Teachers are the Best!

These past few weeks I've had the pleasure of making some meaningful jewelry for a special group of ladies at our elementary school in Temecula.  It all started with this wonderful third grade teacher right here:

This picture was taken last November when Zalea was given the "Student of the Month" award.  You know how a little bit of positive reinforcement goes a long way?  Well,  it worked for my little Z.  Her whole third grade experience was transformed because of Mrs. Souza's positive energy (and a little bit of yoga!)  Below is a photo of the mother's necklace I made as a gift for Mrs. Souza at the end of the year.

Well, this necklace started a chain reaction as other teachers and staff members have placed their orders with me.  I have never had so much fun making jewelry!  I've decided it is so fulfilling to make jewelry for people you know and love.  Here's a look at some of the fun projects we've put together:

What do you get for the baby who has everything?  A keepsake necklace for his mommy!  Paula had a few baby showers to attend and wanted to do something special for the mommies.  Here's one for Olivia and Jake's wonderful grandma:

 

 For Ada, we chose December's birthstone crystal:

Michele wanted a mother's necklace for a special friend. This is a layered name pendant topped with a silver heart:

 

And one for Michele with her mantra "believe - hope - dream"

Below is a birthday present for Sandy's sister who practices Kundalini Yoga.  "Sat Nam" is a mantra frequently repeated three times at the end of a yoga session.  It means, loosely translated, "truth is my identity."  The stone is olive jade.

Here is an initial pendant necklace for Valerie's mom.  The nine initials represent each of her children and grand-children.  The pink crystal represents October's birth stone crystal, tourmaline.

This is a special necklace for Karen.  The front of the circle pendant has each of her children's names, and two dangling discs that read "together forever."

 The back says: "FAMILY - our love is not bound by time."

And here is the finished necklace with Karen's drawing.  I LOVE collaborating on a project to get exactly what someone wants in a special gift.  This is an heirloom piece and I hope it is treasured for years to come!

 

Be as a BIRD, who, halting in her FLIGHT . . .

Zoe is turning 16 tomorrow.  It's actually her "golden birthday" because she is turning 16 on the 16th (and she would add that there are 16 letters in her name, thus making it extra, extra, extra special).  She made this sweet little silver bird a few months back - it's less than an inch wide (but looks much bigger in the photo) - because we were designing a bracelet together and she loves birds.  She kept waffling back and forth about what quote to put on her bracelet, and I think she finally gave up, because this silver bird has been sitting all alone on my work table for several months.  I've had this idea in mind for a bracelet incorporating an adaptation of a Victor Hugo quote that I love, (changed the pronouns to be feminine), and that suits Zoe perfectly right now.  So, I borrowed her bird - traced it, sawed it, filed it, sanded it, polished it, and soldered it - to work it into a beautiful birthday surprise:

"Be as a BIRD, 

who, halting in her FLIGHT, 

on a limb too slight, 

feels it give way beneath her, 

yet SINGS, 

knowing she has WINGS."  

Here's a closer look at the copper quote (but, not too close!):

This is actually my second attempt at this bracelet - the first little bird slipped when I soldered it, leaving what I call a "ghost mark."  You can see it in the photo below.  So, being the semi-also-not-predictable-perfectionist that I am, I started over.  To say that this was an easy project would not be truthful.  But it is soooo rewarding.  I'm planning to give it to Zoe in the morning to start out her birthday in a special way.  Here's to hoping that she likes it!  Here's to her Golden Birthday!

 I made a companion necklace to go with the bracelet.  

It is the same sweet little bird on a copper disc that says, simply, "FLY."

New Stuff

This is one of my favorite glass blends, it's called "Boro Bora" by Val Cox.  It is a beautiful mix of colors and the deep red is a "kiln strike" color, which means it only shows up after it has been in the kiln.  This necklace is for my friend, Ashley's birthday.  Happy Day, Ash!

This circle pendant is for my friend, Ann.  She has been patiently waiting for my oomph to come back so that I could make it for her.  The top photo is the front, which includes all 6 of her kids names, and the second photo is the back which has her wedding date.  This is a beautiful pendant with special meaning and I can't wait to see her wearing it!

Here's a Mother's Day gift for my friend Kellie's mother-in-law.  It's a hammered circle pendant with the words "mother, grandmother, friend."  And below, is a wedding gift for my friend, Ashley.  She was just a young sprout when we lived in Pleasant Grove (years ago . . .) and is getting married in June.  Sorry to say this, but that is making me feel really old!

What New Year's Resolution?

So, I'm pretty sure I remember sitting down with my family and making some resolutions for 2012.  I have a foggy recollection that I made some sort of resolution about making a blog post WEEKLY, or something silly like that.  Well, that resolution obviously went straight out the window!  Here it is May, and I finally got a full day in the studio yesterday.  I have some great projects to post, but just can't post new things until I get caught up with some of the pieces I've made so far this year.

Here's a sweet baby bracelet for my niece, Paisley.  The front has her name, and the back has a secret message: "love you always."  It is a sweet little piece for a sweet little niece.  Can't wait to see her wearing it!

And a simple heart charm for Zalea's friend, Aurora.  This is one of my favorites.  This heart is so small that it kept flipping out of my fingers while I was filing and sanding it.  I lost it in the garbage can so many times, I actually had to dump the trash out on the kitchen counter and dig through wrappers and pencil shavings to find it TWICE.  I need to come up with a better system when shaping pieces, but that's another story for another day.

So I have had sort of an epiphany when it comes to making jewelry.  I consider myself a hobbyist - an amateur.  I teach myself the skills I want to know so that I can incorporate them into what I already know and do.  I love my glasswork and I love the metalwork.  But I have come to a point where I have outgrown my make-shift tools and set-up.  I know what good tools can do, and I'm trying to do really good stuff with really poor tools, and I'm getting frustrated.  Like, yesterday, for example.  I was soldering some beautiful pieces (photos to come) and since I use a plumber's torch instead of a jeweler's torch, things got a little too hot and heavy and on one piece the silver got too hot (beautiful reticulation in the wrong place and completely unwanted) and on another, one of the pieces slid along with the solder leaving a "ghost mark."  I'm also frustrated with my studio set-up.  There's just too much stuff in there and I have to keep moving things to get to my supplies.  These factors are all keeping me out of the studio.  But, I have so many beautiful pieces in my mind, I just need to figure out a way to make this work because I really do love it.  I need to make time and space for it.  So, here's a good thing:  we are moving next month.  I have my eye set on a spare room that would make a perfect studio (except that the lighting is poor - something I can work around).  I think I can re-configure my stations and supplies so that they will be much more conducive to a good work-flow.  THEN, maybe then, I can break down and buy some good tools.  It would make sense if I was being productive.  I could be even more productive.

Custom Secret Message Necklace - BELIEVE

This is one of my favorite necklaces to make.  This one is for Aubrey - she is such a cute girl.  Her parents wanted to do something special for her for Christmas, so here's a fun personalized necklace with a secret message just for her!  This is a great pendant to celebrate ANY occasion.  Fun for weddings, thank yous, new babies (with the date of birth on the back), or any time you want to make someone feel special.

Custom Personalized MANTRA Necklace

Another beautiful project for the amazing Heather.  This one is for her sweet mother.  Heather wanted to give a "Mantra Necklace," representing her mom's best qualities.  She is strong, beautiful, and greatly adored!  Heather liked the look of this necklace (top), but wanted it in a gold-tone.  This was a fun project because it made me think outside of my usual box.  I work mostly with sterling silver and will often mix metals, always using silver as my base.  My stockpile of findings and attachments is mostly silver, so it was kind of like an adventure using brass for this necklace.  I'm always up for an adventure!  If only I could afford gold, but that's another story!

Copper Fortune Cookie Bracelet

Another project for Heather, this is a "Fortune Cookie" bracelet.  You can see more Fortune Cookie bracelets here.  The first one was actually inspired by a real fortune cookie message, hence the name, and the size of the copper piece is the same size as the fortune paper.  Well, Heather's sister-in-law's (also a Heather) mantra is "CARPE DIEM."  That's pretty much a fortune, isn't it?  This fortune comes with genuine swarovski crystals, turquoise jasper, garnet, moss aquamarine, smoky quartz, and my favorite sunny citrine.  The copper will patina as Heather wears it, giving it a beautiful worn and cherished look.  Seize the day, Heather!

Custom Grandmother's Necklace

Here's a beautiful Grandmother's necklace that I made for my friend, Heather, to give to her Mother-In-Law for Christmas.  Count them!  10 grand-babies on this necklace!  It is a really fun, huge (about 2 1/2 by 3 inches), handcrafted brass heart pendant that hangs from a 30 inch chain.  A real keepsake!  The brass heart will patina with wear, giving it a rich and aged feeling.

Have Yourself a Purple Little Christmas . . .

Here's a special little Christmas gift for a very special little friend of mine.  She loves purple!  I used to make quite a lot of these necklaces - back in the early days of bead-making.  Before I figured out how to make reliable "pairs" of beads.  I made a lot of beautiful singles (ugly ones, too!) - unable to duplicate the size or design.  So, I came up with this beautiful style of necklace to showcase a single bead.  I sold many at local craft fairs, but honestly, most of them ended up on the necks of neighbor-girls as birthday presents.  It's a sweet little necklace for a sweet little friend.  I hope she likes it!

Been busy . . .

Been busy, you know, as usual.  Doing everything BUT the thing I love the most.  I still sneak it in every now and then, but if it's been nearly 10 months since my last post, well, that says something.  Life can get loud and busy, can't it?  Here's a look at a few of the projects I've sneeked in over the past several months:

Above, a mother's circle pendant for a good friend.  

Birthday pendant for the one and only Diana, below.

Remember my crazy post about Eddie Vedder? You can read about it here.  Well, an AMAZING fellow Eddie Vedder fan bought the necklace for his wife.  He even had me make a coordinating pendant for him.  Well, I'll be dipped and hung out to dry!

These Antique Garden Markers have nothing to do with jewelry, but they sure were a fun project for my church's Super Saturday craft day.  That would be Zalea Marie who stamped the one on the far right!

And finally, FINALLY, in August, a precious day at the torch.  I got several good sets and have been dreaming ever since about another spell at the torch.  Maybe my dreams will come true - in January?  Maybe? 

 

Below is the bottom bead in the above photo.  It's for Jen, my long lost friend.  She saw my post on facebook about finally getting to torch and stamped her name on this bead.  It's only taken me 4 months to get the time to wire it together for her.  This will be a nice surprise in her mailbox!

Oh, there's a few more projects I've been working on.  We've been switching around computers and got a new camera, so I'll have to admit I'm having a hard time tracking down photos, and I honestly have missed even taking pictures of a few projects.  Hopefully I'll be back in the habit of posting before another 10 months goes by!

Mother's Pendant Necklace

So, earlier today, I posted about how cute this necklace would be as a Mother's necklace. I had a little "free time" today after helping at school (2nd grade math games), just enough to construct this lovely heart pendant for my sister, Kim. Her birthday is coming up and I love to surprise her. This is the same heart pattern that I used for Zoe's Valentine pendant, but I hammered in J&K (for Kim and her husband, John), and the names of her 4 smashing boys: Tyler, Jaron, Cameron, and McKaden. I distressed this one a little bit more and attached a riveted bail. 100% handcrafted, aged, and polished. This one is about 26" long and can be layered with a favorite necklace (recognize that labradorite? I can't stop wearing it . . .) I used a snippet from the same silk ribbon I got in Tucson 2 years ago and Voila! Happy Birthday Kim!

Valentine Necklaces

This year for Valentine's Day I made gorgeous heart pendants. The large one is for Zoe and the small one is for Zalea. Zalea's is about 5/8" and the back says "love you." Zoe's is about 2" wide by 2 1/4" tall and I tied it with a snippit of silk ribbon (from Tucson) to match her outfit. It slides on a 24" ball chain. 100% handcrafted, aged and polished by hand for an antique look. The stamping is from the last line of ee cumming's poem, "my father moved through dooms of love" and it reads "LOVE is the WHOLE and more than ALL." The girls got these lovely necklaces and what did Enzo want? Milk chocolate.

I have been thinking that this large heart pendant would make a great mother's necklace. It would be fun to put your kids names all over it. I will have to play around with that idea a little bit. Watch for further posts . . .

Eddie Vedder

I may as well just admit it . . . I am hopelessly in love with Eddie Vedder. He was the inspiration for this latest pendant, RISE. Or, actually the song is the inspiration. It is one of my very favorites. He is just simply amazing. Of course, the word "hopeless" is key to the infatuation since Eddie Vedder doesn't even know that I exist. Dave has no worries about me actually running away with him. I'll just watch You Tube clips when I need my fix, and get back to work.

The construction of the pendant went pretty well until I tried to solder on the ring at the top to attach a chain to. That little part took several tries (and an extra hour or two). I finally realized that the pieces of silver just didn't have enough surface contact. Once I formed a new loop and propped it up the soldering went as well as could be expected. The cabochon is a Red Picasso Jasper from an artist on Etsy. It has a fabulous brush of green on the top and it looks splendid with this faceted garnet wrapped chain, don't you think?

Adventures In Metalsmithing - OR - The Grass Is Green Enough Where I Stand!

Here's another lovely experiment. I would love to say that creating this piece was a joy, super easy and fun. Anything but! It was tough! I worked on this one on and off for 2 whole days! At one point, I just had to walk away from it. I ruined 3 pieces of bezel wire! And to top it all off, my bezel wire slipped just slightly while I was soldering the pieces together so the final stone lays crooked! All the same, I love it! This is a gorgeous "green sea sediment jasper" that I purchased from a lovely artist on Etsy about a year ago. The colors are exquisite! Just looking at it conjures up feelings of green, spring, meadows, newness and growth. I couldn't find an adequate quote for the back, so I filled in the space with words that say "green" to me.

I learned a lot while making this piece. The whole time, I was using proper techniques, I just couldn't get it hot enough from beneath for the solder to flow in the right direction (it kept going up). I finally brought out my plummer's torch and that did the trick. One of these days, I will have proper tools, but in the meantime, I am loving the challenge of making do with what I have. That's a lesson for life if I ever had one!

Labradorite Pendant Necklace

How I love a good experiment! This is one of the 5 Labradorite cabs I purchased at the Costa Mesa show a few months back. I have dreamed about these stones ever since I bought them, and finally made the time to bust out my soldering equipment and and do something with them. I'm a little rusty, and I don't quite have the proper tools, but I'm pleased as punch at my first pendant. This is a high dome cab with an amazing flash, gorgeous color! I am just in love with this stone, and this necklace seems to match just about everything I wear. I am eager to try another setting. I can only get better the more I try! By the way, I had a lot of fun trying to take the photo of me in the mirror. I was laughing so hard for some of the shots, they're just too silly to post.