My studio - before and now (after)

I found these photos of my studio from back in January of 2011. This is the cleanest my studio has EVER been so I thought I would share these photos again. You can see the first post with these photos here when I did a tour of my studio. I have to confess that the only reason it was so clean was so I could teach a class that night :)

And this is what my studio looks like right now.

It usually looks like this when I work. Things tend to get strewn out all over the place but amazingly enough I can find everything I need no matter where it might be....usually :)  At least now it all stays in the studio. Before I was working out of tiny 9x10 room in my house and my jewelry stuff ended up all over the place. I would spread out stones on the dining table, have my paper work all over the computer desk in the den and have all kinds of things in the kitchen sink and on the counters as I was working.  Now I have a studio twice the size of the old room I worked out of and everything is located in my studio (computer, sink, table, etc) and it all stays in the same room.  I do happen to like my studio much better clean but making jewelry is not as glamorous of a job as it may seem!

Pinterest

Well it seems that Pinterest has worked its way into my life and now I can't get enough! There are such great things to find on that site such as recipes, images of beautiful architecture, craft ideas, clothing, shoes and of course some really amazing jewelry! I recommend poking around if you get the chance. Are you on Pinterest? If you are you can follow me by clicking the "follow me on Pinterest" button in the right side bar of my blog!

students work

I have taught quite a few people how to make jewelry over the past 13 years. Actually there has been more than I can even count! But only recently (since 2008) have I been taking photos of their finished pieces ...when I remember to bring the camera to class. Below are some of the pieces my students have finished in my jewelry classes.

La' Lanya's earrings - 2008

Mirabel's cuff - 2008

Kate's cuffs - 2008

cuff - 2009 ( I forgot who made this...sorry!)

Mindy's bracelet - 2009

Vicky's necklace - 2010

Jennifer's necklace and cuff - 2010

Monica's pendant - 2011

Rachel's cuff - 2011

Rachel's pendant - 2011

Roxane's ring - 2011

Roxane's necklace - 2011

Roxane's bracelet - 2011

Lisa's necklace - 2011

Michele's necklace - 2011

Sue's pendant's - 2011

Michele's necklace - 2012

And much more to come since I just started up a new session of classes last week! I will try to remember to take pictures and post them here as my students finish up their pieces.

New business workshop

I am teaming up with gallery owner Julie Basello-Holt and together we have come up with a new workshop that we will be teaching together called "Fine Crafts 101". This workshop is geared towards the creative person who would like to turn their creativity into a business of selling what they make, whether is it pottery, jewelry, photography, wood, etc. With my 13 years of experience selling my hand crafted sterling silver jewelry and Julie's 8 years of experience running her gallery plus owning her own photography business, we have a lot of info to share!  Our first workshop will be held on Feb 11, 2012 at Creative Genius Art Gallery and Studio from 10am-4pm and the cost is $99 per person. For more info on the workshop and to register you can check out our "Fine Crafts 101" Blog.

more buckles

I have been so inspired lately to make belt buckles that I finished up a few more today! It also doesn't hurt that when I listed my first batch of buckles in My Etsy Shop I sold one the next day! So here are today's buckles:

"Sugar Skull" Buckle - remember my first attempt at photo etching? I finally used the skull I spent so much time sketching!

"Scribbles" Buckle - etched copper and hammered brass

"Flowers" Buckle- etched nickel silver

These buckles are also part of a new challenge for 2012 called "four a month". The challenge is just that....to make four of something each month. For January I chose to make buckles and although the challenge was to make only four I made six so far and the month is only half over! Keep an eye out for these in My Etsy Shop in the next few days!

Belt buckles

I have been wanting to make belt buckles for quite a few years now. I even went as far as to take a casting class many years ago where I carved a belt buckle in wax but then never sent it out to be cast. Since then I haven't had the time or the creative spark needed to design and create the buckles so needless to say the buckles had to wait....until today!

I also had purchased all the materials I needed for photo etching metal back when I started curating the last Etsy Metal Charm Swap thinking I would try it out something new and etch all my charms for the swap....well, that idea went out the window when I realized how long it was going to take me to etch 22 charms so I ended up making something totally different and never really got back to teaching myself the etching process...until today!

So today I had some free time and I decided to spend it playing around in my studio. I pulled out all my etching supplies and all the metal I had purchased for when I would one day make my belt buckles and started experimenting. The creative sparks were flying! Here are 3 of the 3 1/2 buckles (one is not finished yet) that I made today. I think they came out pretty well and am pretty proud of them! All three of these buckles will be for sale in my Etsy shop in the very near future so keep an eye out for them and a few more that will be on the way!

smaller etched copper and brass buckle

large etched copper and brass buckle

large etched nickel silver buckle (who knew you could etch nickel silver too!)

My necklace in a dust jacket photo

A few years ago I did a Christmas swap with artist Alana Bills. I traded her one of my rose necklaces for one of her hand painted scarves. I gave the scarf to my mother and Alana gave the necklace to her sister who is an author. Her sister loved it so much that she plans to incorporate it into a book for one of the characters to wear. I do not know if she has done so as of yet but I just heard today from Alana that her sister, author Rachel McClellan, had a photo shoot and she is wearing my necklace (if you click on the photo below you can see a larger version and get a better view of the necklace on Rachel). The photo will be used in the dust jacket for her books! I am looking forward to seeing (and reading) about my jewelry in the near future! Thank you Rachel and Alana!