2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 5

I meant to post yesterday, but I had a bad day. Those happen and it's important for me to let myself have them and then deal with it than to try to put it off and turn one bad day into several.

I had a great class on Saturday though- people made some really awesome stuff. My class sample somehow turned into a pendant once I got back to the studio after class, but i think it's pretty swell anyways. :) The turquoise is Treasure Mountain, the CZ is a green garnet and i think the succulent is a cast Hen-and-Chick (?)

But since this is the 52 ring challenge (and I'm up to 9 in 5 weeks) let me present this week's ring. 

It features a petrified limb from the Mississippi Petrified Forest (i didn't know this was a thing until i bought this) that i purchased in New Orleans. The edge is raw and shows where the bark was. I've set it in a hybrid bezel/prong setting (which i will be teaching in my March class at BMB designs). the band has a subtle wood grain texture. I'm super thrilled with it. :) 

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 4

Snow days last week forced a more relaxed schedule. I did not make it into the studio as much as I would have liked as my street, specifically, the span of my street right in front of my house, was a sheet of ice for many days. I did get this lovely ring made though. It's also a sample for my class coming up this Saturday the 27th, at the Memphis Botanic Gardens.

This lovely has an agatized fossil coral teardrop, three white CZs, and a fancy pattern wire band.

And here's a lovely photo of the snow and ice that kept me housebound for 5 days in a row! *stir crazy*

Creative Life 2016 - Week 4

I've been trying to find small ways to channel my creative energy in this strange, cold and dreary winter. Most of my orchids left me this year after a nasty infestation of the dreaded mealybugs, so i've been looking for something interesting to grow that might also be functional, so i got a mushroom grow kit.

I was thinking my green thumb had left me, as it sat for almost a week with nothing happening. I went to Florida for work 2 days last week and when i got back on Friday, this had happened!

It was pretty exciting- they look totally different from what i was expecting- since they're white oyster mushrooms, i wasn't expecting the lovely colors. well- with mushrooms, things get interesting QUICK- because here's what they looked like 2 days after that 1st photo. 

And then this morning....

I think i'm going to feel bad about eating them now. Its been really cool to watch them change color and shape. The texture is so neat on them. :) and we all know i have a small obsession with photographing fungus... so this might turn into me growing all sorts of neat mushrooms just to take pictures of them. lol. I looked on amazon and i can get a kit to grow Morel and Shaggy mane mushrooms- those are some pretty cool textures and highly photogenic mushrooms. :)

Interestingly enough, this little bit of 'creation' in my kitchen has helped me get back a little of my creative mojo. I have been feeling like the artistic well has been mostly dried up and not seeing a way to replenish it. Cold, gray weather and i don't get along and i have just felt so weighed down by everything, but this simple project of growing something- watching it change and mature- it has been inspiring. The kitten sisters are interested in it too, though thankfully they have no desire to chew on the mushrooms or rub against them.. the just look quizzically at them and then at me. :)

UFO day at BMB designs on Saturday the 23rd was awesome. We had a lot of fun, enjoyed some great food and the ladies got a lot of projects finished. it was wonderful to see them come in with bags of bits and go home with several finished pieces. 

I finished up my samples from my Kitchen Table Silversmithing class back on the 16th and snapped a quick shot of them so i could feel accomplished too. :)

Weekly Challenge- Week 48

I had my last show of the season this past weekend. It was the Brooks Holiday Artist Market and it was great. :) I made friends with some artists, bought some beautiful work, and received a lot of positive feedback from customers. All in all, it was a very successful, albeit busy, fall show season. I'm thankful for the break, but already planning for the spring. The fine silver gingko leaves were popular this year- I'm looking forward to collecting some more and making another statement piece - I didn't get any good photos of the one I made, but it was three small leaves, cascading on fine chain from a hammered sterling circle. I really liked how it turned out. I was also experimenting with a new very black patina on silver that is highly polished. It looks almost like hematite when it's finished. I think it's pretty slick and it looked great on one of the gingko leaves and the little stacking rings. I have a long list of things to work on for the spring shows.

I made myself a ring as a reward. I used a freeform piece of 96 layer copper and fine silver mokume gane that I made and set it into a lovely statement ring.

Mokume Gane (wood grain) set in sterling and fine silver ring- Private collection