Friday, June 10, 2011

More rings...

I made these rings in class. This one I carved out of a ring that I molded, cast it in bronze and then lined the inside with some silver foil, that i soldered in place, the process was pretty easy, and I will try a few different styles soon.


This is the first version of this rin, I love how it looks, but I need to re-do the base. Inside there are bands which I thought I needed for fit, but I'm afraid they will tarnish and be auncleanable, by the average person. So i will try it again... It is also VERY large, as you can see below on my finger, I may just use the smaller cage for the rings. I'm also going to carve a large dome ring, hopefully with a springy band inside that will make the ring fit on any finger, within a few sizes... we'll see.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Wedding Bands

These have been finished and in the possession of Laura and Danny, soon to be married, for a few months, but I'm just getting around to updating things... So here they are! They ended up being half rose gold, half white gold, which I do not recommend attempting. Because of the different properties of the two metals, when I tried to solder them together the first time, the rose gold literally crumbled, re-casting this piece cost me $150.00, I had already cleaned up a lot of the metal, so it was lost into the ether, and shipping... lesson learned, do not solder 2 different metals together this way. Luckily, I am a master solderer, so the second time around, it went as smooth a butter. I then set cognac diamonds on the white side, and white diamonds on the rose side, I love the way they came out, just enough sparkle but not too much. I used 9 diamonds total, odd #'s are always the best, ranging from 1.3mm's to 2mm's. The side bands are 18 gauge rose and white gold twisted together, I took 2 rose and 1 white for Laura's, and 2 white and 1 rose for Danny's. Twisted them all together, and soldered them. I also love how these look, though they're not an intricate design, they feel a little Celtic to me... So there it is!

Daggars!!!

I love these earrings! Like I said before, I need to make an opposite, but I still like them this way!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011


Studs! I thought I would give them a try again... I attatched them and then hammered them with a rounded hammer it makes them seem more like bubbles to me. Little metal bubbles.

I attemped a more 3 dimentional design, I intended it to be a part of a pair of earrings, but one was great (this one) and the other not so much. This one feels very african to me, I really like it on.


More little metal bubbles...
Bubbles on earrings. the bottom ones are gorgeous on, super long. Not sure if I like the 2 on one and 1 on the other, I like it, but not sure it will happen again. What do y'all think?
Here are some more images, these are made from the vintage buttons I posted some time ago. I press them into wax and then cast them into bronze, and silver. I'm looking into plating, because though I love the look of bronze, it gets so dirty so fast, and plating will add value, plus, I think I can plate them when they are slightly oxidized to they may keep the antiqued look... we'll see

Ooooh shark teeth, I've been wanting to make these forever, I molded them directly from the actual teeth using a heat resistant glue, they came out sooooo good! I make a pendant out of one of them it's so cute, yet so fierce!

Daggars! I've been using these for a while, I bought these little brass daggars, used them for earrings, sewing on to leather, and other various things, so I made them a little thicker, molded them and now they are all mine!!! mua a a a. I do, however, plan on carving my own pair, because I don't have a mirrored version to make earrings. Now, they are identical, and I don't love that, also, I want them to be textured on both sides, and now they are only one sided...

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Long time no see


It has certainly been too long, but here I am. I've been very busy, working on waxes, casting, and a little forming. My goal this last semester was to create a cohesive line, including a pendant, a necklace, a ring and 2 earrings, posts, and hoops.
So I have a really good start, I love the pieces I created, but not sure if how I put things together is how they should be.
This is one of my dilema's, I can't decide if I like the chain connected like this, or the chain going through the top holes... I personally like the movement of having the pendant slide on the chain, but I don't like how the chain spins around to the front. Hmmmm...
I feel like leaving the top open is a little cleaner, and more refined
than stringing the chain through, any thoughts??
These are the hoop earrings, they are a really nice weight! I love wearing them. I've made them in silver and in bronze, which is what these are, with sterling ear wires. I actually soldered the catches in the back of the earring on to the model before making a mold, and now I don't need to do any soldering after the pieces are cast. That is something I learned at SGM, always minimize the things you have to to multiple times if you can in the model stage.
These are the 'halves' that I carved out of wax, I have 4 sizes, the smallest one is the post earring. The original Idea was to create a 3D hollow bead, which I did, (I'll post pics later) but I really like the way they look in half. This turquoise leather is pretty great too, and I like the combo, but it definately makes the pieces feel less special and valuable...
So, now I'll post a few things on Etsy, and I'll post some more pics another day!
Thanks for your comments!!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Rainy Day Re-Designs

Rain, rain and more rain.
I was trying to get some new things done today, but these pieces were just staring at me, begging me for some attention.



I like this shape, it's different, and I think I like the stitching down the middle... but the chain is too big for the scale of the earrings. So I'm removing the chain to add a different one.







This new chain is the same shape and similar color, but much smaller, which I think works better (takes longer), but I'm still not sure how I like the piece, I also put the ear wire I think on the wrong end, I like the stitching facing the other direction. I'm not sure this one will make it to the final cut.








This necklace is very cool! But it wasn't laying right on one side, so it had to come apart! I had planned on re-doing it better, by attaching fabric to the back to make the leather more sturdy, but when I took the chain of it hung in a really cool shape, so I just added chain dangles to it.











This is just a cool photo! I did not leave the chain this long, because it is hard to keep from tangling, and just unwearable, unless you're just doing a photo shoot, and not planning on really moving.










This is the end result! It's very swanky on...














This piece definitely stands on it's own, so I tried to leave the chain very simple. But then I decided to make a little change.











I added 3 more chains on one side, and because of the asymmetry I had to add 4 on the other. I think the transition from the piece to the leather is so much better.