YOJ Wk 7: Gods and Goddesses Freya

     Well I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in myself this past week.  I have been looking forward to the Freya theme for weeks but when it arrived I just could not wrap my mind around it.  My Muse has been MIA for the past week.  Don’t get me wrong , I’ve made plenty of stuff, but really just on auto pilot if you know what I mean.  I haven’t created anything that really excited me … and worse yet I bombed on the one theme I was so excited about.  I made no lovely tributes to Freya. 
     I can share some of the pretties that I did create this week, however, which for someone who was feeling uninspired was pretty productive I think.  You decide.

I made several herringbone bracelets.  I always enjoy making herringbone bracelets.  It’s like a meditation for me.  I have made so many of them I don’t have to even think about it anymore.  My hands stay busy and my mind wanders off into alpha land.  It’s a nice place to be.  🙂

 I have also been enjoying creating this style of textured circle drop earrings lately.  I’ve been trying to create some simple items, such as earrings, that I can wholesale to galleries and boutiques.  These were the first ones I came up with.  I put some of these in the gallery here in Pensacola and they began to move immediately.  I am working to create them in several colors of Swarovski.  This week I added this black pair to the batch.

I also made a sterling silver and garnet filigree cross necklace and added it to a delicate 16 inch chain.  This looks great in person thanks to the LOS patina I added.  I really like the way this turned out

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I also decided to create a cuff-lett to compliment my Solitude Earrings.  I really love this series and plan to make it available for wholesale too.  If you’re just tuning in and you’d like to know why I love this series so much click HERE.  It will tell you a little bit about the meditation that the design came from.

     This cuff bracelet looks really good in hand.  The pictures just really don’t do it justice.

     And last but not least… well, I haven’t made one of these in ages and apparently I’ve gotten a lot better at it!  This fibula eye glass holder turned out to be so lovely.  Very elegant.  You just pin it to your jacket, lapel or blouse and when you are not using your reading glasses just slide the arm through the little loop and you will never have to run to fetch your glasses in the other room again.  You will always have them on you – literally!  This is a wonderful re-discovery for me as I am, for the first time in my life, finding myself dependant on reading glasses for small print and fine details in my jewelry.

    In addition I also created more earrings but haven’t yet made ear wires for them and it seemed a waste of energy to photograph them without the wires … so I’ll save those for my next post. 🙂  Thanks for being a loyal reader.

YOJ Wk 7: Black and White by Delia Stone

Not on theme this week, just following my bliss. I’ve been saying for a while that I needed to make one of these necklaces in basic black, and so I finally did! Nothing too fancy, in fact many of you may notice that I’ve scaled down the filigree work and kept it to a single, simple filigree element at the focal point.

I also finally created a chain for my lovely rainbow labradorite pendant that I netted up a couple of months back.

I also scored a new piece of Eudialyte, not quite as glassy as the last, but I still love the raspberry pink of this stone. I made a simple filgree chain for it as well … I’m thinking, I may have to keep this one for myself. 🙂

YOJ Wk 6: Braided Wire Ring by Delia Stone

Well, I did it! I took the plunge and made my first sterling silver wire braided ring. This time I used 10 wires instead of 6 wires to make a fuller band. I think that the more wires you’re working with the more any tiny flaws are going to show up. I am happy with the way it turned out though … and fortunately I was able to make it a perfect fit for ME! 🙂

In case you missed it, and you’d like to see it, I have pictures of my first attempt at wire braider (six wires in copper) here: First Braided Wire Ring.

YOJ Wk 5: Romatic Rose Quartz Drop Necklace by Delia Stone

I made two necklaces with filigree focals, one with a lovely rainbow moonstone and the other with a facted rose quartz drop. It was difficult to decide which one to post on the YOJ blog, but I chose the rose quartz (hence the title) because it was so photogenic. The rainbow moonstone is something lovely to behold too though. I am including pictures of both here on my blog for your viewing pleasure.

It doesn’t even come close to matching this weeks theme of ‘Down and Dirty’ but I like it anyway. 🙂

YOJ Wk 4: Fading Autumn Earrings

I made several things this week and had a hard time deciding what to use for my YOJ weekly entry. Ultimately I decided on the thing I liked the most – these earrings. They are made with beautiful red creek jasper and goldfill wire on post earrings. I love the colors in these stones. If these beauties don’t sell quickly I will be tempted to snatch them up for myself!

Throughout the week I created many pieces. Many were rushed straight off to Blue Morning Gallery for Pensacola’s Gallery Night and never got photograped. I did, however, snap a few quick pictures of a couple of them before they were wisked away.

First, a border wrapped Ammonite fossil pendant in goldfill on a high quality 4mm dark brown leather cord.

And finally, something wild! I know this piece would have best suited the ‘wild and wicked’ theme for the week better, but I really wanted to show those colorful earrings off in the YOJ journal. This piece is actually not a tooth despite appearances. It is a piece of polished tigers coral. Tiger coral is generally banded with brown rings but this piece was tumbled until the surface was totally smooth and the bands were buffed away in the process. I captured the focal piece in my signature Green Corn Stitch (for tutorial, click HERE) The result is that it looks like a large enamel tooth – and makes for an interesting necklace.

Finally! The Necklace is Complete

I am sooooo happy to have completed this piece at last! I do not think I have ever agonized so much over finishing the clasp of any piece before as I have this one. I settled on an adjustable toggle with lace work embellishments and a few Colorado topaz crystal stitched in for a little bling. It can be worn in five different lengths; 15″, 15 3/4″, 17″, 17 3/4″ and 19″. It will compliment any neckline in Elizabeth’s wardrobe. Elizabeth is one lucky lady if I do say so myself! This is one of my masterpieces, IMHO (yeah, real humble, eh? lol). I am so proud to add this to my portfolio.

And a detail of the clasp (click to enlarge)
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If this necklace wasn’t spoken for I would have kept it in my private collection. I shall hate to see it go so soon …. :::sigh::: I will be getting some better pictures before it’s gone!

YOJ Wk 3: Work in Progress

This is a work in progress that I wanted to make my entry for the Year of Jewelry Project this week. I had hoped to have the clasp worked out by now so that I could have a completed picture to share with you … but that will have to wait. Hopefully within the next day or two I can share a picture of a completed project. However, I decided to not let that stop me from using it as my YOJ entry.

This piece was inspired by a bracelet I made for Connie back in the early fall of 2010.

When a lady by the name of Elizabeth saw a picture of this bracelet in my portfolio at a recent art show she asked me to make her a necklace. I could hardly believe that I had not thought of making a necklace before. I loved the bracelet that I had made for Connie so much. A necklace was the natural thing to do next … and so I found myself quite excited to begin working on this peice. I am so happy to have two such lovely peices in my portfolio.

Elizabeth is a very petite woman with a slender and graceful neck. I decided that I wanted to add an adjustable back on it to be sure that she can wear it with any neckline in a manner that is flattering to her. That’s my dilemma just now … working out that darned adjustable back. It has to be something special – no simple chains. When I have worked it out I’ll be back to share completed pictures.

Thanks for looking.

The Year Of Jewlery Project 2011

Some of you may be familiar with the Year of Jewelry project while others have never heard of it before. I was fortunate enough to get in on the ground floor of this project way back in 2004 when it began. In the YOJ project international participants commit to make one piece of jewelry per week with the goal of honing their skills and feeding their creativity. Optional themes are offered for each of the 52 weeks, which I rarely followed but always loved seeing the product of the many other jewelry artists who did follow themes. Not only was it a booster shot for your personal jewelry making skills, but the gallery served as a wonderland of inspirational images. I credit the YOJ project with much of my growth as an artist and I feel certain any other committed participants feel the same. For more on the history of the YOJ project, click here: Year of Jewelry Project

I participated from 2004 to 2008 but then fell under the impression that the project had wound down, ultimately ceasing to exist. That is why I have not participated for the last two years. Just last week I was thinking about the YOJ and what a shame it was that it no longer existed. Then, out of the blue I found out that not only was the project still very much alive but that the information came to me in enough time for me to sign back on and participate in this project once again.

If you’d like to participate, and if you’re a jewelry maker be it absolute novice to respected wire guru I HIGHLY recommend participation in this project. Registration is free and open until January 7th. Your first project is due on the 8th. To register go here and fill out the contact form by January 7th. You will receive an email with a password and further instructions from one of the organizers.

I would love to see some of my artist friends out there joining in the YOJ project. The more talent we have the greater our inspiration as a group is. However, if you choose not to join in this go round or found this post too late you can sign up for the next quarter. See the Official YOJ 2011 site for details. I do recommend that even if you aren’t participating that you bookmark the page and follow the weekly entries. You will find yourself quite inspired by the wonderful offerings each week.

Simplicity

     While I enjoy the challenge of doing very detailed work with intricate coiling and sculpting I also enjoy reaping the rewards of simplicity from time to time.  After working on the upcoming Rainbow Wrap tutorial I need a break from all of the coiling and weaving … it was time for something simple.  I also needed a creative fix void of the pressures of tutorial making.  I decided to play with my hammer and copper wire.

     Textured metal work has always appealed to me.  I even bought the tools to experiment with it a few years back (hurricane Ivan to be exact) and still I never really did much with it.  I decided now was the time …

After about thrity minutes of forming and hammering I had these two styles of simple earrings.  While I could appreciate the simplicity, they still needed dressing up to me.  They were just too lackluster.  I gave it some thought for a bit and then decided that a simple bead embellishment was the way to go.  To that end, I selected some 4mm facted carnelians and affixed them to the first pair of copper earrings.

You can really tell that these were the first ones I affixed the stones too.  One side is a bit messy.  From this pair I learned that I would prefer beads that were better rounded, so I searched my bead stash for some.  I found several varieties of perfect 4mm rounds that have not seen the light of day for some time.  I was glad that they were still there.  I made two pair of the smaller simple spiral earrings.  On the first ones I added lapis lazuli, which I really like against the copper.

 
On the second pair I added rose quartz.  I wasn’t sure if I would like the rose quartz with the copper, but as it turned out I did.

Overall, nothing grand, but I really liked the results.  Plus these are so easy to make that I can see myself creating some nice bread and butter items for my shows.  Something that I can price very reasonably that doesn’t take me a lot of time or material to produce but I can still net a decent profit on.  However, before I get too enthusiastic and make 25 pair of earrings or something, I think I’ll test them on the market first.

Green Corn Feather

    This past weekend my family and I were out on the Porch Creek Indian reservation for the annual Green Corn celebration.  Because I was on my moon cycle, I was not able to participate fully.  When it is your ‘time’ as a woman, you cannot touch the other people on the grounds because your body is in the process of purifying.  You also are not able to touch the food, not even for preparation purposes. This left a great burden on the shoulders of my MIL because she was left with the task of preparing for the new fire from the ceremonial square AND doing all of the cooking and preparation for the men in our camp (for three out of four days).  I was feeling rather guilty about leaving her with all of this work, but it was not like I had much choice in the matter.  Thank goodness that her son Mark came down from New York and brought his girls.  Kristen, Mark’s oldest daughter did a lot of women’s work to make up for my inability to work.  She was a tremendous help to Mimi (my MIL) and I cannot imagine Mimi having had to do it all alone.  Thank goodness for Kristen!

    

     I found myself trying to think of an appropriate award for Kristen (and her sister Anna – who helped a great deal with my one year old daughter – a MUCH appreciated task)  and of course my mind went to jewelry, because I can make that. 🙂  As I struggled to think of something that would really resonate with their memories of the weekend, I remembered that sometimes as a reward to the male children and the men for contributions to their community (usually in the form of labor and/or performing certain tasks imperative to ceremonial functions), they might be given a feather.  This is a special acknowledgement and a great honor.  This gave me the brilliant idea of presenting Kristen and Anna with FEATHER pendants to acknowledge them for their contributions in the family camp.  This is the first of two feathers. This one is for Kristen.  Kristen also went through Green Corn this year.  She danced around the fire all night right along side everyone else.  This is no easy task and I know that everyone, including myself, is very proud of her for this accomplishment.  She is on her way to becoming a woman. 

    I decided not to oxidize this piece because I am only putting it on a cord and I assume that she will likely switch it to a sterling chain later down the line.  I would not want the feather to look ‘dirty’ next to the bright silver of a new chain, so I opted to leave the feather bright for her.

     I have chosen to have Mimi present it to her rather than giving it to her myself.  I think it will mean more to her to have Mimi, as the camp mother, present it to her.

You can read more about Green Corn on my blog, and find more pictures of our weekend – soon to come.  Meanwhile, I just have to catch my breath and recover from the weekend first.  We are all incredibly exhuasted!