New Wedding Jewelry

I purchased a few strands of these fun teardrop shaped pearls during my last trip to Tucson.  The shapes were just different enough to give them an organic feel, but similar enough to evoke a feeling of cohesiveness.  I created simple pearl solitaire necklaces that would be perfect for a bridal party.  The quantity listed is 5, but it is simple to alter the quantity in either direction -- whatever the bride needs for her bridal party!

Click on the photo to go directly to the listing in my etsy shop. Feel free to share this with any brides-to-be you may know  :)

Before and After

Jet was getting very raggedy and in dire need of a grooming.  We didn't get it done through the winter because of the brutally cold temperatures.  We go for long walkies everyday and we were concerned that he would get too cold without a full coat.

Now that the temperatures have become more moderate, we decided it was time to get Jet Man cleaned up. Well, his fur was so matted on his belly that the grooming was dramatic.  It had to be.

Here he is before, with his daddy :)

And now, he doesn't even look like himself!  We weighed him before and after -- he lost 3 pounds of fur!! He's a mere shadow of his former self. The good news is that fur does indeed grow back.  Can't wait for him to look like a Giant Schnauzer again -- right now he looks like a cross between a Great Dane and a Doberman.

For those of you wondering just how much snow we have received this winter, here's a look at our partially shoveled roof.  Rick did this last week as a precautionary measure.

And all of that snow had to go somewhere.  It is now partially blocking the window in the studio area of our house.

Here's a look down my driveway.  Whenever I drive in, I feel like I'm entering a bobsled or luge track!

Cold Connections

No, I'm not talking about dating in the Far North.  I'm talking about using rivets to connect metals.  It was one of the primary things I learned during my last class at Volcano Arts (almost a year ago now!)

When I returned from that class, I did a series of blog posts here, here, here and here.  And I also created some pieces last summer using the skills I learned and posted them here.  Now that my General Earring Inventory is close to where I like it to be (~200 pairs ready for either wholesale or consignment), I decided to tackle some new projects using rivets. 

The first few things I made turned out ok, but not awesome.  I think I was trying too hard to come up with interesting designs and not planning enough.  One of the most important things I learned in that class was to plan your piece from start to finish.  Otherwise, you can get yourself stuck in a corner, with no way out.  Not good.

This oak leaf pendant is well executed, but it doesn't excite me.  It's too flat ... or something! 

My dissatisfaction with this helped me make the decision to go back to a familiar design that DOES excite me.  Basically, I'm moving forward with "variations on a theme", an approach that has served me well with almost all of my jewelry making for the past 16 years.  With each piece I make, I learn something new and my technique improves.  Yes, the pieces are similar, but there's nothing wrong with that.  It lets me hone my skills, without the added pressure of coming up with new designs.

Better, right?

Even better yet!

(well, except for the stupid ding just to the left of the top rivet... grrr)

I'll be at it for the next few days, making more of these 3 dimensional pendants with copper, brass, pearls, gemstones and who knows what else!