Etsy Metal Blog Carnival

Etsy Metal is a talented group of metal smiths from all around the world. Every month we hold a blog carnival where we all blog about the same thing and attach links to each others blogs so everyone who reads one can read and find everyone elses too.This month's Etsy Metal Blog Carnival is

Topic: "Nobody's Perfect!"Care to share a piece of your work that did not turn out quite as beautiful as you had planned?
Perhaps you have an interesting experience that went awry...

I have quite a few items I can post about for this but I have picked to blog about my "happy accidents". Boy do I have plenty of things that went awry and have ended up as scrap but these 2 pieces were lucky! They were almost scrapped as well but things worked out for the best in the end.

Happy accident #1

First is a one of a kind ring that I designed. Yes, I said "ring". After all I am such a ring person! I had a great idea to make a large ring from the green conichalite stone in the photo below. But by the time I had finished building the cage around the stone it measured approx 2 1/2" long and 1" wide. A bit too large for a ring even for me and I LOVE big rings! Needless to say it has become quite a fabulous pendant instead and is for sale in my Etsy Shop!

Happy accident #2
The other piece that didn't turn out quite as planned was this heart pendant below. I was going to make a "puffed" sterling silver heart that was hollow inside. I haven't reticulated sterling silver in a while so I thought I would give it a try again and give the silver some texture and it came out great! I then put the silver in the hydraulic press to give it its heart shape but when I took it out the sterling had a tiny little crack in it. It added some interest and was still usable so I attempted to solder the to halves of the heart together. That's when things went wrong. The little crack had turned into a big hole when the sterling started to melt while soldering it! I hate to waste anything so instead of scrapping the piece and starting over I came up with the idea to add a piece of copper under the sterling to make the piece stronger and so it showed thru the hole to give the piece more depth. The piece actually came out better than I had planned and I ended up keeping this one of a kind necklace for myself! I wear it all the time. Happy accidents are the best!

To read about what some of the other Etsy Metal members have blogged on this topic:

1. Silentgoddess - http://silentgoddess.blogspot.com

2. Gracebourne - http://gracebourne.blogspot.com/

3. The Silver Pearl - http://silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/

4. 2Roses - http://jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com

5. Inbar Bareket - http://www.inbarbareket.info/blog

6. Anne Walker - http://creativeinclinations.blogspot.com/

7. Beth Cyr - http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com

8. wildflowerdesigns - http://wildflowerdesigns.blogspot.com

9.  TK Metal Arts - http://tkmetalarts.blogspot.com

10. Evelyn Markasky - http://markasky.blogspot.com/

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival

Etsy Metal is a talented group of metal smiths from all around the world. Every month we hold a blog carnival where we all blog about the same thing and attach links to each others blogs so everyone who reads one can read and find everyone elses too.This month's Etsy Metal Blog Carnival is "Holiday Previews". The Holidays are fast approaching! Give us a preview of what you are working on for this special time of year.


This year I have been working on a lot of mixed metals. My top selling cuff over the summer has now become a full line. I have been making cuff, earrings, necklaces and rings all from sterling silver, copper and brass. Each with different textures and patterns imprinted into the metal. The new line is reasonably priced and perfect for holiday gifts! You can see some more of my mixed metal pieces in my Etsy Shop.

To see what other Etsy Metal members have created for this holiday season....
Erin Austin: http://www.metalmusing.blogspot.com/
Cynthia Del Giudice: http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com/ 
2Roses: http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com/
Nodeform: http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Bogan: http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
Danielle Miller-Gilliam: http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
Panicmama Jewelry: http://panicmama.blogspot.com/
kate jones: http://katejonesdesign.blogspot.com/
Evelyn Markasky http://markasky.blogspot.com/

pages from my sketchbook....

This month's topic for the Etsy Metal Blog Carnival is "pages from your sketchbook". Although I don't really have a sketchbook and I don't draw out each piece before I create it, I do jot down some ideas here and there on random sheets of paper that eventually end up all over my studio.  Here a few of my doodles that I have already made into jewelry.

The first doodle is of one of my rings for the ring a week challenge.... RAW #12 

And this sketch is a shape I have used a few times when making earrings. I have posted photos of 2 different earrings using the same shape below.

 copper teardrop earrings

sterling and tiger eye teardrop earrings (sold)



To see some of the other Etsy Metal members sketches check out the links below... 

Rebecca Bogan
Shirlee Grund 

2Roses 
Beth Cyr

Kate Jones 

Erin Austin 

Nodeform
Elizabeth Scott 

Su Trindle 

Evelyn Markasky 

ArtigianoJewelBox

"What do you wear?" Questions from the EtsyMetal Blog Carnival

EtsyMetal is an international collective of artisans who create jewelry and works of art in metal, which I belong to. Each month a question is asked of the members and those who choose to participate write about it in a Blog Carnival. This month the focus is on "What do you wear?"

What is your favorite piece (or pieces) from your private collection? My favorite necklace is one that I made from a large piece of turquoise. I had the stone for years and was not sure what to do with it until one day it spoke to me. Although it is not an everyday necklace because of its size ( its a good 3" in diameter) it does look really great with a t shirt and jeans! It is one of my favorites because it is big, bold and chunky.

But since I feel naked if I leave the house without at least earrings and rings, the 3 pieces of jewelry I always seem to grab before walking out the door are my XL version of my rose ring, my bulls eye onyx ring and my large hoop earrings (all made by me of course!). I can put them on and I know they will go with whatever I might be wearing that day!

How many finished pieces do you keep for yourself and why? My work constists of production pieces and one of a kind pieces. I usually don't keep many pieces for myself. Years ago when I first started selling my jewelry it was hard to decide what to keep and what to sell. I ended up keeping way more than I should have. Now when I go into my studio to "work" (which is almost every day) everything is made to be sold. I do keep a few pieces from my production line that I do wear regularly and also have sold right off my body. It's a hard job but someone has to advertise/model them and since I work alone I really don't have many other options! On the rare occasion I go into the studio to "play" I might experiment a little with new techniques, tools, materials, etc and if I do come up with something totally amazing and one of a kind I might end up keeping it like I did with one of RAW rings. My "Sunburst Ring" was one of those items. I was experimenting with mixed metals and hollow forms, something I haven't done in a while, and I was really happy with my end result.

What is your favorite piece of jewelry that you didn't make? I'm going to say my favorite piece that I didn't make is probably a pair of earrings made by another jewelry artist Dawn Bergmaier. We do a lot of the same shows together and I have acquired 4 pairs of her earrings (all through trades for some of my rings, which by the way I LOVE to do! I wouldn't have some of the things I have today if it wasn't for trading with other artists!) The reason this pair of earrings is one of my favorite pieces that I didn't make is because I seem to wear these earrings ALL the time. They have a funky, industrial feel to them and I can dress them up or down because they seem to go with everything. And they look great with the jewelry I make. They are so me!

earrings by Dawn Bergmaier

To read about what other EtsyMetal members wear, check out the following blogs:

Rebecca Bogan
Nodeform
Inbar Bareket
Twigs and Heather
2Roses
Quercus Silver
Beth Cyr
Thomasin Durgin