Concept to Creation

Just wanted to share one of my finished jewelry pieces. This was created for my mother-in-law as a mother's day gift.  Family is very important to her and family-themed jewelry has been floating around Pinterest and other sites lately, so I decided to create my own design.

Unfortunately I don't have any in-process photos (I need to get better at taking those...)  But I do have the initial concept and finished piece.  It's actually amazing how close it turned out!

 The names on the left are her children from oldest to youngest -- Derek, Travis, Hope.  The names on the right are her children's spouses -- Rachel, Tara, Mark.    The 3 pieces are separate (not soldered together) so they can move freely and add a little jingle to the pendant.  It is made of brass and silver with a silver bezel set jasper stone.

Whatcha think???   

Stones, Gems, Cabochons!

I'm sitting here listening to the birds chirp in between the quiet thunder.  So relaxing and inspirational!  Something about interesting weather that gets the creativity flowing. :-)

Anyhoo, I wanted to share the final products of my resin experiment.  I learned that you can't stir the mixture too quickly or you will get air bubbles.  Well crap, but for a first try I think they were successful.  A few took longer than 24 hours to dry, but overall not too shabby.

 

I made a few others in heart shapes that I didn't want to keep, so I gave them to a friend in jewelry class for her daughter.  These are probably more than I will use anyway since my class is ending in a month and I have way too many new ideas. 

 

 The medical illustrator in me just HAD to make an eyeball with the clear resin!  I couldn't resist!  So technically I did not do this correctly since the eyeball image is not embedded in the resin....i printed it later and placed it behind the resin, but it will work.  I plan to make it into a simple ring.   Not quite as realistic as the acrylic eye I made in anaplastology class!

I am also trying to finish up a mother's day pendant for my mom. She picked out the stone the last time she visited Chicago, and I unfortunately can't remember what it is!  But I wanted to create a unique design for her and try something new. So I took silver wire and used it as a border around the hand-forged copper as well as used it for connections to the chain.  I still have to set the stone and will hopefully finish this next week.

Also, yesterday a jewelry classmate and I hopped on the CTA and ventured to Rosemont for the International Gem and Jewelry Show.  It was a massive display of beads, gems, stones, findings, wire--a beginning jeweler's dream!! Nearly overwhelming, but luckily I came with a budget!  I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, but if something spoke to me, then it went home with me :-)

 These were in the $1 bins and I was super excited!  I can make rings or pendants out of them! I've noticed that I am drawn to earthy and organic cabochons rather than sparkly ones.  I did choose one (the purple one at the top) that is more like a crystal, just for variety.

 These are my FAVORITE!  The greenish ones are Red Creek Jasper but the other one is unknown.  I just LOVE them!! I think I will make earrings and a matching ring from the Red Creek Jasper and perhaps a pendant from the other one.  Copper looks good with both of them, but I might use silver on the orange/white one to make it stand out more. 

So many new projects to finish before class is over!  Time to get into the open studio at night and on weekends!  This is my sanity's saving grace since I am working overtime for work as well.  And as I said before, rainy days are PERFECT for productivity and creativity!!