Rock Star

We all have a little rock star in us. Some of us more than others. I hand cut this disc from a sheet of sterling silver, filed and buffed the edges and stamped the letters. To get the letters darker I had to dunk the piece in liver of sulfa. This process is called oxidizing and must be done outside. Why you ask? It smells like rotten eggs in the worse way.

After you wash that stench off you are left with a black piece of metal that doesn't look like much of anything. This is when the real work comes. I took steel wool and buffed the heck out of it to reveal the beautiful, sterling silver finish. The neat part is the stamped image remains black.

To optimized the shine and to clean the charm well, I tumbled the piece. Hung on a leather cord with a hand wire wrapped hook and eye clasp and it is ready to go.

Framed Gemstones

I had fun with these earrings. I about squealed with joy when I found these beads at the bead store. I was perusing the gemstones and I found these dyed jade gems. I like how they are long and rectangle in shape. With bits of orange and red mixed in with the fuchsia they are stunning so I wanted to frame them.



I shaped some copper wire into frames larger than the stone and soldered the ends together. Then I grabbed my hammer and let my frustrations out with it (try it you might like it and so therapeutic). The hammering gives the nice texture and also strengthens the metal.



Well, that wasn't enough to I wrapped some more copper up on top for added interest and then hung the gemstone from the frame finished off with a coil. Ba da boom, it is done.

Organically Beautiful

Labradorite are such interesting stones. That is the center gemstone in this pendant. Depending on the way the light catches them they can look blue, purple or green. I thought the teal blue color in these faceted apatite gemstones brought the color best in this pendant necklace. If I didn't run out of apatite I would have made two for a pair of earrings. I see a new gemstone order in the near future.

Freeform and Organic

These were fun to make. I can't tell you how long it took me to get the right shape I wanted. It helps when Big Brother After Dark is on in the background to keep me moving.

I wrapped light, teal colored, freshwater pearls around the form. I'm in this copper kick again. Perhaps it is fall just around the corner and it's time to put aways the bright summer colors or at least think about it and thinking about earthy, fall colors.

Not your daddy's gun metal

I have been a busy little bee this weekend which is no easy feat because my son knocked off the wireless antenna of my computer and I am running on limited Internet access do to my computer not reading the new software. I shall persevere though.

I love black and bright colors together and that is what I did with this gun metal necklace. I created it with blue chalcedony gemstones and Swarovski crystals that hang from this odd shaped freshwater pearl. Its a fun every day necklace with a lot of punch.