Modern garnet earrings

Hitting the 1000 Markets shop as soon as the pictures load up. It's taking a bit of time.

Made these today...I love them. They remind me of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs...not that I'm in the same league, but I've always appreciated his style so much and I think these are in the same ballpark. Argentium sterling silver frames w/14k gold filled wire holding 2 garnet rounds each. I used the same wire to secure the earwire in the perfect position. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

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Jewelry Making Tools

Part of the mystique of jewelry manufacture is the tools. I admit it, I love new tools. I love good tools. Finely worked tools that have special and often obscure purpose. Sometimes I just go through catalogs looking at stuff and wonder what the hell a person does with such a gadget. I remember spending a lot of time as a little girl at my dad's workbench, messing with his tools (lord help me if I misplaced any). A while back while on a visit to my folks' house I spied dad's coping saw (frame saw/jeweler's saw) in his workshop and told him I coveted it. He laughed and said I could buy one for about $10 at Lowes. He's right of course, but that old one looked sweet. My own tool collection is modest and consists largely of the inexpensive variety. Until this craft starts to pay off, I can't justify the expense when money is put to better use buying materials (Christmas is coming and you never know what Santa will bring – Lindstrom, hint hint). But every ...

A new frontier

I have been ignoring this blog. Yup. Bad blogger. So sue me. I've recently upped my jewelry game to the space I've always wanted to play in - I have progressed beyond wire - to sheet metal and other stuff. Real metal work and soldering. It's what I've always wanted to do, but haven't. I'll keep the reasons why to myself because it doesn't matter. I'm equipped and practicing and soon I can produce something that I hope won't be awful. So what did I buy to round out my kit? Here we go. Stating with the lower left corner and going clockwise we have - Bezel wire (three sizes) Citric acid pickle Third hand Pickle pot (tiny crock pot) Copper tongs (not required for C.A. pickle, but that's ok) 3M polishing pads Tripod Copper sheets Saw blades Cuprinol anti-firescale spray Handy flux Flux picks Sheet solder and cannisters More brass and nickel silver sheets Burnisher (for bezel setting), gorgeous #4 file, and twe...

A little post about branding

Branding is important. Having a consistent look and feel to your work, your identity as an artist and in how you present your work is part of having your own business. It can be a little tough, but once you've got your logo and colors and associated motifs, that's enough, right? Maybe. Lately I've been trying to develop a routine with my business - to do at least one thing a day to promote or create or interact with other people in craft or home businesses. The other day I decided to work on packaging since what I had was running low and I wanted something more distinctive. That led me down a tangent, let me tell you! Part of what I need are stickers and while looking at my current logo documents, I did a bit of a refresh. Nothing too drastic, but definitely an improvement. Check it out! became It's subtle, but I think it's important and I didn't catch it in my first go-round with logo design. A professional probably would have, but 'wh...

Adventures in Handmade Jewelry

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