Turquoise Bezel Set Ring

 Another ring attempt...we have been busy making leather pieces for Etsy customers since Christmas, but today I decided to try again with this gorgeous turquoise stone.

It has been calling me from my workbench ever since I purchased it a few months ago.  The soldering went OK this time, and I've been doing smaller projects with sterling wire to practice.

I made this on my Birthday and it's become one of my favorite pieces to wear.  Sterling, copper, some accidental sterling inlay ---mostly a lot of trial and error trying to figure it all out.  But this is something I have always wanted to learn so it's exciting to see these pieces I have finally made....

Ring with Sterling Silver Bezel Set Stone

 For Christmas my husband bought me a sterling silver soldering kit.  It came with a book and all the basic soldering supplies to get started.  This is something I have wanted to learn to do for a long time.  To say that I love jewelry would be a huge understatement...

I started reading through the book and working up a list of sterling I thought I might need to buy to get started. 

 Then I decided to go through my own jewelry and see if I could repurpose some things I had.   I wasn't sure how it would go and I didn't want to spend alot and end up needing to scrap it.  

The band was a plain sterling band I've had forever.  So I cut it down the front center, opened it up and then cut each side open to create the prongs.  The flat piece of sterling for the base was also a large ring I had bought that I cut loose and hammered flat.

The red "stone" is resin I think.  I loved the color but the ring itself was just a cheap metal.  I cut it out with my jewelry saw.  The bezel wire that goes around the stone I had to buy. It's fine sterling and it's very thin and soft.

 The sizing is something I'm trying to figure out.  Especially with larger rings, but this one fits me how I hoped it would.

 My husband spent the day with me helping me get everything set up -- It was our Valentine's date.

I have to say it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be.  Flux, solder, pickle ---it sounds intimidating.  But it all made sense once I started actually doing it.

 It is so cool that you can take pieces of metal and create this...and it is strong once it has been soldered.  Watching it melt down and become one piece then filing it into shape....

Burnishing the bezel itself is also fascinating, watching the metal just crimp down and then smooth out and polish like this...

A whole new way to create, take ideas and watch them come to life...

Double Sided Stampled Charm Bracelet

 Hard to believe it's 2014 already.  So much going on since my little son started school this fall...We weren't sure what to expect with our Etsy shop through the Holiday season and we were very busy right up until Christmas.  We feel so blessed that our customers choose to purchase our things out of all the many talented shop owners who are creating unique handmade items

 This bracelet is special...mostly because of who I made it for.  The charms are double sided and this is the first time I've stamped on the front and the back.  I think it works because it's 20 gauge sterling and anything thinner probably wouldn't handle that very well...

 When we switched our son to all day kindergarten I had to start driving him to and from school.  So I met another Momma while waiting with him in the mornings and afternoons...

 Every great once in awhile you meet someone and almost right away you just have a connection--

We just seem to have so much in common...
During one of our conversations our Etsy shop came up 

 Her husband bought her this bracelet over the Holidays...
and I was so excited to make it for her.  
It's always fun to make things for people that we know and especially people that you know will really appreciate it.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and as usual I had some tools on my wish list.  My husband bought me a soldering kit so I can attempt to teach myself how to solder sterling, copper and brass.  My ultimate goal is to learn how to bezel set stones and to make my own closures for my jewelry...we'll see!

Wedding Gift Necklace

This one is special...

A sweet friend of mine got married and I made this necklace for her so she can "wear" her new last name with her...

 The copper oval has the date and name and each of the sterling tags has their first initial...

 I need a model so I can take photos of our things on a person.  My husband does a great job but I'm not exactly model material ---I'd rather be behind the camera taking the photos.  

But I know, as a shopper, I want to get an idea of how it looks while someone is wearing it.  

Still working on that...

I try to be extra careful not to share photos of things that are gifts until they've been "given" but then sometimes it's hard to remember to share it once it's ok....
The date on this one gives it away ---
I've been sitting on this one awhile and it needs to go in the Etsy shop as well.  
Working on that too!

Three Charm Anniversary Necklace

This is a nice twist on three charm necklaces I've done in the past.  Most of those have been mother's  necklaces with the names of three children on them....

I recently purchased the 1/16" number stamps which are nice....I was limited to larger charms before because I only had the 1/8" number stamps...

 The smallest sterling charm is 1/2" in diameter...so the 1/16" letters/numbers work well.

 I use sterling jump rings and sterling head pins for the little bead accents...

This photo shows the thickness or gauge of the metals I use too...these are all 20 gauge or or thicker.  

People ask about my jewelry sometimes and it can be hard to explain all the different choices.  I try to photograph everything I make so I can show them options but there are many variations...so even though this is similar to other necklaces I've done I'll probably list this on Etsy...

Mother's Necklace

 One of the many versions of the Mother's Necklaces I make...

 I also realized I had to do a separate "action" for watermarking the vertical photos so this was a good time to practice...

 I typically end up using mostly horizontal style photos I think mostly because they fit a little better in the blog postings but it's nice to have a variety of image styles....

 I also discovered how to use my original camera lens to get better photos...

I love the 50mm lens but sometimes I have trouble getting a sharp focus with the jewelry just because it's so small...

Thin Yellow Initial Bracelet

 This thin bracelet is only 1/4" wide....

with a sterling silver bar hand stitched to the leather with waxed linen thread...

And dyed "Sunshine Yellow"

 I'm a "color" kind of girl...

neutrals are great, but colors are just too much fun to pass up...

 It dawned on me that I need to use our blog as a way to show more views of the pieces we decide to sell on Etsy.

  I snagged my husband to take some photos of me wearing it since it's a little difficult to photograph yourself wearing something...

 especially with the 50mm lens....

I chose to stamp a single, small letter but it could be custom made to suit you...
I'm working on a new handbag too...
I cannot wait to share this one.  
Been working on it for awhile now since I created the drawing in my sketch pad....

Leather Couple's bracelet

 We made a trip to Tandy leather to buy some supplies we wanted to try with our Etsy goods...

 My new dye color is this dandelion yellow...

oooo & ahhhh right????

It's actually called "Sunshine Yellow"

 And I bought a couple of these cool clasps that snap down like a watch band closure....

love these too so far.

I'll be testing out the macaroni prototype to see how they hold up.  

A little 1/4" x 1/2" sterling silver plate with our initials stamped on it...

Handstitched on with some waxed linen thread...

The possiblities are endless....

Latitude Longitude Leather Bracelet

 A new jewelry piece...

I'll be wearing what we refer to as the "macaroni prototype" ---

That's a Despicable Me movie reference for those of you who don't have little ones.... 

 before I sell one, but I'll probably offer this in our Etsy shop eventually.

 I've been wanting to make a simple, leather bracelet and attach a stamped metal tag...

What I started with was a sterling silver tag that was about 1/2 the length of what's actually on this bracelet...

 But I was having trouble finding something to stamp...other than kids names or dates....that would fit on the tag.

Then while I was brainstorming about all this I remembered seeing a website where you could enter an address and it gave you the latitude and longitude coordinates.

 I decided to switch to some aluminum so I could make it whatever length I wanted and see how it looked....

I'm thinking I could do a wider leather piece and stack two shorter tags one on top of the other too...I'll be playing around with it to see what I like

So these coordinates are the spot I met my husband-
which also happens to be the church where we got married-
which also happens to be the church we're still at 9 years later-
pretty special place....

Vintage Earrings Repurposed

When my grandmother passed away I asked for all of her costume jewelry.  Some pieces I was able to keep and wear as they were but I also took a lot of it apart and redesigned it....I made a couple of things HERE and HERE 

So these first two photos are of some jewelry I found while flea marketing (a necklace) that I then took apart and turned into some earrings....

These next two photos are partly the flea market beads (blue and gold beads) and partly from my grandmother's beads (the cream bead on the bottom)

So this pair ended up going to my sister...

one of the best parts about dividing up the beads was being able to make it go farther so that I could share it with my sisters and nieces....

Five Name Mother's Necklace

A new necklace I made for an Etsy customer....

I think due to Mother's Day I had a few sales...

This customer requested two names on the largest pendant so five names total....

I hope that whomever will be wearing this will enjoy wearing their family close to their heart....