The brooches march on...

Hard to believe we're approaching the end of 2013 and there are only 6 more brooches to be made for those of us participating in the etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge. Not so bad when you think that those stalwarts in the brooch-a-day challenge can barely see the end of the road yet...

brooch #42 features a beauty of a Morrisonite cab with a pinky rhodolite garnet

brooch #43 incorporates a pink rose cut tourmaline and gold rivets

 brooch #44 is a cherry creek jasper in a clean, modern shape

Picked these up while walking the dog today. Add a ribbon and a straight pin and this could be brooch #45. hmmmm...

(Fall is definitely my favorite time of year...)

a new fossil... and 4 more brooches

I had a nice drive out into the country this morning on a picture perfect Fall day. My goal, to pick up the rock slabs my stone cutting friend Greta had cut for me from some of the rough I had picked up during last month's rock hounding expedition. She has an awesome rock saw that can cut through the big chunks.

While I was there waiting on the last cut I, of course, started poking my nose into all her boxes of rocks. You wouldn't believe how much stuff that is...

I saw this slab of fossil fern wood and asked if she'd sell it to me. Lovely Greta, I'm sure she realized that she has about 3 lifetimes worth of rock to work with so into my goodie bag it went... I never leave Greta's without many things I had no idea I needed until I saw them...

The thing that really caught my eye were the layers along the edge. A lovely blush along with taupe, a darker stripe, and cream. I can see a few pair of drop earrings as well as some very cool cufflinks in that edge.

Something not noticeable in the photos, is that in all of those voids, there's the sparkle of tiny druzy quartz crystals. I'm really looking forward to cutting into this!

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And since it's been a month since my last post, here are the four latest brooches in the etsymetal brooch a week challenge.

Brooch #38

A beauty of a lace agate, semi transparent so you can see into it and the botryoidal formation, those very organic looking globular forms. I've designed it so that it can been worn as a pendant as well as a brooch.

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Brooch #39

This is a piece of ocean jasper with a small pinkish rhodolite garnet.

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Brooch #40 

I think this one can hardly be called a brooch, more of a pin, it's a teeny little thing, 

and is a piece of Picasso jasper.

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Last week's brooch, #41

 is a large piece of mookaite from Australia, paired with a little yellow citrine.

Right now I'm working on this week's design, but I'm not quite sure how it's going to all come together yet, so I won't say more... not yet

some daughter time and 2 new brooches

Both girls were here together last week for a visit. That happens so rarely anymore since they've both flown the nest, and in the last couple of years, the state... but I still managed to get my weekly brooch done for the past couple of weeks. Brooch #29 was a quick one. I used a scrap of fine silver I had cooked up in a precious metal clay class a few years back, and added some sterling petals along the edge for a simple little sunflower.

For brooch #30, I used the Montana agate from the previous post, pairing it with a .22ct rose cut diamond, and a cool little stick pearl. Mostly sterling, with an 18kt gold bezel surrounding the diamond, and 14kt gold rivets through the pearl. I'm really pleased with it, and the backside of the agate brings into crisp relief what appears on the front as the fuzzy insides of the stone.

Does anyone else see a cartoon character here...?

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oops, I did it again... and brooch #28

well.... I bought more stones today. I walked in to my friends stone cutting workshop ( ie: candy store) to pick up a couple of stones she had recut for me and I walked out with this...

...oh, and I got to look through her rough and ordered cufflink pairs, in petrified woods, fossil coral. So PLEASE BUY MY CUFFLINKS this Fall, I should have a slew of them!  ; )

Meanwhile, I'm eyeing that Montana agate in the center, that'll make a beautiful pendant, or maybe brooch #29 or 30... stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, I created brooch #28 after looking through some old sketches for another project, and making a few changes. Mainly adding the little gold balled rivets scattered about.

the brooch measures 3" across

etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge

brooch #27

Brooch #27 is actually a commission piece for a friend who picked up this neat little Japanese netsuke or ornament of some kind. It's either carved ivory or faux ivory set in a bamboo "bezel". The rabbit depicted, has a red eye and I added a deep red garnet in an 18kt gold bezel to the sterling bezel surrounding the piece. The placement of the garnet, and the addition of several 14kt gold balls makes for a pleasing a-symmetry.

Measuring aprox 1 3/4", it'll make a nice conversation piece when worn!

etsymetal 2013 brooch-a-week challenge

three new hires and the half way brooch...

I recently hired on 3 new staff to help take up some of the work load...

budgie in particular is feeling the need for a short vacation.

Here he is promoting the halfway point in etsymetal's brooch-a-month challenge

brooch #26

The lime green stone is called Atlantisite, it's made up of serpentine with purple bits of of stichtite. It's found in Tasmania. I liked this particular stone for it's shape, and the few little spots of stichtite. I knew I would pair it with amethyst somehow. In this case, I've used an amethyst bullet, 4mm in diameter to pick up the purple in the Atlantisite. Lots of texture and oxidation help to pop the stone.

You can see the amethyst bullet pokes up and out of the frame. The pin mechanism allows the brooch to be worn at various angles.

off to work then...

more brooch talk...

Brooches #24 and 25 are similar in the way they convert into pendants. The nice round stones look good upside down as well as right side up, so the brooch goes one way and and the pendant the other...

Brooch #24 is an ocean jasper set in sterling silver. And there's that hardworking sheep again...

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Brooch #25 is a piece of fossil coral set in sterling silver with 14kt gold ball rivets, modeled by a delightful little fellow...

The next brooch, #26, will mark the halfway point of the etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge.

26 down, 26 to go...

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!

Brooches 8 & 9

In the continuing brooch saga there have been a couple of heartbreaks recently...

Brooch # 8, is a very lovely piece of malachite/chrysocola with a wonderful undulating surface. Paired with a very pretty south sea pearl and fabricated in sterling and 14kt gold...

love that movement!

took the time to pierce the back...

measures just over 2"

This week's brooch, brooch # 9, I've been working on all weekend, about 15 hours worth.

It features a piece of Sonoran dendritic rhyolite with a little amethyst up top and a baroque pearl drop. The metal is sterling, 14kt and 18kt gold.

I designed a little converter that slips onto the pin stem and allows it to be worn as a pendant. 

pretty cool!

So the heartbreak in the story is the fact that both stones developed a crack after they were finished, or at least I only noticed them after they were finished...

I spent a little bit of time wallowing in self pity, took a walk and listened to my husband remind me that 99 out of 100 pieces end up unbroken! Maybe I don't have to go find a job at the local grocery store bagging canned goods.

Well, the first brooch had a very happy ending. I offered it in my etsy shop at a reduced price an it went to a very good customer who will love it and wear it.

I haven't decided what will become of brooch # 9. It could go as a second, the crack is hairline, but I don't want to be offering seconds in my shop on a regular basis, I mean, how would that look? She can't be trusted not to break her own jewelry??

I could use it as some kind of prize for a drawing to get more facebook likes, or what?? What should I do with it? All suggestions would be appreciated, and considered with proper gravity...

From a different perspective

I feel really grateful to have work that I love, and can't wait to get to every morning. My daily work seems so familiar and normal, nothing glamorous, in fact, downright dirty! When Deanna Piowaty asked to interview me for her online arts magazine, Combustus, I thought, what could I possibly have to say that people would find interesting? Well, Deanna crafted a beautiful piece out of our interview, and I got to see my work from the perspective of an outside observer which was quite wonderful!

This is the interview for those interested, and I urge you to peruse more of Combustus, you won't be disappointed, I promise!

This is brooch #3 in the etsymetal brooch-a-week challenge. I thought I'd just slip this in, and as I'm currently working on brooch #7, I'll post that along with 4, 5, and 6 in my next post!