1800 Buckles

I started making buckles when I started making metal jewelry back in the late 70's.  I think the first one was made from scrape bronze banjo pieces from when I worked at Stewart MacDonald. I made several when I went to Penland in the 80's as "tech samples"  for the lamination techniques I learned with Chuck Evans  I didn't start keeping track of them until I started the series of Fish Face buckles in 1998. That's when I started numbering them. I passed #1800 right at the end of the year (2018) .  At the beginning of 2019 I started posting the buckles with the # of the number as of this writing I'm on #1868. This is the Farrier in sterling for 1 1/2 belts. I have been posting the sold buckles with their numbers  on www.Instagram.com/@jewelryartstudio I'm posting the front and back of each buckle as I finish them.  Most buckles don't get signed and numbered until they are sold.  They are all, so far, part of my inventory of designs so they can be ordered through my websites. If you follow # on instagram you can follow #petersenesacart and see paintings and jewelry in one place.

You can sign up for my occasional news letter (I'll let you ) at www.jewelryartstudio.com and click on the pop up

Elks Teeth Jewelry

This project stated when  customer came to me with these elks teeth. Souvenirs from a hunting trip. The idea is to make a pendant and a pair of earrings 

These are the natural teeth as I received them

I reshaped them and sanded the bottoms flat in preparation of setting them.

Here the wax models are ready to cast.  The teeth can't be heated up so they have to be removed from the wax for the next step

The wax has been transformed into silver and the and the teeth are being adjusted to get the fit back in the cup.

The finished product. . If you have an idea for a project contact me here

Beach Pebble Jewelry

Today I started culling through one of my bags of beach pebbles to look for something that I could use for a repair job. The customer had lost one of her post earrings with dangle beach pebbles. I was trying to find a pebble to match the remaining earring, but didn't have any luck. I did find one small basalt pebble thick enough to cut down the middle to make a bookmatched pair. That's when the repair job turned into a custom job. I used a cut off disk to grind through the pebble and slice it down the middle.

Here is the finished pair.

I really enjoyed working with beach pebbles again. I don't get to do this as often as I would like. I have a stock pile of ocean tumbled pebbles from nearly clear quartz to black basalt, and every color in between. I've collected these pebbles from my travels along the East coast from Long Island to Florida. Contact me if you have any interest in beach pebble jewelry. I'm willing to work with any pebbles you have or we can sift through my collection to find the right match for your style. 

Check my website for samples of previous work involving beach pebbles. I've made a quartz heart shaped ring and a beach pebble crashing waves pendant.