Why do I make jewelry?

Once a month, members of the EtsyMetal team are given a topic or question and then are requested to blog about it simultaneously. This month's topic is:

Why do you make jewelry?
Think hard, dig deep!

WOW.

Another difficult question.

Well here's the easy part of the answer: How did I start making jewelry?

• I made my first piece of jewelry about 25 years ago but it was NOT love at first sight.
• I actually fell in love with metal working a year or two later while making a large steel sculpture.
• METAL + FIRE = LOVE!
• Another year or so later, I found myself concentrating my college studies in metals/jewelry. I KNEW this is what I was supposed to do with my life.
• And...I have been making jewelry ever since...

The hard part of the answer: Why am I still making jewelry?

• AHHHHHH...good question!
• When I am at the bench and in my zone, jewelry making is pure joy. (METAL + FIRE = LOVE!...right?!?!)
• But.....I have to admit that after all these years, I have found myself a little bit burnt out. (The reason for this may need to be another blog post.)
• I don't spend as much time at the bench as I used to.
• But it is the only thing I know.
• And I do love it.
• I have been taking steps to get my mojo back...because I have to!

What is inspiring me to love my love for jewelry making again?

• New work is inspiring me.
• Manipulating metal, soldering and creating is my passion.
• Making wedding bands is inspiring me.
• Rings are somewhat limiting in design, but they are very intimate objects and many times have such deep personal meaning...this really appeals to me.
• Helping couples to make their own wedding bands in my workshop is inspiring me.
• This is SO satisfying. Showing a novice the work involved in making a fine piece of jewelry and watching the couple work together fills me with joy. 
• Teaching others is inspiring me.
• I have recently REdiscovered the joy of sharing my knowledge with others. It is a nice change from working alone in my studio.

So have I answered the original question, Why do you make jewelry?
I make jewelry because I love working with my hands, I love working with metal, I love stones, I love making objects that make others happy. It is my career, my art, my passion, my life. Sometimes we stumble or slow down along the journey but we still continue...

Please follow these links to read why my fellow EtsyMetal members' make jewelry:

1. Cynthia Del Giudice
2. Laura Jane Bouton
3. silentgoddess
4. Beth Cyr
5. Peculiar Forest
6. Tosca Terán
7. Nodeform
8. Mary Anne Karren
9. My Precious Studio
10. Deborah Lee Taylor
11. Anne Walker
12. Andrea Ring
13. Gracebourne Design
14. Evelyn Markasky
15. Inbar Bareket
16. Jewellietta
17. Abella Blue
18. e5 Jewelry

Stone Setting Intensity

sample rings we used to learn stone setting techniques - my week's worth of work!

Last week I went to the New Approach School for Jewelers to take the Stone Setting Comprehensive class. I brushed up on my skills, learned some new techniques and tricks and had loads of fun! It was a fabulous and intense week! Now I can't wait to carve out some time to make new designs to utilize my new skills!!!

Danielle hammer setting

Danielle using a loupe and graver to cut a seat for a princess cut stone

Centrifugal Casting Gold Rings

I recently shot a video while my husband and I cast a pair of gold rings. This is my first edited video using iMovie, which was pretty fun. I hope you enjoy watching this jewelry making process...

I plan on shooting more videos in the future...hopefully they will get better. ;)

14k gold Chiseled Wedding Bands

Palladium is HOT!

Last week I made a palladium wedding band and decided to take a few photos while I was soldering so I could share the process with you....

Palladium solder beads are placed in the joints.

Beginning to heat up the joints...

Metal is up to correct temperature and solder flows! Approximately 2300° F

That is HOT metal!

Palladium requires very high temperatures and the metal glows brilliant orange. As a result you must wear rated No. 5 or darker welding lenses for eye protection. (Making jewelry is not as glamorous as wearing it!)

All polished and pretty! Fin.

♥♥♥Congratulations to Jocelyn and Curtis!♥♥♥

My Design Process

Once a month, members of the EtsyMetal team are asked a question and then requested to blog about it simultaneously. This month's question is: The Creative Process: How do you plan and organize for design?

I use simple geometric forms as the building blocks for most of my designs, which are inspired by architecture, machines, toys and nature. When I get a new idea or see a shape that excites me, I try to get a quick sketch down on paper. Many of my designs are modular and linear...so as I begin to work with that idea or shape, I move things around and create multiple variations. As a result, sometimes the design evolves or completely changes, many times it grows into a whole collection of jewelry (eg: bracelets, earrings and necklaces). I do this both on paper and with the metal parts I make....
I really like designing by playing with "pieces parts" and as a result of that, my bench is always completely cluttered. I have many "parts" all over the place...ready for me to arrange and re-arrange and re-arrange...until someday it becomes a finished design. This is both good and bad. I like being reminded of my many ideas and their "parts" but is also distracting and just a down-right messy. I have been meaning to do a serious clean up for months but I am very good at procrastination! And don't forget what Albert Einstein said:

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, Of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?

Please visit the other blogs participating in today's blog carnival to read about their design process:
Victoria Takahashi/Experimetal
Thomasin Durgin/metalriot
Su Trindle/QuercusSilver
Inbar Bareket
Stacey Hansen
Nina Gibson
Corliss & John Rose/2Roses
Maria Whetman
Beth Cyr

Bench Mess

I haven't posted in a while...but I have been working and I am a slob.

Trying to get back into the blog groove...more meaningful posts soon.

Not so glamorous...

Making jewelry is not as glamorous as wearing it...

Midnight Flora pendant - blackened sterling, 18k gold, diamond

R.I.P. my lovely Xuron

One of my favorite tools, my Xuron Maxi-Shear® Flush Cutters, died. Tools don't live forever, especially if you work them hard everyday. If these Xurons were a pet, they would have been a loyal dog. Luckily had two pair...but now the other one is lonely. So, I will have a buy a nice, new, bright orange handled companion for it.

Snow in SC in MARCH?

Our one and only snow this winter....in MARCH??? Crazy, but true! We received about 4 inches last night. My studio looks so cute in a winter wonder land!

At the bench...Holiday Chaos...

The Christmas rush has come to a close and my studio & office looks like a tornado touched down. I'm ready for a few days off...

Friday at the bench...

I think I'm going to TRY to start a new weekly posting about what I'm working on and the state of my studio. It may help get me motivated to clean up my workspace! Here goes...
I'm trying to finish up several wholesale orders that are a little behind schedule. (whoops!) I have to set the stones and add all the pearls today/this weekend so I can ship on Monday...
Each order gets a pie-shaped container & a sticky note. eeekkk! Do you think I need a better system? My chaos works for me...sort of...

Results of the silversmithing workshop #5

To conclude the making of my bud vase...

Now that I have all my parts, I have to make them fit together! I file neck so it will sit flush on the top dome with little or no gaps. This takes a while: taking a little metal off here...checking the fit...taking a little metal off there...checking the fit ...and so on...

Once I have the fit perfect, I mark where I want to neck to be attached to the top dome and cut a hole into it.

Then stitches or burs are raised with a graver to hold the neck from moving (I will show you this a little later) and it is soldered into place.

The next step is to make a seat for the vase to sit on. I air raised a shallow dome into my larger bottom hemisphere.

Then the top inside egde is marked for placement and burs are raised to hold the two halves together during soldering. This technique of raising burs to keep things from sliding around was new to me and I love it! When I was taught in school, we used binding wire...which sometimes distorts your work and sticks to it. :(

It is soldered upside down so solder can be added to the lip (which will be removed later).

It's together!

The lip is sawed off and filed.

Lastly, the piece is heated, pickled and brass brushed many times over to raise the fine silver to the surface and give it this final finish. TA DA!

Results of the silversmithing workshop #4

The making of my base vase, continued...

The next step in making my bud vase was to sink my second disc. You do this by hammering the disc into a piece of wood with a shallow bowl chiseled out.

After I sunk it to my desired shape, I then planished it. Now that I have my two main parts, I have to trim and file the bottom hemisphere so it will can be soldered to the top dome.

The next step is to make the pieces for the neck of the vase. I decided to use the scrap left from cutting out my discs. I laid out the shapes in paper and glued them to my metal so I could accurately cut the pieces out. Then I formed them on a mandrel.

Once I had the neck pieces formed, I soldered them together.
Tomorrow I will show you how I finished the bud vase...

Results of the silversmithing workshop #3

I wanted to continue these postings about my silversmithing workshop last week...but other things came up! So I will continue today....

Here it is...my final project during the Brian Clarke silversmithing workshop...my bud vase!

I began by cutting out 2 sterling discs, annealing them and then began crimp raising one disc for the bottom half of the vase.

After several coures of raising, the shape is close to my template size.

Then I planished the hemisphere on a mushroom stake.

I wonder how many hammer blows it took to make it look like this? I wasn't counting! :) This portion of the bud vase took a full day (plus a few hours)...

I will continue with the top portion of the vase tomorrow...Have a good day!