New Art Cuffs Completed!

Okay, so as promised I am following up with pictures of the art cuffs I showed in progress recently.  I love how they turned out!  First, I have to show off the Mermaid cuff.   I added rainbow moonstone, chrysophase and white sapphire dangles and pearls to finish off the adjustable chain on the back.

And now, so you can really appreciate the detail of the lovely mermaids, a close up.  Note their crossing tails and the fish head harp as they splash and play in the water.  Can you hear their song?

 

And now for the butterfly lover!  The rainbow moonstone, white sapphire and amethyst paired so beautifully with the colorful winged creature in this piece.  The rainbow moonstones captures the beautiful iridescence of butterfly wings.  Though you can only see small amounts of blue fire in the photo, there is an abundance of iridescence in the stones.

And now, her close up:

I’m very happy with the end results of these art cuffs!  They are beautiful if I do say so myself, and better than that fun to make!

 

New works in Progress: Metal Etchings

I’ve been working to catch up on the demand for my etched metal ‘Art Cuffs.’  Many are taking shape, but I wanted to quickly share two new designs that are coming together.  I still have some work to do on both of them before they will be complete, but I’m excited and in a sharing mood. 🙂 One is a butterfly accented with rainbow moonstones.  The over all feel is light, airy and ethereal.

Detail Picture:

Another new Art Cuff design – Mermaids!  Beautifully antiqued copper shines through the sea greens in this eye catching piece.   Bright blue glimmers leap from the rainbow moonstone beads on either side adding to the watery feel that this piece exudes.  I think my mermaids cuff might have a moon and stars in it’s next incarnation…

Detail Picture:

I don’t know about you, but I really think I’m going to love these new designs.  I see more mermaids and butterflies coming up, and even the possibility of a new octopus cuff!  If you have a request for a particular theme that you’d like to see on one of my art cuffs, drop me and comment and let me know.

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Experiments in Enamels

I’ve long admired the work of enamel jewelers.  At Christmas my mother-in-law gifted me a wonderful book on enamels The Art of Enameling by Linda Darty that absolutely fired (no pun intended) my imagination.  I caught the fever and decided that I had to experiment!  There are so many wonderful techniques covered in the book, it was almost hard to decide where to start!  I decided to start with the simple stuff and put some experience under my belt before moving on to more involved projects.  Below are two of my earliest experiments.  With valentines coming I decided to do some hearts.  My first heart was fired in Oriental red.  Just a simple, single color firing made for a lovely little heart.  But that didn’t fully satisfy me.  I chose to do another one, but this time I used a base of antique white fired on first, then I sifted a second coat of oriental red over the white and played around with the sgrafitto technique, also a favorite of potters, where I scratched a design into the red before firing.  Simple spirals seemed like a good idea.  KISS (keep it simple stupid)!  They made cute valentines necklaces if I do say so myself!

Seeing how simple sgrafitto could be I decided to take it a little further and see if I could create a piece with my Solitude figure, you know, the lone hiker in a natural setting that is repeated in my metal etchings.  This time, I chose to work in black and white for contrast and to give the appearance of a night time scene.  The results were not perfect by any means, but they were encouraging.  Initially I thought I had a lot of white sifted over the base of black, but after firing I was surprised to see how much of the white disappeared into the black base coat.

Encouraged by my results, and thinking that to improve upon them I should have used more white I set off to make a larger sgrafitto piece.  I decided to use my Solidarity theme from my etchings (while solitude depicts a solitary figure, solidarity usually depicts a family).  I found that rather than fitting three or more figures into the work as I had originally planned, only two would fit – which is fine.  Solidarity can exist between two individuals, right?  I used more white in this one, sifting the edges to try to give the feel of a heavy snow storm with just a monocle view of our two characters huddled closely together against the storm.  In the end, I decided I had used too much white as I lost a lot of the detail of the trees on either side.  I loved it still, despite it’s imperfections.  Certainly it could be improved upon, but I’ll get to that as I continue with my experiments.

This made me think about the solidarity shared in love relationships, and with Valentines coming and hearts on my mind, it wasn’t difficult to decide what to do next.   So here I have done another sgrafitto piece with a couple sharing a view of the evening sky together.  This time I chose to use color instead of black and white as love is filled with many shades and is never just black and white.  I call this one ‘Our Story’.

Having enjoyed the lovely colors in this piece, and learning a few things about layering the colors in sgrafitto, I moved on to create this cute little tree pendant.  If you know my work, you know I love trees, so this one was a no brainer.  I began by fusing a base coat of brown on the copper, the sifting the bright yellow over it and scratching in my tree trunk and a few branches and fired the yellow coat.  I then went back and sifted green, for leaves, over the branches of the tree.  I tried to allow a little light (or yellow) to show through the leaves of the tree and a few branches as well to add a little depth.  Not sure I pulled of ‘depth’ but in the end I liked my little tree very much!

I have had great fun with enameling and I see it playing a bigger role in my work in 2013.  I will continue to experiment – and there are soooo many techniques to play with in enamels.  I cannot wait to move ahead with more experience under my belt and try some of the more complicated techniques!  I now have about 90 different colors to play with … but alas I depleted my oxygen for my torch, so I must pause in my experiments and get back to work creating stock for coming shows anyway.  It’s probably a good thing I ran out of oxygen or I would still be sitting at my torch playing in color and fire!

February 2013 Workshop with DeliaStone

Greetings Fellow Jewelry Addicts,

Below you will find my February Workshops.  Keep in mind that show season kicks in for me in March and I will not be able to offer as many classes in the months ahead as I have in January and February, so take advantage of them now!

I will be offering more private workshop time slots March through May, so if you’re interested in scheduling private lessons get on my calendar now as I will only be offering a limited number of time slots. Private lessons allow you to pick the projects/techniques you want to work on and follow rabbit holes when the mood strikes you, not to mention the benefits of individualized uninterrupted time with your instructor.  More info on private rates can be requested at workshops@deliastone.com.

I’m kicking the month off teaching at the Emerald Coast Bead Society Retreat in Ft. Walton Beach on Saturday, Feb 2^nd.  If you’re attending, I will see you there!

February 7^th: Metal Etching 101 at Danish Princess Beads and Jewelry in Milton, FL

 

Date: February 7th, 2013 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $45 materials included
Location: Danish Princess Beads and Jewelry
5212 Elmira St. Milton, FL  Phone: 850-490-0310
Call today to reserve your seat!  Please be advised that pre-registration is REQUIRED to ensure that I have enough materials for all participants.  Classes that fail to meet the minimum number of students required will be cancelled.

Learn to etch your own hand drawn designs on copper sheet to create a raised design, similar to embossing but with a wider range of possibilities.  In this class you will create a six inch by one inch cuff bracelet with a design of your choosing or you may opt to follow your bliss and create something else with your metal.  Ultimately the design is up to you.  I will walk you through the technique while allowing your creativity to guide you.  You will have the option to either add an antique patina to your piece once completed or to add patina paints to add depth and color to your designs.
Tools required: Vintage sanding block (available for purchase on site for approximately $4).
Materials: included in the cost of the class

February 12^th: Basic Border Wrap Pendant Workshop @

A Bead and Crystal House in Pensacola, FL

 

Date: February 12th
Time: 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $40 + materials
 Location: A Bead and Crystal House, 711 W Garden St., Pensacola, FL.  Phone: 432-3400
Make your own pendant!  Learn the basics of setting a cabochon in a wire wrap frame.  No prior experience is necessary.  Beginners welcome!  Call the Bead and Crystal House for details.
Tools required: Round nose pliers, flush cutters, flat or needle nose pliers.
Materials Required:  4’ 22 gauge dead soft square wire, 1 ½’ of half round wire (any gauge from 22 to 18) one 22x 30 cabochon or approximate size.  Materials available for purchase on site.

February 15^th: Cross Pendant @ Crystal Studios
in historic East Hill in Pensacola, FL

 

Date: February 15th
Time: 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $35 + materials
 Location: Crystal Studios in East Hill.  926 E. Lloyd St. Pensacola, FL  Call to reserve your seat today!
Make this amazing Rose Cross Pendant or opt to embellish it with a gemstone accent of your choice.  This is rated as an intermediate class though beginners have successfully completed the project.  All are welcome.
Tools: Round nose (rosary) pliers, Flat nose pliers, clippers
Materials: 18 gauge dead soft round wire, 22 or 24 gauge round wire (for rose) or one 3-4mm bead and 26 gauge wire.  Available for purchase on site.

February 19^th: Herringbone Pendant @ Danish Princess in Milton Fl

Date: February 19th, 2013 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $35 + materials
Location: Danish Princess Beads and Jewelry
5212 Elmira St. Milton, FL  Phone: 850-490-0310
Call today to reserve your seat!
This project is suitable to beginners.  Learn the basics of the herringbone weave and make your very first pendant!  This project yields a complex look yet is very simple to complete.  This technique can be used in many ways.  Delia will show examples of the versatility of this technique in class.

February 21^st: Egyptian coil Earrings @ Crystal Studios in Historic East Hill in Pensacola

Date: February 21st
Time: 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $35 + materials
 Location: Crystal Studios in East Hill.  926 E. Lloyd St. Pensacola, FL  Call to reserve your seat today!
Learn to use this ancient Egyptian technique to make a pair of attractive earrings.  Simple but beautiful these earrings will be an instant hit with your fans.
Tools: Round Nose pliers, flat nose pliers, clippers, 5/16 dowel rod (available on loan), ruler
Materials: 18 gauge dead soft wire, 26 gauge wire, half round wire (18, 22, or 20 will work), two ear wires, two briolette beads.  Available for purchase on location.

February 28^th Adjustable Leather and Pearl Bracelet
@ A Bead and Crystal House in Pensacola, FL

Date: February 28th
Time: 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $40 + materials
 Location: A Bead and Crystal House, 711 W Garden St., Pensacola, FL.  Phone: 432-3400
If you’ve been itching to play with leather and pearls and create your own casual couture jewelry, now is the time.  You will learn to create this adjustable leather and pearl bracelet in this class which will give you the basics to get you started in this jewelry genre.
Tools: Clippers, superglue gel (to secure the adjustable element)
Materials: Large hole pearls, Soft round leather cord that fits your pearls (generally 1.8 to 2mm fits).

That’s it for the month, unless you choose to schedule a private workshop.  Contact me for rates workshops@deliastone.com.