J.T.'s Earrings and Commissions

We had wonderful weather over the weekend!  It actually hit 62 Sunday and we were able to spend a little bit of time outside, once we finished up some work.  Here are the earrings that Pat finished for J.T. . . .

They are oxidized Sterling Silver with Niobium wire wrapped around the dangle as a nice color accent. with four prong mounted Garnets.

As I was photographing them this morning A.P. came by with a deposit for his commission.  It's an interesting one!  (And is an example of how time flys!)  Ten years ago we made their wedding bands.  Five years ago he had us make his Fifth Wedding Anniversary gift for her.  And now we are making his Tenth Wedding Anniversary Gift!

Here are the initial designs Pat skectched after we first spoke with him.  He decided on design number 8, with 10 2.5 mm Rubies in Sterling Silver.  It's going to be a lovely brooch!

Now, I have to get back to minding the kiln!  With this warmer weather I have to use every chance I have to get some castings done!  Right now I have the two flasks in that have been waiting so long.  I'm looking forward to seeing them in metal!  These pieces will be some of the first for our new River Ridgelines series and I'll be casting them in Silicon Bronze.

I have at least one more commission piece to cast and finish before next Monday.  Since the Guild's Board meeting is tomorrow and I'll be at an all day Fair Committee meeting (as the Board's Rep) Wednesday I won't have a chance to even think about casting again until Friday!

Time sure flys when you're having Fun !!!

Before & After and Spring is Coming!!!

Here is a "before" photo of one of the pieces that Pat M. commissioned for last Christmas. (I'm still hoping to eventually 'catch up' and post more about them!)

After making some changes for the recipient:

I took this yesterday as proof and a reminder for us that Spring really is coming!!!

This morning sharp-eyed Pat spotted the first of the Trilliums coming up!

This is River Fern, the first in a new series of our Ridgelines jewelry that we will be exploring in greater depth this year!

The oval Ridgelines is cast in Sterling Silver and oxidized.  The fern is cast in Silicon Bronze and it accented with Black Onyx.  The river pebble, from one of our favorite spots, was coated so that it will always look wet and shiny.  It is set in a step bezel.  The frame is Sterling Silver with a 14 K Gold accent.

This is the very first pendant in one of the new series that we are so excited about! Today it warmed up to 45 degrees. Soon it will be warm enough for Tom to cast those two flasks of new pieces that have been waiting so impatiently for well over a month now!!!

Falling Water

Well, we were "snowed in" over Valentine's weekend!  It started Friday afternoon so we canceled our planned delivery by 3.  By Saturday morning we only had about 3 inches, but the plow had stopped about three houses before ours . . .  So we stayed in, "snowed in" until late that afternoon.  Then we made a quick run to the store, more to get out of the house for a bit than from any pressing need.  Our road was still hairy enough that we decided that we were snowed in for the whole weekend.  So we loafed and watched some spectacular Olympians compete.

Since I had problems with the image of Falling Water 2, here's

Falling Water 1

Varscite from Australia with a Peridot in oxidized Sterling Silver.

The two outer arms have Ridgelines facing outwards too.

Falling Water will be one of our new series of Ridgelines jewelery, and we are both very excited by some of our design ideas.  (And yes, the name was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water ~ as well as by all of the water that we have falling in Western Nortch Carolina!)

Back to updating our Guild Members' Webpage!  (I hadn't realized how behind I had gotten!)  Please feel free to check the new images.

New Work Shipped! And Happy (Belated) New Year!!!

It's hard to believe that it's already February and that we're "snowed in" yet again!!!

The quick update is that we had a truly wonderful Christmas filled with Love and Fun and a wonderful Family visit!  Unfortunately as soon as everyone returned home we both got sick.  As in nasty yucky incapable of doing much of anything sick.  It wasn't much fun, but we did rest and sleep a lot, and we took lots of naps.  (Lets just say that we were both so sick that neither of us was online enough to keep up with our email!)  We pampered ourselves.  And now, almost six weeks later we are finally about back to normal!

We haven't been completely idle.  As we began to recover we were able to finish some of the new designs that we've been so excited by!  So now we are (finally) posting again and have even began to (finally) update our Guild members' webpage too!

We were supposed to go to Gatlinburg this last Tuesday, for the Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival's committee meeting.  Which was the third or fourth time in a row that we were foiled by the weather!  And now we have even more snow coming down again right now!

Since we weren't able to make the trip (again!) we shipped our newest pieces to Laurel, at Arrowcraft.  It's not as much fun as being there and getting to share our new work with her for the first time but it will have to do for now.

I know these photos aren't that good, but they are the only ones that we have!  It turns out that the lens was a little smeary and I had left a normal flourescent light on, so not only are they a little out of focus but the colors aren't quite right.  So, here are some of our first pieces of the year, and our first post of this year!

Cycles of Time

The rings of Cycles of Time are individually handmade and are all free moving.  The Rhodolite Garnet is set in a 4 prong mount and the Boulder Opal is set in a handmade bezel.  The Garnet bead at one end of the handmade chain isn't visible in this view.

Eye of the Night

Eye of the Night was inspired by this spectacular deep deep blue Labadorite.

Meteorite

Meteorite was inspired by this really cool Australian Tiger Iron.  The Citrine compliments it perfectly!  (And I have to admit that we have been watching, and greatly enjoying, "Meteorite Men"!  It might just be time for us to make a pendant or two using the pieces of the Gibeon Meteorite that we have  .  .  .  .  .  .  )

Spring Rain

This unusual green Labadorite inspired us to make Spring Rain after we saw the first tips of our daffodils pushing up through the Winter ground!  Spring is coming!!!

I had trouble with the photo of the second Falling Water pendant (which was also shipped to Arrowcraft) so we don't have one to share with you.  Which is a shame, because that Starry Jasper really is that special a stone!

The Falling Water series is our newest exploration of Ridgelines design ideas and motiffs that we are really excited about.  (And yes, we still have two more flasks of other brand new prototypes invested and waiting for a warm enough day for me to cast.  I'm well and raring to go on them!!!  If only the weather will let up!)

It started snowing at 2 this afternoon now, at 6, we have had at least an inch of snow with more coming down in that particular hard plummeting to the ground way.  The forecast is only calling for one to three inches by the morning.