok I know, I have sold pieces before, and even shipped to Australia but ... ::giggle:: it never gets old! ;o)

The piece had two Amethyst Crystals (little pieces that chipped off when I dropped an Amethyst Druzy piece on the floor by accident) fired in place in the Bronze. They clouded in the kiln - which I expected something to happen because Amethyst should not be fired - and let me tell you - they were soo cool looking. They clouded, did not fracture or break, just ended up looking almost like Moonstone. I paired it with two twist tube organic textured, ceramic beads with a slight turquoise coloring on them. Strung it all on a brown leather cord and created hand-coiled end caps and "S" hook. It was restrung and is now in the loving hands of it's new owner. 

Heart Felt
& Simply Understated...
My latest piece was a custom Valentine's Day gift. Now I know this gifter and they let me pretty much have my own way but I wanted them to be able to have a hand in the piece also so when they told me the receiver's favorite color is green so I went thru my stash of lampwork beads and pulled out three types of green beads....

1. "cutesy" green - like cupcakes
2. "love" green - hearts of diff shapes, sizes and shades
3. "dressy" green - more modern take on green lampwork beads - long focals, swirls, etc.

Without even asking for more the large heart focal was picked. No second guessing - just perfect. It has an opaque almost Emerald green bottom and transparent green top with silver swirled where the different glasses meet. The heart focal is one I had gotten from Principessa Jewels & Glass.

I went for a "simply understated" look and highlighted the colors on the bead by using 4mm Swarovski Crystals (sand opal, olivine, emerald and peridot) and added one for the gifters birthstone and one for the receivers birthstone. I hung the pendant from a black leather cord (also requested by the gifter) with Sterling Silver hand-coiled end caps, "S" hook and then added a 2" chain to allow for it to be worn at varying lengths. I finished it off with a clear crystal Swarovski heart. 

I have been back in the Studio this weekend too - started and finished a project that went INCREDIBLY SMOOTH! :o) Right now the pieces are in the tumbler so more later!! :o) 

Thanks for "listening". :o)

Flights of Filigree

I have stepped out and ventured into the gloriously beautiful world of Filigree! I saw my first piece of incredible filigree jewelry in person when I went to a large artisan show in Lancaster PA and discovered by chance the work of Lisa Gallagher. Such tiny beautiful pieces w/ such tiny little pieces of twisted, shaped metal inside. I was, no I am... in awe.

That was 2 years ago... After buying books and looking at pieces and dreaming about trying it I finally said -  "Loug, just do it!" so this past weekend I made my first attempt.

The thought was that it would be an initial pin for my sister-in-law of a scarf. Although pleased that I was able to solder the pieces and get them to hold, it didn't come out as I imagined. Then I read some more of the Silver Threads book by Jeanne Rhodes-Moen... and realized that I should have used square wire (I used 18g round sterling) and I should have used Filigree wire (I used twisted 24g round sterling). I could have pounded out the twisted wire to more closely work like filigree wire but I kinda-sorta didn't read that indepth. So I decided... Let's try it again.

Here is attempt #2 a set of sterling silver leaf-shaped earrings with 6mm light blue (fabricated) cat's eye and 4mm moonstone cabochons. I chose the light blue Cat's Eye because I know she had asked for a pair of blue Chalcedony earrings last year for Christmas - and I chose the Moonstones because they are a pretty grey color and dark grey is her favorite color. I initially intended to make them "post" earrings so I pulled out some pre-made bezels for the stones and a pair of pre-made posts - all sterling silver.

This time I smartly hammered out about 14" of 24g twisted sterling silver to a nice flat piece of wire that has 'ribs' on the top and bottom. After doing that I needed to anneal it and that meant putting fire to it to soften it up again. After that - Pickle... that would become my mantra... shape, position, flux, solder, pickle... shape, position, flux, solder, pickle... ;o)

I designed the earrings - because I use a leaf with my logo on it as my jewelry tag I used that same shape for the earrings. It's a familiar feel I thought it would help me ease into the project. I worked in the stones - behind the blue stone was where I imagined the post would be for the earrings. Not heavily filigree'd but enough to get my feet wet and be pretty. I tend to start my designs in my design book and then move to my computer to work out some details. (Yes I have visions of owning one of the HP design pads that they use on Project Runway!).

Next step was to cut the 18g square sterling silver wire and shape it to form the outside of the leaf and the center "vein". The outside is one piece bent, formed and curved to fit the design... the "vein" is a single piece also formed and curved to fit. I trimmed the pieces so that the Cat's Eye bezels would fit right into the top of the leaf.

Now for the tricky part - well, to me. Snipping and shaping the inside "filigree" pieces that form the curls and twirls of the earrings center design. These little pieces are interesting to work with. The flattened twisted wire sometimes gave me "fits" but I have to say it was very fun to do. The top twirled piece on both earrings is actually in the form of a stylized up-side down heart. The Moonstone bezel will fit right into one of the twirls of the heart.

Now... step 6 which I don't have a picture for - soldering. I used my soldering block, small butane torch, easy and medium wire solder and flux. I am a klutz so to take a photo of the set-up w/ a torch ... nope wasn't happening. I thought about putting my tripod up but the 4-legged helpers were awake and that would cause interest in what I was doing more than they already had. (Here is a picture of my Sissy far enough away to be out of the way but close-enough to satisfy her need to be next to me.)

However I do have a picture of my NEW FAVORITE TOOL! My pickle pot is a small (dip size) crock pot that holds my pickling solution (I use Silver Prep as it's kinder to the environment) ... it is used to remove  

oxidation on the wire that comes from being heated by the torch. Apparently you need to remove the oxidation each time you solder. Well - walking the 10' to the kitchen each time I solder a piece was getting old so I thought hmmm I can get a small dish to put some in and put it on my mug warmer on my work station... My friend Beth reminded me to cover it so the "helpers" don't get into it by mistake. I thought ... cool - I have a tea cup from Hong Kong with a cover... and then I stopped in my tracks .. I HAVE A TEA CUP WITH A COVER *AND* A STRAINER! Now... if you don't do this you have no idea how cool this is... when you put small pieces into a pickle pot the hardest thing to do is get them back out of the pot... with the porcelain strainer your pieces sit in the pickle and are easier to get access too!! Too cool! My new favorite tool!!

I worked the placement and the soldering of the filigree wires and the Moonstone bezel and then after polling my FB fans (calDesign Naturals) I decided to forgo the posts and make ear wires instead. I soldered a 3" piece of 20g sterling silver onto the back of the Cat's Eye bezel to form into an earring wire later.

Here I laid the soldered pieces on the original design to see how close I got... not bad I think, not bad! I'm also looking to see if they are close to being similar left and right earrings.
The closer they are to the design the better off they will be when being worn.
 
A quick look at the back - I wanted to check the solder points. You want to be sure that they were smooth and would not catch on anything. I used a file to smooth these areas, double checked the ear wire placement and prepared to form the ear wires.

Forming Ear Wires... A couple bends with flat nose pliers, a twirl onto a pair of bail pliers and POOF I have some ear wires. They were about 1/2" to long so I trimmed then down, bent up the ends a little and - ear wires! :o)

Next is to put these in the tumbler. A tumbler will shine up the pieces as well as work-harden the pieces. Each time it is soldered, the heat will soften the wire. Work-hardening it will toughen the wire up so that it's not flimsy bend-able soft. And the "spahkle" it gives is wonderful!!

Last step is to put the stones in, shoot, package and send! A beautiful pair of earrings for my sister-in-law.

I hope she enjoys wearing them as much as I enjoyed creating them. And I can tell you I will DEFINITELY do this again. I love what I was able to create and want to do it again and try and work filigree into my metal clay designs!