This is a bracelet/necklace set I made with beads found on my first visit (I will return!) to a local bead store. I loved the rich Fall colors of these dyed stone beads and added a few interesting wooden beads I had. I like the look.

SOLD

Tribal Set

While at my favorite Las Cruces bead store, I found these very tribal-looking beads and bought three strands of them that I thought would look good together. Yesterday was the day I made them into this set.

I am moving away from the pastel colors into the more Fall/Winter colors now that it is finally cooling off here on the desert.

SOLD

I have been making lots of jewelry but it seems I am not taking the photos of them. Well, today was a day of experimentation so I will show this selection now. I have been working a lot in copper and these are a few pieces I tested out aging in Liver of Sulfur (I know, a disgusting sound for a simple solution). I will next do some more polishing of these, but I do like the aged look of them, especially for the pieces with lots of nooks and crannies for the dark to settle into.

I'll get the camera out more frequently now and keep up with the blog better, I promise.

Here is my latest piece, created from stone beads that I believe are dyed quartz. I do love creating these bead units that link the components together. I think this would look good with a tan turtle neck this winter.

Oktoberfest Art Sale

Thanks to Jim Greenwald, one of the art club's photographers, for supplying this photo of me at the art sale. I was manning, along with Sue Bulgrin, the artisan jewelry table in the art club. I also had paintings for sale, but this crowd was apparently not buying much, especially of paintings. But, a few bought jewelry. As an artist who participates in sales, I always hope to sell more than I do, but in this case I feel grateful that I did as well as I did.

I truly was not wearing all of those necklaces...they were on black velvet busts on a day when I was wearing a black top! Oh well, won't do that again! Anyway, the necklace (please click on the photo to see a better detail version) that I was the most happy to sell and sorry to lose was the one that was at my right lower chest. I had taken apart lots of vintage pearl necklaces and a silver brooch and hooked the clasps from these necklaces onto the triangle-shaped brooch. A lady, who was approaching her sixtieth birthday, saw that and just had to have it. She said when her husband got there he would make up the difference and she would consider this her sixtieth birthday present! I told her that the price, then, would match her birthday years and held it for her husband's return. They both came back, she put the necklace on, they paid me for it and she was one happy person. She told me that several people had noticed ti on the way out of the room and she was so proud to have this. I am always happy to have my time and materials covered when I sell something, but then sometimes the rewards of matching a customer's wishes trumps that and the warm/fuzzy feeling that comes from pleasing someone with a design makes it more worthwhile than the money.

Since this necklace was a one-of-a-kind and never-to-be repeated design I would not have minded keeping it for myself, but if I am going to be in the business of selling jewelry I cannot let sentiment rule the day. So, I am happy it went to a happy home.

Contemprary Copper Jewelry

I really must post here about my newest jewelry book I received from Amazon yesterday! I have been following the wonderful designs by Sharilyn Miller on her blog for a few months. She makes jewelry that speaks to me like no other...she loves copper and found object pieces and is so innovative with how she mixes her materials. The book title is Contemporary Copper Jewelry and just scanning through it last night had me drooling and wishing I could reach for my pliers. Alas, I was too tired after a very long day, but today I will try one of the more simple designs she offers. I am so pleased about having this book!

Soapstone Necklace

In addition to wanting to share with you my latest necklace design, I am trying to experiment with jewelry photography and effects to do that better. This is a baby step toward that. I like the diffused light but will position the bust differently next time. Always something to learn!

This is a necklace designed after finding these soapstone beads at Western Traders when I was last in Las Cruces. They are of such an architectural design that I did not want to overdo the use of them, so decided to separate them in bead units of copper beads and copper wire. I like the effect! I had planned on showing earrings to match but found, when I "roadtested" them that they were a bit too heavy and uncomfortable when they bumped against my neck. That is why I always roadtest prototype designs before trying to sell them.

This, along with many other of my pieces will be available at the Sun City Grand Oktoberfest. I will have my jewelry in the Art Club as well as another artisan and I will be sharing a table in the Chaparell Center. Stop by and see us!

Red Jasper Set

When I was in Las Cruces, NM several months ago I found these red jasper beads at my fav bead store - Western Traders. I made two pairs of earrings from some of that strand and hoarded the rest for myself. I immediately sold both pairs of earrings so I thought others must like them as much as I.

When we returned to this store on our way back home to Phoenix from Chama a few weeks ago, we stopped by this store and he had sold every strand of this red jasper but one. He stated he could not get any more of them, so I decided to be really greedy and grab the last one for myself. I am so glad I did that. I decided to make a set of these for display and, hopefully, sales. However, if they don't sell, I think they look perfectly fabulous on me! I still have about six beads left, so I will really go into hoarding mode if these sell!

For a design, I wanted to wrap them somehow, but did not want to do a heavy or ornate wrap since I believe these wonderful beads can stand on their own in the beauty department. I like this simple design and think it lends itself to the beads. As usual, for a better view of detail you can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Copper Rings

I had not gotten into making rings at all up to this point; no reason, I even have a ring mandrel; I guess I was just having so much fun making everything else that I neglected to start making rings. My artisan friend, Carol, showed me some of her rings yesterday and I decided to make some for our jewelry sale table we are sharing for community Oktoberfest show we will be participating in. Hers are very delicate, tiny and fine; mine are much chunkier, larger and made of copper (my fav metal to work with). I have had these two dark glass beads for awhile, but since I only had two and they were a bit much for earrings I wasn't sure where I would use these. Well, they called out loudly to me when I was looking for beads to incorporate into this design.

I used a design for the rosette rings from a tutorial by Wendy Sue. They were such fun I decided to incorporate some beads into the design and make a few changes. I like them all!

Lookee, Lookee!

These are the stones I finally finished tumbling and polishing. This was a five-week process and I am not a patient person! But, it brings such a feeling of accomplishment to have these made jewelry-ready all by myself....from the finding the stones off a mining road near Deming, NM (thanks to Tom for driving me back there in 4WD and helping me find these!), to tumbling them and then polishing them....like I said...all my own labor and love. I have some ideas in my mind about how to wrap some of these and make pendants for necklaces. Stay tuned for anything that comes about from those ideas.

I am sorry that the true reds and yellows don't show in the photos. I took photos in full sun but the cast shadows were too distracting and then in the shade they don't show the true colors. Most of these are red jasper and yellow jasper, with a few rhyolyte with jasper inclusions and a few pieces of rose quartz. My fav's are the yellow jasper with red jasper inclusions, I can hardly wait to work with those!

Auntie's Earrings 2

This is the second pair of clip-on earrings I have made as a choice for a gift for a friend's aunt. It is hard to wrap my mind around earrings other than for pierced ears! Unlike my other earrings I make to sell, I cannot try these on and road test them since my ears are pierced and these are uncomfortable when clipped over my earlobe. I hope they are comfortable for non-pierced ears!

More Jewelry

These are the medical bracelets I worked on while in Chama. They each have "lobster claw" clasps on each end to make it easy to attach them to the wearer's medical alert emblem. I plan on making many more of these, both for men and women. My husband is road testing several prototypes currently to see what works best for men.
















This necklace and earring set is made up of bead units I made with silver color wire and Unikite tube beads. They are a natural stone and since they are separated by wire they are not too heavy to be comfortable when wearing.

SOLD















I loved these bead when I saw them at Western Traders! They looked so Autumnal. They are natural stones and such fun to wear. The bracelet is made on memory wire.

SOLD













These earrings were commissioned as a gift for a customer's aunt, who does not have pierced ears and prefers clip-on earrings. I love the turquoise tube beads!

SOLD

Long Time No See

While on our five-week trip to northern New Mexico, I made so much jewelry that I didn't want to take the time to photograph it. So, here is a sampling of what I have made. While staying in our favorite RV park in Chama, NM I was offered the opportunity to display and sell my jewelry in the RV park office. This set me to making more and more pieces as I sold them. What great fun!

These are silver-color dangles made from beads purchased from my favorite bead store in Las Cruces, NM....Western Traders. I always find such interesting beads and findings there.





This is a rework of one of the retainer ring necklaces I did earlier. I wanted more motion in the dangles and also needed to change my wrapping pattern so there would be no loose ends to stick anyone when wearing this. I've have "road tested" this myself and have to say it is very comfortable to wear.















This is a twisted copper cuff bracelet I made for a man, but liked it enough to keep it for myself. I am going to try some torch techniques to bring out the colors in the copper, I have read about how to do this and will try it on this bracelet. My husband helped me twist long lengths of 12-gauge copper wire and I then bent/twisted/struggled/shaped this into a cuff bracelet. When road testing this one I was asked if I wore it because I had arthritis, I replied that after working with 12-gauge wire I certainly would have arthritis! That stuff is something else to bend!




This is a memory wire bracelet made with magnetic hematite beads and silver-color findings. It really is magnetic!

This is a medical bracelet I made for my husband's medical emblem. I wanted something that looked more ruggedly masculine than just beads and he suggested copper links. I hammered very heavy copper wire into "dino bone" links and drilled holes to hold the connecting jump rings. That was a lot of hammering! I had thought of making enough links to make a necklace for myself but after doing just enough links for this bracelet thought better of that idea! I love the look of copper, even after it oxidizes it still looks so richly warm in color.

Swarovski Crystal Medical Bracelet

Several members of my family, as well as many of my friends, wear the medical bracelets to alert medical personnel of their medical problems. I discovered a way to make these bracelets more attractive, as well as easier to remove and put on. This is one I made for my friend and fellow artisan jeweler, Carol. It contains Swarovski crystals and is easily attached to her gold medical emblem. I even guessed correctly her size and it fits well, and really improves the look of her bracelet now without losing any of its vital functionality.

I have many more ideas for great designs for these and will begin working on more of them.

The Blogging Gods are not allowing Carol to comment on this post this morning so I will post her comment she e-mailed to me mainly because it warms my heart to hear it and also validates that these are a great idea!

I'm the totally lucky recipient of this beautiful bracelet link for my medical bracelet. So many of us have allergies and other issues that require us to wear a Medical Alert bracelet. Many of my friends agree that it feels like you have been "branded" and the world believes you have a hideous disease instead of an allergy to penicillin. The addition of Susan's wonderful crystal bracelet makes such a difference. I now see my alert bracelet as a piece of jewelry and wear it proudly instead of trying to hide it under my watch.

Thank you so much Susan... what a difference !!!!

Carol

Hematite Heart

This necklace/earrings set was made from some hematite beads I found in Albuquerque. The heart pendant I wired from a hematite heart found locally. This was an interesting material to work with as they are truly magnetic. I had beads stuck to every jeweler's pliers on my worktable and the earrings stuck together when placed too closely to each other! They make a fun set if you want something dark but not jet black in color.

SOLD

Red Necklace for Kristi

A friend commissioned me to make a necklace for her, the only stipulation was it had to have red in it. I chose these red branch coral beads because I love their deep red color and the interesting shapes and textures of each bead. I hand-made the beaded clasp. She loved the necklace and wore it well.

Hammered Copper

A few days ago I read on a blog I follow by Sharilyn Miller about using copper washers found at Harbor Freight to make interesting copper bracelets. I just happened to have found these, on my own, at the Las Cruces Harbor Freight store while we were there and bought them just because they were so pretty and so interesting. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I could not leave them there! As we returned home, there was this daily entry to Sharilyn's blog explaining how to make this bracelet from the copper washers found at Harbor Freight! This one was meant for me, I am sure!

I hand-hammered these washers and made the wire components, including the toggle bar, for the closure. This sure was a fun one and such an interesting design. I love working in copper since it is such a warm color.

SOLD

Industrial Chic

I was inspired by some designs using found objects by Tara. Since then I have been on the look-out for objects to mix with the beads I have and have had fun creating some of them. The earrings here are some I used from hardware store finds and some of the copper pieces are from there, as well. The orange bead bracelet is one I made for myself to match a necklace and earring set I have of the orange beads.

By the way, I spoke with my favorite jewelry store guy in Las Cruces (Western Traders) and he said these brown and turquoise beads are calcilikite. Who knew?

I started tumbling some of the many rocks found on our recent New Mexico jaunt. Even just rinsing them off to prepare for the tumbler revealed their beauty, so I am hoping for spectacular results with these. For all the sweat and effort my husband and I put into gathering these, they had better be spectacular! Rockhounding is a tiring hobbby!

Watch Band

I wanted a watchband for this spare watch that was light and airy for summer. I made this in the size of a bracelet to fit rather loosely. I used a random assortment of gold beads and had a fun time creating.