A tulip

This pendant happened quite by happy accident. I was making the two pear shapes for earrings, and noticed that if I placed one on top of the other they make a tulip, and would serve as a pretty cool-looking pendant. And so I did, and it did, and Adeline came to be. She's named after one of the characters from the book I just finished, The Thirteenth Tale (highly recommended as a can't-put-down sort of a book).

Chains

The new Tameka necklace isn't named after Usher's soon-to-be ex-wife Tameka Foster, but rather after my good friend Tameka, who also happens to be a fellow Twihard. At first I debated how many circles to include, and settled on three as a good number for now. I like this design a lot, so you might see more variations of this in the near future.

Soldering and metalsmithing

I had an exciting day - I took a five hour soldering class today, and it was amazing.

I finally know how to solder!

I also learned how to make my own jump rings as well as a nifty new clasp design. I learned what kind of torch, flux, and other equipment to use. Apparently I was using the wrong type of soldering tool before, which was why I couldn't get it working.

Below is the bracelet I made in class. It's made of sterling silver and I formed all the links by hand. After it was put through the tumbler it came out in a highly shiny, beautiful silver finish, but I ended up giving it an antiqued finish because I wanted to learn how to oxidize sterling.




A close up of the clasp I made.



It looks very vintage.

My teacher was extremely talented and the next class I want to take with him is ring making (not the wire rings, but the actual handforged rings). I have so many new ideas bouncing around in my head now! First I need to collect my tools and supplies, then set up a space where I can safely use a butane torch, and then start creating new designs for the shop!

I am excited.

Green and gold earrings

These opulent earrings are "Victoria," named after a very special person. It took me a huge part of the weekend to complete these because they were very difficult. Talk about labor of love. I wanted to feature them on the EtsyCREST blog on March 17, and the way they're setting this up required me to have the earrings posted to my shop beforehand. More lovely pictures and details of Victoria are available at the shop.

So, I have been sick the past two days. An awful cold, non-stop sneezing, and a fever that comes and goes. At least I don't have the flu because I got a flu shot in the fall, but it still sucks. I was hoping to avoid a whole winter season without getting sick to no avail. My fever is finally gone, and though I'm still not 100% I figured I should get my butt to work tomorrow anyway.

At least I had CNN and Eliot Spitzer to keep me entertained during my sick-in. I love how the NY Post was all, "couldn't he at least have booked her on the Acela?" Hahahaha.

A note: I took down a few pieces from my shop because I would like to solder a few of the fastenings of those pieces shut. I just bought a soldering gun and I'm teaching myself how to solder, but I'm waiting on the solder I ordered to arrive in the mail before I can complete the work. I should have those pieces back up in a few days.

And a final note: a huge thanks to my mother-in-law, who bought Astrid! She also gave me an article about a local jewelry designer who was featured in our paper. I'm jealous - I wish my jewelry was featured in the paper. Apparently this jewelry designer has celebrity connections so she had them wear her designs. Maybe I should mail some of my earrings to Paris Hilton.