Results of my first experiments with resin, and some current garden shots.

Here are the promised shots of my first experiments with resin and some of my current garden shots.
I am thrilled with the way the resin brings out the translucency in the soapstone, and my experiments with adding resin to my rings have opened up a whole new potential for "art jewelry". My first results are technically poor due to inexperience, first of all I used air dry clay for the flowers (a poor choice) and I have to learn how to deal with bubbles, but I was still excited to be able to make durable transparent objects.

Etsy store to be re-opened under my own name

I am in the process of re-designing my etsy store and plan to open at a future date under my own name.
In the meantime I will be focusing on refining my techniques with silver, in particular, and I am experimenting with soapstone and resin combined. I will post shots of my results when I have some. I'm planning on something that I have never heard of so I'm not even sure it'll work but I love to experiment.
My gardens are doing well with lots of little tomatoes now and little zuccinni fruits waiting to grow. My next post will contain some current shots of my gardens which I will take tomorrow.

Working on wider cuff bracelets, filagree type.

I've always loved the wide open woven cuff bracelets and am now making some prototypes or practice pieces. I have a photo of my latest one which is still not quite finished, but gives the idea where I am headed. I have some refining to do on it, but even at this point, I'm wearing it and it's comfortable.
I also included a shot of my everyday turquoise necklace. I wear that one day and night and a lot of the charms on the pendant have special meaning to me. Just wanted to share another aspect of my style, this time in silver.
I'm trying a new background too. To me the white can get boring after a while.

My sister has Skype now. Planning to get hooked up myself and really looking forward to it. I don't have a webcam yet, but she does. So I'm off now to look into it a little more, download it and try it out. At least I have a headset.

A custom piece for a good friend and an anklet.

This time I remembered to take a picture of a custom piece before I sold it and have included it. The pendant is in sterling with swarovski crystal beads, and the hand made chain is sterling too.
I also added a shot of an anklet I just put up on my Etsy site. Anklets are quite popular and the scrollwork lends itself so well to this kind of jewelry. It's my favorite link so far.
I want to learn fusing silver and when I do I shall post shots of my progress. I need .999 fine silver for that and know where to get it where the price won't kill me.

My gardens are doing pretty well too and the other day I took some shots of some of my favorites.
I also have included a couple of shots of my huge African Marigold blooms and my Datura which are just beginning to bud. I will share the full beauty of the blooms when it happens.

New items to be added to my store.

I may have been away from my blog for a while, but that doesn't mean my hands have been idle. I have been experimenting with ways to make wider bracelets from copper. Once perfected to my satisfaction I plan to make some in silver too. I added the cuff to my store and am planning to add the fine gage scrollwork bracelet pictured here, as well.
Yesterday my niece, her husband, and I went to the Osborne Street Festival where we had a great time looking over booths of many types of items. I wanted to see how the jewelry vendors were set up and saw that it doesn't have to be complicated. I would love to have my buyers try on my jewelry, feel the weight and smoothness of many of the pieces, and really see the shimmer off the crystal pieces I make.
We had an excellent time and it was an education for me.