Last Flower of Autumn {sold!}

We had our first frost on Sept. 23, almost a month early, but my little patch of wildflowers just outside the "studio" (the dining room, re-purposed) survived and even seemed to intensify in color. Last week, the first snowfall (4 inches) and the two-day hard freeze that followed finally did them in. Here's my tribute of sorts, in multicolored tourmaline -- all natural, by the way; tourmaline comes in a rainbow of colors, some quite rare -- and another of the lovely Hill Tribes sterling silver pendants I brought home from Tucson at the end of last winter. This pendant measures just over 3/4 inch (18 mm), and the necklace is a choker-length 17 inches with a handmade (by me!) sterling hook-and-eye clasp. The cultured pearls really are just separators for the sections of pink and green, the most common tourmaline colors. Green tourmaline (Elbaite) is the most common; pink tourmaline, also called rubellite, is colored by manganese traces in the aluminum borosilicate base.

I made two more necklaces yesterday and have two on the workbench that I'd like to finish today. It's such a thrill to get that creative energy back, and just in time for holiday sales. It's also great timing since I would like to offer two or three "handmade for the holidays" jewelry-making classes at New Moon Gallery in the next six weeks or so. Stay tuned...

August Flight {sold!}

I've been fancying this chain-with-danglies style lately, and even though summer is still in full swing I find myself trending toward autumn colors already. This necklace could be seen as a continuation of the mosaic dragonfly keyholder I showed a few weeks back; in fact that piece would make a perfect little holder for this necklace. I used sterling chain; a Hill Tribes Thai silver leaf and large dragonfly bead; and faceted citrine, smoky quartz, carnelian, jasper, and Hessonite and Tsavorite garnets, and then oxidized the whole thing for a darker, richer color that, to me, evokes the lengthening shadows of late summer.

In the studio this week: earrings, a few blue fluorite pieces to match the exquisite Smithsonite pendant Dean faceted for me last month, and... mosaics!!! I did prep work today for some serious mortaring tomorrow... only got four small gashes on my hands from the glass, and then I remembered I'd brought my nitrile gardening gloves after all. I also figured out a great technique for pseudo-tumbling glass to remove the worst razor edges: cut the pieces, then throw a bunch in a lidded jar with water and sand, and shake by hand for five to ten minutes. I've prepped the surfaces and glass for five pieces and hope to finish mortaring them tomorrow... grouting can happen when the kids START SCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY!!! Yippee!!!

Mosaics for Home Decor: Keyholders (in progress)

I now have an amazing selection of stained glass to work with and can finally *make* mosaics! These two pieces will be keyholders (they're finished except for key hooks, which I might make myself out of copper), and I think I'll do the same for the other small pieces I have in progress. All use Creekmore-Durham glass/copper focal pieces and stained glass; I'm trying to figure out whether and how to frame them simply so that they look a bit more finished. I started the heart piece (at right) today and hope to finish the background and grouting this week. For the really small glass pieces I used Superglue instead of Versa-Flex, and it worked well when I "drew" the spiral pattern in glue right on the Hardibacker and then laid on the pieces. How shall I grout this piece? I'm considering using the dark blue I got for the New Moon sign; it will blend in the blue background and really make the heart and spiral pop. Or should I use alabaster for a totally different look? We shall see.

Sold! (Wow!)

Yesterday was a great day at the gallery for all three of us; Conne sold a beautiful turquoise necklace and some other pieces, Nicole sold lots of tie-dyes, and I sold a necklace AND a mosaic along with several pairs of earrings. A local woman bought this mosaic -- I finished this and another one (my second and third pieces, officially) on Thursday evening and, despite feeling shy about them, went ahead and put them up for sale. Many thanks to Sara Creekmore and David Durham for the beautiful glass; I have many more pieces like these and will put them to good use soon. I figured out a pretty cool process for making letter tiles without a kiln: I formed some Sculpey "boards" and gave them a wood texture by rolling a small twig over them, baked them, then carved the words into them with a Dremel. I used acrylic paint, which took a bit of a beating during grouting but was easy to touch up. Eventually I do want to do letter/word tiles in ceramic or precious metal clay, but this will work for now. A kiln is a long way off, logistically speaking; books for school and clothes for the kids do need to come first, for now.

Now that I've sold this piece, of course, I have a space to fill in my gallery. Ah, gee, that's too bad... ;-)

Fire and Rain {sold!}

My latest jewelry creation is often my new favorite, and I may need to spirit this necklace away into my permanent collection. The focal piece is a 20-cm jasper stone that reminds me of a waterfall or rain against a fiery sunset, hence the piece's name. I made a modified basketweave bail using a "spine" of 22-gauge sterling wire wrapped with 28-gauge sterling wire, and on the three ends of the "spine" I then added five wirewrapped crystal quartz briolettes. The necklace is a simple composition of dyed pearls, Thai silver cornerless cubes, and more of the briolettes.

I'd never seen this stone before; after some Googling I learned it is sometimes called "African turquoise", although it is unrelated to turquoise in any way except appearance and is usually found in Australia or North America, not Africa. It's not a common find, unfortunately; two weeks after purchasing a strand of these at Mama's Minerals I returned to find the whole hank gone, with no more on the way. I have maybe a dozen more of these beads (at left is a bracelet I made with [real] Mexican turquoise rounds to enhance the blues) and will probably make several more of these pendants. This one, though, seems most special; although I currently have it for sale in my new gallery, I might need to wear it home one day.

Summer eye candy {sold!}

More treasures from February's Tucson trip have made their way into the showcase: cane glass! Lots of it, in summer brights, hand-wired onto sterling silver with Swarovski crystal and finished with a sterling sun clasp. I had never quite known what to do with cane glass until I added them, sparingly, into the bracelets posted earlier; this time I didn't stop at a few but just kept going, and going... I haven't counted but figure I have a few dozen on this bracelet. This piece is not exactly sophisticated. Like summer, it is bold (almost overbearing, yes) and unabashedly colorful, and looking at it makes me smile.

O Spring... {sold!}

I had so much fun in Tucson... and found some wonderful components, of course. This bracelet uses a few lampwork glass garden beads I picked up at the Best Beads show along with a sterling clasp and unusual Thai silver bead caps from Ands Silver, my neighbor at the Renaissance Bead Show. Tucson in early February is a blessed respite from Magdalena's not-so-southwestern winter weather, and I was so pleased to make the pilgrimage with two great friends. I'll be back next year, paid or not, if only to feel a warm breeze and find more beautiful stuff and talk to more great people, especially the glass artists.

Celestial {sold!}

Turquoise and copper appeared on my workbench again recently and this time came together in a charm bracelet of sorts. The turquoise is from all over, mostly from China (the source of most commercial turquoise these days). It is stabilized (impregnated with resin, a common treatment for mid- to low-grade stones) but not dyed. The copper came from the local hardware store; it's so much cheaper there than at many jewelry suppliers for exactly the same stuff. I also used some handmade copper headpins from a favorite Etsy supplier and pure copper spacers I had found at the 2007 Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta. Copper wears nicely for most people (I wear it fairly often and haven't ever turned green), and this bracelet will darken a bit as it ages. Buffing would keep it bright, but I like the darker patina and would, at most, buff some highlights to enhance the contrast.

That's all for now... final projects for my fall quarter are coming due soon.

Turquoise and copper, again {all sold!}

This Mexican turquoise bead from Two Cranes has a lovely green-tinged hue and rich brown matrix that work very well with copper. I kept the necklace simple, using more Mexican turquoise along with some rough copper spacers and a copper clasp that I scratched up a bit on purpose so it will darken up more quickly during wear.

I love turquoise with copper (obviously) and have sold several pieces that I've been tempted to keep but, well, when I sell one, I can buy stuff to make more. The piece at left is another Two Cranes Mexican turquoise pendant that I put on an adjustable leather cord finished with copper wire and some handmade copper headpins. This pendant has a more striking green hue which, to be honest, I couldn't figure out how to match, hence the leather rather than beaded necklace. Turquoise with leather and copper seems a quintessentially Southwestern combination, though, and I'm surprised that I don't see it more often. I have one piece made in this style that I've kept for myself (despite the frequent temptation this is actually a rare occurence), and the leather has worn very well for well over a year, darkening along with the copper as I wear it. I use a high-grade Greek leather, which surely makes a difference.

The necklace at right uses a Chinese turquoise pendant (not Two Cranes) with a beautiful "cascading" matrix. Turquoise matrix features so often look like water features, which is apropos given how the stone is created. I set this one on 16-gauge copper with wirewrapped leather and a front clasp that I shaped and hammered myself. I've used this clasp style in several pieces (including the aforementioned piece in my personal collection), but I later found (after conferring with the buyer) that it doesn't work well with a smaller, lighter stone: it pulls it off balance. I re-balanced this necklace for the buyer by adding some small copper-wrapped turquoise "charms" to the other side; she was pleased, especially when I threw in some matching earrings for free.

A little lapidary: "A fragment of the starry firmament" {sold... alas...}

I have very little time for lapidary work or anything else now that I've started school full-time (an MS program in counseling, my answer to the question pondered earlier this year), but I do believe my limited time at Dean and Conne's workshop is well spent. Still in practice mode, I worked this freeform lapis lazuli piece from a scrap left over from a recent batch of beautiful Two Cranes beads. I made it expressly for wirewrapping, and the gold-fill wire was an obvious choice given the beautiful pyrite that emerged as I ground and then polished the stone. I kept the wirework simple (improvising as usual) because, really, the stone is what we all want to see. The pendant measures a little over 1.5 inches (33 mm) and is on a necklace of lapis chips and rounds with vermeil (sterling silver plated with 18-karat gold) spacers and beads.

(BTW, the quote in this entry's title comes from Pliny the Elder, referring, of course, to lapis lazuli. Such an apt description.)

... And Four Minutes Later:

(Read the post below to find out what the heck I'm talking about.)

Another Before-and-After: Ocean Treasures {sold!}

Hey, these are fun! Here's another mess of elements turned into something beautiful, and again it took me about a month not just because my inspiration runs so deep that it takes a long time to come back up but because I get busy with other stuff. Conne Gibson so generously gave me this beautiful starfish pendant made by Green Girl Studios, so of course I started dreaming of the ocean. One of my favorite places on earth is Big Sur, on California's central coast, and as I replayed in my mind my many road trips up there I recalled the blues and greens of the ocean, the dusky lavender and pale greys of the mist over the surf.... God I miss going there.

So I was once again inspired to pull together many small, seemingly disconnected treasures from my stash -- fish, birds, shells, and pearls; hand-dyed silk ribbon from last year's Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta; apatite and Swarovski crystal and a few luminous chunks of fluorite -- to evoke a tidepool home for this lovely starfish. I may be far from the ocean these days, but a girl can dream, and the dreams will always inspire new creation.

Presenting: Sonora Sunrise {sold!}

Anyone who loves gemstones will surely swoon over one of the industry's latest introductions, "Sonora Sunrise," a shockingly beautiful blend of chrysocolla and cuprite out of, you guessed it, Sonora, Mexico. I first laid eyes on this heavenly blend of firey red and electric teal at the workshop of Dean Crane and Conne Gibson, who had picked up a good bit of rough at February's Tucson gem show. Living a mere mile or so from these gifted AND friendly lapidarists, I wander into their shop every so often and never leave empty-handed. Or anything less than happily overwhelmed with gemstoney goodness. Sonora Sunrise is slowly making its way into high-end jewelry such as bolas, pendants, and brooches, but of what I've seen so far, Dean and Conne's large slide pendants and cabs most dramatically showcase this stone's beauty. They sell their pendants so quickly at shows that they can't even get pictures of them.


The night after I bought the piece in that necklace, I actually dreamed about the stone so, of course, I had to have more. I have a larger one for a necklace for my mom (she bought the stone, in the picture to the right, before it was even finished) and a midsize piece that will become a necklace for my travel showcase (along with the piece above) for shopping around to galleries. Dean and Conne said they totally sold out of their Sonora Sunrise pendants at the recent Bead & Button show but will be getting more rough soon, and not a moment too soon because I MUST have more. I have four or five pieces on my workbench now, and several more in production, so I'll be adding to the currently slim online inventory of finished Sonora Sunrise soon. I'll post more pictures of this beautiful stone soon.

A Modern Odyssey {sold!}

Perhaps in response to this long bleak winter, I've been drawn to bright colors lately... this bracelet (see more views in my Etsy shop) started out as a sober study in black and white and then, as I started rooting through some African trade beads I got last year, just exploded into living color! I will definitely make more of these, though they're sure to be one of a kind and I am already imagining many different color and texture combinations. My main challenge with this style is finding beads that fit onto leather cord... I'm trying to keep an organic feel to the pieces and leather is a natural starting point.

Rethinking the Clasp

Putting things on leather has challenged my ideas on how to finish a necklace because my usual crimping methods won't work on the leather ends. I've bought a few different kinds of end caps and crimp ends, but I haven't been happy with them, and some have turned out to be entirely unreliable. So, in yet another wire-wrapping experiment, I came up with the above solution... and since it's so interesting and works well with the organic nature of this piece, I decided to put the clasp in front instead of hiding it in back. The best part is that I make the whole end-cap-and-clasp configuration myself -- no purchased ready-made parts -- which makes my pieces just that much more personal.