Special Valentine Free Shipping

Special for Valentine - Free USA Shipping


You still have time to shop for Valentine's Day - it's just under 1 month away.


For Valentine shopping, I am offering free shipping to USA destinations on selected items, mostly pieces that have red in the design.  Check the Free Shipping section of my ArtFire shop and see if you find something that piques your heart.

Red Enameled Copper Earrings

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!