two new brooches and my Evelyn rose

Hard to believe it's been 23 weeks since the onset of the 2013 etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge began. Seems like we've lost a few people along the way. I have to admit, it's been a challenge to get a brooch out every week with everything else that needs to be dealt with in the studio. But so far I've managed to squeak one out, sometimes with just hours to spare...

 For brooch #22, this pretty piece of ocean jasper took me to a whimsical place and out popped this little bird on a stick pearl branch.

She found her home that same day...

Brooch #23 is a sterling silver fibula, forged and oxidized, with a hand carved rhodonite melon bead.

Something to dress up a heavy coat, or hold a shawl together. I think I'd like to more of this type of thing...

And here is one of the early blooms from my old fashioned rose "Evelyn". I wish you could smell it!

This is a great time of year to be in Oregon...

My one weakness, and three more brooches...

Thursday I paid my favorite stone dealer a visit just to pick up a few high domed stones for some rings I wanted to make.... I left with WAY more then I had planned. And this happens  every.  single.  time. 

But, look, how on earth can a regular person resist THIS!!

The high domes were secured and many other temptations were put in front of me. 

ring ring ring ring ring ring ring!

I'm not a huge fan of tiger eye, but when I laid eyes on these pieces, with their beautiful matte finish, omg, into the "shopping cart" they went... My friends, this is not your mother's tiger eye!

I also replenished my supply of petrified palm wood with these beauties.

I'm finishing up two of the rings today, but honestly, if anyone is right this minute drooling on their keyboard over these stones, and NEEDS a piece of custom jewelry, get a hold of me at my etsy store! 

I need to start selling some of these!! 

Just so I can buy more of course.

And on another note...

Three weeks and three new brooches have passed since my last post. Here are numbers 19, 20, and 21 in the etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge 

Number 19 is a sweet little brooch, and at 3/4" works well as a tie tac or lapel pin.

sterling, 22kt, 18kt, 14kt gold, rose cut diamond

Number 20 is a hunky ocean jasper, with stick pearl and rose cut peridot.

Sterling silver, 18kt, 14kt gold

Last week's brooch, number 21 is a fordite cabochon set in sterling silver. It comes with a handmade chain and can be worn as a necklace as well. (This is the first piece of fordite I've purchased... and of course I just bought more, it's really fun stuff,very Jetsons-esque!)

I surprised myself!

wow, it's Sunday and I finished brooch #18 YESTERDAY!! That hasn't happened since the etsymetal brooch-a week challenge began way back in January! I was an eager little beaver in those days... Now it seems like everything is last minute. I'm not sure I've ever had a first quarter as busy as this one, will all kinds of work coming my way. This is not a complaint, simply a wonder!

Brooch #18 is a big piece of Nevada boulder turquoise set in sterling silver within a sterling frame. Three little 14kt gold balls and some serious oxidation help to create a very mid century modern feel. 

This brooch measures just over 2" wide.

a sturdy pin mechanism allows it to be worn at various angles.

Surprise #2 is that I'm actually blogging about it in what's practically "real time".

Onward and broochward...

the brooches march on...

Brooch #16 in the etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge was a last minute affair. The week sped by sooooo fast that come the deadline day, I was shocked I tell you, to find myself standing in Sunday without a brooch of an idea, and an empty oxygen tank.

 You know how dog emergencies mostly happen on weekends when your vet's office is closed, and you have to pay the big bucks at the emergency vet's office? And the plumbing goes haywire on weekends, that's overtime for the plumber... Well my oxygen tank seems to run out after noon on Saturdays when the welding supply closes for the weekend. In my business, there's not much I can accomplish if I can't solder.

So instead of taping a safety pin onto a toilet paper roll, (I figured I could save that one for a real emergency, like late on a Sunday night...) I looked around my bench and found these sweet little handmade glass beads I had purchased a while back from PaulBead on etsy and  a little sterling leaf I'd done ages ago and some of the stainless steel wire I use for my pin stems.  A little targeted work with the pliers, and voila! I have a little something to wear on my jacket. No soldering required.

brooch 16

Brooch #17 began on Saturday and finished up on Sunday. It features a really fantastic druzy agate. I've set it in sterling and added 14kt gold round prongs.

brooch 17

Today is Thursday. I'm counting on myself to start the next brooch tomorrow.

We'll see if that actually happens. Currently I haven't a clue as to what I'll do...

four more brooches

The etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge marches on, with team members and non-members coming up with something new in the brooch department every week! Time flies, and here we are are just entering week 16 and I last posted 4 brooches ago!

Brooches 13 and 14 continued my love affair with fossils...

Two very different fossil palm stones. Brooches #12 & 13 

#12 with a large freshwater pearl...

#13 has an adaptor for use as a pendant.

#14 features a sparkling druzy navette in sterling with 14kt gold touches

Brooch #15 is textured sterling with a rose cut tourmaline set in 18kt gold. A light oxidation really enhances the surface texture.

On to #16...

Beavers and Brooch #11

My dog and I were out walking along the Willamette River recently, and we came across a beaver sitting in the middle of the path. Flores was running ahead of me and he ran right up to what I thought at first was a log or a rock. When I realized it was a beaver, I quickly called him back, as he was by then,  doing a nose to nose with the animal...! I'd seen beaver only rarely and always just a quick glimpse in the water. 

(yes, rather lame to take a movie of something not moving, I know...)

We have a ravine with a small stream behind our house and there are some beaver dams down stream a bit but I'd never seen the critters, they are after all nocturnal. 

So what was this beaver doing sitting so still in the path during the middle of the day? After a little bit of reading up on beavers here, I decided that this must have been a 2 year old, leaving the home pond in search of his place in the world. I had read that beaver babies stick around as yearlings and help raise the next litter before striking out on their own. 

 About a week later, the Oregonian reported that a beaver was spotted trying to cross the road one night directly across the Willamette River from where we spotted our beaver. It was late at night and the police showed up and actually walked him to the safety of a nearby creek. I feel pretty sure, that was our beaver...

And coincidentally, a week later, my friend Cynthia sent me a package containing among other things, this very nice little beaver. And, he arrived just as I finished up brooch # 11. Thank you, Cynthia! 

Brooch #11 in the etsymetal brooch-a-month challenge is a lovely round fossil coral. Set in sterling silver, I've added a simple tie tac type clutch on the back.

So that's my beaver story. I've got brooch #12 in the works, also a fossil... so stay tuned!

Brooch #10 and hellebores

Brooch #10 was not going to befall the same fate as brooches 8 & 9... So I kept it simple. Hard to crack a pearl...

Kind of nice and minimalist...

And I just had to share a bouquet of hellebores from my friend, Debra's garden... Spring at last!