You may remember this cute little shoe design incorporated in my Runners Necklace that I had initially made for my Mom and her Half Marathon. Here are a few more variations on the design that I have added to my shop in the Jewelry for Runners section.

I love the little pink tourmaline. I also got a chance to use the new letter stamps I just bought.

Which one is your favorite?

Just added to the shop are these new custom initial necklaces. The little details make these such a unique piece. The edges are slightly textured and they are cupped to give them some dimension. I choose to use a slightly more expensive chain and I think it fits my style perfectly. It is a long and short link chain in sterling silver. I hand finish the chain by adding my own clasp and ring for hanging.

So far I have the single initial design, and the couples design. The couples design has two initials along with a hand cut and textured heart charm to hang from the chain. The sample piece I made for myself with my initial and my boyfriends, I have been wearing it all weekend and love it.

I have been sick since the first and it has really slowed down the blast into the new year I had planned. (In fact, the Holiday decorations only just got taken down last night!) I got a new camera for Christmas and I have fallen in love. I have been pestering everyone with my picture taking lately. It is going to take me a while to learn how to use it, but for now I was able to get a few shots of what I have been working on.

I just got a new shipment of silver and gemstones. I love looking at a new pile of supplies, pristine out of the box. There is just something fantastic about it all together that makes me happy to look at it. Keep an eye out for new jewelry soon. I have a pile of stones and a stack of silver that I get to play with and I am one happy girl.

Hope your week is going fantastically!

This idea had been floating around in my head for a while and when a friend wanted something custom for his fiance I knew it was the perfect chance to try it out. It is a hollow formed faux locket design with an amethyst gemstone tube set recessed into the form. The chain has hand wrapped amethyst gems to bring it all together. This design was tricky to set the stone having very little room to work with. I purchased a set of tools just for this job. The tool is designed to help close the tube setting around the stone and it worked perfectly! It was a tricky design for me but I am very happy with how it turned out. I hope its recipient loves it as much as I do!

Happy New Years! I am excited to see what 2012 will bring.

Recently I had a request to make a ring with a very intricate symbol on the front and I knew this was the perfect project to try out a new technique. I have wanted to try etching silver for a while, but the cost of silver and my own fears of just mucking it all up has held me back. Last weekend I took the plunge.

First I scanned the image into illustrator and made sure all the lines were clear. Because the image was so small, I decided to test out a few different versions of the image to see what worked best. I made 3 different versions, each with slightly thicker lines. I was worried the thinnest version would be too thin and the etch wouldn’t be clear. I went with a slightly thicker version and printed it out on PnP Blue. This is a special paper that allows you to transfer the image to metal with an iron. This has been my favorite product with copper etching because the image holds up longer against the acid. Other resists that I have tried was eaten away before I got a deep enough etch in the metal. I made the ring out of 16g sterling sheet. I decided to solder it into a ring once the etch was complete. This made it easier to cover with a resist, because any uncovered metal exposed to the acid will etch, so I had to cover EVERYTHING except for the tiny bit of metal showing through where the pattern was. I used a sharpie paint pen, as well as masking tape to cover both sides and the edges of the ring.

Then I mixed the acid. I used ferric nitrate that I had to buy from a chemical company. I started out in the garage because I wasn’t really sure how much ventilation this stuff would need. The problem with this though, is that it was mighty cold in the garage, so after 5 hours, I still didn’t have the depth of etch I wanted. 5 hours is quite a long time, and it should usually take (from what I have read) from 2-4 hours. So then I moved it in the house.  I put it on a heating pad by an open window and made sure to cover the surface so that if any drips happened I could just throw the whole thing away and not have it on any permanent surface. So, at about 6.5hours I decided to take it out. After rinsing it in baking soda and scrubbing with an old toothbrush I scrubbed the resist off with some steel wool. I just loved how it turned out, and I learned a lot! I am so excited to start doing more of this, I like the look of etched silver and love being able to bring my drawings to life. After soldering the band together and shaping it on my ring mandrel I gave the band a bit of a hammered organic texture.

I am not sure what the symbol means but I imagine it as some sort of ancient alien relic or something that was found buried in the earth.

Image via doorsixteen.com

Each month the Aspiring Metalsmith Team chooses a topic and those who choose to participate all post about the same topic. This month we chose the topic “Handmade Holiday”. Obviously this topic is very near and dear to me because it is from those who patron the arts that allow me to keep doing what I love. I am so thankful for all the fantastic people that choose to buy my art and support my small business.

So, a big thank you to all of you who choose to support handmade!

Check out what these artisans have to say about a handmade holiday. Some of them even have gift ideas for even more handmade goods.

Mary Anne Karren – silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/
Jessica @ Abella Blue – www.abellablue.com/blog
Stacy – formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Brown – resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
Lilian Genebra – www.girllovesglitter.blogspot.com/
Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs – allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Claire English – brightstar109.blogspot.com/
Gayle – thisartistsjourney.blogspot.com
Nancy – nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Autumn Bradley – www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com
Amy Estelle – amyestellemetalworks.blogspot.com/2011/12/handmade-holidays.html

Just finished and mailed to their new home,  this new initial necklace with matching copper earrings. Each letter was sawn out by hand from copper discs that I punch out using my Swanstrom disc cutter. (I love this tool by the way!) I cut the sterling discs the same way and give them a hammered finish before soldering the two together. I do a bit of darkening of the recessed areas and then some polishing. Then it is ready for a protective coating. It is a non toxic coating that will help the metal from tarnishing. Once it has dried I then attach them to  sterling silver chain hand finished with a lobster clasp.

I started out with five bits of wire a little longer than I wanted the ring to be Then I laid them out next to each other and made some random kinks and curves. It was pretty organic and flowy. Then I soldered the ends together and using a jewelers saw cut the ends flush while taking care to make it the length I needed to get a (mostly) correct size. After bending it using my ring mandrel I soldered the ends together. Then I got some metal tubing and cut two pieces to set a small 3mm stone and placed it into my design. I did a little bit of manipulation of the bends and curves to get a shape I liked and then made some “river rocks” out of small bits of silver and soldered the balls onto the ring. I then polished it up and set two little lavender 3mm cubic zircons that I had and tumbled it for a bit to burnish the metal. This helps harden the metal to keep its shape and it also gives it a bit of shine. Once it was finished the piece reminded me of rocks in the ripples of a river, the stones are the bit of sparkle where the sun hits the water and radiates back to you.

I would love to make a few more of these. They are really fun to make, but it was hard to get the sizing right. Maybe I can do a few and list them. After a bit of practice I might be able to get the sizing down