Come Take a Tour of My Studio . . .

I love to visit art studios.  It is so fascinating for me to see how artists use their space.  Inspiration, their equipment, the whole vibe of their studio space really captures my attention.  I have been spending a lot of time organizing and cleaning my studio so that it is more functional for me to use.  I plan on spending a lot of time here over the next long while.  I am blessed to have an amazing space to use for my studio.  It is considered the office or spare bedroom (although there are no closets) of our rental home.  It is located down the hall just off of the family room on the first floor.

 

Here's a close-up of the door . . . I just had to hang the hippie sign for you to see.  My dear friends, Tawny and Diana gave it to me when we were all neighbors in Utah.  Back then, I was crazy into tie-dye and I guess they just couldn't resist the hippie sign.  I was also one of those really lucky people to have not just one, but TWO rooms of my own.  I had a fabulous studio (with a sink!) in the basement as well as a spare bedroom on the first floor.  Both rooms were constantly in use for some sort of project or another and the nice thing was that they both had solid (not see-through) doors that you could close when you didn't want to deal with the creative mess.  You can take a little tour of my old studio here.  Here's a close-up of the hippie sign:

Let's just do this methodically . . . I'll start from the wall on the left just as you walk into the room.  This is my "beading station."  I keep all of my beads and findings organized here.  Now that I'm seeing the photo in blog form, I am realizing that I have more cleaning to do!  See that teapot on the top shelf?  A dear friend gave me that hoping that I could do something creative with it.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a necklace made out of copper from an old teapot?  I'm thinking that one through in my head.  If you look to the right of the picture you can see a black tool with a long skinny black handle.  That is my bench blade.  I use it to cut large pieces of sheet metal that I can't cut with my jeweler's saw.  It could cut off your finger!

Next up is my torch table.  We just got this unpacked and hooked up this week!  I am so excited to fire it up . . . I've missed my torch-work.  My torch is mounted right in the middle of the front edge of the table.  Underneath the table is my glass cabinet.  I store all of my glass rods here.  The torch is hooked up to the oxygen and propane tanks in the corner.  That large propane tank is leftover from our old landscaping business.  My husband used to hook it up to a heater for his employees to use while they were laying stone-work in cold weather.  Now, it is mine, and I have never had to re-fill it, it is so big!  The skinny tank is oxygen and it makes the flame nice and hot.  I use more oxygen than propane and will probably have to have it re-filled soon.  Just ignore those moving boxes along the wall . . . one of these days I will see what's inside of them and figure out if it really was useful enough to pack and move with us from house to house.

 

Here is a shot of my work table.  I just hung that inspiration board on the back wall.  I have good natural light coming in from the window in this spot.  

Here is a close-up of my work table.  It is very clean and organized right now.

Below are my metal alphabet stamps.  I keep them close because they are heavy!  And I use them all the time.

Just to the right of my inspiration board is this lovely contraption.  It is an old dresser that I keep some supplies in.  I have raised it up on stilts to make it a better height because I'm tall.  One day I will take it outside and refinish it, but for now it is just as useful in its ugly old state as it will be in its refinished beautiful state.  I do all of my jewelry gift-wrapping here and that's why my ribbon is in this area.  I attached two curtain rod holders to the wall and strung up all of the ribbon onto a wooden dowel to make it easy to access.  I love the bright pop of color in the room!  The small blue paintings were made by two of my kids in my friend, LeeAnn's summer art class.

This is my soldering station.  You can see a few torches, my pickle pot, a fire brick and a tripod on the table top.  My tumbler is on the lower shelf, and my photography set-up (more about that later) is on the floor.

 

Not to be forgotten is my cheering section.  My frog obsession started when I was a very young girl.  You will find frogs hidden all over my house.  For several years every birthday or Christmas present had to do with a frog.  Or if a friend was traveling somewhere they always brought me a frog present.  I still have a whole box of frogs from moving 11 years ago that I haven't opened.  You never know when a frog will be useful . . .

Gemstone Bracelets

Today was definitely a bracelet kind of day.  I tend to be a collector of semi-precious stones, and as I was trying to organize my collection I decided it was time to do something useful with them.  

After all, beauty is useful.

Below is a funky charm bracelet including faceted smoky quartz, blue opal, sunstone, a juicy faceted ruby, two kyanite rondells, and another faceted smoky quartz.  The attachments are adorned with seed beads.

Next, is a beautiful triple-strand bracelet made of faceted labradorite, pearls, and various silver beads.

 

And finally, my favorite!  A lovely mix of aquamarine, citrine, 

natural turquoise, and apatite.

i love you - Pierced Heart Ruby & Pearl Bracelet

I'm getting ready for a mini show in the beginning of November and am putting together samples to display and take orders from.  I've had this lovely hunk of silver cut and shaped, sitting on my workbench just waiting for the perfect thought or quote.  It all started with the heart.  This piece of silver just needed a pierced heart to start things off . . .

The silver is hand cut, shaped, stamped, oxidized, and polished.  Three beautiful strands of wire-wrapped pearls are finished off with a precious faceted ruby (it's real, girls!), and they wrap around to clasp the pierced heart.

I just might be wearing this today (and tomorrow . . . )!

They That Wait Upon the Lord . . .

My friend, Michele, needed an inspirational necklace for her friend who is in the battle of her life with breast cancer.  We talked about different ideas that would reflect the strength and faith that her friend has shown (and needed) while enduring this trial.  In searching for just the right sentiment, we came across this beautiful blessing in Isaiah:

 

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; 

they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 

they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Established Wedding Necklace

Karen asked me to make this wedding necklace as a bridal gift for a special friend.  The larger disc shows the bride and groom's initials along with their last name and their "established" date.  The companion charm says "San Diego Temple" to remind the bride of their special day and the amazing place where they got married and sealed together forever.

You can learn more about this special temple here, and you can read a little about eternal marriage here, and here.

Want to play catch . . . up?

Goodness, Gracious!  It's been a crazy, busy whirlwind these past several months!  I am finally back to work in my studio and it feels good!  But before I post any new projects I need to catch up on a couple of really fun ones that I did this past summer.  The first one is a wedding necklace that my friend, Paula, asked me to make.  It is so sweet!  It shows the bride and groom's initials and their "established" date - the date of their wedding!  This is a really fun 3-piece charm collection that hangs nicely and will be a lovely reminder for the bride of their special day.

The next one was requested by Vanessa.  This is a mother's necklace that includes the receiver's boys' names and a circle love charm with a precious pearl.  It is timeless and classy!

 

Stay tuned . . . I hope to be posting all kinds of goodies in the coming weeks!

Piece of My Heart

I just completed my favorite-ever-so-far project for my lovely friend, Karen.  It is a beautiful tribute to the dogs in her life, and I couldn't be happier with how sweet it turned out.  It is too long for my little photography set-up, so I had to take photos with it all bunched together.  Hopefully, these photos will give a sense of the grandeur of this necklace.  This is a mix of silver, brass, and copper, with beautiful Ocean Jasper beads.  The main center piece reads: "While each dog that passes from my life takes a piece of my heart, each new dog gives me a piece of theirs."

The back reads:  "Dogs are not my whole life, they make my life whole."  There are 17 little doggie tags throughout this necklace, one for each of the dogs she has ever had.  Karen even adopted #17 midway through the project, so of course, now I am scheming how to add #18 and so on in the future . . .

Karen approached me a couple of months ago with the idea for this necklace.  She couldn't sleep until she had drawn it out and turned it over to me to work on.  I know that feeling - sometimes that's how creativity works . . . it's like a living thing that needs to be cared for.  This necklace took a certain kind of energy and momentum to build.  I searched out just the right beads to be earthy and tie the three metals together.  Karen knew exactly what she wanted in her head and she drew it out perfectly but it took me a little while and a few "meetings of the minds" for me to really catch her vision for this necklace and how exactly to construct it.  Boy, am I glad I did!

This close-up shot of the pendant shows my favorite kind of attachment.  It is a hammered and riveted wire bail that I learned from Susan Lenart Kazmer's class during the Tucson Gem Show back in 2009.  Karen even agreed to let me take a photo of her wearing her new necklace.  This is headless Karen, standing in my studio:

Happy Graduation to Brittany!

 This is my cute niece, Brittany.  She is kind and brave and funny.  She just graduated from High School and is headed off to college in the fall.  She has a special place in my heart.  Brittany is a year less a week older than my daughter, Zoe.  They have "grown up" together, and I miss living close.  So glad to know her and be a part of her cheering squad.  Way to go Brittany!

 Here is a necklace to help Brittany celebrate:

Love you!

Missionary Dog Tags

My awesome nephew, Jaron, is currently serving an LDS mission in Angola!  He wrote home recently asking if Aunt Chan would make him dog tags to represent his mission.  I drew it all out to make sure everything would fit and nearly had to close my eyes while I stamped - just in case I messed it up (silver is so expensive these days).  The first tag has his name, the dates of his service, and the two missions he has served in (originally called to Mozambique, but serving in Angola which was recently made into its own official mission).  The second tag has a scripture that is encouraging and has special meaning to him:  "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes"  (Doctrine & Covenants 121:7-8).  I am so impressed with these courageous young men who give up 2 very critical years of their lives to serve the Lord, Jesus Christ, and people all over the world.  My nephew spends his time teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and helping in a local orphanage.  His older brother, Tyler, is also serving a mission in Peru.  They are being transformed into amazing young men and I really respect their willingness to give and serve.  Way to go, Jaron and Tyler!  You are such good examples to me!

Flower Inspiration

My all time favorite jewelry clients are a group of 3rd grade teachers at our last elementary school, Temecula Luiseno.  They have kept me so busy this past year with jewelry projects!  It's been really fun and I am so grateful!  They asked me to make a simple and beautiful gift to give to their room mothers - you know - something that would fit all personality types and styles.  So I put together this sterling silver flower necklace.  The flower charms are made by my friend, Amy, at Hip Chick Beads, and her charms show up now and then in my jewelry designs.  She has some of the cutest beads and charms and has been a source of great inspiration to me for years.  She even spent the good part of an evening on the phone helping me figure out a soldering issue I had years ago.  In fact, her glass flower beads pictured below, are the original inspiration that got me interested in lampworking in the first place!

Silver Goodness for Carleen

Here are some silver charms for Carleen.

A family necklace:

  

A wedding necklace for her daughter:

And a new baby charm to add to a gift that she has already given:

Getting Caught Up . . .

I am so far behind with my blog posts!  

Here are a few of the projects that I've been working on over the past couple of months. 

Above is a beautiful family necklace for Rita. The heart represents her husband, and the two rectangles are her kids.  Round it all off with a sweet little pearl and a circle of love.

And for Ashley's friend, three initial charms for her three kiddos.  A red Swarovski crystal to give it a little bling.

Here's one for Felicia to give - this was for her High School Basketball team's Booster Club Mom.  It has all 6 of her children: Tiana - Garrett - Melissa - Derek - Brett - and Christina.

A silver moon charm for Michele to give - with the initials K and J.

Here's one for Karen to give - Christopher was born on St. Patrick's Day!

And one for my cute cousin, Kelsey.  She just got married to her sweetheart, Kevin.  I wish them all the happiness in the world and miss living close enough to see them.

I made this "LOVE" pendant for Michele to give - she liked it so much that she had me make one for herself!  My favorite kind of gift!

Stephanie contacted me wanting to give a special gift to her sister, Janie, who has battled breast cancer.  She wanted a family necklace with extra meaning.  The blue heron has special significance to their family, so we tracked one down to add to the necklace.  Thanks to Mckenzie Jewelers on Etsy for the beautiful blue heron.

Above, a fun necklace for my dear friend, Jill.

A mission necklace for Valerie's friend who got her LDS mission call to Denver, Colorado SPANISH speaking!  Her favorite color is purple, so we added a purple Swarovski crystal for fun.

For my favorite Harry Potter friend, Ashley, a "Horcrux" keychain.

Heirloom Mother's Bracelet

This special bracelet is a birthday gift for Kelly's mom!  It is a sterling silver chain with layered charms.  The silver squares are for her boys, and the silver circles are for her girls!  Their names are on copper hearts.  So sweet!  Here's a look at the front:

 Their birthdays are stamped on the back of each charm:

More silver goodies . . .

Here are some recent projects I've made.  First, is for Karen to add to her "Brag Charm Necklace."  These are to recognize her 4 Eagle Scouts and a daughter that just completed the Personal Progress Program and earned her Young Womanhood Recognition.

Here are two personal and lovely gifts made for Michelle to give:

And one for Felicia.  This is a "family necklace" for Felicia to give to her mom:

Antique Silver Spoon Necklace with BLING!

Jane brought me another antique sterling silver demitasse spoon and these amazing Japanese matte pearls that were her grandmother's.  These are the most unusual and beautiful pearls that I have ever seen:

 

She brought me more of her grandmother's beautiful vintage crystals:

She wanted a super blingy silver spoon necklace.  This is so beautiful and was so fun to make!  It is a wonderful reminder of Jane's dear grandmother: