Cufflink Season...

This week I finished up a group of cufflinks that will head down to Silver Blue & Gold gallery in Laguna Beach. I was invited to submit work to their upcoming cufflink exhibition in this father's day/graduation/wedding season, and as I've always loved  making cufflinks, I was only too happy to be a part of it! Imagine, a whole show just devoted to cufflinks! 

This batch consists mainly of fossils. 

On the left is Hell's Canyon petrified wood (sequoia) from Oregon, next is fossil coral and the pair on the right is Owyhee jasper, also found in Oregon.

Fossil palm on the left, and on their right is more petrified wood, this time hickory.

I'll still have a good selection of cufflinks in my shop, and I'm sure I'll be adding a few more prior to Father's Day if you're looking for a special gift for your cufflink wearing man!

new work

After making jewelry for more years than I care to count, I've finally come to the realization that it might be nice to create collections of jewelry as opposed to jumping from one random stone to the next just because I want to bezel every stone I see! So I reigned myself in this past month, and came up with these two collections so far.

Beautiful Willow Creek jasper that was part of this group, and

ended up as earrings, a pendant, and a ring. Most of these went to Imogen Gallery in Astoria, Oregon.

And this pink collection, mostly Mookaite from Australia, and the center pair, fossil palm wood. 

This bunch of cabs I bought most recently with this group and turned out some 

earrings, a tweeter bird pendant and a ring. These will be available in my etsy shop.

Since I'm rather liking the cohesiveness of these two collections, I think I might work through the Sonoran sunrise I bought last month. It's quite stunning! 

And of course, I'll always find time to slip in something totally unrelated...

Sonoran Sunrise

I purchased these Sonoran Sunrise cabs from a fellow jeweler recently. (Thank you, Karen!)  Sonoran Sunrise is the apt name given to the the red mineral, cuprite ( copper bearing) in chrysocolla. It's found in Mexico, and do these colors ever "pop" together! And this batch is probably some of the most intense I've seen! The cut and polish on these stones is excellent. Sized from large pendant/ brooch pieces to statement rings and a pair of earrings. They will be a pleasure to work with! 

  

I can't seem to keep my hands off the stuff...

My philosophy regarding stones has always been that when you see a good thing, you need to jump on it. Even if you just recently bought a slew of pretty rocks. I mean, when you're talking jaspers and agates, each is one of a kind. You just have to keep that in mind. And I don't buy everything I see, I do employ some restraint... well, a little...

This batch of beauties includes Morrisonite at the top, Montana agate, a nice ocean jasper and a bunch of beautiful Willow Creek jasper. See what I mean? How could a sane person pass these up?

And now the fun begins...

betsybensen.etsy.com

My date with the King of Jaspers

In my book, there's no better way to start out the new year then with a whole slew of new cabochons arriving on your doorstep! 

In this case, I stumbled upon a fellow jewelry artist who has a passion for stones, like moi, but she is cutting back her production schedule and needed to clear out some of her collection. I was fortunate enough to purchase some of her Morrisonite, which is one of my favorite stones, and known as "The King of Jaspers". It's also a native of my own state of Oregon.

Morrisonite comes in a gorgeous array of colors, and takes a very high polish. Some of these pieces are quite large as you can see below...

This cab measures 2" x 1" (5cm x 2.5cm). They will make some beautiful statement pieces. Several nice matched pairs will make dynamite earrings! I see a long and productive relationship with the King!

Here's a pendant I made late last year using another super pretty piece of Morrisonite.

And I didn't neglect some of my other favs in this stone purchase. Petrified palm and fern, plus some nice ocean jasper and a pair of bird's eye rhyolite. Earrings, earrings, earrings!

I'm so glad I didn't make a New Year's resolution to curb some of my stone buying and use more of what I already have on hand... well, it wouldn't have mattered, I have a zero success rate at keeping resolutions anyway...

If you're so inclined, you keep an eye on my etsy shop where some of these finished pieces will be popping up, or my facebook page where you'll get a peek at completed work before it heads off to The Real Mother Goose and Imogen Gallery.

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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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...

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!)

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...

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! 

Fresh Faces

I decided it was time to bring in some new faces to add to the prop department. If only they had some soldering skills...

Such eager faces, I'd better get working! 

A few new pieces

It seems like the past week has been all about rings! I've finished several new rings, all wildly different from each other, and each one extremely satisfying!

a very cool bumpy pearl on a simple sterling band

freeform pearl and rose cut diamond in sterling and 18kt and 14kt gold. These rose cut diamonds are my new love. And I just purchased a new parcel of various sizes and colors I can't wait to get into...

malachite and stick pearl in sterling with 14kt gold

and today I finished this pretty little fossil coral ring in sterling with 14kt gold rivets

My next project is in the works. Moving away from rings for a bit and concentrating on combining various elements in a necklace for David Frank Gallery. Depending on how it comes out, I'd like to do more and perhaps utilize some of those diamonds in the design.

Here I'm using rose cut tourmalines, peridot, ocean jasper and freshwater pearls. Still a bit to work out... I'll be posting it when it's done though!