Yeay Dennis!

I studied jewelry design at Buffalo State College under Assistant Professor Tara Stephenson Nahabetian. She and her husband, Dennis, were very successful with getting the class excited over exploring every aspect of design and technique. Dennis was also extremely involved with teaching us how to promote our work.

Dennis has acquired many awards and honors with his delicate and unique jewelry and sculptures. He is featured in this months issue of Jewelry Artist (Lapidary Journal) magazine. He was interviewed for the Doer's Profile article. Congratulations Dennis! Check out his website here .

Superhero Cleavage ring

Sometimes- er, many times, while I'm working in the studio I do things without a plan. I'll sketch out one big project and have great drawings and diagrams for the construction process, and then work on a bunch of fun fiddly pieces on the side. I've always got about 3 or 4 pieces in the works- at least. These little experiments are just a way to explore my materials, and maybe challenge myself without the pressure of making the exact piece I intended to.

Well, this ring was one of those. My superhero cleavage ring was a sibling of the jiggly wart ring I had previously posted. I started out with the same body, and had two pink stones I wanted to use up. I started playing with the design and it ended up looking like the bust of a well-endowed superhero.

Poor girl, they're spaced a bit far apart, but her stones are lovely.

Coral Fossil Pendant, And Then Some

I finished the coral pendant I was working on. It turned out very well in my opinion. The majority of the pendant is argentium sterling silver with accents of 14 karat yellow gold. The center is a coral cabochon, and the two bottom pieces were found by Mike and I on our fossil explorations. I have the pendant displayed on a rubber cord, but I'm not sure if that is what I'll keep it on.

The second accomplishment I am excited to post is a pair of delicate garnet earrings that were composed of scrap silver I had laying around. At one point I had roll printed some copper mesh onto sterling silver. This silver now forms the backing of these lovely little earrings. Soldered to the backing of each earring is a circle of round wire shaping the earring. Boldly placed in the center of the patterned circle is a tube-set cabochon garnet. The ear wires were hand made from 22 gauge wire.

I'm still working on the projects I have previously posted. It is very typical for me to start out with 10 pieces and end up with half that turn out successfully.... Alas, I'll keep plugging along and post them when they are just right.

Using Up Some Rocks!

Now that I've finally finished the jasper pendant, I've got some ideas for my new cabochons. The first piece will be an all coral pendant in silver and 14 karat yellow gold. The oval coral cab is from the gem show this past weekend, and the two fossil corals were found by my boyfriend and I on our fossil dig. The cab will be bezel set with silver, and the two fossils will be set in 14 karat gold. These golden elements will match the color of the sunbursts embedded in the prehistoric cabochon. The bail is going to be a short length of silver tubing, possibly with the ends flared out to mimic the shape of the horizontal fossil. The bail will have some gold embellishments to tie it in with the rest of the pendant. ...We'll see how this piece evolves!

Another design I've had in mind is reserved for this deep blue lapis. This lapis will be set into a ring with a silver bezel. Additional silver elements will be formed and soldered around the corners of the stone. 14 karat yellow gold tubing will be soldered at each corner, and also east and west of the lapis. I'm planning to cap the tubes with small round diamonds (approximately .02ct each). Lets hope I don't mess this one up! These two pieces are just two examples of the many projects waiting for me to tackle. Many drawings, stones and metal bits are laid out on my bench anxiously waiting for me to get working!

It's Finished!

Haleluia! I finally got the stubborn thing finished! The 20 gauge sheet that I used for the bezel soldered just fine to the base. It was much harder than I predicted to push the bezel walls neatly over the stone...had to take a hammer to the butt of my prong pusher to secure the stone. I was waiting for the jasper to crack in half, but it didn't! And I'm done with it! Now I can finally move on to a new project.