Using the Jewelers saw!

Well, I finally got my jewelers saw! I had been putting it off for the longest time. I don't know why, because it is so much fun. It is frustrating at first breaking blade after blade, but after you get the hang of it, it is quite fun! My first project was this cute little acrylic moon. I have to say cuting through the acrylic is alot easier than metal, but just as satisfying. There is more to come with acrylic sheet and metal. I can just invision the fun I will have creating new pieces of unique jewelry!

Bus Driver Appreciation Day....

Drum roll please........Well, here it is. On October 20th, it is "Bus Driver Appreciation" day. So, I have been thinking of ideas for a piece of jewelry. Today, I finally made something. I think it turned out cool! I hope my son's school bus driver likes it! I love the little metal school bus charm I found. It works great with the ruler and eyelets!

So don't forget the bus driver that gets your children to school safely!! They deserve praise too!

New Line of Copper Bracelets

Check out the site to see my new Copper ID bracelets. I made a few today and they turned out nice. I'm a free spirit, so I decided to make a bracelet with that saying. I"m sure there are others out there that don't like to "go with the flow" and break the rules. So this one is for you!



If you have a saying or a few words that describe you and want to show everyone, just let me know. I would love to make you a bracelet!

Bus Driver Appreciation Day

I was reading my son's upcoming schedule and I saw that October 20th is "Bus Driver Appreciation" day. So, I"m just chompin at the bit to design something cool, unique and whimsical for the bus driver that gets my son to school and back safely! Stay tuned, I can't wait to show you all what I come up with. Ohhh... this is going to be fun!

Football Season is here!

Yes, it's that time of year again when I can cheer my Green Bay Packers! Yes, I'm a Cheesehead. Being so, it inspired me to come up with a unique piece of jewelry to let everyone know, I love the Pac. If you have a favorite team and would like me to custom make your team, let me know! I will come up with something unique and fun just for you!

Back To School

Well, it's that time of year again! In honor of all of the great teachers out there, I have come up with some unique ideas for your favorite teacher. When I found these cool metallic anodized aluminum rulers, I just knew I needed to make some cool jewelry out of them. I ended up making ruler rings, "teachers rule" necklaces and charm bracelets. They were a big hit!

Jewelry Projects

Well, once the weather cools down and it's not 125 degrees in my garage, I'm going to be working with a book with projects and then posting on my blog as I go. Give you the ups and downs of the projects etc. I have 4 books to choose from, but have not picked the one yet. So, check back often! (And pray for cooler weather!!)

Wire Pod Rings

I have been wanting to learn how to make these unique wire pod rings for a while now. So I decided to purchase a tutorial on how to make them. I purchased from Interweave.com and some antique colored aluminum wire to practice. My first and second attempt making these wire rings went OK I guess. Here is what they look like. I think some more practice and tweaking for different sized beads is needed. The tutorial was very well done. I hope to buy more tutorials in the future. Stay posted. You never know what I'm up to these days.

Coming Soon....Funny Friday!

New and coming this Friday is "Funny Friday". This is when I post jewelry that makes you laugh! I was trying to come up with something that gets people to just laugh and have fun. I came up with some ideas and thought it would be fun to post them on Fridays. (TGIF). So visit my etsy shop soon and especially on Fridays!

The shop is getting busy!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. But here I am. Well, I have noticed that the shop has been doing well. The sales are picking up. The latest "hot item" is my custom confirmation handstamped necklaces. It all started last year when my friend asked if I could make her something for her niece's confirmation. She loved it.



Then, this year, she asked if I could make some more necklaces for her 2 children who where getting confirmed. I jumped at the chance. I love coming up with new ideas and being creative. She loved them!

These necklaces have the name on the front and the date of confirmation on the back. They are hammered for texture, dipped in nickel silver to blacken the stamped portion, lightly sanded and polished to a bright finish. A danity cross and cream colored pearl are added to top it off.

What great confirmation gifts!

Craft Show

Well, the craft show went very well for being my first one! I got alot of positive feedback on my jewelry. It seemed that I was busy all the time, which is good. Only a couple lulls, but then busy again. At times, I could have used extra help. My booth looked great. I had a banner made. I took advantage of the half off promotion at VistaPrint. It turned out great and my booth looked very professional. I can't wait until the next one!

Up coming jewelry show...

I haven't been on lately to post. I have been getting ready for my first jewelry show! It's been very time consuming pricing and staging to make sure everything is just right. I'm still waiting on a few displays and a large banner! I can't wait to see my set up when I have everything up and ready to go. I want it to be professional as possible.

Riveting and Grinding

Today, I just worked on a bracelet which is similar in concept to the steel retro ring I made last week with the snaps riveted into the steel. Someone mentioned that the steel retro ring would make a great bracelet. I first thought a bangle bracelet would be cool and then I thought of this idea. I'm still going to do one in a cuff too, but I wanted to see what this would look like. I think it turned out nice.

I'm getting alot more comfortable working with the tools needed to make jewelry. I'm finally getting used to the dremel tool that I bought and some of the attachments.

My husband has a little torch that attachs to a propane tank. I might try that to solder rings. So you'll have to check back later this week, to see how that went! I'm sure I'll have all kinds of stories to tell!

Thanks to my parents, I was able to buy some tools needed to make my job a little bit easier. I put an order in tonight and I should get them by the end of the week. I'll be waiting next to the door with anticipation. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Polishing

I was like a kid waiting for Christmas to come..... I had placed an order for some jeweler's rouge and had been waiting for it to arrive. Finally, a box was delivered last night. Seeing that is was so late, I decided to wait until today.

Well, I just got done running out to the garage to try out my new polishing compounds and demel polishing attachments. I only had a few minutes to work for now. I first used the wire brush attachment for my dremel. It worked really well to clean it up a bit. Then I used the buffing attachment with a little of the green rouge compound and holy tomoly! What a nice shine. Not too bad for not knowing what the heck I'm doing, but that is what experimentation is all about. I'm sure I can polish a little more to refine it, but it looks so nice.

Here is a picture after the polishing.

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Piddling in the Garage

Today, I made a few more rings. Nothing totally different, just added slight variations to the ones I already made.

But have no fear, I did discover something while piddling on jewelry in the garage! If you don't have a steel ring mandrel, just use your husband's Craftsman Socket Set!!! Oh, yeah. He will love you for that one, but seriously, it worked great. I had been using wooden dowels. So I searched the garage trying to find that perfect fit for the ring I was working on and underneath all the junk on the shelf..... I found something that would work. I found the right size socket, locked it in my vise and pounded away on the ring, perfect! You would have thought I hit the lottery.

I will still invest in getting a steel ring mandrel, but in the time being, I will use my Husband's prized socket set!! Amen.

More rings!

Well, today I attemped to make the sterling silver daisy and copper ring, but it just didn't work out. I might have to break down and buy a soldering torch. That is the only way the flowers will stay on the band after bending. I will have to come up with plan B, on that one.

Instead, I made a copper ring with a silver flower. On one side of the band, I hand-stamped, "take time 2" and on the other side, "smell the flowers". It really turned out nice. I think the next time I make it, I will put steel underneath the copper. I like that look. I attached the metal flower with a copper nail and riveted the other side. Not too bad for an newbie!

I was on a roll and made a few more. I made a couple of steel ones. One plain and the other I used snaps, of all things. I like the bold look of the solid snaps on the silver. They were copper colored at first, but then I grinded them down to reveal the brass.

First Project: Making a Ring!

Well, as part of the aspiring metalsmiths team we just started, our first project is to make a ring. The entries are due Feb 19th. So in this blog, I will keep you posted on my ventures in doing just that. I don't have alot of the tools needed, so I will try to be creative and accomplish my goal without spending a fortune. I will keep you posted and show you my progress.

These rings are just at the first stage of fabrication. I still need to refine and polish them. Seeing that I don't have a soldering torch as of yet, I had to make these adjustable. Which is ok too, I guess.

I used steel scraps and eyelets for the plain silver one. I've learned that you need to make sure your eyelets are very secure and flat. I can see a little bit under them, but they are attached. I attemped to do one similar to this one with a smaller band and the eyelets closer together, but it didn't work too well. Most of the eyelets weren't attached correctly and I could pull themout. It's all about trial and error. That's how we learn....lol.

I really like the steel and copper one. I think it turned out quite well. The saying on the copper is "Never Ending Love." I secured it with eyelets also. It is really comfortable and stylish. I'm pretty pround of myself for getting these done. Tomorrow is another day. I will be working on a copper and sterling silver flower ring. It seems to be much more challenging than these two I did.