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...

4 Name Mother's Necklace New style

A new style mother's necklace and I'm thrilled with how it turned out....I have been holding this post back until the necklace was given as a gift and now I can finally share!

 Four charms is usually about the limit that I can fit on without compromising the design...

It starts to look "crowded" and it's harder to see or read the information. 

 I also really like the idea of representing the marriage along with the kids.  

Just a personal preference really....

I think it is all too easy as a mom to forget sometimes that your marriage comes first...

Four children's names and their anniversary date on just 3 charms...

and it still has a very simple design...

I love it!
This necklace will now be available in our Etsy shop (see the link back at the top on the right) to personalize and purchase....

Wedding Gift Bracelet

 We spent this past week end in Atlanta, GA for a wedding...

My husband's cousin had a very beautiful, simple outdoor wedding...

 So I made her this simple, thin, leather wrap bracelet with their initials in hammered copper and sterling silver....
I have been messing around with this thin style bracelet and have a few more ideas I'll be sharing here soon....

A nice magnetic closure at the back.  

Which is great for getting it on by yourself--when the ends get close to each other they snap together on their own.

"My One Word" tags

A sweet lady I go to church with sent me a message asking if I would make her some charms...

She's a creative soul as well, and wanted to make her own finished piece so I only made the charms this time.

She decided to participate in this idea from My One Word  
 Instead of making many resolutions for the year, the idea is to really focus on one thing you want to strive for or work towards by choosing one word....

Her one word was "moxie" and Psalms 37:3-6 is her Bible verse....

So this is her instagram photo of the finished charm that she can move from piece to piece as she wants.
This was a fun project especially since we collaborated to complete it.

Hand Stamped Leather Anniversary Bracelet

This leather wrap bracelet went to Tennessee....

 Her mother-in-law goes to church with me and asked me to make this as a birthday gift....

so I've been waiting to share until I knew she had given it to her...

 The brass circle tag has their anniversary...

Each of the small sterling rectangles has their initials....

A very personal and unique gift....

Personalized Anniversary Bracelet

 Perhaps the best compliment ever...

"I lost my anniversary cuff my wife gave me, and it's probably my favorite thing of all the things she's given me..."

 A button stud closure....

 Their initials and wedding date....

 Rivets with handcrafted washers to hold the metal tag on...

All makes for a very personal, handcrafted gift!

See more details on the Jewelry page...

Hand Stamped Mother's Necklace

 A new mother's necklace I just gave as a gift today!

 Their wedding year on the copper tag....

 And a "C" for their last name...

 His name is already Charlie and he's coming soon!

Lovely light this morning...I'm so glad we bought our camera.  I'm taking photos in full Manual mode finally!  I've been trying to experiment with the settings and really learn how to use all the functions to create photos...

I'm really happy with these...of course it's easier when the light is good!

The slipper chair is also FINISHED...photos to come...

Hand Stamped Mother's necklace

The latest Mother's necklace I made for a Momma of 3 boys...

She had asked me about making something awhile back while she was still pregnant with the third and told me she was strongly "hinting" to her husband that she wanted it :)

So for her birthday he surprised her!  I was honored to be part of the surprise and to help him out.....

I really love the turquoise bead on this...which wasn't the first thing I had planned but I really love it...

Happy Birthday sweet friend!!!

Aging Zinc

 I just realized that I didn't ever post on how we aged our zinc table top (see the topping a table with zinc post here)

 In this photo the new zinc is on the right.  It looks similar to stainless steel.  The piece on the left is after several coats of cupric sulfate solution.

 The cool thing about the zinc is that this isn't permanent. You can take 320 or 400 grit sandpaper to it and go all the way back to the shiny, original finish.

 The cupric sulfate is a blue color and it is a chemical.  You mix this with water.  The more water the less of a patina you get, but if you put it on straight with no water it turns almost black.

 This is the top of another table we did with one coat of solution brushed on.  You can rub it on with towel as well....

We let it sit overnight and then wipe it down with a wet towel.

 You can also roll it on with a paint roller or cover your table surface with saran wrap which puts some interesting texture in the patina....
This is several coats of patina applied over several days.

 These are some edge pieces that ran down the edges of the table base....

If you just put your zinc on something and do nothing to it;  it will age on it's own over time.  The company we buy our supplies from sells wax similar to butcher's wax and we use that to seal it up.  If your piece is going to get alot of heavy use the wax will eventually wear off, and then the patina will start to wear off as well.  If you notice  that it seems to be wearing off you can reapply the wax.  Anything acidic can take both the wax and patina off completely and it will be shiny again.    

Handmade Industrial Table

 My talented husband crafted this little table...

 A steel base with lightening holes in the legs... 

 A hard maple top stained with some walnut stain...

It's similar to something else he made me few years ago...

 I got rid of that annoying little cabinet---the one you never use because you can't reach it :)

 and decided to use old mason jars to hold all of my dry goods.... 

 I wanted something really simple but metal--he made this piece for me and I love it.

 So our new table is in our living room...

 The base is clear coated to protect the metal from rust...

LOVE industrial furniture...

 The mix of wood and metal...

 And pretty nice to have a unique piece of furniture built by my very own talented husband.  I just have a really hard time selling this kind of thing and letting it go....

I'm his biggest fan!  Love you sweetheart!!!