Five Fossil Coral Rings

Newly birthed from the studio are these 5 little fossilized coral rings. The coral cabs, measuring aprox 12-13mm x 17mm were too adorable to pass up, and they became sweet little littermates...

Each ring has it's own personality and is created from sterling silver with small 14kt gold accents.

   All are currently available in my etsy store.  

                 Petite and sweet!

               betsybensen.etsy.com

Big Weekend

This weekend the much anticipated graduation of our daughter from Western Oregon University! With a degree in Elementary Ed that includes bilingual and ESOL endorsements she's accepted a job teaching English in Madrid, Spain for a year. 

Congratulations Caelen, we're so proud of you! And thank goodness for Skype!

a bit more in the garden...

I'll get back to jewelry soon, but today I'm taking most of the day to prepare for my oldest daughter's graduation from college tomorrow. Cooking mostly and figuring out what I might have to wear that hasn't seen hard time in my studio! But I took the camera out because the garden is just looking so promising.

Clematis Nellie Moser has been abloom for weeks now and I see the hollyhocks are coming along nicely. An old peony that was here when we bought the house in the early 80's has a bloom. A branch from the Ginko is to the left. This is the side yard.

This old fashioned rose is called "Evelyn". It smells great!  Also in the side garden.

My big, unruly peony in the front garden. Fantastic for cut flowers! The little purple flowers on the right are native orchids.

Heuchura in the front garden. And one of Marta Farris's pear sculpture's in the back garden. I picked it up last October at the Local 14 art show at the World Forestry Center in Portland. I bet she'll have more this year...

Mystery Peony

This is my earliest blooming peony. I rescued the tuber from a neighbor's yard prior to them laying sod over their flower garden several years ago. It's quite large as you can see from the next photo and has only ever produced 2 blooms for me. It's quite stunning so if anyone is a peony nut out there and knows the name of this beauty, I'd love to hear it!

measuring about 6" across

New work

                                     3mm raw diamond cubes

It's been a busy Spring in my studio! The garden is finally looking good and I have a flat of lettuce and some flowers to get into the ground if the rain will just let up a bit. But, with all the rain we've been having it's been easy to stay inside and make stuff! I've been playing around a lot with raw diamond cubes ever since I bought some of them about a year ago to experiment with. I wanted to show some of the things I've been doing with them and also with my latest interest, rose cut diamonds. Still nice and rustic, but a bit fancier...

                                              rose cuts

I really like the simplicity of a single cube set in 18kt gold on a textured or hammered, heavy sterling band.

                                                                  
The rose cut diamonds are flat on the bottom with a few polished facets on the top. Perfect to bezel set and adding a touch of luxury without sacrificing their rawness.

I've been paring the diamonds up with other sumptuous stones and pearls to create "Treasure Rings".

boulder turquoise, raw diamond and pearl

Hells Canyon herringbone petrified wood, raw diamond, pearl

Keshi pearl, raw diamond

Keshi pearl, pear shaped rose cut cognac

I'm really excited to continue us these diamonds in my designs. So interesting and full of character!

A few of these pieces can be seen in my etsy shop, many have sold, but more will definitely be on the way, if I have my way...

'

Spring has sprung

Walking around my sadly neglected yard today, I realized that we are well into Spring, even if there are a few hours of winter yet to traverse...

The hellebores have been blooming for a while but they're tucked away and often go unnoticed. Note to self: find a better spot for them.

The bulbs are doing their thing, happily without my help.

And the camellias are becoming quite showy

oh look, a pollinator!

Happy to see the sedum Autumn Joy poking up,

and the huckleberry will produce a crop for the birds again this year!

I have to say that I'm most excited to see all of the peonies have survived neglect and will be spectacular again this Spring!

(one of 6 peony plants, all of which I can't live without!)

I promised my yard that tomorrow, if it's not too hot and not too cold, and if it's not raining, and just as soon as I get the stones set in this pair of earrings I'm working on, and of course put off doing the taxes for another couple of days, I'll come out and pull weeds, trim branches, clear out the dead stuff and prepare the vegetable bed. I really, really will. 

Having a bit of fun with etsy shops