Collaboration with Ax and Apple

I am thrilled to announce my collaboration with the lovely ladies of Ax and Apple. I met Jamie in Austin during a wax carving class and immediately knew we were on the same wavelength due to our similar style and source of inspiration in our jewelry. She took a few of my earthy organic castings and incorporated them into her chain and coin style necklaces. I love the final pieces! I hope you do too.

More of their work can be found at www.axandapple.com.

thanks for stopping by!

Custom Doggie Tags!

My good friend Morgan recently approached me about having some custom dog tags made for her beasties. She voiced to me that the ones you can get made at Pet Smart, etc. don’t last very long. These tags are etched vs. stamped which means in no time the letters begin to wear off. Not cool.

So, I cut out some special shapes for these special pups and stamped the info into the copper. They turned out really fun!

If you are having a similar problem with the letters of your pup or kitty tags wearing off, let me know. I will happily make your special friend one that will last!

Thanks for reading!

Infinity Necklace

I have been so thankful for the custom orders I’ve had lately. It’s been really fun exploring new avenues and creating something especially for someone rather than just producing my normal things.

A friend of mine had the idea that he wanted two necklaces that created the infinity sign when put together. This reminded me of a friendship necklace which made me giddy. I used to love those! But I was afraid that it might be too cheesy, so it took me time to brainstorm and come up with a design that would be elegant and raw, non-uniform and unique.

Here’s the final product:

hers>>>

his>>>

These were challenging to make, but well worth the effort. I sand cast each piece and decided to divide the infinity in a way that would make each necklace stand alone nicely. The chain is sterling silver and the clasps are also sand-cast. Can you find the second hidden infinity???

together>>>

the other thing I found out about the shape I chose was that the necklaces also make a heart. flutter flutter>>>

Thanks for reading!

Jewelry by Artist Exhibition>>>Final Show, July 16th

I am pleased to announce that I’ll be participating in Gallery Black Lagoon’s “Jewelry by Artists Exhibition” series once again. I’ve really enjoyed these shows. There is always a great representation of local jewelers and it’s always a blast. There will be free wine and cheese to snack on in addition to lovely jewelry by lovely artists.

come on out ya’ll for my LAST SHOW in Texas for awhile!!!

When: July 16th, noon-6pm

Where: Gallery Black Lagoon.          Hyde Park.            4301 A. Guadalupe St. Austin, TX 78751

Why: because you love jewelry and want to see me off before I launch off to Florida

Also, if you are looking for something to fill your lively Saturday night, my best friend and roommate Celeste Griffin of Monarchs, is having a record release party at Swan Dive on Red River downtown. Monarchs will be  a jammin’  and soul records will be a spinning’ with people shakin’ it down. It’s sure to be a good time. 9pm-midnight

Find the facebook invite and more info here.

www.monarchsfamily.com

Featured Artist #1 >>> Eve Singer

My good friend Eve Singer is a jewelry and textiles designer in San Francisco. I am always blown away by the shapes and textures she explores in her designs. My new favorite obsession is the Cactus Ring, pictured above. Eve and I met during a class at Penland School of Crafts with Amy Tavern and Joanna Goldberg. We became fast friends and bench buddies during our time there. Eve was always so inspiring to watch. She was always challenging herself with new techniques. It’s obvious that she has a nack for this craft.

These are her mini-archaeology rings. I absolutely love these! So simple but crude looking, hince the name. I am continuously inspired by old things and these just make my heart sing.

The “lattice” cuff above shows off Eve’s passion for architecture and geometric shapes. I love how delicate, but still bold this cuff proves. And the silver tube rivets compliment this piece incredibly.

Eve sells her work in several stores in the San Francisco area. You can find her work at her website where she has a few pieces available for online purchase.

Thanks so much for visiting!

I hope you were inspired as much as I was. Oh and thanks Eve, you are amazing! xo.

Custom Bridesmaids Earrings

I recently had a lovely opportunity to make bridesmaids earrings for my dear friend Wilhelmina.

Willa loved my fold form designs because she is a lover of organic things just like me. Her wedding was very botanical and incredibly handmade and these earrings fit in just perfectly!

I began by opening up Charles Lewton Brain‘s book,  “Foldforming”. It’s an incredible book full of great exercises for different folds. I was intrigued by the star fold which resulted in the earrings above. They are so pod-like! I painted a green enamel in the inner folds to add them some color and to go with the color theme at the ceremony.

The pair above was modeled after my “las canoas” earrings although with a slight twist. Instead of them opening from the top, they are open at the bottom. I love the different look this gives them. Again, I painted the enamel on the inside of the fold for added color.

The last but not least pair I made were by far my favorites. Taking the “las canoas” form a little further, these curve all the way around. As soon as I stared experimenting with this, I knew it had potential. I love the shape and the hammer marks. And in addition, they are almost weightless hanging from the ear.

What a fun exploration of fold-forming! I want to thank miss Wilhelmina for providing me with this opportunity and for such a lovely wedding experience. Congratulations Willa and Jacob!

And…..thanks for reading!

Custom Engagement Ring

I was recently commissioned to make a custom engagement ring for some customers of mine. What a fun experience! It was so funny because I kept thanking the couple, Lindsey and Jorge because I was so honored to be making this ring for them. I think they were curious why I was thanking them…because they were also thanking me.

They love my work and were super open to any and all ideas I had. This was a blast because I just ran with my own design to create it. Lindsey wanted something open and delicate (right up my alley!) and decided on a blue topaz stone. I tube set the stone within my design and I was very happy with the finished product. I hope you enjoy as well.

This second photo shows the little engraved “Por vida” that Jorge wanted in the inside. I used a tiny cone bur to engrave the letters. Thanks to Steve Kriechbaum‘s expert guidance and a lot of practice, I managed to get it just right.

Thanks Lindsey & Jorge!

 

New Custom Work

I was commissioned by a friend to make a necklace for his sister’s birthday. He wanted a similar design as my others but a little larger. So, I went slightly larger and added a double silver chain and side clasp to bulk it up just the right amount. I really like the way it turned out. The colors really pop and the shape was a new one for me.

Brass, sterling silver, Mexican oilcloth

Close up of clasp- brass & sterling silver

Modeling this necklace---I wanted to keep it soooo bad!

I look forward to hopefully doing more custom orders. They are a little scary to take on, but this one was right up my alley and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks Winston!

and thanks for reading!

Upcoming Show: Cowtown Indie Bazaar

Upcoming Show March 19th!

Cowtown Indie Bazaar  
Fort Worth, TX

Spring is upon us and what better way to celebrate it than doing some Spring craft show shopping? I am so excited to be a part of the Cowtown Indie Bazaar happening in just two weeks. On Saturday March 19th in Fort Worth Texas, crafters from around Texas will convene to bring you gorgeous handmade items and free goodie bags to the first 50 attendees!!!

 

 I will be amongst these crafters and will be offering several new Spring designs. Get a sneak peak on my website…

 

Can’t come to the show up in cowtown? Please visit my website or etsy site for purchasing and look for me in Austin, TX  Saturday, April 9th for Gallery Black Lagoon’s  Jewelry by Artist Exhibition.

 

Here is a sneak peak of some of the things i’ve been working on…

 

This is a cuttle bone cast piece that I made during my time at Penland School of Crafts. I revisited cuttlebone casting recently and pulled this sweet piece out of my collection. It’s giving me much needed inspiration for new work to come!

This is a bronze sandcast piece of a wood ring I also made at Penland. I love the texture the sand leaves!

And here is that ring again except I did a cuttle bone casting of it. That was fun!

Here are all three together.

I’ve really enjoyed sand and cuttle bone casting. Look for more soon!

Happy Spring to you all and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Jesse Allen Gordon Tattooing

Just wanted to let you all know, that my wonderful boyfriend Jesse just started a tattoo blog. He is a tattoo artist working in Austin, TX and has been doing some amazing work. If interested in getting some work done or just getting inspired via ink, please visit his new Blog!

My anvil tattoo!!!

Thanks for visiting