My So Charmed Life

New, WIP, and BETTER Photos

11.18.11

So, this post will NOT feature the work I’ve been doing in metalsmithing class… this is work I’ve been doing at home DURING the period of the metalsmithing class. There is so much that I want to say about jewelry, about art, about making and selling. But I’m going to save that for another time, and just get these images up to share. Here is a link to my flickr site where they will also be uploaded full size. Suffice to say, this has been a year of being a student again. Learning new craft and technique, pushing myself hard, getting beyond what I’ve accomplished to date. I hope these pictures will speak mostly for themselves as I need a BREAK from writing about myself!

Also, I moved out of my office and into my cozy home office a year ago… and since then, my photos have SUCKED EGGS. At the old office, I had fabulous windows and tons of natural light. Here in the basement, neither. (I often think of myself as a little mushroom down here.) But enough IS ENOUGH. I just set up a little photo station in the only place in this house that has natural light streaming in (the jewelry studio! duh!) and I’m happy with the results. Also, after experimenting with props and backgrounds I’ve decided: I’m a white seamless kinda girl. Or is that a seamless kinda white girl? I just like the way the work looks without all the fussery. Anyway, here it is. Some of these are WIP (works in progress).

Introducing… Trevor Moth. I’m making up a bunch of these and they’ll be strung on simple aged chains. Look for these on So Charmed, hopefully soon. They are so labor intensive and I’m having trouble with pricing (as always).



What we Found in the Sandbox
. Mixed media, fibers, rust.

Sexy close up.

The focal is plastic, which means it’s super lightweight. The problem to solve was one of balance, it took several tries before this necklace hung properly. I test drive the complex necklaces, and other pieces to make sure they wear well.

There’s a little vintage rubber toy tire with a glass bead suspended. Suspension is something I’m playing with.

James Moth. He was my first. Was still learning my way through eyelets and rivets.

Spent a good part of a day on this guy. Trevor came along quicker.

Mrs. Eaves. A necklace named after a font named after a woman and designed by Zuzana Licko.

My company prior to designfarm, studio 405, had a logo utilzing the special st ligature built into the font. There’s a pic of the lig on the df blog.

This is what Mrs. Eaves (the lady, not the font) would look like if she were a necklace. My most proud moment pictured above, a very vintage glass bead suspended into a very vintage metal garter.

Ring and bracelet in progress. Stacks of these bracelets for sale at So Charmed, eventually. Really love making these. This bracelet has a little whatchamathingee… you know those electrical capacitors.

The ring features this CRAZY metal bead, it’s the anti-diamond ring. OMG, one of my favorite things ever.

I Like Bones & Candy.

Made this after visiting an anthropologist friend who spends a lot of time in Papua New Guinea (a place I’m longing to go). He has a collection of amazing beaded artifacts and from these I got the idea to make this beaded clasp. Mine features a tiny Victorian porcelain button. This was not easy to do properly! The polka dotted focal is made from camel bone. Ugh, I know. But it was irresistible.

This one speaks to me of Coraline and all things Tim Burton. So I named it Coraline’s Heart.

Big learning curve on this; endless hours. I could do another one faster, but not sure I will. I get so easily bored and have too many ideas to just repeat things. This is both a delight and a liability as I never want to part with anything, nor do I feel up to making another. AGHHHHH.

I seem to love me some polka dots, don’t I? This is the reverse of Coraline.

Ok, so that’s it! I want to redesign the blog to hold larger photos, these are still not looking wonderful at these sizes. But over on flickr you can see them full size and without all my blathering.