Lots of pink for spring!

I have been keeping busy around here lately, between work and getting more pieces made and listed. Not so busy that I couldn't snap a couple photos of one of my magnolia trees while it was in bloom! It came very early this year. The buds were on the tree for about a week and then one (unusually) warm March morning I left for work. When I returned home, the entire tree was just covered with large pink blossoms. It was spectacular!

Below is a custom PMC order I recently completed. My customer, Ashley, was just lovely, and so easy to work with. It was the first time I've done a double-sided pendant in one piece, so it was a bit of a challenge. The front was a floral pattern that I have used a few times for earrings and pendants. The reverse featured an inscription and her husband's and children's first initials. It was a family birthday gift to her from them. Very sweet!

I oxidized all the sterling silver and the fine silver pendant, and then hand-buffed it to a soft gray with a high shine. It is paired with a soft powdery pink rose quartz briolette, which is perfect with the gray. It took a bit longer than anticipated as I had to wait on the stone to arrive, but she insisted she was not in a hurry. In the end, she was just thrilled with the result, which makes me very happy!

Adventures in metal.

Last year around this time I was searching for a class in metalsmithing. I actually found one that I wanted to take, but it was full and registration was closed. I put it on my trusty google calendar to look for this year.

When January rolled around, I was on it like a hawk! I registered and paid for my 3-day workshop, Basic Metalsmithing Techniques, the day it opened up. I was so excited. Then the waiting started. Waiting for confirmation that there were enough interested students. Then waiting for the supply list to be released in April. And, of course, waiting for June 24. Waiting, waiting, waiting!

Well, I'm not one to wish away spring, that's for sure, but I was happy when my weekend finally came up. It was Friday evening, all day Saturday, and most of the day Sunday. I was nervous too. I've never used a torch, a belt sander, a rolling mill... I could go on. That's why I was taking the class though. There were 12 students total, a couple of them were in the same newbie boat as me. Our instructor was a gem, no pun intended. She is an awesome artist and just an awesome person! Her name is Ginger Seiple, you can google her to see her gorgeous jewelry.

We spent the weekend watching Ginger's demos, learning to properly handle and use various tools and completing some of our very own projects. It was really a ton of fun. I'm really glad I put my fears aside (those of setting myself on fire with the torch, cutting myself with the saw or hammering my fingers... lol) because I got so much out of the class!

This is what my workbench looked like towards the beginning of the class. We worked mostly in copper and brass as it is simply cheaper than sterling silver at the moment and not as painful if you mess something up. Not a problem to me, I'm a copper fan. Brass, not so much, but it was good to have the mixture at times.

This is my first soldered piece! A pendant. I believe it will eventually live on a leather cord, just have to make a clasp. This one is textured brass (palm) on top of copper, which I textured with the rolling mill, and a hammered piece of bronze wire that I drilled to serve as the bail.

My first ring! We were given the option to work in sterling silver for the rings, and, well, I am a silver girl, so I did opt for it. I love the mixed metals here as well. I textured the cup with one hammer and gave the band a different hammered finish. This one is not perfectly round, but, what can I say, it was my first attempt!

This is probably my favorite piece. I had the half drilled pearl from one of our Vegas trips where I stopped at the Pearl Factory. I thought of it on Saturday night as I was driving home, and I thought I'd take it in Sunday for our ring projects. I really love the way it turned out and I've gotten several compliments on it and the other ring. I would look for some rings in my Etsy shop in the near future. Yes, they will be round. :)

In the end, I faced one of my all-time biggest fears: public speaking. Since I was new to Craftsummer, Ginger asked if I would address the group of all of the classes taking place that weekend, telling them about my experience. I guess it was around 48 people. I couldn't tell her no, so I sucked it up and made it through okay. It really wasn't so bad, I guess. Wouldn't want to do that for a living though!

On top of all of that, I ordered a kiln on Friday before class! More to come later on that lucky deal!

I do weddings!

I love when people find my shop. I'm always so curious as to how it happens and I rarely find out. I know I need to educate myself more on how Google Analytics can work for me. I seem to get quite a few shoppers who are first-time Etsy buyers, which intrigues me even more. Were they browsing, searching categories...?

This week I received a convo from a very sweet bride-to-be who said she adored my necklace entitled Lightness. She was wondering if I truly only had one available or if she could order more of them. Naturally, I replied telling her I would check my supplies, but was fairly certain I could accommodate her order. She wanted 5 of them!

It's always a bit nerve-racking for me to be at work, away from my supplies or sold orders because I want to be home, designing or shipping right then! But I had to wait. I ordered some back-up pearls though, just in case. Checked my supplies at home and found I had all I needed to make the necklaces. When I contacted my shopper, she had seen a pair of ametrine earrings in my shop and decided to change the lemon quartz to ametrine instead.

I am thrilled with the results! It's a lovely stone and it pairs so well with the little oblong white pearls. Perfect for a spring wedding!

This is the 3rd wedding for which I've designed bridesmaid jewelry and it is certainly an area where I'd like to have more sales. I enjoy creating something a little different for the brides, and they seem to enjoy having input in the design process. It makes a wonderful and memorable gift to the bridesmaids, who are usually dear friends or siblings!

Yikes! I have no jewelry of my own!

For a while now, I've been trying to concentrate on keeping my shop full and fulfilling custom orders. It dawned on my that I haven't made anything for myself in quite a while. After visiting a bead show last weekend and finding one of my new favorite stones, I decided to make myself a new favorite necklace.

Red Creek Jasper is absolutely stunning. The variations of color and pattern throughout each bead are quite striking and unique to each, so much so that they required little work from me to produce this beautiful piece. I only bought a single strand and if I can find more, you'll likely see something similar in my shop before too long. But I'm keeping this one! :)

A lovely bridesmaid.

It occurred to me while reading another blog that I never posted a photo of the earring and necklace sets that I created for a co-worker of my husband. She was married last summer and was kind enough to forward along a photo of one of her four bridesmaids.

We worked together through my husband (who now knows more than he cares to about wedding jewelry) for a couple weeks on what she wanted. She gave me a couple ideas from magazines she had seen and I put together custom ideas for her in a palette of soft pinks in cherry and rose quartz, and luminous white Swarovski pearls, all brought together with shiny sterling silver.

The sets turned out great — the perfect complement to the chocolaty brown gowns. She was thrilled with them, as were her bridesmaids from what I have heard. And they truly are sets that can be worn again and again.