After two hours in the kiln the the green ware leaf from the previous post was transformed into a leaf of fine silver, with the word “wisdom” on the reverse. The silver leaf was cooled, filed and sanded, dipped in a liver of sulfur bath and then polished. The chain was attached and the leaf was embellished with a green tourmaline stone. It was packed with care and shipped off, to be given as a Christmas gift.
Before taking time off for Christmas, I had one final custom commission. The order was for a bracelet in my “Leaf a Message” Collection. The mold I used was one of the last remaining leaves from the butterfly bush in my backyard – buddleia, for those of you who know your plants! Lucky thing I plucked the leaves this morning – everything is covered with almost a foot of snow, now.
The photo shows the real green leaf – as well as the metal clay leaf and word, both in the green stage. Once it has dried overnight, I will file and sand a bit and also enlarge the holes through which the jump rings will be attached. The word will be attached to the reverse of the leaf and then the piece will be popped in the kiln for two hours at 1650º F. I will post a photo of the finished bracelet before I send it off on Monday.
As you must have noticed by now, I make jewelry, but I dabble in cooking. I belong to Cooking Italy, a group founded by Angela of Spinach Tiger, with members all over the globe (really!) Well, my dear, courageous friend Angela is standing up and starting a movement. Angela lost two loved ones to AIDS and has set aside today, World AIDS Day to remember victims of AIDS by Cooking Red to Remember. You should really read her post – she has poured her heart and soul into it.
Like I said, I only dabble in cooking, so really didn’t feel I could dream up a wonderful dish in red. But I did “cook” up a little something in red. I had a piece of red jewelry, ready to post, last night. But it wasn’t the piece below. It was a showy, special occasion piece – lots of bling, filigree and a drop pendant. Then last night, I read this post by Greg of Sippity Sup. He got me to thinking about the difference between a once a year remembrance and remembering every day. I decided to rework it into a more “user-friendly” piece.
This design uses Crystallized™ Swarovski Elements (yes, long to write, but necessary to keep the Swarovski lawyers away!) The crystals are asymmetrically faceted – I liked that, because it is a reminder that AIDS victims are not all alike – they can be old or young, man or woman, gay or straight and from every corner of the earth (oh – and the asymmetric facets sparkle like crazy, too!) The crystals are of course, Red to Remember. The focal charm with the sun is a reminder of the hope that each new dawn gives us – until we reach the dawn when a cure is found. The necklace is 18″ long and includes components of 14kt gold-filled and vermeil (gold over sterling.)
Do you like this necklace? If you do, please BID on it! I am auctioning it off to the highest bidder and 100% will be donated to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. I selected this charity, with Angela’s approval, because they are top-rated by Charity Navigator and their mission statement includes “…efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS…” as well as direct services to patients with “…food distribution, assisted living, social service coordination…” The meals for patients was an important factor, as this movement was born of a food blogger!
If you have questions about the piece, feel free to email me. The auction will run until midnight of December 7th. Bidding will start at $20 – which is less than the cost of materials! – and will go up in increments of at least $1. Shipping is on me. You can either email your bid privately to me, or post in a comment. I will keep a running list of bidder’s initials and their bids on this post. Bidding order will go by time stamps on bids received.
If anyone has experience with eBay’s Giving Works, please email me – I may move the auction there, if I can figure it out.
Good luck!
Well, in my last post you saw a dramatic, chunky, labradorite necklace. Today we have a different take on labradorite, with small faceted labradorite stones, faceted onyx accented with a fine silver floral charm and clasp. I love the delicate scrolling on the clasp – nice detail you don’t see everyday. I am happy to say that my components are either manufactured in the USA, or sourced through companies with Fair Trade practices.
The one thing that both necklaces have in common is the beautiful shimmer of the labradorite – you can see a little of the blue flash in the necklace below:
The LI Wiomen’s Expo is coming up next week and I have been busy! I finished one piece today that I have been mulling over for months. It started with a beautiful strand of labradorite – chunky, angular shapes with spectacular fire and shimmer in the gray stones. It started there – and then sat. And sat. And sat. I didn’t know where to go with it.
I tried incorporating onyx, but the black was too solid for the changing colors of the labradorite. Then I tried black freshwater pearls. They were perfect – but how to use them? At first I interspersed the pearls with the stones – but that broke the line of the stones, which was part of the original attraction. The stones did need a little something in between, for better alignment – small, handmade, fine silver beads fit the bill. The pearls were placed at either end of the stones, for a comfortable feel against the neck. Handmade, fine silver beads were added to the pearls and the necklace was finished off with a sterling silver clasp. Still working on my photography skills, so you really can’t see the lovely reflective shimmer in the stones, but here we have it:
My eyeballs are about ready to fall out. I have been working on a very special piece of jewelry for three days now, trying to get it just right.
Here you see my set-up for making a polymer clay stamp that will be used to imprint metal clay. The purple polymer clay, a clear roller and letters in a wood box are the main tools. The cards are a low tech way to roll the clay out to a uniform thickness. I put an equal number of cards on either side of the clay and as I roll, I keep the roller ends on the cards. The clay, in between the cards, is rolled out to the thickness of the card stack. Hey, whatever works! The rest of the items are “tools” I’ve found around the house. An old apple corer, a couple of lipsticks and stick foundation – all wonderful for making different size circles. I’m always evaluating everyday items for something usable in my art - wonderful textures and shapes are waiting to be found – one just needs to remember to look.
With tools in place and clay rolled, I cut out a circle, with a smaller concentric circle within. Then the fun began. I wanted to imprint “a dog leaves a paw print on . . .” circumferentially, on the front. Sounds easy. Well, here I am, three days later to let you know it isn’t! Roll clay, cut out circles, imprint – and repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat – until it’s perfect. Right now, my left engineer brain is fighting with my right artist brain. The trial piece below looks pretty good at first glance. But I see too much space between the letters in the word “leaves.” So more rolling, cutting and imprinting until I come up with a “neat but organic” look that would make both sides of my brain happy. I do like the paw! The pink silicone mold I made was from a reduced size print of our dear Miss Perky’s paw. It’s the real thing!
Have you figured out exactly which non-profit will benefit from this necklace, when it is complete? I may have a little contest down the road, so start guessing!
To be successful in a less-than-ideal economy – actually, in ANY economy – my business needs to provide a beautiful product, good value and excellent customer service.
Jay Goltz recently wrote a NY Times article that encapsulates the heart of great customer service. The author’s ideas are very much in line with mine – make sure every customer is happy. Although the goal is “100% happy,” sometimes a customer has a legitimate issue with a product. In that case, Mr. Goltz offers a simple mnemonic to help right the situation.
If you are a business owner, read how to S.A.V.E. customer service. Whether you are a business owner or a customer, I would love to hear your thoughts on what you consider important factors of customer service. Feel free to share any really great – or really awful – customer service experiences.
I am still recovering from my surgery but can finally get to my studio to create again! That’s the easy part – the photography, not so easy. As soon as I figure it out, I’ll be happy to share some of my new work with you. Meanwhile, here is a less-than-ideal photo of a prototype for my Perky’s Paw charity piece:
Don’t get too excited, so far this new collection exists mostly in my mind.
I made my daughter a small dragonfly charm, which she put on a necklace chain. She liked it so much that she asked if I could make her another small charm, add a delicate chain and make a bracelet. Sure, no problem, mom can do!
I set to work on this task. Maybe it’s the dragonfly that put it in my mind, but I went out and plucked a few tiny leaves from a bush. I imprinted the leaves into silver clay. I had put my daughter’s initials on the back of her dragonfly charm, so I thought it might be fun to add a word to the back of these leaf charms.
The first word that came to my mind was “bloom.” Maybe because the leaves came from a bush that was in beautiful bloom. Maybe because I remembered a picture book I used to read to my children many years ago, Leo the Late Bloomer – a wonderful story about a little tiger cub who has a difficult time growing up, but who eventually blossoms as a young tiger. No, my daughter was not a late “bloomer”! But she is a teacher and I thought of all the young children blossoming in her classroom.
The second word that came to mind was “calm.” Because said daughter is always calm, despite any mischief her classroom of 5th graders may provide!
So thank you dear daughter for the idea that is evolving into a collection called “Words to Ponder.”
Top bracelet has a bright finish, lower one has an antique finish.
Reverse of leaf at bottom has the word "calm" imprinted.
We are down to our last component – the chain!
Ball chain with lapis lazuli beads
I have to admit, I decided this part a long time ago. What better to continue the military theme than ball chain? This 2.5 mm ball chain is just a tad larger than the chain used by our Armed Forces for dog tags. However, the military uses a stronger stainless steel chain, whereas my chain is sterling silver – so I needed the bump up in size for added strength. Although breakage may sometimes happen due to an unseen chain defect, I’d rather my customers not have that experience! I always design for durability.
The necklace will be 24″, an easy length to slip over the head without having to open the clasp. Again, a little shorter than the 29″ necklace the military uses, but a lovely length for most women.
Perky and I visited our local Army recruiting center last week. We met our friend, SSgt. Bush – remember SSgt Bush who helped with our star component for this necklace? We also met Sgts. Crawford and Rogers. Perky was a big hit with everyone!
I was told by Sgt. Crawford that each soldier has two personal ID tags – one on the the 29″ military chain, which has exactly 365 ball beads on it; the other on a smaller chain, with 52 ball beads on it. If the unthinkable happens and one of our soldiers is captured, they have – in their chains – a way of marking the passage of time. I didn’t know that – did you? A sobering thought for us civilians.
SSgt. Bush & Perky
Sgt. Crawford and Perky
Sgt. Rogers & Perky
For the next component of this design, which I started here and here, I needed something to represent our U.S. Armed Services.
I combed through the web sites of the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy, looking for common elements. Nothing. Their logos were all different too. I was at a loss.
Then I had the idea to call my local recruiting center to see if the soldiers there might have any ideas. I spoke to Sgt. Bush, who was extremely helpful. We ruled out lots of symbols that had been previously suggested to me – he concurred with me that a purple heart should be an honor reserved for the soldier to wear, not for jewelry; ditto a yellow ribbon, because it indicates support of the troops, but does not represent the troops themselves.
Then Sgt. Bush said “How about a five pointed star? Each point representing one of the Armed Services.” I liked this idea! It made sense to me. He then mentioned that stars figure prominently in the ranking system of all the services. A star is also part of the logo for the charity that will be benefiting from this jewelry. It all fell into place.
A five pointed star is perfect.
Thank you Sgt. Bush for helping me out with a great idea!
So, can you piece it together yet? Do you know which charity will benefit from this very special piece of jewelry?
Leave a comment with your guess!
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