Forest Life pendant with sugilite and Amethyst

This pendant was made for my forest life series. I used a heavily hammer textured piece of silver for the backing. It reminded me of a leaf that had been on the ground for some time. I forged a silver wire into the shape of a curling vine. The round amethyst at the bottom to finish and give the eye a resting and a way to keep from going off the design.

Setting the big stone

This is one of the peices I've been working on that includes stones that I bought from a fellow artist at a "swap meet / flea market" for artists and art supplies. It was a fun day and I came away with a bunch of stones, some of which I don't even know what they are.  However I do know what this one is.  It's Charoite.  It comes from one place in Russia.

"It is a fairly recent discovery found in Russia in 1978 in the Murun mountains in Yakutia, near the Charo River. This is the only known location for this rare mineral. It ranges in color from a light lilac to a deep purple and can be mottled with gray, white and black inclusions. The chatoyant variety in a bright deep purple, is usually considered more valuable than the non-chatoyant variety although both are used in jewelry and compliment a number of other stones." from bernardine

 This is the domed side of a

 a 2 sided pendant

This big pendant is back set meaning the bezel was folded over the stone from the back and the "seat" that the flat side of the stone would sit on is now on the front   This makes this piece wearable either way

Lariat project

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

Fun Class

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!

stone set bracelets

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

Painting pins

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.

Beach Glass custom job

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

New Rings

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

casting steps

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

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.