Sweetness to my ears

Brand-spankin' new earrings and
displayed on a chased copper bowl I made earlier this year.

Finished this sweet pair of earrings today, though I had a little battle with those prongs, I won! Petrified wood and oxidized sterling silver make a lovely combination.

Now on sale in my etsy shop - check'em out!
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new goodies

Since yesterday was my day off (pool and lounging - it was SO sweet!); today was my work day. And I got quite alot done. I was motivated by a G-chat convo with a fellow metalsmith - I couldn't be out done and not get into the studio myself - as he was going to work in his studio early in the morning.

Anywho, I continue to work with deer antler, now having a bit of more innocent fun and play. Below are new earrings with black coral twigs.

And some other fun projects below; my gold nugget no-solder tab set deer antlers. I made these for two purposes; to show my students how to make a small pin using tabs and easy mechanisms.

These were quick photos I took before leaving the studio. I'll have upclose shots of the earrings tomorrow.

Deer antler earrings and black coral

Another shot.

Tube rivet sample for the beginning metals I teach at Emerge.

Golden nugget no-solder brooches. $15 each - soon to be uploaded on my Etsy site.

Another shot.

Backs of my no-solder brooches.
(Roller printed lace on the back for an extra touch).

These lil' nuggets will be on sale this Wednesday at the Umbrella Market in the Downtown G-Vegas area.

Hope you had a great weekend and thanks for reading!

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what I've been making in the studio

It's finals week at school and I've been in the studio everyday...most of the day. Not only working on these two fun brooches but also on my reliquary.

In these two brooches I used the turtle 'skin' my Dad gave me along with the black coral I've been storing. I tried two new techniques with these, resin and plexiglass. I really like the brooch above but I'm not sure how I feel about the brooch below...something's missing.

Lately I've been going through a period of questioning myself and not sketching and investigating as much as I'd like; I attribute it to the lack of time I had this semester and taking three studios classes: Jewelry 1, raising and forming and textiles.

I'm hoping that this summer I'll catch up and get past my 'jeweler's block'.

Anywho, thank you for reading!

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much better photos!

So I finally took a good friend's advice and shot my work outside on an overcast day - what a difference it makes with photos?!

Below is my beloved hinge vessel for my Jewelry I class with Mi-Sook Hur.

I'm quite proud of the vessel for several reasons, the curvy lines, the crystal and the fact that my hinge works! However there are design issues, the catch is tiny compared to the heft of the vessel and the prongs for the crystal are a bit obvious but all in all I'm happy and admit that, I love looking at it!

And here are two rings I made on the fly because I just wanted to make some pretty bling. The above ring I used a casting from my antler necklace and now...it's got me on a roll to make more for the summer...a possible trunk show is in the works!
Last week the Contemporary Techniques class with Ken Bova did a demo on using concrete in jewelry - which I was super psyched to sit in on because I missed the workshop Jim Cotter did at ECU a year ago.

Anywho, I had initially made this ring for a boulder opal but I had a little mishap so I used it for the concrete - which I love too! I'm already brainstorming ways to introduce it into some jewelry.

Thank you for reading!
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Rorschach test

Blot: Reinterpreting the Rorschach exhibition went up last week in the Mendenhall student gallery.

ECU metal design graduate students were invited to collaborate with the printmaking area and Indiana University’s metals department to make work interpreting the ink blot.

I really enjoyed this exhibition and the idea behind it, all of the pieces are so different and interesting, especially Aaron Earley's sculpture and painting.
Aaron just graduated from ECU with a BFA in sculpture and painting/drawing. The painting above is very deep and fascinating, the forms on each side are of a skeleton reaching out. Aaron has several more of these interpretive paintings on his website.

And below are several pieces by the metal graduate students, the red hen and lady with her arms up are Leia Zumbro's and I'm not sure who did the angels, but it's very pretty.

The reception for the exhibition will be on Friday, February 18th in the ECU Mendenhall student gallery, come check it out if you're in town.
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sneak preview

Oxidized pierced copper, Moth earrings
Photo by Bayardo Caceres

Polished, pierced sterling silver
earrings with orange coral
Above photo by Matthew Gillien

Photo by Bayardo Caceres

Here are some new images for my upcoming Etsy page, very exciting!

I've been telling myself for months to get an etsy page going, but I just delayed and delayed.

*I gave Ellen (my model) the coral/pierced dangley earrings for being my model. She was quite happy with them.
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