... And Four Minutes Later:

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

The Right Tools

Always have the right tools on hand for the job, my Dad tells me, or you're just wasting your time. I've taken this to heart with my jewelry business, though I've had to acquire my tools gradually as I built my business. Moving online added a new demand: taking good pictures, to showcase my creations in an appealing manner to customers who can't just pick them up and look them over, try them on, and so forth. So I have a decent digital camera (though it now has a scratched lens thanks to a recent mountain [mis-]adventure), and I have Photoshop to make my pictures clear, color-corrected, and Web-ready.

But I've known I was missing one important element: a proper shooting environment. Lacking serious studio space and equipment, I improvised with deflected sunlight, but finally I found the perfect solution: a light tent made of special fabric that diffuses light evenly. You can see the difference it makes in these two shots, both un-Photoshopped, taken in the same window at around the same time of day:



I am ecstatic -- I was spending at least 10 to 20 minutes Photoshopping each picture, and this will cut that way down. The second photo just needs lightening up a bit, maybe some sharpening, and it'll be ready to post. And that leaves me more time to spend on my creations....

More Sonora Sunrise Stones and Jewelry

As promised, here are some more pictures of the Sonora Sunrise stones I've just started working with, along with another finished necklace. The overview above shows most of what I have, and it is beautiful. First, the newly finished necklace of Sonora Sunrise, turquoise, cultured pearls, smoky quartz, and sterling silver:



I just picked up two mostly-red pendants from Dean and Conne; the red is cuprite, and it has awesome depth of hue and texture. I haven't decided what to do with these yet, but I'd better decide soon because red is another HOT color for this fall and winter.



Here are three of Dean and Conne's scraps that I ground and polished myself into freeform stones for wirewrapping:



I'm thinking of putting this ethereal pendant on a necklace of turquoise, onyx, pearls, and coral:



That's all for now.

Purple! Sugilite and Tourmaline, a New Twist on Earthtones

As I ramp up jewelry production again, I've been looking around the Web for fall fashion trends, particularly colors, and was just thrilled to see that purple is HOT this year. This being my favorite color, I have plenty on hand in the form of amethyst (of course), sugilite, charoite, and various glass and crystal beads. I also just got in some tourmaline, another addition to my top-five favorite gemstones (a list that probably numbers in the double digits by now; I'm aware that doesn't make sense) and have created this earthy necklace of tourmaline with pearls, sterling silver, and an exquisite sugilite pendant. I used these large tourmaline chips because their rough texture emphasizes the pendant's earthy nature; I think fancy faceted tourmaline beads might have overshadowed the sugilite a bit, or contrasted too much in style. I love tourmaline's color range and drew upon the full spectrum here to pull out this pendant's more subtle hues while emphasizing the sugilite's inimitable royal purple.

The closeup image shows the gorgeous color -- all natural -- in this handcut slide pendant, which also has some interesting tonal variations in the matrix, even a hint of fire red. (To bring this streak out I was tempted to use natural red coral rather than the tourmaline, but I guess I'm not that bold... I like to think of my choices as generally practical, and wearable.) Discovered in 1944 by Japanese geologist Ken-Ichi Sugi and now found in quantity only in one deep South African mine, sugilite is thought to facilitate healing by dissipating negative energy and enhancing creativity. This stone is rare and expensive, but I'll keep seeking it out because it's gorgeous and it's purple. I see it a lot in modern Native American jewelry, especially as inlay, and love the contrast it makes with more "traditional" stones such as turquoise, lapis, and spiny oyster. Larger pieces such as cabochons display sugilite in all its glory. I hope to find more slide pendants like the one I used for this necklace; I see endless possibilities for this stone, and of course I love working with purple.

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.

On the Workbench: An August Fancy

Looking at a strand of tiny multicolored tourmaline chips, I thought of making a simple lariat-style necklace, just with the chips, a few accent beads, and a simple loop closure. Then I thought about adding some pearls, and found the perfect strand at my friendly neighbors' workshop. Then came the idea to use vermeil (gold electroplated over sterling silver) instead of sterling silver, to enhance the warmth of the tourmaline and golden-green pearls.

And then, as my dear girl tore through my studio dragging a stray piece of yarn that just happened to match what I'd laid out so far on my design board, the last piece came to me (well, I had to chase after it, "it" being a lovely strand of hand-dyed silk I just couldn't release to my child's play): and so I have another fiber piece in the works. I do have some vermeil, but I'm not sure what kind of focus to give this piece... so now I'll just do what I do best: sit with all the elements (yes, laid out on my workbench) and think of how best to present them: lariat, as originally planned, or loose multistrand? Single pendant or focal bead, or multiple foci? Clasp in back or in front, if any? Yes, I'll post pictures as I go along. It might take a year, though; I'm easily (and usually necessarily) distracted.

Assembling, Part 7: A Primeval Treasure {sold!}

(Yes, I skipped documenting the other steps, 7 being an entirely arbitrary number, because I think it would make for rather tedious reading and uninspiring photography... and really I just lost myself in making this and suddenly realized it was done.) And so here is the finished creation from the previous entry, a necklace drawn from the mess -- uh, elements -- pictured on my workbench. It all sat there for, oh, a month or so (yes, really; anyone who knows me, however, won't be surprised that I could work around it all) as I mulled it all over. Finally, after trying a few multi-strand ideas, I decided to keep it fairly simple at a single strand so as not to "lose" the ammonite (a fossilized marine creature akin to the squid) in a mess of beads, so out went the pearls. To emphasize the earthtones, I added Tsavorite (green) garnet faceted rondelles, which also have a wonderful texture and just enough glitter to hold their own alongside the vibrant amber and lustrous Labradorite.

 Labradorite is my new top-five-favorite gemstone; I picked up these good-quality blue-tinged beads at New Mexico Bead and Fetish a long time ago and, though they inspired me, I couldn't find the right combination (since I do love mixing gemstones) till now. I'm pleased with how well the whole thing came together, with the gemstones accenting and drawing out the ammonite's rich tones, and I look forward to debuting this piece. It will not remain in my personal collection: the ammonite pendant is actually half of a whole piece, the other half of which I gave to someone I once loved with all my heart. Having found my affections to be misplaced, I will release this piece to the universe as part of my healing. May its new bearer treasure it always, and may its other half someday find its way to someone who will appropriately treasure it also.

Assembling, Part 1

I keep trying to come up with some method for creating necklaces... okay, so "method" and "creative" don't always work so well together; perhaps it could be better described as a productive tension. Anyway, I've had this ammonite since last winter and yesterday my lovely friend Conne drilled it for me, so now it's ready for a necklace. I immediately thought of some amber I've had for a while, and then -- oh, labradorite! Tsavorite (an earthy green) garnet! Bronzite! And some earthy-green pearls I got from Conne a few months ago!

I can feel I'm not in production mode at the moment, so I'll just play. I'm wondering whether to use silver or gold; I do want to wire-wrap the ammonite a bit to enhance (but not overpower) its natural beauty, but otherwise the piece will probably be fairly organic, with only slight metal accents. More pictures as this piece comes together.

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.

Tears of the ages

The merry month of May has been far crueler to me this year than April ever could be*, but I now have something beautiful to hold onto: my first lapidary pieces. Two Cranes' Dean and Conne have warmly welcomed me into their workshop, where I'm finding amazing solace in the repetitive, mechanical, yet creative work of shaping and polishing stone. These pieces are from some scraps of aurichalcite that Dean got from a local rock shop; although most aurichalcite appears as tiny, almost hair-like crystals on matrix, many specimens from the Kelly Mine just south of Magdalena, NM, have a botyroidal formation that looks like a solidified thick bubbly blue stew on one side (the crust) and is strikingly striated on the other. (Sorry; couldn't resist the alliteration.) I have more scraps of this and other stones in various stages of grinding and will continue to immerse myself in this new avocation as I figure out what on earth to do next.

(* a T.S. Eliot reference for the non-poetically inclined)

Bangled up in blue

Here's an interesting wirewrapping technique I adapted from a tutorial I can't find now (I would like to reference it, of course): using 24-gauge sterling wire on a core of 16-gauge half-hard sterling wire, I wrapped high-grade lapis heishe and fancy Balinese silver rondelles around the edge of the bangle. This makes the bracelet sturdy enough to keep its shape, and it goes on and comes off easily with the integral hammered S-hook clasp. I've made several of these now, including one in mookaite and sterling, one in "African Jade" (actually a grossular garnet) and sterling, and one in black onyx and copper.

Embers

One night, feeling the urge to try something new, I threw some sterling silver findings and just-finished jewelry in a stinky solution of Liver of Sulfur (an oxidizing agent), stirred it around for a while, pulled the mess out and rinsed it off, and stared at the dull grey pieces wondering what on earth I was thinking.... But then I started polishing and came up with this:



Now that's some cool transformation. It's entirely absorbing and meditative, too, to polish the pieces by hand... although I suspect that a Dremel or some such mechanized tool would speed along production of multiple pieces.

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.

Studio Makeover!

Well, it took a while, but I finally got my jewelry work area spruced up, turning it from this:


to this:


Yay me!! Now I can get back into creative production mode! I have many ideas brewing and finally have the space to work them out.... It helps to be able to find my tools and materials, too....

I'm back

Welcome to my revamped jewelry blog -- I'm going through a divorce and have had to change my business name (since "Sanchez" was my married name), so I figured I'd make a fresh start here and on my Etsy shop.

I have only been working sporadically on my jewelry in the past few months; stress has shorted out my creativity, I suppose. Also, just before the divorce got nasty I was getting the knack for (and completely addicted to) stone grinding and polishing -- and then my ex took away the Dremel set he'd given me for my birthday. (Yep, he sucks.)

But I can feel the creative energy stirring; although I seem to spend most of my time at the workbench staring at the materials, once in a while something cool starts to assemble itself right in front of my eyes... so I know it's just a matter of time before something like this dragonfly necklace (of bone, three varieties of garnet, handmade glass, and other treasures from my stash), which I made last summer, appears on that black velvet workpad.

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.

Stone, Transformed

I have found The Source. Of the stones I love so much. Here. Dean Crane and Conne Gibson invented the wedge slide shape I've been using so much lately and, amazingly, they live and work here in Magdalena! What are the chances? I have an appointment on Monday to see their studio and their work, and I think I might swoon when I get there. I have no money to spend right now, but it's always nice to look, right?

Jewels. Fiber. YUM.

I made this necklace in June, a week or so after attending the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta and just about swooning at all the amazing fiber arts. All the fibers in this necklace, as well as the copper beads, came from vendors at the show, and as I sat down to play with them it took but a few minutes for my mind to envision *something* in turquoise, peridot, copper, and fiber. It took about a week to execute, and it was fun all along the way.

When I put this piece out in my showcase, I hardly expected anyone to snap it up -- it's a labor of love, something to catch people's eyes, and fairly pricey although in fact underpriced given the labor and materials. People gaze at it, exclaim over it, and then buy the $12 pair of earrings or $30 bracelet next to it. But today a gentleman called and asked if I'd hold this necklace for him; his wife "just fell in love" with it and can't seem to stop thinking about it, and he wants to pick it up for her when he's back in town next week. So although I'll be a bit sad to part with it, I'm always happy when someone wears a piece into which I put a lot of thought and creativity.

And I have another one going in purples, and one on the drawing board in autumn colors.... They'll be much different, from this piece and from each other, but I'm pleased to be playing in both fiber and stones, my two favorite media.

Inspired by...

I have several basketry works in my store by a wonderful artist, Holly Modine, and I'm often awed by her use of natural forms such as deer antlers and cholla cactus skeletons in her pieces. Basket weaving is generally considered a "fiber art," a collection of media recently (and deservedly) elevated from craft to art status among Those Who Know.

Once again, I have found a way bring a seemingly unrequitable obsession to my jewelry and come up with something I love. Eni Oken, a wildly unique and fabulous jewelry designer, has created an essentially new jewelrymaking form by adapting basketry concepts and techniques to wireworking. I made the pendant above using one of her tutorials, adapting it to a front-drilled turquoise slab and using 24-gauge on 20-gauge sterling wire. Eni recommends using 28- or even 30-gauge wire for her intense, fine wirewrapping, and after wrestling with a few pieces I understand why -- but it's hard to find. So I'm on a quest, yet again -- I think I've found it *at a good price* at Artbeads.com, but if anyone knows of other sources, please let me know.

New stones

My newest batch of gemstone slide pendants is a doozy -- this time I found one in rhodochrosite (the pink banded stone), one in sugilite (purple), and several in black matrix with tantalizing traces of turquoise. Yesterday, a woman from New York bought one of my bluest turquoise slides on black leather and just wore it out of the store. She was wearing white, and it looked fabulous on her -- I can only imagine how unique it will be when she gets back to the city. Seeing someone wear and enjoy my jewelry is immensely gratifying, even more so when I know they won't see anything like it anywhere else.

"Oh, my 3-year-old could do that!"

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh? I adore this necklace that my girl made yesterday -- she asked me for some of my "special string" (beading wire), so I pulled out a piece, finished one end to hold the beads, and handed it over. Here's what she handed back, and dang this mama is proud! All I did was add the pearls at the ends (she couldn't maneuver them onto the wire; the holes are tiny) and finish it off with a magnetic clasp so she can put it on and take it off any time she wants to.

This morning when we got to the store, she insisted I put it in the jewelry showcase. "I made this to sell, mama!" But I don't think *I* can part with my girl's first jewelry creation...

An Experiment

From my "personal collection" (a.k.a. Not Ready for Prime Time Pieces), here's the woven copper cuff I mentioned the other day. I haven't polished it since I made it six or so months ago, and I wear it almost every day, so it's gradually taking some patina that gives the wirework more depth. When it gets a bit darker I'll buff the highlights to give it nice contrast and shine.

This was a fun piece to make -- pure experiment with only the vaguest notion of what I might end up with. Actually, I was trying for something else but couldn't figure the pattern out, and so I kept going with this and just loved it. Notes to self: don't cut wire down to size until the weaving is complete (the cuff ended up a bit too short, and uneven), and don't hammer the ends till I've scrolled them (scrolling flattened, hardened wire is much harder). That's it for now.

Speak Your Wisdom: Beads for Prayer or Meditation

Here are a few of my favorite things, made up into "prayer beads" that you can hold in your hand as you meditate, pray, send vibes, or just calm yourself for a few moments. Turquoise and charoite, an exquisite chatoyant (cat's-eye effect) purple gemstone found only in Siberia, make a beautiful combination of both color and meaning: Turquoise is thought to enhance creativity and communication, and charoite brings insight into and resolution of fear and imparts courage and wisdom. I combined high-quality specimens of both these stones with Balinese silver on dyed silk cord and sterling silver chain, and I finished the piece with a silver-plated hand milagro that represents both the physical and spiritual labors that complete our lives.

I'm thinking of turning this into a bracelet, either by simply adding chain or by extending a simple turquoise beaded band from the ends of the silve to leave both the hand and the charms on the other end as loose charms. What do you think?

Fun with Copper

It all started with a simple suncatcher a few years ago, dangling in a shop window down in Seal Beach, California. Heavy-gauge copper wire, just like you see at the hardware store or on the job site, twisted into swirls and coils with some luscious glass beads dangling just so. I kept thinking about it, so one day I rummaged through my husband's tool boxes for some wire and started twisting -- I can't say I came up with anything artistic, but I had fun and filed that exercise away under "try again someday."

Behold my "someday" bangle, one that I sold a few weeks ago and will definitely make a new version of -- copper is "in" now in the jewelry world, so much so that I saw a whole table of copper findings at my favorite gemstone supplier yesterday, and even before that had managed to scrounge together a respectable collection of headpins, jumprings, earwires, and even crimp covers not to mention some amazing, very earthy-looking copper beads. This malleable metal makes for easy twisting and weaving, and although it's not for everyone, it offers a warm contrast to turquoise's cool blues and veiny matrix. It takes on a patina naturally and quickly but polishes up nicely, too, though I'm experimenting with a woven cuff I made just for me to see how cool a patina I'll end up with if I wear it every day and neglect to polish it.

Copper is showing up in more and more suppliers' inventory, but you can start easily and cheaply by picking some up at your local hardware store.

Soothing Lavender

My lavender is in full bloom! This heat-loving plant just loves our rocky, alkaline, barely hospitable soil, and it starts blooming just as the summer heat is approaching unbearably hot. These Swarovski crystal briolettes capture lavender's beautiful color perfectly, and the earrings go with just about anything, casual or dressy. I'll be getting more of these briolettes soon in various colors, so if you'd like this style in a different color, just let me know!

In other news, I'm going to Albuquerque tomorrow, and that always means shopping! I'll be stocking up on turquoise -- I always need more, and customers seem to prefer less-than-perfect specimens (more matrix, rougher texture) because they look more "real." Given how much fake turquoise has flooded the market, I can't blame them, so I'm being a lot more careful about what I buy and from whom. This article offers some excellent information about this amazing, highly variable stone, and I'll be posting some new turquoise pieces soon.