Cuff Coming to Life, back to jewelry making for Care...

I have a 20/20 respect for smithers who take their time and go thru all the necessary procedures when working with metal. I am coming to believe more and more that a steady pace is better than a fast assembly-type line (remember that classic 'I Love Lucy' episode wher she's wrapping chocolate from the conveyer belt? where items are cranked out. I say this from my own experience. (golf ball markers and other sweet items) :)

This cuff was started from 16 gauge sterling silver sheet. (It was purchased a while back for making super chunky spinner rings ~ of which I've made and sold.) From now on I'll use 20 or 22 gauge, if anyone has thoughts/opinions on this please feel free to comment!

It was time to make a cuff, but I didn't want a super thin one. I wanted chunky. So...what a perfect time to channel my chunky metal in my smithing class.

My instructor is Nick, he teaches at The Art League in Alexandria. (The Art League is associated with the Torpedo Factory) Nick has been making beautiful metal pieces for years. (He's a gem too!)

I've been taking his classes off and on for the past few years, and he has quite a following (students, not...like...you know...followers :P)

Anyway there are other amazing smith instructors at the Art League if you live in the Baltimore/DC Area and are interested in learning to silver/metal smith, I have a link to the lower right side of my blog.

Okay back to the sterling silver cuff. I started with 16 gauge. (Crazy huh?) Well I did roll it out to 17 gauge. (It's really important to anneal your metal in between these next steps.) I planished it to even out the strip so I could then solder the bezel to the band. There are several methods I could choose from as far as placing the bezel.

There are so many nuances about building a piece like this to take into consideration~
Overall Look and Balance (art is subjective eh?)
Comfort (taking it on and off - the edges need to be very comfortable, and it should fit and sit well)
Durability (this will be bent slightly as it goes on and off a wrist so thin thin metal does not seem appropriate, imo)
Building Steps (what goes first, second, third, etc...) this is something you're taught and learn the hard way) I have learned to write things down.
Tools (appropriate tools, what will work for all of the things mentioned above, down to the yellow ochre used to keep the solder in place, etc...)
Patience (nothing has to be finished in one sitting, that's my new motto. I would rather make an outstanding piece than redo - which some of you know I will do and do to get it right)and I applaud those of you who can make a wonderful piece in a sitting :-)

These steps seem stern when I read them over, but really they are just basic pieces of information to keep in mind (I am by no means an instructor or on that level of expertise). Blogging about these steps is helping me to instill these as well (nothing can replace actually building your piece)

So...until next week when I finish the overall design and set my stone, here she is. (notice the Yellow Ochre, lol...I have 3 more lines to add. Also the ends are soooo not what I have in mind for a pleasing detail (I see the ends as blank canvasses and they make me drool...) I will probably stamp a piece of poetry to the back and, of course - my mark.



Also, I had a boo boo on my left pointer finger. It turned black right away...then later while using a rawhide hammer, i hit the same spot, ouch! Live and learn!



Driving home from Alexandria is interesting because the distance to home isn't super far, but traffic in the DC Metro area is usually a mess. I do get to have a gander at the Washington Monument and pass the Pentagon, as well as Arlington National Cemetery, all sobering sites.

Speaking of sobering...I sat out back on the deck when I got home and took this shot, I forgot my FRESH lime in my Corona! :( A lime makes all the difference.

Sale~Super Sweet Petite Tomboy Spinner Ring Sale!

Normally she is 55$ and for a limited time will be sold at 40$, which is a fantastic deal.


My Petite Tomboy Spinner Ring is offering herself up for a sale again! These are one of my favorite types of spinner rings to make. She's a tough little ring but very feminine. She takes no prisoners, but starts no wars. She's just a great ring all around (pun intended) She's super spinn-eeey and would love to find a new home!

Stark Red or Fine China for photos?

Trying to capture nicer pics of the Sterling Silver Ring Dishes, still working on it, these were taken inside, on fine China, I still think I like the stark contrast of the deep red as apposed to this dainty pink. What do you think?

Sunday Coffee Date with Hubby

He is such a sweetheart, he truly is. we sat out back on our deck and listened to the birdies, squirrels and saw some wild animal run from our hostas (the cats were intrigued). It seemed to fast for a groundhog, and unlikely to be a raccoon, who knows, it may have been a very fast very fat cat! :p We also ventured to the coffee shop to get some sun and time alone.


I just took some better pics of my silver dishes. I'm hoping to list the second one later, blogger is not liking my photo uploading abilities at the mo, I tried several times to get the above pic posted.

Also trying to take the whole day off...we'll see how I fare.
:-) Hope everyone's Sunday is wonderful!!!

a new Dish, this one is Riveting...

at least it has been riveted. I loved making this. It took a lot of energy to get it just the way it is...it was important to get some movement into a dish piece, so, here she is, her leaf moves in a full circle as you can see.


Does this dish look coy?


this is Diamond from just a bit ago, we keep little boxes around for our cats to snuggle in...you never know where a pair of ears will pop up at you...


I'll be producing one SOON with a movable lid...oh the wonders of kinetics, I love to make things move in metal...

and I'm so friggin down...though the good news is hubby, who has been out of town since Wed will be home tonight...and I keep reminding myself that the sadness will pass, the moods will even out...the anxiety will quell...truly I know that.

Just Listed...

My ring dish has been listed here Sterling Silver Peach of a Dish - Ring Holder

I'll be a busy metal artist this weekend creating more one of a kind pieces to be listed in my Etsy shop.

(thank you guys for helping me with its title!) :-)

Introducing...Bart the Cat Brooch

...to be followed by many more. Bart is my very inbred cat, he is white with blue eyes and not too big in size. Bart hunts. He hunts for the family. Sometimes he eats his prey, other times he leaves them in his special spots for us.

He also mews like Marilyn Monroe. It's very breathy and lovely, but not very hunter-like. When he was a wee lad, his sister/cousin...you know (inbred) sister nursed from his belly until he was about 6 months old. He would look up at us and give us a very sad, desperate breathy Marilyn Monroe "mHEW". We discussed it with our vet and found out at some point it would just stop. 'Some point' occurred when Bart decided to swat his sister away from him.

I plan to play around with these brooches and offer up pieces of Bart in various situations. (I'm a huge cat lover)

I'll keep this one, it has a sterling silver brooch soldered to the back and the conversation area is copper. I'm not thrilled with the copper area, so will use all sterling silver after this.

I hope you like it.



Oh, and I missed class today so hope to make it up, I had so many chores to get done and quite frankly was feeling pretty down the past 2 days. Smithing has helped me keep my moods in check and express emotions in metal.

Oh! Please, rest your ring here dear!

Here's another, this one I will list in my Etsy shop...soon.

It's all sterling silver and as you can see holds a nice, good sized spinner ring. It's domed nicely and the edges are very smooth. I gave it just a touch of leaves along one side for interest.

More to come...

I hope you like this one! :-)

One of those days

so I thought I'd share this...again...

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Brave New Item for AutumnLeavesJewelry

though i think this one will be kept for meself. i have soo many ideas for designs for ring holders, pretty little shiny vessels for putting your wedding ring, or everyday ring in for safe keeping.

I've loved little items like this since i was a child, and now i get to create them with sterling silver.

This is very organic looking and I really just went with the flow of how I was feeling. (you can see i was thinking of those poppy flowers...) The pics don't do it justice as it is still so sunny out the silver reflected every color outside, the greens of my plants, etc.

I'll be making them with little feet and this type with a flat bottom, but slightly domed to hold the ring

I'll also be making some with a center piece to hold a ring in place.

(the lil gold ring shown is my wedding ring...)

of course, my mark and .925 are stamped on the bottom

...and on i march

into the world of vessels smithed from metal...I've got the first lid made...and will continue with this endeavor until I am in the zone!

Right now I have a spinner in the tumbler ready to ship. Another spinner has been sent.

And in between I'll make more poppy flowers because i am in the poppy zone right now! :-)

Looking forward to metal smith class this week - again.

We had 2 lovely bbqs this weekend, the first a thick thick steak and later we saw local DC fireworks and (not venturing to 'the mall' in DC) we watched the festivities on TV. Though I will say from experience, there is nothing like perching your body under the fireworks and laying back on the grass to see them. I bet you guys have amazing ones in your town as well.

We are huge fans of steak in this house!




Sunday hubby made ribs as we watched the final round of the Congressional Golf Tourney (AT&T Open) on TV with his pop, and Tiger won!

Bart - our hunter cat- brought us a chipmunk and a bird, ugh...hubby's duty is to remove the little critters, unless Bart chooses to consume them.

Favorite place to read outside, as opposed to out front...


Angie will kill me if she sees this, so it's hidden near the bottom :O


The vino was delish!

Happy Fourth of July and last night Date Night was great

Happy Independence day to everyone!!! :-) Stay safe! (no losing fingers while shooting those fireworks!)

Hubby and I had a date last night, we walked to a local restaurant, Clydes. I had a boiga, no bun and a Corona with lime...he had some kind of fish...

Note to self:
Never ever ever where non-walking shoes when walking from home out to eat!

Hubby asked me why I never where my jewelry, I told him because it's for sale and I LOVE to wear jewelry I purchased from Etsy artists. Last night I was donning a pair of sweet heart shaped sterling silver earrings by CGailDesigns, I love these, and a turquoise and silver wrap ring by LisasLovlies.






Today I have red piggies, blue jeans, white tshirt, and one of my favorite silver and stone pendants (I wear it a lot!) by BellaBejouJewellery

we're going to hang out at home, have a simple bbq and some vino, light up the back deck and watch the fireworks from DC on TV. (and hopefully a good movie)

Here's hubby with a brewsky, I opted for a lighter brew as I am trying to continue to drop some weight

He said i giggled in my sleep

then he rolled over and told me he was up till 3am watching movies downstairs. Soooo...I'll be making my own coffee this morning. It's the beginning of our Independence Day weekend and most folks are home or on vaca. If I start hammering now the neighbors might form a sort of posse.

I'll just work on filing my latest project, there's something sweet about old school jewelry filing in lieu of using the dremel/power tools.

i have no pictures to show you... yesterday I made a special spinner for a special lady of the Prairie who grows her own poppies and other pretties.

should i do a sale or just take the long weekend in stride? i dunno...Etsy bill is due...

I will probably make the vlog tut I have been promising Ms Pam for a while now...first I need to wave a very magical purty stick over my bad self!

Classes start...this week!

Back to my favorite place away from home~ smithing class. I'm really looking forward to it.

Though the studio is stocked with tools from little to huge machines, I always bring my own personal tools like my ring mandrels and jewelry files, even my drill bits.

Looking forward to adding new techiniques and fine tuning others.

crikey I feel like a giddy school girl! :P

Away from Jewelry and into a new area

and I’m loving it. This is a prototype of what I’ll be building on. I hope to have a series of boxes/containers/vessels; I’m not even sure how to categorize them yet. But I want to move a little away from jewelry and I've been sketching out boxes, containers with lids, etc. ~sweet metal containers to hold something special~ I hope to have many sizes and will use various golds and sterling silver with various heights.

I did make a square, I'm going to keep it and after I get another made I'll post both pics, but here's my roundie box with poppy top...It's not quite finished, I'll be adding handmade catches and hinges (which I learned a while back from a very wonderful and talented smith instructor)...so here is the beginning of a new area for me...


For Caroline of the Prairie, a bloom of Hibuscus for you :)



My semi alert old boy being very active, the sweetest boy I know, he's now snuggled up next to me purring/sleeping after a little milk...he is so precious...


I hope to open my shop tomorrow and will have limited jewelry items for a while :) Thanks for looking and bless you!!! Hope your July is lovely!!!

My Garden Mess

Okay~ I'm being very brave...here is the left front of my garden, omgosh I weeded as much as I could...as you can see I have mums in bloom, ??? don't know why...


Here's the Butterfly Bush gone wild, I have trimmed it way back...it's still tall but not as wide...


this is the front left of my garden, see how everything is growing together? ugh...oh and I forgot I had 3 hostas in front, I have several in back doing very well...


This is our cat, Diamond, you should see her coming in after a good rain storm, she is not white, she is mostly covered in brown, leafy, grimey gook



Right side of my front garden, what a mess, the neighbors tree is causing my (once sunny area) day lilies to lean way over, see that huge mum there? I am tempted to just pull it out, it's centered which I don't like, but it's also beg of July, not Fall! :P It will also collapse soon and the buds will flower laying down...



This is my eye, left eye, no twitch...

I miss my studio

the garden is spiffed up, went out for dinner with hubby and friends last night, read and read, and now am filling my brain with movies...I love movies...

but...

I really miss the studio...I didn't miss it so badly yesterday, so this is an improvment on learning how to relax.

rewatching The Devil Wears Prada
next up? not sure yet...

To Garden or Solder?

First full day off from my shop and it is sooooo gorgeous outside! My garden out front is overgrown and has been generally ignored. It's not a huge plot of land, in fact it's tiny, but I have filled it to the brim with the following (here you will see i'm not adept at having a green thumb!)

Day lilies(front, they need dead-heading)

Mums (they normally bloom in fall but mine have a mind of their own, and are getting huge, I didn't realize a mum could turn into what looks like a bush)

Tall white pretty flowers that bloom in early May, then die off till next year :O (need to cut them back)the are white on the outside and have a yellow center

oh and that wild mint smells soooo good! I love to cut a bit just to get the smell in the air!

Pretty row of these firey red tipped (in summer) bushes next to neighbors yard, they have prickly things on them, they need trimming!

Huge Butterfly Bush, my favorite! It's so big and it does need some dead-heading.

Bunch of other pretty little flowers that come back each year, I have no idea what they are.

2 mid-sized azalea bushes, past bloom, need trimming...

Oh and the flox has long past bloomed, it was so pretty this year, it's really traveled and gotten big. I guess I can trim it back to the wooden boarders we have

Fat and tall tri-Hibiscus tree in a container. It's about 4-5 years old. Each fall I bring it inside and each Spring it goes back out front. I would love to plant it out front, not sure if it would survive...maybe I need a larger planter?

Lavender of some variety

Clematis (sp?)

weeds and more weeds, and the ivy from the neighbors i keep cutting back...:P

And my area out front of the house is tiny...

I would love any gardening tips! I guess I need to get out there and start weeding and trimming...

New Item...Brooch, (bring back the brooch!) or is it in and i'm so behind i don't know it?

Autumn Leaves Jewelry i carry your heart Brooch front view:


Back view of sterling silver pin:

The last brooch I purchased was from a Smithsonian Museum gift shop (years ago). I still have it but haven't worn it since I quit my office job. It's a replica of a very very old cat, Egyptian looking...I'll need to look back at the write up of the origin, but i fell hard for it and had to have it!

I've wanted to make brooches for quite some time. My metalsmith instructor gave a lesson on how-to. So i took the leap...and making my first was such a treat! It won't be for sale, as it's my first but I wanted to show it to you. I hope you like it...

It is all sterling silver, including the mechanism and pin on the back.

If you like the look of this please check my shop for more in the near future, I plan to have lots of pretty pretty brooches. :-)

I'm probably going to give my shop the weekend off and focus on my studio move, family, naps and reading.

More Poppy Pieces

I've been reading more about the original Wizard of Oz books; I’m so entranced by the scene (after all these years) where Dorothy falls asleep in the poppy field. Remember that? (Try not to think about the flying monkeys!!!)

Ah and the omnipresent war poem by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae 'In Flanders Fields' where the poppies still grow is so hauntingly beautiful.

The poppy is one powerful flower used in literature. It has pulled me into its mysterious world, this poppy flower. I've got the bud of a new piece in my head and it's blossoming into a seemingly wonderful idea which I hope will turn into a tangible piece of art...soon!

Hail to the Poppy! (and all the other garden variety flowers...)

Thank you C from the Prairie (i hope your garden grows and grows!) and Pam, mommy of Dakota for your poppy ring orders! :-)

Oh, and on a more personal note my tongue has been twitching, yes twitching, for going on 5 days now. At first it was sort of fun, like an eye twitch. You know when you're sitting somewhere and it twitches so you grab your buddy next to you to be a witness to the freaky event? Then when he looks over, nada- the eye twitching has stopped?
My tongue has continued to twitch for all these days, IT JUST DID IT! I can't show you I can only describe how odd it is. It's now annoying and no longer fun. SO...I googled information about the tingling/twitching tongue and immediately began to do what I do so well...I went to the dark side and catastrophized. Longstoryshort I'm going to the docs next week (after speaking with a nurse from the practice) and if it's still there it'll be checked out.
(later I might hold it out in the mirror and see if it's actually visible.)