Jewelry For Pete Sake

Lariat project

2012-02-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

This project was designed for a customer. He came to me with the idea for a lariat with a rounded triangle at the top and a stone at the other end of the chain. We worked together ,back and forth, to come up with the final design. Some of my students want to try something like this so I'm showing the steps. If there are questions, leave them as comments or as email

The first steps in this piece are not shown. I used square cross section wire and used a file to make notches and bends where the corners are. Then I could solder the corners without having to line then up. Only one join needed lining up. I also soldered a 16 ga ring on the bottom of the bezel cup to allow for more soldering area . It gave me a place to put the edge of the frame. notice the chunk of pad holding up the frame while I solder it in possiton.

Holding it in a 3rd hand tool resting on the solder pad to steady the position. (white paper for photo only, obviously, you can't have paper on the solder bench)

I filed a small flat spot on top of the frame to give the top ring a place to attach. The ring itself is flattened on the bottom. Easy solder is pre flowed on the ring. Heat is appied to the frame and the ring brought in as the frame reaches temp.

For some reason the program wont let me write below the above picture. The picture shows how I hold the jump ring that attaches the top ring to the chain for soldering. The finished piece with a sardonix bead and set moonstone

Subrban Tribal

2011-11-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

New line of forged and hammer textured earrings, bracelets and pendants made of aluminium. Today I took some time to further develop this idea of very large earrings that are supper light weight. Keeping it simple by leaving coarse hammer marks and texturing helps to keep the price down and adds the intended funky look. They are still labor intensive but the aluminium takes the high price of silver out of the equation. It also allows for the bold statement with out the weight. These earrings are 2 to 3 inches or more yet feel weightless to wear.

They're fun to make too. You can really move some metal when the it doesn't put up much resistance but they are very strong and durable and colorful. I have added several to my display at the artisans' guild gallery.

Scars and Stripes: The Saga Continues

2011-11-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

This is the second in the series of Scars and Stripes and about the 10th in the series of sake/drinking cups. This one holds 1.5 oz. It's made of sterling silver and copper. It has a nice substantial feel in the hand weighing in at 85 grams. (2.73 oz.) Price on request

Tarpon Bronze Buckles

2011-11-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

This new buckle has what I call a flake patina. It essentially colors the bronze the way it will look after wearing so you don't have to go through the "finger print "stage.

New Gator Buckles

2011-11-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

This series of 4 smooth textured gator buckles came out great! I'm really happy with the patinas on these. I especially like the green on # 518-50. All my buckle are signed and numbered. If you order one by number, that is the buckle you will recieve.

The color of 518-50 on my screen shows it pretty close to the actual colors, maybe a little more brown and less green in direct sunlight. It is really difficult to photograph these patinas. There is a certain depth to the color that is hard to capture. Even looking at them in different light gives them different color
.
This is # 520-52 I used a more basic brown coloring on this one but as it ages the darks and lights will become more pronounced and the color texturing,mottling will get more contrast. It will get a little darker over time

#517-49 has a light brown antiqued undertone with some light green on top. It looks a little greener than it is in this picture. It's more subtle on the actual buckle

#519-51 has what I call the basic brown bronze finish. This is a pre- aged look of dark and light brown
They are all still 75.00, even though the ones with the one of a kind patinas take alot longer to do.

New Earrings

2011-11-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

Some of the new designs I'm working on for the coming art shows. This weekend there is a trunk show at the Harn Museum on Sunday. I'll be showing some new designs and showing a presentation on casting . The stripes on these earrings are inlaid copper and silver. As they age the patina on the copper will get darker and increase the contrast. The hoops are about 1.25 inches across.

Fun Class

2011-10-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

I got to teach a private workshop on soldering and stone setting to another teacher and artists, Deryn Mentock of Something Sublime. We did the workshop in the studio of another artist and mutual friend. It was fun and we all learned alot. Deryn made a great silver ring with 2 bezel set cabs. Great job Deryn!

Bracelets with stones

2011-09-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

Some more new bracelets with stones. The top one is forest jasper. The middle is unknown but I think it's crysoprase or verisite, maybe someone can identify that for me. I got it years ago at a gem show and never knew what it was, the bottom is a carnelian It's much more translucent than this picture shows Quite a nice gemmy stone of an orangish red color. These are priced at about 110.00 to 150. with silver at 40.00

stone set bracelets

2011-09-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

first in a new series of bracelet using a flat wire frame set on edge and shaped in an asymetrical , organic design with added elements and set with stones. In this case it's a forest jaspar 15mm

Swamp

2011-06-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

The biggest batch of gators so far. Textured and smooth. I couldn't resist so I put some patina on a couple just to see what they would look like. The one in the center is the only one that is finshed. The others are all rough castings ready for finishing. There a few red fish in there too.

Custom Pendant

2011-06-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

This was an interesting job. A friend had this bottle cap as a keep sake from a trip to Japan. One of her favorite beers discovered on a brewery tour. She wanted to make it into a pendant

I cut the rim off. I had to do it in 2 stages to get the right height but that turned out to be a good thing because I made earrings out of the rims. I made a silver bezel cup to fit and covered it with plexi to protect the cap and set it in the bezel

She loved it

Custom ring with stone

2011-06-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

A recent custom job of designing a silver ring with a catseye stone the customer had

After several design sessions we came up with a good solution to his idea of basing the design on the yin yang symbol. This is the rough casting in silver with the bezel ready to be soldered in and the stone set.

the finished design

New Grouper

2011-06-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is a new grouper buckle with a very different patina. I did several layers of brown and green using heat to get a darker color in some places. I was going for a more patterned surface because the grouper has a very distinct random looking pattern of darks and lights. This one off is available for 65.00 on the one of a kind page of my website.

Painting pins

2011-05-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

This bad shot is of 3 painting pins. This is about all I have left from this series of pin pendants. The center one is of bronze and the acrylic painting is set behind polycarbonate and set like a stone with silver bezel. The sticks are also silver. The one on the right is a print of a watercolor I did of a swimming pool It's coated with acrylic and set from behind in a copper frame. The left on is also a print and set from behind in a silver frame. The top picture shows some paintings that have yet to be used, waiting patiently to be cropped and prepared for the next series to begin.

2011-05-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here is another Red fish buckle in bronze with a good example of what I call the brown flake patina. I also put some green on this one. The green fades a little after wear and gets darker with exposer to heat and sun. I wore this buckle for about 3 weeks and this is the color it achieved. It will stay about like this. Other buckles made with this alloy will eventually get to this color and "flake" pattern, even if they start out with a high polish. However , it will take about 6 months of constant wear. This one looked like this from day one due to the patina I put on it.

2011-05-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

This redfish buckle has a brown flake patina with some green. One of a kind
65.00

2011-05-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

This gator came out with a great green patina.

2011-05-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

I changed the display at the Artisans' Guild Gallery a bit to better show the buckles. I added the new snook and the grouper as well. These and others will be on display there thru July when we move to our new location downtown.

More Gators

2011-05-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of shots of new Gator buckles. The heavily textured one is like the others but with a darker patina. The smoother textured one is a one of a kind and that will be for sale in the one offs available page on my website under the jewelry menu

Beach Glass custom job

2011-05-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

A customer brought me this piece of glass to make a necklace. It has an open back to let the light thru

new blog and show report

2011-03-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have changed the name of my blog and brought all the old post to this new one, however, I was not able to bring the the followers over from jewelryartstudio. So if you are a follower please re-follow. I'll be making all the new post from there. In the past I have been making most of my post to the facebook page www.facebook.com/jewelryartstudio I will still be doing that but I'm going to start doing it from here first with a link to the FB page. I have several friends who are not on FB and want to keep you all posted. My main store/ website with calendar of events and classes is still at jewelryartstudio.com Thanks!

This past weekend was the Haile Village show. The weather was perfect for a change . Last year we got rained out on Sunday. This year the crowd was small on Sunday but I did manage to sell a few things. Saturday was better for me and sold some of the new gator buckles. They were a big hit with the men and woman alike. I was displaying both paintings and jewelry and sold both!

2011-03-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

The new gator buckle in bronze. Wouldn't this look cool on a alligator belt? I'm still working on the final modle for the master mold but this is pretty mcuch what it'll look like. I have sold this one but I'm taking orders for the next casting session. They are 65.00 in bronze and will be available in silver, priced according to the market.

tioga art show

2011-02-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

This weekend was great. The show was well attended and the weather was warm and sunny, sales were good and I got an award!

2011-02-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

new Gator buckle in bronze

New Rings

2011-02-17T18:37:00.000-08:00

Garnet in an abstract leaf setting 48.00. Sold thanks

snowflake obsidian in a double spiral setting. This one reminds me of fern fronds 48.00 sold thanks

Moonstone in a double leaf setting 48.00 sold thanks

These are one of a kind rings set with semi precious stones. Most are size 6 1/2 to 7 but can be sized

Branch cuffs

2009-11-07T06:27:00.000-08:00

A sampling of some of the Branch Cuff bracelets I'll be showing and shipping to galleries this month.

New Copper Necklaces

2009-11-06T15:50:00.000-08:00

This is a group shot of a few of the new copper necklaces. I'm putting everything on leather now and offering the chains as a separate sale. I've had great response to this idea. This series of pendants and earings is colored with patinas and heat and coated with acrylics. The color in Photoshop is blue green, in this post it's green so I don't know what your seeing but the actual color is greenish blue turquoise to sky blue. The red copper is showing red magenta and actually it's more red orange. If interested I can do better with individual shots of pieces you might be interested in. This is just a sampling of some of the new designs.

2009-10-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well gold is at an all time high of 1040.00 per oz. That's the size of a the current gold dollar coin but twice the thickness. We can't make a whole lot of jewelry with that much gold. I think you'll be seeing the prices go up sharply. I ran my gold sale as long as possible but now the gold is worth more than I was offering the jewelry for. If you bought something I thank you and you got a great deal on gold jewelry. If not you missed said chance. I wont be making gold jewelry with out a custom order, but anything you I do in silver can be done in gold. If you have a special project or a set of wedding bands you want made let me know. I still do alot of that but the prices will be a little higher as long as gold stays over 1000.00 an oz.

gold sale

2009-08-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still having a few request to leave this up a while longer. New fans on face book haven't had a chance to see it yet so I'll leave it up a while longer.

From the bench

2009-07-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

Here's one for the techies that like to see the process. This is a shot of my bench after 2 or 3 casting sessions. These are all silver except for the gold hearts in the upper left corner. They are still attached to the sprus and casting button. All the others have been cut off but nothing else has been done. This is what sterling silver looks like after casting. Now the fun begins. Figuring out what to do with it all I have a few ideas. But first it's grinding, sanding soldering on parts buffing and tumbling for a high polish finish. Antiquing (oxidizing) for contrast. Most of these pieces will be used in combination with other castings, stones or beads for color. The little gold hearts will be soldered onto the cross. These are part of my hearts line and part of a wholesale order. The trees will get finished and put on chains. There are a couple of leaves in there that will get the same treatment. Just a nice simple statement about nature and the beauty of curved line. Everything else is up for further design. The branches are molded from actual sticks that were drift wood found on the beaches of the north fork of Long Island. The texture will pop out with finishing. The leaves are all one of a kind as is the rose. Not sure what I'm going to do with the rose. Any ideas? Stay tuned to see what comes out. It looks like a mess now but some beautiful jewelry will emerge after I wave my magic wand over it.

Link Bracelets

2009-07-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

Diamond shape links with graduated balls dancing around the links. solid sterling

I'm still looking for a name for this one. It's a little heavier than the one above and below and it has 14 gold balls in each link. I haven't done this a while since the cost of gold is so high but I love the contrast of metals

This one I call Sting rays but it could be stars too. These are nice light weight bracelets. Great for summer. Silver shows off you tan

New Buckle and Bracelets

2009-07-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a new lab buckle in sterling. this one is shown on an 1 1/8 in. belt but will fit on 1 1/4. I also have a bulldog and a corgi buckle that are profiles like this.

Two views of the first of a new series of bracelets I'm calling "Blue Ridge"

Three new bracelets made of bronze and silver. Wrapping the bronze in silver keeps the bronze off your wrist and wont give you a green mark. the bronze will ozidize to a nice dark brown and have a nice contrast with the silver vine.

Bronze Patina buckles

2009-06-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

Salmon bronze Patina This is a salmon head that I did the same patina to. Again this is a one of kind finish. They always come out different and there is no predicting how they will look. This is the actual buckle you will get. 58.00 including free shipping. This patina is not shown in the collection for sale on my website www.jewelryartstudio.com but I have all the other designs shown there in polished bronze and siver and the patina can be applied to any of the other designs.

Here's another idea for dad's day. I'm offering a free belt with these bronze buckles. These are one-off buckles because of the patina I applied. They have an almost iridescent quality. The bronze takes on a crystalline surface when lightly etched with a certain mild acid. This effect is permanent but the color will darken. However it just increases the contrast and makes them look better with age. 58.00 including free shipping.

bronze

2009-06-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

I am working with with bronze more lately, since gold is at almost $1000.00/oz. and silver is at $15.00/oz. That's about triple for both in about 3 years. We are in a squeeze between high material costs and low retail prices. Bronze is a great alternative. It has long-standing value as an art metal and it ages beautifully. It's great for buckles. I have been using it for my fish-face buckles and in other jewelry for many years.A free $30.00 belt is included with these buckles.

This is a cast bronze salmon or trout that fits on a 1 1/2 belt. It has a high polish finish but will patina to a golden brown with greenish highligts. Shown on a brown belt. This is one I can do over and I'm selling this first one on the blog and to my facebook fan club for 45.00 Free belt and shipping

The belts I use are snap on so they can be used with other buckles. The 1 1/2 inch belts are all dark chocolate brown. These pictures look a little blue greenish on my lap top but teh actual color is a very nice dark brown

This buckle is cast and then forged. It's a heavy duty buckle with a nice weight to it. One of the nice things about bronze is I can use more of it. This buckle in silver would have to be 170.00. (I'll be happy to done like it in silver for you ) It's about as heavy as one of my fish head buckles but actually has more hand work in it. This is a one off buckle. No mold was made. The wax for the casting was hand manipulated and formed into the basic shape. After casting the final shape and finish was done with a hammer. It has a bright, high polish finish but will patina to a beautiful brown.

If you want it before it goes on my website or to a gallery it's 55.00 That includes the 1 1/2 belt and shipping. If you want it without the belt it's 55.00 (that's what I mean by a free belt)

2009-06-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

I also finished up a silver buckle I started long ago. It's much smaller and lighter than the bronze one and has more of a dress look. It also fits on a 1 1/2 belt. This one is totally forged from a piece of silver rod. Another fan club deal I'm offering this one for 95.00 with belt and free shipping. Call or email for details on belt size and paynment opptions.

Gold Rings

2009-05-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

The 3 gold rings cast in white gold, yellow gold and rose gold

casting steps

2009-05-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

First step is tomake the wax modles. Here I have the silver bezel cups already made so I can place them and build the wax ring around the stone

This is the rough casting still attached to the spru and button. The spru is the feeder gate for the liquid metal to flow to the design. The button is extra metal to allow for shrinkage as the hot metal cools and contracts. You can see 2 gold casting here also one in yellow and one in rose.

The fishished rings

2009-05-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here a some new shell pendants. These are cast in solid silver and come with a chain. These, are made from molds of shells I found on beaches in Florida as are all my cast shells.

This is called a "baby's ear" shell

This is the top of a conch

2009-05-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a pendant I made as a demo for my "open back and odd shapes" pendant class. This is a moon shell I found over New Years on the beach in So. Carolina. I ground it down on the back until it was flat and made the bezel and added the wire. It's also a demo for the "Bails" class to show creative ways to attach chains.

New Ideas

2009-05-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

These 3 new pieces are demos for a new class on what to do with your scrap. It's a combination of melting and fabriating using found metal and scrapes

Cast Gold Ring

2009-05-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Another custom wedding ring. This is a man's ring carved in wax and cast in 14k white. the edges on this one are very rounded for extreme comfort and easy removal.

2009-05-03T05:03:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I get interested in making a series of these painting pendants / pins. Every series seems to be inspired by the paintings and by the desire to try new way of making them. This time is probably the 4th or 5th series and I'm using epoxy as a way to cover and protect the image. The images are actual, one of a kind, original , miniature paintings in watercolor, watercolor pencil and gauche. I really like the addition of bronze to this series.as well. It works with the colors of the paintings and has an arty quality about it. Bronze has been used in art for centuries and I've been using it for my fish buckles for not quite that long. pieces are priced without chain.

#238
This is one of the smaller ones from this series. This painting is pretty subtle and almost abstract. Pinks , yellows and blues. The frame is silver with a bronze backing and a silver bail. I used some green patina on this one and it nearly matches the color of the bottom of the painting which you can't really see in this shot. this pendant is about the size of a reading glass lens regular price 65.00 special blogger price 45.00

#234
This one is a little different. This is more like the style of pendant I made in the last series. It's still one of my favorite ways to do these. The frame is silver and the backing is copper that I heat treated to get a red enamel like finish, however there is no paint or enamel on the copper. It's held together with little brass bolt/rivets

The painting is a small abstract color field of clouds, island, water. It is not covered with epoxy but is coated with several layers of acrylic medium and varnish to protect it. The silver frame stands up above the picture with give more protection. This would fit on half of credit card
reg. price 120. blog price 100.00

#242
This is the most elaborate and biggest one I did in this series. The leaf is cast in silver. The frame is made of bronze with silver branches and leaf. The branches and backing are hammer textured. The painting in this pin /pendant was mostly done with watercolor pencil. I re-worked the clouds with white gauche back at the studio. It's hard to see the subtle colors in these photos because there is a fairly think coating of clear epoxy over the image interferes with the lighting. However you can see some of the pinks in the clouds. There are many layers of color.
I wanted to do some metal work on this painting and not just a simple frame. Even though this is a totally made up scene, it has a nice narrative. I haven't really titled these but if I did this one would be " It's Only May and I'm Thinking of the Tetons Already".
It is probably 2 inches wide and 3 inches high. It would fit comfortably on a credit card. ( in more ways than one). The colors at the bottom in the tree line has more greens and yellows with a gray/violet mountain in the background. reg price 145.00 blog price 125.00

#243
This was the first one I did in this new series. It has an all silver frame with a pin back and pendant bail. The painting in this pin /pendant was mostly done while in my booth at the Cedar Key show. So it's an open air painting but of a totaly imagined scene. I started it with watercolor pencil and re-worked the clouds alittle with white gauche back at the studio. Again, it's hard to see the subtle colors in these photos because of the coating of epoxy. There are many layers of color with some pinks and violets in the clouds. This one is a bit bigger than a match book. About the size of box of dental floss . reg. price 95.00 blog price 75.00

This is a shot of the parts before building the pendants. The painting in the background is the one used in the piece above. Lot's of cropping and adjusting the composition goes into deciding what the shape of the frame is going to be. I like to use the rounded, asymmetric rectangles but I decided to try some regular ovals on this series . Just to keep it simple and focus on the painting instead of the metal work .

#239
I can't resist making these weird shapes. Many more light greens in the grassy area and light yellows in the tree tops and nice pink on the left that don't show well in the picture. This one is in a bronze frame with a copper back. A little smaller than half a business card.
reg price 65.00 blog price 45.00

#241
This is a nice little painting in a simple bronze frame. About the size of half a business card. reg price 65.00 blog price 45.00

#240
Here is another one where I got into the metal work a bit more, adding forged silver elements around the bronze frame. Once again , you can't see the subtle colors in the clouds I think because of the epoxy resin. It's just hard to get good lighting with out reflections off the high shine of the coating. This is one of my favorites. I love to paint clouds and stormy weather. Throw in the ocean and it's perfect! About the size of half a credit card. sold

2009-04-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

Went to Cedar Key for the show last weekend. Such a cool, funky little fishing town. The weather was great. The show committee is the best. Great food and drinks layout for the artists on Saturday night for the awards ceremony and Tony's chowder is the best. True New England style with a little southern spice. Worth the ride over there just for that. Sales were off. No big surprise, but mainly because the crowds were off. Not as many vacationers in town and not as many Gainesville people made the drive over. Still a real good quality show with excellent prize money.

2009-02-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

I got a new project from a friend in Va for a tie tack .

cupcake 3 the finish

2009-01-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

I got er done! came out great. Went thru the various finishing steps of sanding , greystone (tripoli) and zam using brushes, hard felt and moslem buffs. The color in these photos is a little odd. The piece is all one color of gold. The reflections and textures make it look tri color.

cupcake3

2009-01-23T17:24:00.000-08:00

Here it is with the all the stones set and ready to finish. I had to make a couple of tools to accomplish it but that's half the fun!

cupcake2

2009-01-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

I set the first stone, which was the biggest, in the base of the bail. All the stones will be flush mounted
This is how the rough casting looked after I did a little prefinishing. the wholes are predrilled in the wax and cast in the gold to save time and effort when setting. I had to do a fair amount of wax work because the customer had teh holes fro the stones too close together.

cupcake 1

2009-01-21T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hi
I thought it might be interesting to the customer and other potential customers and students of my classes and other friends and random art followers to see what the process is about. After all, the process is what's it's all about for the artist at least it is for me. Of course I want to see a good outcome. Have something to be proud of when it's all done but the doing it the important part. Figuring out the solutions, applying the tools, working out the order of steps, that's the fun part for me. It's also the interesting part of other peoples work for me too. I always want to know "how did you do that".? What lead me to start this blog is the most recent project which is a gold pendant carved in wax by the customer. It's to be cast using the customers gold and set with his stones. I thought of this after I cast the piece so I don't have a picture of the wax but I will take a picture of the semi finished piece before I start to set the stones .
I'll also try to keep track of painting in progress and post them here also. I'm generally a studio painter because I paint at night and in the early morning but I should be able to keep track of the paintings in progress. ( if I remember to photo them). I don't have much time for this so these posts might have lots of spelling and grammar errors. I apologize in advance. Please don't judge me too harshly by this blog