My latest inspirations: Crop Circles. This is titled BarleyUK0605 and is made using fine silver with 23K gold keum-boo. The design continues all the way around and I used a fairly rough mop to get the texture of barley on the surface.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Crop Circle Bracelet
My latest inspirations: Crop Circles. This is titled BarleyUK0605 and is made using fine silver with 23K gold keum-boo. The design continues all the way around and I used a fairly rough mop to get the texture of barley on the surface.
Constellation Cuff Bracelet
And here is my first cuff bracelet of constellations; a gift for my good friend who has three boys. One zodiac sign for each son. Again, I added a 14K ball to represent the brightest stars in each of the signs.
Constellation Series
I thought one day.....what would be better than to wear star constellations? So I created zodiac earrings with 14K gold balls representing the brightest stars in the constellation. In this case: Aries for myself, and Capricorn for my dear daughter.Wednesday, June 16, 2010
June "Swap Meet"
Our faithful few: Lucia, Sharon (hostess w/the mostest), Bodil (and Dana taking shot)
We had a great time chatting and swapping!
Bodil's new necklace- acid-etched shell design, faceted gem, soldered frame/bail combo- very inventive!
Bodil balled up silver and patiently drilled through them to make beads. She then made 2 special gold beads the same way, and fabricated a gold clasp. We thought they were pearls at first- but once you feel it you know they're metal! Very cool...
Dana's final spiral stitch (thanks for teaching us this, Mimi!) with hand-made end caps and toggle with grouted seed-bead mosaic.
Hopefully we'll see each other again before the Fall. Have a great summer!
Our faithful few: Lucia, Sharon (hostess w/the mostest), Bodil (and Dana taking shot)We had a great time chatting and swapping!
Bodil's new necklace- acid-etched shell design, faceted gem, soldered frame/bail combo- very inventive!
Bodil balled up silver and patiently drilled through them to make beads. She then made 2 special gold beads the same way, and fabricated a gold clasp. We thought they were pearls at first- but once you feel it you know they're metal! Very cool...
Dana's final spiral stitch (thanks for teaching us this, Mimi!) with hand-made end caps and toggle with grouted seed-bead mosaic.Hopefully we'll see each other again before the Fall. Have a great summer!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Fun meeting at Mimi's! She demo'd a spiral bead stitch- it was hard! We all gave it a try. Pictured: (l to r) Sharon, Karen, Bodil, Ellen, Mimi, Barb, and Jodi. (Dana taking shot)
Great meeting- talking, eating, looking at recent work, trying a new skill.
Ellen's little bowl- perfect size for rings at the end of the day.
Made of thick sterling with pierced and cut out designs, and tube-set gems.
Bodil used Deco oil-paint based paint pens (extra fine) as a resist and used nitric acid to acid-etch hearts and her daughter's name is this terrific pendant.
Bodil framed some Roman coins in gold for these cool earrings.
Sharon set this red jasper and handmade the chain and clasp.
Jodi's gorgeous enameled pendant.
Barb knows her way around the clays! Polymer clay framed by silver art clay.
Another gorgeous piece by Barb- polymer clay insert into silver clay.
Barb's large chain in nu-gold and bronze.
Karen's loop in loop balled chains in silver. One regular, one irregular.
Dana saw a penny chain in one of the magazines this month and had to try it. Pierced an sawed-out, every other link riveted. Even the clasp is made from a penny. (use them before 1982 for solid copper)
Great meeting- see everyone again!
Great meeting- talking, eating, looking at recent work, trying a new skill.
Ellen's little bowl- perfect size for rings at the end of the day.
Made of thick sterling with pierced and cut out designs, and tube-set gems.
Bodil used Deco oil-paint based paint pens (extra fine) as a resist and used nitric acid to acid-etch hearts and her daughter's name is this terrific pendant.
Bodil framed some Roman coins in gold for these cool earrings.
Sharon set this red jasper and handmade the chain and clasp.
Jodi's gorgeous enameled pendant.
Barb knows her way around the clays! Polymer clay framed by silver art clay.
Another gorgeous piece by Barb- polymer clay insert into silver clay.
Barb's large chain in nu-gold and bronze.
Karen's loop in loop balled chains in silver. One regular, one irregular.
Dana saw a penny chain in one of the magazines this month and had to try it. Pierced an sawed-out, every other link riveted. Even the clasp is made from a penny. (use them before 1982 for solid copper)
Great meeting- see everyone again!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Early Spring Meeting
This get-together at Dana's house included some AWESOME show and tell and also a Viking Knit Demo! You won't believe what everyone's been working on:
This large starfish pendant was created by Patti, who JUST started taking an enameling class. Pretty amazing for a first project!
This is Mimi and her AMAZING metal paper-doll series- a work-in-progress created for an upcoming show. Mimi has a studio at Vis-Arts in Rockville, Maryland.
All of the drawings for this series were created by Mimi and then acid-etched using PNP paper onto brass, copper and silver. All will stand and have many outfits to choose from!
These are still being worked on, but you can see the amazing level of thought and design that went into each creation.
Each outfit is designed within an inch of it's life
Can't wait to see the finished project during the show!
Just too cute- a raincoat.
No body bothers me! (No body bothers me either!) (Omigosh I'm dating myself....an old commercial for martial arts....)
Finally, these spiral-stitch creations by Mimi are a hint at the next meeting- she's invited everyone over to learn how to do this- with #12 needles, Nymo thread and #11 seed beads. She has supplies so we can try it out! Looking forward to seeing everyone!
This large starfish pendant was created by Patti, who JUST started taking an enameling class. Pretty amazing for a first project!
This is Mimi and her AMAZING metal paper-doll series- a work-in-progress created for an upcoming show. Mimi has a studio at Vis-Arts in Rockville, Maryland.
All of the drawings for this series were created by Mimi and then acid-etched using PNP paper onto brass, copper and silver. All will stand and have many outfits to choose from!
These are still being worked on, but you can see the amazing level of thought and design that went into each creation.
Each outfit is designed within an inch of it's life
Can't wait to see the finished project during the show!
Just too cute- a raincoat.
No body bothers me! (No body bothers me either!) (Omigosh I'm dating myself....an old commercial for martial arts....)
Finally, these spiral-stitch creations by Mimi are a hint at the next meeting- she's invited everyone over to learn how to do this- with #12 needles, Nymo thread and #11 seed beads. She has supplies so we can try it out! Looking forward to seeing everyone!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
January Get-Together- Recent Work
Today's get-together was the first of 2010. We hadn't seen each other for a while- everyone had some really interesting work!
This is Bodil's experiment with Colores Resin (from Rio Grande) in Red. It looks like glass, doesn't it? It's very lightweight and framed with a fine silver bezel. She pushed an old Roman coin into Silly Putty, then poured the Resin into this mold for at least 24 hours and viola! An old Roman glass artifact! Great for earrings, too, because it's so lightweight.
Colores comes in MANY different colors. Another thing to experiment with and spend money on! (Great for kids, too??)
This is Patti's ring using a bead set in a cuttle-bone cast shank. Pretty cool!
These are Karen's cuttlebone castings. She carved the bone with dental tools after sawing the bone in half. Then she wired the 2 halves together and poured in the molten silver.
This is Bodil's fold ring. It was created by sawing a pattern in 16 ga. sheet. She then etched the sheet (top of ring around stone) and folded it to produce the shank. The only soldering was the gold bezel to the top.
This is Karen's fold ring- a work in progress. She, too, is cutting away from sheet and will also set the stone using the tabbed prongs.
Karen's been going chain-crazy! Various chain types made by fusing the ends of wire loops together, then using a mandrel to form, hammering, and folding.
Detail of one of Karen's 18 ga. chains. She uses a tumbler to polish.
Dana's viking knit chain. Using 26 ga. sterling wire with a rustic pendant to match.
This is Bodil's experiment with Colores Resin (from Rio Grande) in Red. It looks like glass, doesn't it? It's very lightweight and framed with a fine silver bezel. She pushed an old Roman coin into Silly Putty, then poured the Resin into this mold for at least 24 hours and viola! An old Roman glass artifact! Great for earrings, too, because it's so lightweight.
Colores comes in MANY different colors. Another thing to experiment with and spend money on! (Great for kids, too??)
This is Patti's ring using a bead set in a cuttle-bone cast shank. Pretty cool!
These are Karen's cuttlebone castings. She carved the bone with dental tools after sawing the bone in half. Then she wired the 2 halves together and poured in the molten silver.
This is Bodil's fold ring. It was created by sawing a pattern in 16 ga. sheet. She then etched the sheet (top of ring around stone) and folded it to produce the shank. The only soldering was the gold bezel to the top.
This is Karen's fold ring- a work in progress. She, too, is cutting away from sheet and will also set the stone using the tabbed prongs.
Karen's been going chain-crazy! Various chain types made by fusing the ends of wire loops together, then using a mandrel to form, hammering, and folding.
Detail of one of Karen's 18 ga. chains. She uses a tumbler to polish.
Dana's viking knit chain. Using 26 ga. sterling wire with a rustic pendant to match.
These could all lead to workshops so we can learn from each other all these techniques and benefit from each other's experience. Fun! See you next month...
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Keum-boo Workshop
We had a great October get-together and workshop today. Keum-boo! Bodil demo'd, Sherry and Dana tried it, Christine, Mimi and Karen watched. Thanks to Bodil for the demo and instructions. Fun!
Thanks to all who came (l to r): Karen, Mimi, Sherry, Caroline, Christine, Bodil (and Dana, taking pic).
Caroline's studio in Falls Church worked perfectly for us- she recently returned from Italy and collected wonderful beach stones complete with fabulous graphic lines.
Caroline tried gold-leafing one of her stones and may drill a hole or bezel-set it. Nice experimentation!
Gorgeous Italian beach stones above.
Bodil demonstrating keum-boo.
Sherry's applying thin gold foil (keum-boo) on top of reticulated silver- full of texture.
Dana's ring after keum-boo. I like it!
Dana's ring after liver of sulfur patina (maybe a bit too long??) and with opal set temporarily. Love the colors! The technique seemed easy! If you're interested, order Celie Fago's book from Rio Grande or email Bodil for instructions!
Thanks to all who came (l to r): Karen, Mimi, Sherry, Caroline, Christine, Bodil (and Dana, taking pic).
Caroline's studio in Falls Church worked perfectly for us- she recently returned from Italy and collected wonderful beach stones complete with fabulous graphic lines.
Caroline tried gold-leafing one of her stones and may drill a hole or bezel-set it. Nice experimentation!
Gorgeous Italian beach stones above.
Bodil demonstrating keum-boo.
Sherry's applying thin gold foil (keum-boo) on top of reticulated silver- full of texture.
Dana's ring after keum-boo. I like it!
Dana's ring after liver of sulfur patina (maybe a bit too long??) and with opal set temporarily. Love the colors! The technique seemed easy! If you're interested, order Celie Fago's book from Rio Grande or email Bodil for instructions!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Yesterday's show and tell
I had a wonderful time meeting everone and hanging out at Mimi's wonderful home yesterday.I just wanted to quickly post the cufflinks that I tested out with the new resin Mimi introduced us to. I love that it doesn't take hours to cure like the 2 part epoxy resin and is non toxic. I've just ordered some from the online store and look forward to playing with this some more.
Thanks again, and looking forward to meeting up again in October!
P.S. here's a li'l video i took of Mimi's cute bird...haha
had to share
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