Welcome 2012!

Welcome 2012!


I'm back after having a really, really busy holiday 2011 season!  Hope yours was very good and hope for an excellent beginning to all of us!


Along with a busy show schedule, I managed to fulfill 8 custom orders - wow!  My pieces are usually one-of-a-kind, sometimes I may make 1 or 2 similar but never exactly the same.  I had an order for 7 pairs of earrings but of different colored gemstones.  

soldering gone bad!

After my first botched attempt to making the bezel and post setting for the earrings, this had me thinking of production work on a small scale.  


What challenges do you encounter with production work?  Any tips for streamlining steps?


I'm sharing the steps and sequence I followed to create them.

measure and torch ball posts

flatten posts

solder posts to bezel cup

posts soldered to bezel cup

sterling petals soldered to posts

settings filed, polished, and tumbled - ready for stone setting

garnets, moonstones, peridot, amethyst - all ready for customers!

Another moonstone pair !

And this last one was a real challenge for me since I had never set faceted gemstones in this style, let alone make huge hoops!

Swiss blue topaz faceted gemstones with open setting -
fine silver bezel wire and tiny sterling jump ring

Last custom order

And here is a sneak peak of several earrings I just completed and will be posted to my ArtFire shop tomorrow!

Rose cut green amethyst

Tiny and dainty!

Rose cut smoky quartz

Filigree bezel

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to wish my readers in the US a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!


I'm so thankful for everything I have especially my 2 daughters who are arriving shortly from Chicago!  I've been busy preparing the house and baking for the big feast.  This year I made fresh apple pie (apples from NC State Farmers Market) and cherry pie (my favorite) to go along with my signature sweet potato casserole (taters also from the farmers market).

Sweet Potato Casserole 1

Sweet Potato Casserole 2

And I also wanted to thank all those who came out to the recent Durham Art Walk Holiday Market.  You are very much appreciated when you help support your local artists and community!   My part to the community was in having a small door prize drawing - with one lucky person winning one of my beautiful lamp work glass bead pendant.  The bead is one of those that I made during my first lamp work class that I took recently at William Holland.


I hope the lucky winner, Amanda G. of Durham, truly loves it!

Lamp work Glass Bead and sterling silver

BTW, one of my favorite lamp work glass bead went to a fine home!  I created it during my last class at the NCSU Crafts Center.

Owl Eyes!

Awesome Makers Faire:NC - June 18, 2011, Raleigh

Several members of the Triangle Jewelry Makers (TJM) and I participated in this Makers Faire.  

A great crowd turned out for this amazing showcase of different crafts, from fiber craft (spinning, knitting, quilting, t-shirt modifications), robotics, wood craft (laser cut wood structures, walking sticks, hand etched wood ornaments) to jewelry making.

It was a great opportunity for our group to showcase our differing skills in jewelry making and to just show "how" hand made jewelry is made.  We provided demo sessions on wire work, chainmaille and metalsmith techniques.  


Jen, who is the founding member, demonstrated how to make wire rings and showcased her latest book featuring her steampunk jewelry.  Jill does great chainmaille - rings, bracelets, necklaces.  Jennifer made bird's nest components and Becky did a fabulous session on making a bangle with silk and copper.

I was kept busy all day with showing and discussing metalsmith techniques - sawing/piercing, filing, metal forming with the doming block, use of the flex shaft with drill bits, deburring, and polishing, etc.  Advocating safety issues - wearing safety glasses and dust mask and keeping fingers out of the way of the flex shaft drill bits and burrs (use of the ring holder).  One man closely examined the wooden holder on how simply it was made (maybe he was tinkering with making one himself?).

Peak Fest, Saturday, May 7, 2011

If you are in the Apex, NC, area this coming Saturday (May 7), be sure to come out and enjoy a gorgeous day at the 31st annual Peak Fest.  There will be lots of activities for the whole family - music, food and amazing creations by local artists (check the list for this year's participating artists)!


I will be at booth spot 48A (see map).  In addition to my new copper and resin jewelry, wire and mixed metal jewelry,  I will have more of my best selling glass tile pendants and earrings created with vintage international postage stamps!

New Marketing Venue...

One of my goals for 2011 is to promote my jewelry to a wider audience. I have been selling online through Etsy and to the public at numerous art and craft shows. I have now partnered with Laura of Turtle Grass Body.

Starting Saturday, January 29, several pieces of my wire work jewelry will be available for purchase at the Turtle Grass Body shop located in the Commercial building at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. The shop will be open from 9:00am - 6:00pm each Saturday and Sunday (except during special events such as the State Fair).

This weekend should be full of hustle and bustle at the Fairgrounds with the Chinese New Year festival, the Southern Farm show and the Flea Market! And the weather will be nice and sunny - so come out with friends and family, enjoy the festivities, food, and shopping!

Here a few photos of my setup. I will post more later of shots during open business hours.

Beach - Here I Come!

I think I am ready for a week at the beach... and the art walk in Wilmington! It's a gorgeous day unlike the near 100 degree yesterday!

--Etsy shop in vacation mode - check

--Petsitter service scheduled - check

--Vacation hold on newspaper and mail - check

--Jewelry inventoried and photographed - check

--And the car packed!

See my earlier posting on pre-pack notes and concern on it all fitting in. I even have some room for a last minute change - a friend will ride along for the weekend!

Completely forgot that I had the roof rack to stow away stuff! That luggage pack is no easy task to get situated on top of the car, especially when you are only 5 feet tall! You should have seen me standing on the door ledges (all the while mindful of not falling down - an acquaintance fell and injured his neck / collarbone when he was packing the roof rack on his SUV).

So this is the last post until I get back.

Hope you all have a wonderful long Labor Day weekend!

Preparing for an Outdoor Show

I am preparing for my first outdoor show of the 2010 fall season! I will be at the 9th Annual Art Walk and Parade in Wilmington, NC on Saturday, September 11 (10:00am - 5:00pm). If you are in the area, please come by and say "Hi!"

Lots of stress and brainstorming for ideas on how to set up the tent display. Especially when you don't know where your assigned booth location will be or tent orientation. I've done several outdoor and indoor shows and I haven't set up the same for any of them. There is always something to cause a change in setup - perhaps a change in the size of the booth space, location, orientation, etc.

One task I do is to photograph my jewelry on displays to remind me where each item is to be placed. I didn't do this one time, got all of my jewelry set up and found that I had some empty slots. I had a moment of uncertainty - had I left some pieces at home, lost or misplaced some of them, or had I just put more items on a display?

Also I create a grid layout for many possible tent setups, print it and bring along so that I can quickly determine which would fit the situation.

The hardest part of preparing is the physical task of getting everything packed in the car! Start out with an empty car - I took out the 2 back seats to get as much space as possible.

AND .... fit all this stuff in - a tent with canvas, tent weights, 4-5 tables ranging in sizes (6ft, 5ft, 4ft), table risers, a chair, rubber flooring, step stool, table cloths/sheets, banner, bungee cords, jewelry displays, jewelry inventory, and miscellaneous items for actual sales (business cards, inventory list, signage, packaging, receipts, cash, change...). Plus, this time I have beach stuff to pack to since I will be spending a week prior to the show at Sunset Beach - more packing...

My Latest in MetalSmithing...

It has been a while since I posted any of my projects from the Beginning Metals classes that I took at the Raleigh Pullen Arts Center.

My latest is this carnelian cab set in fine sterling on a sterling backplate. The 20g sterling sheet was first annealed, run through the rolling mill until it was approximately 24g, then it was textured with a piece of old lace on both sides, cut and filed to shape. I cut the leaves from a piece of sterling milled to 24g, stamped the details and soldered it to the backplate and bezel. In my hurry to set the stone I totally forgot to solder a bail - can't do that after setting a stone - duh! Not to worry, I drilled holes and wire-wrapped carnelian beads to sterling chain, and formed the front-closing clasp. Pendant tumbled for shine.

BTW, I made 2 of these pendants, initially thinking of earrings but... Now I have 1 to sell (soon to be added to my Etsy shop) and 1 to keep for myself!

Designers Downtown Market, May 8, 2010

Come see me at the May Designers Downtown Market in Raleigh, NC, on Saturday, May 8, from 9am - 3pm. I will have my fine jewelry AND my fabulous fabrics!

The Designers Downtown Market features fine locally made arts and crafts with an outdoor big city feel. Our vendors showcase some of the finest handcrafted arts and crafts in the area: jewelry, pottery, apparel, stained glass, paper crafts and more! Every show is different, with new artists and craftspeople coming in every event. Browse the vendor list on the site to find out who will be at the upcoming Market. Hope to see you there!