Copper questions answered!

Okay, this is crazy!! I keep trying to put the copper pieces on Etsy and it’s going to make me NUTS! I did post two pieces of 18 gauge leaf texture on Etsy, but I don’t have the patience for the rest so here’s what I’m going to do! Since the copper sheet is of interest to many people that read my blog, I’ll post the specs here. You can send me an email or you can send a comment and let me know what you want and I’ll send you a Paypal invoice. All the copper will be $2.00 per square inch. Let me know if you want 20 ga or 24 ga.  As each piece is hand textured, allow for a bit of imperfection and variation.

Now on to the specifics:

Pebble Texture

This is my FAVORITE texture EVER. For anyone that knows my jewelry, I use it in sterling silver a lot. This particular piece is quite small, measuring 3/4″ x 1 3/4″ and rolled from 20 gauge (due to the rolling process, the metal is made slightly thinner). You can order any width up to 1 3/4″ up to 12 inches long.

Leaf Texture

These pieces are textured with skeleton leaves – amazing the amount of texture you can get out of those delicate leaves! Be aware that the larger the piece of copper, the more separate leaves will be needed to create the texture. If you NEED a piece that is a single leaf, please let me know. Maximum measurements for these are 3 inches wide by 12 inches long.

Stepping Stone

This is from a texture plate I made myself. The size is very limited with this one – maximum 3.5″ x 2″. This will be a limited edition texture as once the plate is used up, there will be no more. I estimate at least 12 more pieces at least. But that is a guess!

Daisies

This is another limited size texture. Maximum size 3.5″ x 2″. To give you an idea of the scale, each daisy is 9mm around.

Gauze

This is what you get when you roll gauze (yes, medical gauze!) through the rolling mill. It’s a very soft looking texture. The sizes on this are maximum 3 inches wide by up to 12 inches long.

Ginkos

These are ginko leaf shapes embossed onto the metal. This is another limited edition texture. There are probably another three or four pieces left in this plate so get it while you can! Size is restricted to 3.5″ by 2″.

Spirals

Another limited edition – size maximum 1.5″ x 2″.

Large Flowers

Another limited edition, size maximum – 3.5″ x 2″. There are still a few pieces left in this plate. To give you an idea of the flower’s scale, each flower is approx. 18mm around.

Okay, that’s it for the texture plates. The butterflies and dragonfly are a different technique, email me or send a comment if you want more info on those. Anyone who has emailed or commented will be getting an email from me regarding the pieces they specifically inquired about. If I miss anyone, let me know!!

Remember, each piece of metal is $2 per square inch. Oh, shipping is $2.00 up to 100 grams. I will Paypal invoice anyone interested!! Thanks for looking!!

Cheers!

I guess it’s about time! Hah!

Yes! It’s still today!! Now, bear in mind that the pictures SUCK! I took them at the kitchen table on a piece of white computer paper, with no lighting other than the ceiling fan. Sorry, been a lazy day and I ended it with a lazy night! LOL I will replace them with proper pictures tomorrow, but these will give you the idea anyway. I will put proper pics on my blog tomorrow (once the sun comes up! LOL), but in the mean time you can check out what textures are available by clicking on my Flickr site to the right. I know, I know, the pictures suck (I believe I said that above! LOL!). The pieces vary in sizes but I’m going to give you the exact details tomorrow. At least you can see what’s possible (and this is the tip of the iceberg, I have to admit! LOL!). The butterflies are totally different sizes! The pair are quite small (maybe 1/2 an inch?), while the more detailed single on (large) is about 1 1/2 inches. The bigger textured pieces are about 2 inches by 4 inches maximum. The maximum size on the pebble texture is about 1 1/4 inches wide by pretty much any length (within reason of course!). The small leaves are another tiny one, they’re not even 1/2 an inch wide. Anyway, I could go on like this for hours! Sorry!! One of those days. I will make it MUCH more concise and clear tomorrow, but this gives you an idea of what’s possible.

Oh, might as well post some jewelry pics for those that could care less about copper stuff. These are a couple of the pieces I took to the gallery the other day (oh, wait! That was just yesterday! LOL!). The first are smoky quartz stud earrings in 14k gold. The stones are checkerboard cut, so they sparkle quite nicely.

Next is a green tourmaline ‘Rail’ ring (a term that one of my students coined for this style of ring!). The texture looks like a brushed finish, but it’s done with an electric engraver. Time consuming, but looks great!

And lastly is an opal doublet with little 14k balls on either side – simple but elegant if I do say so myself! Oh, and this one wasn’t custom, it was the original setting that the green tourmaline above was in. A lady fell in love with the stone, but wanted a different setting (se above! LOL) and so I took the stone from it and put the opal doublet in the original setting. Waste not, want not!

There you have it. Hope you’re having a great weekend. I’m going to work on the copper stuff tomorrow (you know, sizes, prices, proper pictures, etc). If there’s something you can’t live without, let me know! Cheers!!

It’s coming, I promise!

This is a super fast post as I HAVE to get out the door to the gallery and still have to dry my hair! LOL I have some copper sheets ready, just have to photo them and put them up – BUT!!!!!! With the busy day I have ahead, don’t expect to see the copper until tomorrow. Worth the wait, I promise! And the best part is, I won’t run out! I have LOTS of copper and can texture like crazy!! Wheeeeeeeeeee….. Okay, enough silliness! Gotta go! (note to self, take pics of jewelry before you drop it off! Doh!) This day may never end at this rate! Hope your Friday is a little less hectic than mine! Cheers!|

Not long now!

Hey all! Sorry to take so long to get the copper photo’d and listed on my Etsy site. I had the headache from hell yesterday and didn’t get a darn thing done! Fortunately it’s gone today (couldn’t have handled two days in a row!). I’m earnestly working in the studio tonight, as I have a bucket load of commissions to finish for Friday, plus I want to dig out all the copper I can find. Should be interesting! In the meantime, here’s a pic of a leaf that I finished the other day but haven’t put the resin in it yet. I have a few pairs of earring size ones on my fire brick, almost finished and ready to color. Hmmmm, that’s three resin series I have going! Woohoo! Go me! Between that and the silver jewelry series, I’m really on a roll this year! i might actually have something to sell at the bead show this year! Yeeehaaw!!!

Anyway, as the title states, it won’t be long before the copper pics are ready – check back again soon!! Cheers!

Oh Happy Sunday!!

What a great weekend!! I had a surface texture class here yesterday and today. My two students were awesome and we had a great time. And the best part was they both made lots of textured pieces of metal as well as several very nice jewelry pieces! I will post lots of pictures tomorrow of the textured metal that we made. I have a large quantity of textured copper that I’ve made over the past few years that I’m going to put up on my Etsy site this week. I will never use it and it seems a waste to just throw it out. I know there are tons of artists that love working with copper – I’m just not one of them!

I also managed to make two sticks and stones rings over the weekend too – gotta keep the gallery stocked! The first one is a teardrop faceted rose quartz and a small garnet.

The second one is a bitter disappointment! LOL It’s an ammolite and garnet, and as I was setting the ammolite I ended up cracking it. It had a little flaw, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but it always annoys me when I scerw something up! LOL Here, let me show you….

You can’t see it in the picture, but it’s REALLY obvious in real life. So I have two options at this point, I can scrap the stone and save the setting for some day in the distant future when I have a stone that fits it as is, or I can mix ups some resin and pour a VERY thin layer of resin over the top of the ammolite. Ammolite is very often coated with resin or covered with a thin quartz cap (called a doublet or triplet). So I’m going to try the resin coating and see how it looks. As long as I disclose it if I sell it (at a discount of course!), I don’t see a big problem. Mind you, I might get it done and hate it, we’ll see!! LOL!

What else did I make this weekend (been busy, remember!) – oh yes! Here’s the orange and pink monster necklace (gotta come up with a better name for these!)

And earrings to match!

And a pair to match last week’s blue and green monster necklace (although the blues don’t quite match ). I haven’t decided if I’m going to redo the resin in these or the necklace or just ignore it (no, I won’t ignore it, we all know that! LOL).

Oh wait, there’s still more! Yup, when I’m on a roll, I’m on a roll!! Here’s a ring to match the style of my Pathways bracelet (in a much earlier blog post – mine is pink tourmaline and amethyst – remember that one?). Anyhoo, the ring is a pink sapphire, London blue topaz, amethyst, green tourmaline, and apatite (the tiny one). It’s a ring that will go from knuckle to knuckle, so not for the shrinking violet type. I’m liking it, I think. My students liked it – and they have great taste (took my class didn’t they?!? LOL).

And finally, here’s a custom ring that’s heading to the gallery tomorrow morning – champagne cubic zirconia with 14k gold balls.

Whew! That was a lot of work! LOL! I’m hoping to get more stuff done this week, we shall see!! Hope you all have a great week – I’m off (I do believe dh has dinner ready! I’m so spoiled!). Cheers!

Still alive and kicking!

Nope, haven’t dropped off the face of the internet, just been super busy. I’d love to say I’ve got a ton of new stuff to show, but that would be a lie! LOL! I have another monster necklace ready for coloring today, plus the earrings to match. But I HAVE to work on custom pieces today. Nothing too exciting, but I’m hoping I can squeeze some fun stuff into the mix at some point today. Marv hasn’t murdered anything since the last post (thank goodness!), all the critters are doing well (as are we humans!), the grandkids are fabulous. Freya is going to spend a day with me this week. She just wants to spend some time here with me and hang out. I love that a 5 year old finds it fun to hang out with me! Baby Dayton is doing very well, keeping his mom and dad awake at night – hate to break it to them, but that’s what babies do!! LOL Can’t wait to babysit him again too. I’m VERY lucky that my kids and consequently the grandkids, live so close to us and actually like to spend a bit of time with us.

I better get to the studio, hope you have a spectacular day. The sun is shining here, so yes, studio time is in order (nice and cool in there, even on the hottest day of the year!). Oh, can’t forget today’s gratuitous picture (a very tired Bailey!)…..

Not again?!?

ARGH! That stupid cat!!!!! Marv just waltzed into the kitchen with another bird in his mouth!! I was in the bathroom getting ready for a shower, heard the bird noises, went to investigate, and had to remove the poor thing from his mouth! ARGH! I ranted and raved about what a murderer he is, meanwhile, the phone rings, I’m holding a dying bird in my hand, trying to talk nonchalantly to a customer. Poor bird expires in mid-conversation, so I wrapped it in paper towel and put it in the freezer til dh comes home. He can bury it in the garden for me. Sigh. Stupid, stupid cat!!! Well, I guess he’s a clever cat, but it sure didn’t make me happy!!! Poor little bird!! It was a male cedar waxwing – at least it wasn’t a momma bird with babies in a nest somewhere. Sigh. That’s the hard part about having cats, I guess.

So I get the poor bird put away, Marv follows me into the bathroom, and once I’d showered, he wanted to snuggle. Here’s my conversation with him: “Um, hello? You’re a murderer and I don’t snuggle murderers. Okay, well, maybe for a minute. Stop purring at me, you’re not cute. Seriously, Marv, you’re not cute. Sigh, okay, maybe you are cute, but you shouldn’t murder little birds. You horrible little cat (while I’m scratching him behind the ear while he’s curled up in my lap). Okay, fine, you’re cute. But that doesn’t make it right. (purr, purr, rub, rub, purr) Oh Marvy, I love you – stop killing things”

Yes, very hard to stay mad at him when he’s just doing what cats do. At least he had the good grace to get up on the kitchen counter to do his murderous deed – otherwise the dogs would have been in an all out frenzy! And I got the bird before there was any mess. This time.

I’m off to do a bit of shopping and get over my little trauma. Marv is now snoozing happily in the recliner like he owns the place. Oh wait, he does! LOL ………………

Monday again!

This year is just rolling along like a speeding train! It’s going to be Christmas soon if this pace keeps up! LOL! Just wanted to pop in real quick and let my weekend students know that I sent them the promised email (Laura, your email bounced back, so if you want me to send you the info, please email me!!). We had a great class, fabulous group of ladies, and some beautiful jewelry made. And it was fun! I haven’t taught at Mtn Gems for a while (a LONG while) and although I don’t miss the store, I certainly miss the classes. Ah well, I’ll be hosting more classes at my home studio so I can’t complain!

A couple of people have commented about the monster necklace and the scale of it. I’m going to try to get someone to take a picture of it while worn so you can see what it looks like on a neck. It’s not that big (it’s blingy, but not that big) but it is definitely a flashy piece that will demand attention (not for the shrinking violet types! LOL).

I’m going to be in the studio this afternoon, but I have a dentist appointment first to have a wisdom tooth pulled. No big deal, hopefully, I just hope I’m not too wiped out afterwards to hit the studio. I have a lot of stuff I want to do!

Back later this week with some show and tell and lots of chat (of course!). Cheers!

PS Can’t forget a picture! Shame on me! This is Jessie, our 2 yr old Shih Tzu/Terrier cross rescue pup. She looks so sweet and innocent in this pic. We call her the Fun Police. If the other dog or the cats are having fun, Jessie insists on putting an immediate halt on it, if that means barking, chasing, growling, whatever. No one is allowed to have FUN while Jessie is around – crazy dog!

So much to do, so little time! :)

You know, it doesn’t matter how much time you have, it’s never enough! I crammed a ton of stuff into this week, and still didn’t manage to get everything done. On a plus note I did get to do some of the things that I needed or wanted to. On Thursday I had an online buddy come to my studio for an in-real-life visit! (waves to Rina!!) We chatted for hours and had a lovely time. If you’re ever planning to be in my neighborhood, drop me a note and we’ll try to get together! On Friday, I had a day with my 5 yr old granddaughter who is firmly convinced that I let her do whatever she wants. I do not!!! I just word it so she thinks that whatever I want is what she wants, and it works great most of the time! LOL What else did I do? Oh, I have a new design I’m working on. I call it the monster necklace because there are so many ’sections’ to it – okay, so they’re more like little domed cups – here, let me show you the before picture:

And here’s what I did with it – blue & green resin – each cup filed to the brim with the colored resin, gives each one a real shimmery look. Someone commented that it looks like Wearable Water! LOL I love that!

Don’t mind the crappy picture, I was in a hurry and the background paper is actually a kind of creamy color. I need to get a good picture of it soon – and I’m going to make more!! Oh, I should mention that although I call this the monster, and it does have 15 little cups, it’s not that huge – It’s about 2 1/2 inches long and only about 1 3/4 inches across the top. The small cups are 1/4″ in diameter, the largest ones are about 5/8″ I think (it’s not here right now). Anyway, enough technical data!! Suffice it to say that it POPS in color so much more in real life. I’ll get an outside shot of it soon and post that. I think the next one I make will be orange and pink – or maybe purple and brown. Sigh, back to that! LOL I tell you half the fun of this thing is the color options!

What else? Oh, got to babysit Dayton tonight for the first time!! He’s such a good baby. We wouldn’t have it any other way though. I have to admit I finally figured out (after what? 25 years?) why hubby and I have 4 kids. He LOVES babies!!! Absolutely LOVES babies. Now, if you know my hubby, (yes, I mean Randy!) he does not strike you as the type that would love babies so much. But you know, there’s something incredibly wonderful about a man who is all for snuggling a little tiny bundle of baby-ness!! (oh, blech! I sound like a freakin Hallmark card! ROFL!). We’re as bad as each other, and that’s why we have 4 kids! They start off life as cute little bundles. Too bad they have to go through the teenager stage – that part sucks!!

Now, a big hug to my friend with the sick kitty. Hope kitty is feeling better – keep me posted!! I’m teaching this weekend at Mountain Gems – I know, I said I wouldn’t do that again. But the timing was right, and one of the students is a lady that I was ‘connected’ to through the bead show. I wanted to meet her, and this was a great way to do it. And it’s wonderful that the other 5 ladies in the class are awesome too!! We had some good laughs today, and they even got their ring shanks made before it was time to go. Tomorrow morning, we make the bezels, solder them on, polish them and set the stones. Can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they get to that point!!! LOL

Well, I could talk your ear off, but I’ll spare you! I’m off to find something for dinner (better late than never!), pack a lunch for tomorrow then head for bed soon. It’s been a long day!! Hope your weekend is going great!