Rosette Collar

This is one of the new pieces I just finished for my upcoming show at mesa art center.  

Rosette Collar

silver plated copper, sterling silver, fine silver, freshwater pearls, antique chandelier crystals

I outlined most of the process of making this piece below-with pictures!

 I had the parts waterjet cut from copper sheet metal.  To give you a sense of scale, the copper piece below is 36"x36".  The parts for this necklace are towards the bottom-they look like flowers but have little tabs sticking out all around the petals.  I had several other pieces cut for other projects as well.  Normally I do all my piercing by hand, but I ran out of time and had things I wanted to get done for the show and this saved a TON of time. 

 These are the parts once cut.  The waterjet cutting also makes finishing super easy because they are cut perfect-no need for filing, just a little bit of sanding!

As you can see, the longer tabs on these are bent around the back and soldered, to form links for the jumprings to join each piece. 

 

 Here they are all set up for soldering.

This is after they have been soldered, connected with jumprings, and the jumprings soldered closed.

After that I took it to a silverplating company and had a really thick plating put on the whole chain.

This is after the patina was put on, and the crystals were set.  I just used a wood dowel and a bezel pusher to push the prongs over the edge of the crystal and into place.

 

And this is the finished piece.  I forgot to take pictures while I was adding the pearls.  They are just attached with a fine silver pin, balled on both sides of the crystal.

I really want to keep this one!

Lucem Ferre

Just finished this new little blingy ring! Its made from sterling silver and an antique chandelier crystal. Measures about 3.5"x1"x.5". Thanks to my buddy Nathan for coming up with the title Lucem Ferre ‎which according to him means:

(Morning Star): the name of the morning appearance of venus (goddess of love), Also is the origin of name of Lucifer (showing the duality of such a cumbersome symbol of love). Also means 'light bearer' which is another way of saying chandelabre (candelbrum, candela etc.), WHICH is an origin of the word CHANDELIER!

He's such a smartypants.

Back in the Saddle (Its about time...)

So...I'm ashamed to say that it has been more than 6 months since my thesis show and I am just now finally finishing some new pieces (I haven't made a single thing since my show besides teaching samples!!!). It really seems like my show was just yesterday, but when I count back the months its embarrassing! After my show it seemed all I could do to just make it to graduation...summer followed and I started teaching, and then I took my trip...and now its 6 months later! Eek. Well anyway, here are some new pieces I just finished up this week. It feels good to be back in the saddle!
You may or may not remember, but a few months back I scored this awesome lot of antique hardware on ebay. Well, these five necklaces I just finished are all made with these old antique wood drawer pulls. I sand off the old paint, inlay them with silver wire, make some pretty chains to hang them on and many many hours of labor later, here they are!"Worn" Series

sterling silver, found antique drawer pulls, fine silver inlay, pearls

Hardware Experiment #1

sterling silver, fine silver, found antique hardware

pique on found object and hand fabricated sterling silver chainsee hardware in its original state below

Recent Acquisition

Sometimes I get a little carried away on ebay. Sometimes its totally worth it though! Check out this lot of antique Victorian hardware I just scored. I'm almost finished making a necklace out of one of the wooden handles, pics coming soon! I did some silver pique inlay in the wood and made a chain...its really simple but it was fun to do. I love taking old things with such a sense of history and making them into wearable little treasures.

Spoon Handle Earring Group

I don't think I've posted an image of the whole group of these on here yet. These earrings are all made from antique baby spoon handles. The spoon bowls were made into the necklace at the bottom of this post. I have one pair of handles left...I think I am going to make a mold so I can cast more of these. I really like the earrings but know I will probably never find a set of baby spoons again, much less a set of 12, so if I make a mold I can make more of the earrings. I may use these to apply to the Earrings show at Heidi Lowe Gallery...not sure yet.

Collection

I'll do a full post on the Intercollegiate Metals Exhibition soon (it is an AWESOME show!!) but for now just wanted to quickly post some images of the piece I submitted to the show this year.

"Collection"

found silver spoons, silk thread, pearls

I had originally made that necklace I posted about a few days ago for the show, but after installation we decided we needed to fill more wall space so I had to finish this piece up. I think it needs about 50 more spoons:)

I am still working this piece out in my mind, but it makes reference to family collections, antique spoon collections, heirlooms, domestic objects passed from generation to generation etc. If you have any thoughts, critiques, commentary or criticism it is welcome.

Thanks for looking.

More images and larger size photos can be found here.

Playing with Spoons

Not sure what will come of these, but I've been playing with some old antique spoons lately. Lots more to play with...