A year past?! 2013 Year in Review...

"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! 

No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"
- White Rabbit, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Oh, my goodness!
- Shirley Temple, Poor Little Rich Girl'

I couldn't choose which to use as the title to this blog post! Because Oh, my goodness! I'm late! I'm late! it has been over a YEAR since my last post - Oh, my goodness! 

So what do I do? Do I try and update in order or do I show you what I've created in the past year? I'm thinking a "quick" (seriously have you ever found me to be QUICK on this blog?) "Year in Review" is in order - so here we go!

December 2012
Custom Mother's Pendant - Intertwined Lives
Three children, three circles, intertwined
as their lives are intertwined.
Sterling Silver hand-forged open
filigree design. Lab created stones:
Topaz and Emerald with Pearl (all 6mm).
Manufactured Sterling Silver chain w/
coordinating 3 circle links connecting long link.

December 2012
Mother's Love
Special Mother's Pendant - Sterling Silver with Amethyst, Emerald and Aquamarine stones (CZs or lab made) representing three children. It hangs on a hand-dyed, black silk ribbon.

This is my first Mother's Pendant in Filigree and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I'm working on a design that will allow me to add additional children.

December 2012
Custom Mother-In-Law Set - Heart Vines
Two Sons and Daughter-in-law vining within her heart ... her heart of hearts.
Sterling Silver hand-forged open filigree design. Lab created stones: Sapphire and Tanzanite
with Pearl (all 6mm). Earrings are 6mm Sapphire and 4mm Pearls. 

Pendant hands from manufactured 20" Sterling Silver French Rope chain.
A beautiful compliment to the vining heart. 

December 2012
Custom Filigree "Initial" Earrings...
Sterling Silver earrings hand formed,
forged and soldered. 

December 2012
"Family Pendant"...
Sterling Silver wire, settings and chain. 

This is a small piece I did for my Great Aunt...
Hand-shaped, and forged sterling silver wires
forming two hearts. The top stone is my
Great Uncle's stone (Turquoise),
bottom stone is for her daughter (my God-Mother). 

My Great Aunt lost her husband last year,
and just recently lost her sister - who was buried
on what would have been my Great Uncle's birthday.
I thought I wanted to make her
something special this year for Christmas.

January 2013
Sterling Silver St. Brigid's Cross
Designed to look like grasses
in the form of a cross.

January 2013
Bronze* St. Brigid's Cross
Designed to look like the grass ends
are tied.

January 2013
FINISHED! Remember Moe from class in 2012?
In Jan 2013 I had a great set of
custom beads made specifically for this piece and
combined them with beautiful black
 and brown leather bolo cord, sterling silver
hand-fabricated end caps.

June 2013

Something Blue Ankle BraceletHemp, Lampwork Glass and Sterling Silver. 
Made for a bride's beach wedding. The hand

formed closure is sterling sliver heart w hook.

June 2013
"earth prints... Cilantro"
Bronze (Goldie 50/50), Kumihimo Cord, Sterling Silver
This was created from a mold I made of a sprig of cilantro that had just barely started to go to seed. I purposely left the edges "unfinished and uneven" to help with the "fossil" look. It has a fold-over bail on the back. The pendant hangs from a hand-crafted 20" kumihimo cord I braided using embroidery floss to get the small diameter - bronze, brown, cream and green were used. Finished it with sterling silver coiled ends and hook.

July 2013
Fold-Formed Copper with Mini Hessonite Garnet cluster
Created this copper piece in Fold Forming Class at the
Memphis Botanic Garden last weekend with Brandy Boyd.
Brought it home and added the Mini Hessonite Garnet
cluster. It was going to be a bracelet but it really
didn't want to be - sometimes you just have
to listen to the piece!

July 2013
Remembrance Crow...
Sterling Silver, Yellow Sapphire
This crow was created as a
remembrance charm representing
a much loved grandparent
who LOVED crows!
The yellow eye represents his
November birthstone.

August 2013
Race for the Cure Golf Tournament
Sterling Silver Pink Ribbon Heart Charm w/ Golf Ball
on Sterling hand wrapped bangle with glass lampwork beads.

My new obsession... earth prints

earth prints are designed to look almost like a fossil found on a dig! Some of them have crystals poking thru others are set with birthstone czs. 

August 2013
earth prints... "Sapphire Ocean" Pendant
Bronze, Blue Leather, Sapphire Crystal
This "Sapphire Ocean" pendant is approx 1 1/2"  across by 1 1/4" high and is crafted using two of my own custom created mold. This is shown shown straight from the kiln with heat patina acquired during firing with only a slight brushing to bring up some sparkle on the high points of the piece. The Sapphire Crystal fired perfectly and looks wonderful in the pendant. The look fits my idea of earth prints perfectly. It is currently hanging from a length of blue leather cording.

August 2013

earth prints... "Ocean" Key Fobs
Bronze, Leather, Bronze WireThese 
"Ocean" Key Fobs are approx 1" diameter using two of my own custom created molds and textures. They are shown straight from the kiln with heat patina acquired during firing. Some even have specs of carbon on them. The look fits my idea of earth prints perfectly. They hang from my hand-cut/bound leather cord fobs and have a purchased bronze colored key ring .

September 2013
Took a wonderful Mask Class with UK Metal Clay &
Enamel Artist - Joy Funnel
Fine Silver with Enamels, CZs Shows front and back of my Sea Queen

October 2013
Larimar & Sterling Silver
A wonderful artist friend of mine cuts cabochons
and creates beautiful jewelry. He sent me the pretty
Larimar set pendant with a cabochon order.
I loved it so much I asked him to cut me a couple
of small triangle Larimar cabs so that I could
try setting my own post earrings. I LOVE THEM!!!

December 2013
Dreamcatcher Sterling Silver Filigree EarringsSterling, Pearl 

Special custom order Christmas present for a bestie from her bestie. Both girls share the same birth month (June) and an inside joke... hence the 1 and 2 on the back of the hearts. Designed to fall slightly "off center" the dream catcher part of the earring is approx 1" diameter. It hangs approx 2 1/2" long from removable posts. This allows any "stud" like earring to be used.

The feather and hearts were hand-crafted from sterling silver PMC.

This was an incredibly fun project to design and create. Thank you to the "bestie" for allowing me to make her friend's Christmas present!!

December 2013
Sterling Silver Filigree Leaf Mother's Pendant

Hand-formed, customized Mother's Pendant featuring Mother of Pearl cab for June and Yellow Topaz for November birthdays. Hangs from doubled 1/8" hand-dyed black silk cord with hand-formed coil end caps, hook and a sterling silver (pmc) artisan tag. 

This is my first international order and is wing it's way to New So Wales, Australia!! :o)

December 2013
Bronze Mitten Christmas Ornament
This ornament went to my family members in lieu of a gift this year...
The card below explains the meaning behind it.

Silver, Copper, Bronze... Color Combo Challenge And More!!

Hey!! Wow it's been a long time since my last blog - Lordy I feel like I just knelt down in a confessional! But seriously - so much has been going on in 2011 and I'm a bit behind in my reporting!!

You know me, you know my style - I tend to create pieces for specific people - gifts... with specific people in mind. Which means I think about the person, and pull bits and pieces of them into the design. Well that tends to make it difficult for me to ... just make. So in mid January I joined a Facebook group called "Color Combo Challenge". This group is fantastic. I've watched it grow from less than 50 people to over 200 in a few short months. Each Monday a combination (palette) of colors is picked (or voted on) and you have one week to create a piece in that palette - the pics are then posted on Sunday or Monday and then the new colors are announced. I've had SO much fun! Besides the craziness of trying to find materials in the right colors and then creating something "just because" I've met some super great people and learned so much!!

Here are some pics of the pieces I've done for the Color Combo Challenge (the color squares show you the color palette we had that week):

8_Brown/Black, Topaz, Seafoam, Mint and Dusty Mint Greens

Necklace and Earrings: Bronze, Pale Green Granite (yep granite), Amber Glass Beads, Topaz Swarovski Crystals, Peace Stone, Sesame Jasper, hand-made chain and ear wires from vintage bronze wire. One lamp work bead is in the center of the focal - created by That Bead Girl. The necklace is approx 22" and the earrings are approx 2 1/2" long from top of ear wire.
Bracelet: Bronze, Green Granite (this piece has cool sandy pieces in it), Topaz Swarovski Crystals, Peace Stone, Amazonite, Amber Lamp Work Spacer by That Bead Girl, hand-made chain and forged closure.
Bracelet approx 7 1/4" long.

9_Honeysuckle (Pink) & Russet
Click Here to Buy Necklace! - or - Click Here to Buy Earrings!

Necklace: Bronze hand-sculpted rose focal with hand-forged texture. Two shades of pink lampwork beads by That Bead Girl. Swaros - Light Colorado Topaz, Smoked Topaz and Rose. Brown & White Enamel beads made by me (!) with hand-forged Antique Bronze wire work. Finished off with pink suede cord and hand-forged Antique Bronze hook with lampwork bead.

Earrings: Bronze flower drops with hand-forged texture. Pink Lampwork beads by That Bead Girl, Swaros - Light Colorado Topaz and Smoked Topaz. Antique Bronze wire.



11_ Mauves & Olive done with lamp work, Swarovski crystals,
vintage bronze and hand-dyed silk cord
Click Here to Buy Necklace! - or - Click Here to Buy Earrings!

Necklace: Beautiful lamp work heart by Bastille Bleu Lampwork and jungle twilight lamp work beads by That Bead Girl combined with vintage bronze wire to create what I think is a pretty cute necklace. Notice the vintage 10mm pink ab swaros (unsure the exact color but will find out)!! ;o) Piece is finished off with hand coiled beads, cord caps and a hand-forged vintage bronze "s" hook.

Earrings: More jungle twilight lamp work beads by That Bead Girl combined with green and pink swaros, and vintage bronze hand-coiled beads on hand-forged ear wires



12_Coral & Seafoam done with Fossil Coral Beads, Adventurine, Green Flourite, Red Jasper, Dark & Light Coral Czech Glass and Lampwork Beads and Bronze wire

SOLD... Necklace - Took the color challenge a little bit literal and used fossil coral beads for this necklace w/ adventurine and green flourite along w/ red jasper and coral & pink glass czech beads. Hand-forged bronze wire chain with hand-dyed silk cord. And two small lampwork beads at either end of the main focal section by That Bead Girl.

GIFTED... Earrings: Do not match the necklace - but I love these coral/pinky color shells (Strawberry Top Shells from Thunder Bird Supply). Matched w/ bronze hand-forged ear wires and coils along with VINTAGE peridot (or Chrysobryl (?sp)) swaros. I am checking on the Swaros.



14 - Teal/Seafoam/Royal - Bronze Component, Lampwork Beads,
African Jade and Blue Lapsis w/ Bronze Wire.
Bracelet - Bronze bracelet made from one of my bronze components, pretty blue/green lampwork beads by That Bead Girl, African Jade round beads and blue lapsis. Hand forged antique bronze wire chain. Closes with a square bronze toggle.



15 - Plum & Peach - Birds Eye Rayolite, Bronze Component,
Lampwork Beads, Harvest Stone, Swarovski Crystals w/ Bronze Wire.

Necklace - Birds Eye Rayolite focal surrounded by peach and plum lampwork spacers by That Bead Girl, Harvest Stone beads, and light peach Swarovski crystals. Purchased textured chain combined with bronze button component from my etsy shop as well as lampwork, Swarovski and harvest stone bead components. Hand forged closure. Necklace approx 20".

16_Pink Lemonade - Copper, Swarovski Crystals, Glass Beads,
Copper/Brass Wire, Copper Chain
Click Here to Buy Necklace! - or - Click Here to Buy Earrings!

Pink Lemonade Garden Party - Necklace & Earrings
Second try at 'beading' but first time on my own from start to finish. Came across a bracelet in a magazine this week that had these cool crystal bead components so I thought - hmmmm. Here's my try -

Necklace - "Beads" created from Sunflower, Vintage Rose, Rose Swarovski Crystals with size 15 pale pink glass beads. Combined with my own copper rose hips, hand-made jump rings from copper and brass twisted wire and Swarovski crystal w/ copper links. The toggle on this is a combination of Copper & Brass twisted wire and one of my copper twig with buds. Chains lengths are doubled to add to the flow.

Earrings - "Beads" created from Sunflower, Vintage Rose, Rose Swarovski Crystals with size 15 pale pink glass beads. Combined with my own copper rose hips as dangles. Hang from rose gold-filled ear wires for comfortable "non-greening" wear.



17_Green/Brown - Copper, Bronze, Swarovski Crystals, Harvest Stone,
Lamp work Beads, Suede Cording, Vintage Bronze Wire, Copper & Brass Chain
Click Here to Buy Me!

Necklace - dangle focal created from Lamp work beads by Bastille Bleu (rounds) combined with hand-coiled Vintage Bronze bail, patina'd Copper chain. Dangles are patina'd Copper Maple tree seed, Bronze rose hip, Swarovski crystals and a lamp work disc by That Bead Girl.

Focal hung from doubled beautiful green suede cord with side closure created from hand-coiled Vintage Bronze leather ends and hook with Copper/Brass chain and a rose-hip dangle with Swarovski crystals.
(Tutorial for the coiled bail from http://gailavira.etsy.com/)

20_ Teal/Gold/Purple - Bronze, Lampwork Beads,
Swarovski Crystals, Antiqued Bronze Wire
Click to Buy Me!

Necklace - Created this using a mold I made of a vintage pin. Used Bronze Clay, inset 2 fire-able CZs - Amythyst & Yellow Diamond. The Yellow Diamond lighted more than it was so it looks almost creamy clear. Then I took a piece of teal colored sea glass, smashed the crappola out of it and inset a small piece. Fired, tumbled, patina'd (carefully!!) w/ a torch to get some color on the lower wing and body. I added hand-made chain and Swarovski Crystals and Lampwork Spacers (by that bead girl). The chain on the necklace is purchased, the lampwork are all by that bead girl. The closure is also from Bronze clay. I'm SO excited that the piece worked w/ the crystals added in before firing - it opens up SOOO many more ideas for me!!

Earrings - used the lower wing of the butterfly for the earrings. These are done with hand made chain, Swarovski Crystals and again - Lampwork spacers by that bead girl. Hand-forged earring wires. If I had it to do over - and I prob will :o) I would add a crystal to one side of the wing and only two holes on the other side. I think they would dangle really pretty that way.

22_"Creamy Reds" - Pearls, Riverstone, Leopard Skin Jasper,
Swarovski Crystals, Sterling Silver
Click Here to Buy Earrings! - and - Click Here to Buy Bracelet!

Pulled this together quickly because I missed last weeks and 'needed' to do this! (LOL Afraid if I skip another week I'm doomed to skip all!) SO... I'm admitting that I was/am TOTALLY inspired by Jo Conway's beautiful LOOONNNG creamy pearl necklace that she posted in her shop this week.
(http://www.etsy.com/listing/72762044/long-glamourous-pearls)

Bracelet - Creamy little round ...Pearls, 6mm beigy/creme Riverstone, 8mm Black Diamond Swarovski round crystals, 8mm and 14mm Leopard Skin Jasper in cool reds, creams and black swirls. Finished off with 16g sterling silver "S" hook. Approx 8" finished.

Earrings - 8mm Leopard Skin Jasper, 6mm Black Diamond Swarovski Crystal rounds and 6mm beigy/creme Riverstone strung on hand made sterling silver earring wires. Approx 1 1/2" long

Thank you Jo for the inspiration! :o)



24_"Tropical Orange & Blue" Kazuri Beads, Lampwork Beads,
Swarovski Crystals, Copper & Brass Twisted Wire, Copper Viking Knit.

Bracelet - Hand-made copper viking knit chain w/ copper and brass twisted wire end caps. Decorated with two denim blue Kazuri ceramic beads, a large Swarovski Fire Opal Crystal and small Sapphire Swarovski Crystals, and two Orangie/Yellow lampwork bead spacers by that bead girl. Approx 7 1/2" finished.

Earrings - Hand-forged copper ear wires w/ copper and brass twisted jump rings from which dangle three small staggered lengths of chain with Swarovski Crystals (Fire Opal and Sapphire), a Clear AB Swarovski Crystal w/ Royal Blue lampwork spacer bead and Red Siam Swarovski Crystal w/ Orangie/Yellow lampwork spacer bead. Spacer beads by that bead girl. Approx 3" total.



25_Sea Green - Bracelet - Lampwork Beads, Swarovski Crystals,
Fine Silver, Hand-woven Sterling Silver Chain, African Jade.

I had some hand-woven sterling silver that I had made and used it for this bracelet. I used sterling silver wire to create the end caps for the chain and connected it to some sterling beading wire. The Lampwork Beads are gorgeous sea foam and pesto colored matte beads w/ silver made by Canyon Echoes Artisan Beads. They are combined with fine silver hand made bead caps w/ a carnation texture, four vintage pale green Swarovski Crystals and two larger black diamond Swarovski Crystals.

The center bead was created by me of fine silver and has a sea urchin texture. It's made with a large hole to fit over the viking chain but I wanted it to be the focal so I strung sterling beads and African Jade on the beading wire to go inside the fine silver bead. This allows the fine silver Urchin bead to slide back and forth and give it some movement.

28_Royal, Turquoise, White, Sand, Yellow - Lampwork, White Jade,
River Stone, Swarovski Crystals, Glass Beads, Sterling Silver.
SOLD...

Necklace - Lampwork beads by Firebabies, Focal by Bastille Bleu Lampwork, "Sea glass blue" spacers by Canyon Echoes Artisan Beads - tied together with beige River Stone and White Jade beads w/ silver balls. Hang on sterling silver rolo chain with a hand forged sterling silver s-hook. Small beads on hook and chain are crackled glass beads. Focal has Swarovski crystals in khaki, opal, sunflower, and sapphire.

Love how the lampwork from three different artists fell together in this set!! :o)

Some of these items are posted in my etsy shop - some are not -
if you are interested... let me know!! :o)

Enamel Vacation!

November was a little crazy for me - I did something I've not done in probably 10 years. I went on vacation. Yes, a real vacation - not a vacation where I am traveling for work and go visit my family. A vacation where I did NOT even bring my work laptop with me! It. Was. FANTASTIC.

I traveled to Pam East's GA studio and took one of the most fantastic silver clay classes ever. Champleve Enameling on Silver Clay. The most important thing I learned was do not worry and take your time - there is a lot to be said about the actual finishing of a project. Pam taught 4 of us the ins and outs of silver clay in this two day class helping us open up to having no fear and creating beautiful pieces. We created pieces specifically for Champleve Enameling process. And the second day we enameled. What a blast - completely relaxing, you get into a zone and the pieces seemed to flow. I learned to build the enamel layer by layer creating the shading as you go. And then the finishing - how much I learned about this. When we were done you could run your finger across the top of our Champleve pieces and it felt like they had a layer of smooth, glossy varnish over it - but it was just the finely ground, smooth, beautifully finished silver and enamel. No edges, just smooth. I learned so much!

The second piece we did was at our request - she had a beautiful piece that had what we came to call a "river" of enamel flowing thru it. The silver piece was textured but the "river" was smooth and stood out from the texture. She showed us how and we had a couple of rivers and one heart from this project. I love my little heart on the rounded triangle shaped pendant. (So much that I bought a template of the rounded triangular shape to use at home.) On this piece we didn't carefully grind the enamel down because of the texture but what we did do was add patina using real liver of sulfur - something I had never used before. I have only used the gel form. I was / am very pleased with the colors I got that evening.

Those were two incredible days! Well... that wasn't the end of my vacation - ohhh no! I had found out that after our class Pam was headed to the John C Campbell Folk School in North Carolina - just over the border. So when I found out it was only a 2 hour drive from North Atlanta I signed up. I took Thursday off and relaxed and then checked out of the Hilton and headed north on Friday. The John C Campbell Folk School is an experience in itself. It's a little mini community a campus of buildings comprised of studios and living space. It was fantastic. You share a house (and sometimes a room - I did) with people you probably have never met before. You walk to the main building(s) for meals and gatherings, you walk to the studios for class and let me tell you - the classroom we had was fantastic.


Pam taught Enamel Bead class to 6 of us. Crafty ladies with differing levels of skill but none of us having had real hands-on large head torch experience before so it was great we all learned. I made over 60 beads in 2 days and was crazy happy with the techniques we learned. It wasn't a "making a finished piece of jewelery" class it was a "learning techniques" class. At the end of the weekend Pam gave us the opportunity to purchase our torch heads and other equipment. I came home from that week with the best new tools, techniques and FRIENDS!

OH speaking of new friends - you need to check out these gourd pieces... I met Judy Zeigler of Art of Critter Ridge at JCC in Pam's class. She was there to learn to make the beads to add to her beautiful gourds. I was so impressed I purchased this turquoise colored gourd and it sits proudly in my studio. She hand coils, paints and the inside is lined with hand-crafted papers. Check her out on FB!!

I finally returned home at 9pm on Sunday night to turn around and fly to San Francisco for Dreamforce conference (work) the next morning but let me tell you - that was THE BEST VACATION I have had in many, many, MANY years. Thank you Pam and all the wonderful gals I met!!


Until next time... I leave you with this thought - Please take time to visit my friends using the links posted above. These gals make all their product by hand - in their work shops, rooms, studios. They are true artisans and I am so proud to present their work in my pieces.

Lordy, Lordy... It's been a while. Nov 26, 2010

"DANG!" It's been a long time.
Work-work has been crazy. Changes and more changes and yet you know the saying - the more it changes the more it stays the same.

But I've been trying to keep busy on the creative side too - it helps keep my mind clear but sometimes I get caught up in the stressers of work and worrying about getting a piece done and then I step back and remember - this is fun... and try to relax. SO - here's some fun I've been having lately...

Gifts, Gifts ... late gifts!
August starts crazy birthday & anniversary time for our family! And as I indicated at the beginning of this post - it's been awful crazy couple of months so all my birthday and anniversary gifts are late! Yep - late... as in mailing tomorrow late! YIKES! OK enough of that - on to the good stuff!

In August my little great-niece turned two and I created two gifts for her - first is a charm bracelet I call "One to Grow On". It has little mother of pearl beads, Swarovski pearls and some precious hand-made lamp-work beads by Bastille Bleu Lampwork. The Rose is for her name, the cupcake because she loves cupcakes and the color is pretty close to her birthstone. The lady-bug is a nick name she has. The heart was hand-crafted by me from fine silver and stamped with Mom and Dad. The thought is that I can create fine silver charms and send to her and her mom can add them to the charm bracelet for her.

Now, knowing that she's only 2 and this has small pieces I figured that her mom would hold onto it for her for a little while so I created a cutesy little necklace that she can wear now to play dress-up with. Created with lamp-work beads from a number of artists but featuring a bear, ruffled disks and polka dot beads by Bastille Bleu Lampwork. The others are from Blissful Garden. The beads are strung on a piece of pink suede cord and knotted so that it can be shortened or lengthened as the little one desires!

September brings birthdays and anniversaries -

"Baby Love" is for my niece who is a wonderful mom. Her daughter is represented in this necklace. The pendant is hand-crafted completely by me in fine silver (.999). The heart starts on the lower left w/ a lily, curves up to the rose at the top and then curves down to a cz representing the babies birthday - Peridot. The pendant was made in stages w/ firings between each stage. I'm so in love with this pendant. From the little sparkly silver frit and patina in the lily flower to the rose made with individual-shaped rose petals to the leaves wrapped around the heart. It gave me grief but I learned a lot from it!

Now this beautiful (if I do say so myself) pendant hangs from a gorgeous, hand-dyed silk ribbon in chartreuse by Jamn Glass. I trimmed the ribbon to approx 20" and formed the sterling silver coiled end pieces and then hand-forged the sterling hook with a pretty little chartreuse lamp-work spacer by That Bead Girl capped on each end by my own fine silver (.999) hand-made, textured end-caps.

Oh now there's a fun story - Amber from That Bead Girl makes gorgeous bead, cabochons, and beautiful wine stoppers, appetizer forks, bookmarks, pendants and more all featuring her gorgeous lamp-work pieces. When she creates custom beads she makes extras to be sure her sizing, color, shapes are correct. When she has a large amount of these orphans she puts them together in a lot and posts them to ebay. Wellll let me tell you I scored one of her postings - 355 hand-made lamp-work beads. Spacers like nobodies business! Some focals, some regular beads, discs, mini's, roundels, OMG I was/am in bead heaven!!

So now you know how I ended up with the coordinating chartreuse lamp-work spacer for the hook!!!

OK - enough! Next post will be Anniversaries!! and still MORE birthdays!

Please take time to visit my friends using the links posted above. These gals make all their product by hand - in their work shops, rooms, studios. They are true artisans and I am so proud to present their work in my pieces.