Made Another Piece This Week

This was originally going to be a pair of earrings, but the stones seemed too heavy and large...so I came up with a very simple high seated stone ring.
This is Sugilite, has anyone else worked wih it? I love it. Just did a little research on Wikipedia and found out the G is pronounced silent, named after a Japanese man who discovered this stone in the 1940's

Here's my ring (it's me Care!)

Lovely Earrings

These were made 2 days ago, and finished this morning at around 3am when I couldn't go back to sleep. I'm falling hard for these agate cabachons lately. These are from Turkey...the wait for delivery was well worth it. I gave them a simple setting, they are not exactly the same, I imagine they were hard to cut to get the same exact edging? Either way  I love them. The cabs were sold and bought as a pair and I did manage to pull them off as earrings. I love the depth of plume and colors inside each. (it's me, Care, hi!)

Staying Busy

and keeping the color alive in my home studio during these cold days...these are all at different areas of progression...
(it's me Care)

I'm enjoying the feel of  the saw as it easily makes its way through metal, and around bends and curves...must be a tactile thing.

Made this Yesterday

it's funny how life gets in the way of work, just getting photos of it this morning and listing it later...what do you ladies think  of it sitting atop a druzy which is on a vintage map? I think it might be too much...(yes real opinions please) Going to list it, but not on the druzy, but oh if you could hold and see how brilliant the purple druzy is you'd put a fresh made ring on top too! (I think you would) Lately I've been craving color, so I've been making more stone set items and less kinetic ones.
(it's me, Care) :-)

In The Pickle and Out of the Pickle

and I'm using vinegar this time around, and boy does it stink to high heaven! Maybe I should be diluting it with water?

Got a window open and it's not TOO cold out today...

Started these this morning, taking a little break and praying the other bezel is doing fine in the pickle, no surprises when I remove it, (ya'll know what I mean) (it's me Care...)

Finished product (where isss everyone?)

I Made This Today

What are you ladies doing? (really digging using vintage atlas pages for my background, I like it SO much more than the red I've been using for the past few years...(it's me Care, from AutumnLeavesJewelry) hi hi HI

Fresh Start

Thought I'd show my goodies I just received via Rio...I'm going to use vinegar sans the other stuff to keep my home studio a little more green...

oh and I can't wait to dive into that big round heavy leather forming bag...

hope this inspires you to want to restart, finish or work on something :-)
(it's me Care)

Custom Order

I'm really loving using my saw...

The meaning behind these pieces is soooo moving! Ready to mail...anyone else??? (smithing today?)

A New Solder Area

I did it, have ordered and am ready for a clean new solder area, this time around I knew exactly what I wanted/needed...hubby put a new cover  on the old bench he made...(sharing my progress) Today I'm in my studio facing all the clutter, wow, it's harder than I thought...hard to let go of things I really don't need...

anyone else ever do a re-do of their studio?

"Creative" Problem Solving

These are two examples of my "coffee bean" bracelet. The one on the left is the original, made a long time ago, which is still the bracelet I personally wear most. I've made it a number of times over the years for others, always with the simple hook-and-loop clasp you see here.

But when I made one for an old friend recently, she had trouble working the clasp and sent it back. After my adjustments were still not enough to enable her to wear the bracelet, she sent it back again. This time, I decided to cut a big hole in the last "bean" and created a toggle on a short chain to go through it. Here it is on the right. Much easier to manipulate and I think it looks better, too!

Unfinished

Clearly there is something inside of myself that doesn't want to set a stone...sort of like looking at an MRI or Xray of bones and the things that live underneath all we find to be pretty. These are pieces I've started and abandoned, and pulled out to the bench to ponder over.  There's a part of me that dares to want to make and finish pieces meant to look unfinished...

this was snapped this morning with the pretty light streaming into my studio. Even the little ink drawing is not finished...

posted by CarolynArtist

art-a-day project found and fabricated

For a while now I've been creating componets and collecting others that I love with the idea that they would eventually find their place together. This is the first of what I expect will be many in a series of found and fabricated pieces.

Ring Challenge

In Gretchen Raber's classes at the Art League School, she often hands out some weird random "thing" and challenges each of us to make a particular item out of it. Past challenges have included: making a necklace out of a sheet of window screen, a necklace out of a pencil, earrings out of a piece of gray packing foam, etc. This week's challenge was to make a ring out of 2 popsicle sticks, using all of the popsicle stick material and adding only glue, metal and paint.

Here's what I came up with. I could say it was inspired by all the ruins I saw on my visit to Rome earlier this month, but the truth is it just came together this way. Not fabulous, but it is a ring and it does fit!

Elements-Cloud and Rain Necklace

by CarolynArtist...I made this piece from beginning to end on Sunday. I purposely chose a piece where none of the components required solder. I also chose not to use liver of sulfur in my home studio on such a frigid day out where windows would need to be open. The rivets on the top part of the cloud where the chain is attached were satisfying to hammer.  This started from a sketch the night before.  It's been very cloudy lately, eh? So cloudy my studio has barely enough light to get a proper pic, so I chose this one for our site. (there's only so much a gal can do with a bag of frozen peas on the knee and a little loopy from Vicodin...) Hope this helps to inspire :-)

The Ladysmiths Art-A-Day Project

The idea is to take a moment every day to share something creative that relates to the creation of a form of art.

What have you created today?  Is it tangible? Is it a ring, a poem, a painting, a sketch or a motivating thought?  Are you re-imagining over and over a finished piece as you move around in your day? Is it a work in progress? Something you’re thinking about creating? Or what have you seen (or heard) that sparks a creative idea?

By making sure we think and act creatively each day, we challenge ourselves to step out of a comfort zone and into a lovely area where anything is possible.

Through this process we will encourage each other on a daily basis.

 Blog posting guidelines:

• Post a photograph of your piece or concept on the Ladysmiths blog.
• Identify each posting as part of the “Ladysmiths Art-A-Day Project” both in the blog area and in the Label area of the blog post
• Describe what this image means for you today. What process did you go through and how did it make you feel? Are you pleased with your results?  Are you looking forward to moving to the next step of your unfinished piece? If your image is not something you’ve made, explain what about it intrigues you.

• Post something new every day – or as often as you can!