Studio: Before & After

I started the day off at 8 a.m. with a fresh and organized studio; ready to "wrap the day away.

Twelve hours later - my fingers are all cramped up, my studio is a disaster zone, and I have a teacup full of sparkling gemstone creations.  A great day!

Bead Style Magazine. September 2012.

Finally, I can share my big news!!!  I was asked to create a necklace and earrings project for the September issue of Bead Style Magazine.  I just got the advance copy yesterday and I am thrilled with the way it turned out.  I even managed to snag a little spot on the cover!  The Bead Style Magazine September 2012 issue will be available in stores on August 4th.

 

News from the Studio

I spent the entire day in the studio this past Saturday.  It was wonderful.  I was able to wrap up a few projects and photograph the week's work.  Its been a while since I have been able to spend so much uninterrupted time working and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Here's what I was up to last week....

I also managed to wrap up the website's move to a new server.  I still have a few tweaks to make over the next month or so, but I love the new layout. Check it out if you get a chance.  I'd love to hear some feedback.

A girl and her torch

Yikes!  Its amazing how easily a week away can turn into 2 months.  Its been incredibly busy around here -  I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to blogging!  I've been learning new techniques and trying to improve others - working with fine silver clay, soldering, using gilder's paste, and more.

Here's some pics of a pair of earrings I made using a mold of an antique button, fine silver clay (PMC3) and a handheld torch:

I fired my silver pieces with a handheld torch since I do not have a kiln.  I do all of my torch work out on my back porch so I don't get fumes in the house.  You can see from the pictures that it was a nice sunny day.  I now do my firing later in the day so that it is easier to see the color of the clay as it heats up.  For those of you who haven't worked with fine silver clay before, you have to keep the piece at a certain color (this indicates the temperature) for a certain amount of time.

The top two pictures show the finished pair of earrings.  After firing, I oxidized the silver and then added dark blue Gilder's Paste to the recessed areas.  I also soldered on the sterling silver ear posts.  It has been a few years since I soldered and it took a few times to get it right.

I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out.  I've got a couple more projects planned with the fine silver clay.  I can't wait to get started!