Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!!!!

In a time when things seem bleak with the economy and life is super stressful for everyone…there is still so much to be thankful for…this is a good time to chill out, enjoy family, friends and reflect on the many blessings we have. We will be traveling this holiday, and I am super excited to meet our brand new nephew for the first time. This has been a rough week for me in many ways, so I too had to slow down and remind myself of the things I have to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!!

Playing Around and Reminiscing

Yesterday before Church my husband and I were playing around with the camera…so I had him take photos of me at the door in front of our fall wreath. The necklace I have on  (Acorn Bell) or rather I call it (Natures Silver Bell) fits right in with the Fall Wreath…Fall is my favoriteeeeeee time of year.

So anyway this morning I was uploading the photos and then I got side tracked and started going thru some of my old jewelry photos. Wow I didn’t realize how many tintypes I used in my designs or the amount of ornate stampings…I still love those things today as much as I did then. It is just amazing to me how much you can grow and change in a little over 2 years. I have gone from taking vintage things apart to soldering with an iron, to soldering with a torch, etching, casting and there is still so much more to learn. 

I still incorporate some vintage things into my pieces, but I transformed my opinion on vintage, it is now important to me to preserve the relics of our past history in their original form. My taste have moved into a more simple, streamlined, time.

Here are photos of some of my older pieces that I did when I first started out making jewelry.

Playing in the Studio

I have been playing in the studio all week, or rather I should say, I was a bit frustrated in the studio this week. Every time I would start getting frustrated I would just start singing to the top of my lungs…I hope the neighbors could not hear me because they would be like what is wrong with that lady!! Believe me I can not carry a tune, oh well I don’t care, makes my heart soar anyway. So the reason for the frustration was the casting I was trying to teach myself to do, there is quite a bit of a learning curve that is for sure, but persistance pays off and if any of you know me, you know that when I am challenged with something new to do, I will eventually figure it out, it will not get the best of me. I must say that I am quite happy with the outcome. This opens the doors for my creativity and designs in a way that I have been dreaming about for a long time. Whooo HOOOOO… I love the whole creative process…from thought, design, and creation.

 

Rustic Flower Birthstone Ring

I love this little flower design that I have etched onto copper. I have previously used this design in some other pieces and also transferred it to silver. But today I really wanted to play with combining the copper and sterling, I just love to melt, shape and spread metal to see what I get. This little piece I have added an amethyst cabochon and a twisted silver wire band. She is quite rustic, delicate, feminine and a bit different. I am quite pleased with her. These are made to order and if anyone would like to have one that is the combined metals or straight silver with your birthstone just send me an email.

OK so now back to some more etching…tomorrow I will be playing with a couple of techniques that I have never tried before…more to come on that later…have to see how it turns out.

xo – Cindy

Art Direction and Teaching Children

Today finds me so excited to know that God has been answering my prayers…there was a time within the last year that he felt so distant and I kept wondering can he hear my cries? Patience has never been a virtue of mine but due to circumstances that were totally out of my control he has been teaching me, be quiet, be still, wait on me. I have been telling my husband the last 6 months that I feel in my heart that I should be teaching children and by doing this I would be able to share my artistic talents. I have had no idea how or when or what would happen but I knew something would present itself. I have felt myself changing so much, especially the last 6 months, the things that I use to think were important, I realize are not. Sometimes my heart just wants to burst with excitement with this new found knowledge. So needless to say that I am totally thrilled to be asked to teach school age children at the Artist Celebrating Christ  event next March – April in North Dakota. God has answered my prayer, and from there he only knows.

“ The Artist Celebrating Christ  is simply a group of artisans with the desire to praise God and bring Christ to our culture through the arts. We have united across denominations to share our talents in a supportive atmosphere of artistic worship. We seek to reunite God-honoring art with the church and inspire fellow artists’ creativity both visually and musically.”

This description I have taken from their website which you can read more about. I will also be entering into the art contest, and I have already started planning and drawing out designs.

On another note I wanted to show a photo of our yard friend, my husband brought him into the house the other day, he was still chewing on his lunch and I guess he was not too happy with being interrupted because all of a sudden he let it rip and soaked both of us!!!

 

Here are a couple of photos of some new leaf earrings made of sterling silver and another amber and sterling ring that I was commissioned to do. I love the organic look to them both.

 

 

Rough Amazonite Gemstones

Florida has been so hot the last few days that I could not stand working in my studio, which is a garage studio. I do have fans to cool and take away fumes, but the fans have done nothing regarding the humidity, too stifling for me. Anyway today was much better and I was able to get some work done. I created a ring and a necklace using pieces of the Rough Amazonite Gemstones that I came across in Virginia. I am loving them. The ring I made adding texture with my rolling mill and hammer, doing a little reticulation. Another thing  I love doing too is texturing the bezel really, really making it organic looking to fit the earthy nature of the stone and design. As you all know I like things that are rustic and raw, not perfect looking.I can’t seem to help myself I guess once a born and raised  country girl always a country girl..

This ring I call Montagnarde “French for Mountain Dweller” which is what I would be if I had a choice!

 

This necklace I call Ruisseau another French word that means stream,or bodies of water flowing, or I could call it Creek Bed, LOL that’s what I always heard where I grew up.

I am going to work with the Black Tourmaline next, I can’t wait to see how that turns out, hmmm…maybe something with a web!!!

Rough Gemstones in Virginia

Going home to Virginia was awesome. I can’t tell you how long my soul has been yearning to see the mountains and farmland again, it was right on.

 I flew into Roanoke, VA, my Mom lives about 1 1/2 hours from there, she picked me up and I was so happy to see her again. I really got to spend a lot of time with her, this is something we have not done in years. We visited my brother, sister, Aunt Donna, Aunt Gayle, Aunt Billie Jean, Grandma & Grandpa Gibson, Grandma Giles and I was thrilled to be able to spend some time with my oldest daughter Heather and my grandchildren. I sure have missed them. My daughter just amazes me, she is in nursing, still attending college, and she works in the surgical unit, it takes special people to do that job, she didn’t get it from me.

I found out from my stepfather that there are all kinds of gemstones in Virginia. He has a friend that is a gemologist and he will take rock samples to him and he will tell him what they are. He has been finding black tourmaline which is usually a cylinder shape and shiney. Needless to say he took us rock hunting, we found quite a few pieces of tourmaline.

My parent’s farm also has copper, silver, mica,  and his gemologist friend said they should find different gemstones like emeralds, rubies and sapphires, who knows maybe they will hit it one day. My stepfather told me that when they plow they have come across big sheets of mica so I told him next time to save me some.

 

Mom, myself and my granddaughter Taylor went to the Callands Craft Show and I met a lady there that had some rough gemstones. She found Amazonite in Amelia Co., VA and Rough Red Garnets in a creek in Floyd Co., VA. I also bought some rough Amethyst and a few other stones from her. I am really into the rough stones, they totally appeal to me with their natural earthiness. I can’t wait to get some new designs done with these stones. I have played around with quite a few different jewelry techniques but I am finally settling into what totally fits me, so time to get on with it.

Mom and I also took a day trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We vistied the Mabry Mill, I haven’t been there since I was a kid. I was able to take some great photos of the Mill. I have always had in the back of my mind that I would love to paint a picture of it, one of these days.

The leaves had also started turning color which we were happy about. I have so many photos from the visit I wish I could  post them all.

So now I am back home and Florida is as hot as ever. Oh well there is beauty here to…you just have to look around!!!!

E3 Etching Kit by Sherri Haab Designs

Etching on metal is awesome, I love the look and the designs you can create using this technique. But honestly I have never been a  fan of using  ferric chloride to get this effect on copper or heaven forbid the nasty chemical to etch silver with…don’t even get a whiff of it, scary stuff.

Anyway I have been looking for more green techniques to use in my studio. While researching I came across Sherri Haab’s E3 Etching Kit. She and her husband have come up with this brilliant kit that you can use to etch copper and sterling (yippee) and with an additional adapter you can copper electroform. It is not toxic and a super green way to do things.

I had been looking at a kit with Rio Grande to copper electroform the bits that I find out in nature, but it was more than I wanted to spend at the time, so I bought Sherri’s product and have been using it for a while for etching and have just started playing with the copper electroforming. I highly recommend Sherri’s E3 Etching kit, it is easy and I love it… 

Here are a few pieces that I have created using her E3 Etching kit. I am still playing around with the copper electroforming.

 

Blue & White Enamel Ware & Treasure Hunt

Today I am in my studio trying get focused on some projects that need to get done…well next thing you know I have skipped out, playing hooky. Found myself digging in the dirt, looking for hidden treasures, and boy did I find some…just like a squirrel hoarding it’s nuts, there I was, t-shirt pulled out and up carrying my little bits of gold. So excited with anticipation for what is to come…oh you hanging from the ear and you suspended from a chain, the possibilities make me smile.

I am so happy this afternoon that I decided to reach deep into the recesses of my mind to a place that is waiting for me to jump right in, pull out and move forward. So I dug out my Thompson Enamels, fired up the kiln and set right to creating a blue and white ring to simulate the color and old uniqueness of  blue and white enamelware. I adore enamelware as well as Victoria Ware Ironstone…how about you? Is there anybody else out there that loves these things like I do? I found a piece of Victoria Ware Ironstone on one of my side trips when I was out in California last year to teach. I had it all wrapped up in my carry-on bag…nothing happening to this baby.

Smith Acetylene & Air Torch

After much convincing of my husband that I would not blow up the house I  purchased a Smith Acetylene  & Air Torch and have been using it the last 2 days. I compromised and just got the acetylene & air instead of something with oxygen, he just doesn’t want that around. He use to do some welding when in was in the Airforce…so I was willing to give in. I tell you the truth I am loving it…so much better than using a creme brulee’ torch…I am going to get a couple different size tips and experiment. I need a bigger tip to melt with so that I can start doing some casting. Here are a couple of photos of my bench in the studio. I still need to get things decorated out here the way I want it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last couple of days while experimenting with my new torch I have been working on several pieces…one is based off this ring a gal saw on flickr, I am using a photo of her grandmother for hers, it  is still a work in progress. I  use jeweler’s resin and  let it cure for days. I love creating special pieces for others it makes what I do so gratifying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another piece is made with amber.  This piece of amber is huge and the ring will be a pretty big piece too. This gentleman and and his wife saw some of my work and especially the druzy ring I had made and she just loved it, so we are going for big. He commissioned me to create a necklace & ring to match a amber bracelet she has. They will be her anniversary present. I can’t wait for her to get them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This piece I call flowers dancing…I just love this particular piece of turquoise, with the brilliant blue and the brown looks like earth with roots running down, so I decided to put a little flower dancing at the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally this piece which I have made into a pin…I  am absolutely in love with it. I call this “Water” . It reminds me of a porthole window, with a beautiful girl looking out with the water spraying…hmmm…what does she see? I must still have Alaska on the brain.