Week Two of the Ring-a-Day Challenge

Week two (Jan 8-14) and still going strong!
Last Friday I made a ring that was inspired by the Orbit Ring (RAD #6) I had made the week before. The new version is hinged, making it kinetic and wearable in several variations. Here is a video showing 3 of the 6 ways it can be worn:

Orbit Ring #2 - in motion

I don't get much (if any) studio time on the weekends, so I have been saving my "ready made" or "days-without-a-studio" ring ideas for those days. This past week's weekend theme was "Tool as Ring." Later in the week, I made a ring using a plastic orange juice lid that I had been holding onto for months---way before this challenge started. As soon as I saw it in the grocery store, I knew I wanted to make something with it. The RAD Project gave me the perfect excuse to just do it! (Just one of the reasons why I love this project!) I loved the way the band turned out on the orange ring, so I made another ring using the same technique---and I plan on doing more with this in the coming weeks and possibly adding it to my regular line.

1. Orange Blossom 2. "Chiseled" 3. Caliper Ring 2 -Tool as Ring
4. Caliper Ring -Tool as Ring 5. C-clamp - Tool as Ring 6. Leaf

Please click here to visit the entire Ring-a-Day group pool on flickr. There are so many brilliant rings there!

Rose Cut Diamonds : Pre-Valentine Sale

I am having a
♥♥♥ Pre-Valentine's Day Sale ♥♥♥
All rose cut diamond designs are on sale!
Each stone is one-of-a-kind, so don't miss this great opportunity to buy something truly unique for your special someone!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Click here see the available designs and pricing. A few more will be added, so check back!
"Chiseled" rose cut collection by Danielle Miller Jewelry
Yes, these are REAL diamonds. They are natural in color and conflict free.

Week One of the Ring-a-Day Challenge

I am having such fun with the Ring-a-Day project! The ideas are flowing for "days-without-a-studio rings", art jewelry rings, kinetic rings and traditional rings. I had to start a new sketch book dedicated to this project so I could keep track of the buzzing in my head. Originally, I said I was only going to participate for the month of January---but now I am hoping to do it for the whole year. It will be very hard, especially when the busy wholesale season starts. But I am hoping this will be the breathe of fresh air that I have been yearning for years. We'll just have to wait and see how the year unfolds.

Here are my first seven Ring-a-Day rings:

#1. New Year's Ring #2. Tired #3. Green Blade
#4. Chiseled Moonstone #5. Wing or Talon? #6. Orbit
#7. Sick Day

QUESTIONS FOR MY READERS: Would you like to see these rings blogged weekly or bi-weekly? Do you like this mosaic format or would you prefer to see them individually? Please share your thoughts in the comment section. Thanks, Danielle

My most treasured object(s)

Once a month, members of the EtsyMetal team are asked a question and then requested to blog about it. This month's question is: What is your favorite object?

My Etsymetal blogging mates and I agree---Surprisingly, this is a VERY hard question to answer! Many of us thought "if there were a fire and I could grab one thing, what would it be?"

With the exception of the people in my home---So much, even many of the objects I hold very dear, are not really important and many are replaceable.

At first thought, my laptop comes to mind---If there were a fire and my family was safe, I might grab my MacBook. My entire business is run on it, recent family photos, daily connection to the entire world, etc. But I feel cheap and dirty claiming that my laptop is my most cherished possession...

Once I thought about it a bit longer, I remembered all the photos that are NOT in digital format. I have boxes of photos from high school to present time. For years, I carried a camera everywhere I went. My memories are in those boxes of photographs and I cherish them. But if I had to grab just ONE thing, I think it would be the photo album my parents put together for me a few years ago. It was a thoughtful gift containing my family tree and photos dating from from my great grandparents to my first born son. Here are a few of my favorites...

My grandparents (on the left) on a date circa 1930's. I absolutely love this photograph. My Pap looks so dashing and my grandma is gorgeous!

Me (left) and my dear friend, Kirsten (right) entering the school for our first day of kindergarden. (I hope she doesn't kill me for posting this photo! She had recently given herself a haircut...like all good 5 year olds!)

To read about my fellow EtsyMetal members' most treasured object, please visit the following blogs sometime today:
Victoria Takahashi
Stacey Hansen
Rebekah Timlin Meddles
Sara Westermark
Beth Cyr
Ashley Akers

RINGing in the New Year

I have decided to participate in a challenge that my friend Nina Dinoff proposed: "A Ring-a-Day" from January 1 - 31. There are no real rules---simply to create one ring every day for one month. It is an exercise in discipline and creative exploration. A ring can be a found object or a labor intensive piece of art....it can take 3 minutes or 8 hours to create. See info on the Etsymetal blog for detials.

I might be a little crazy, seeing that January is a hectic month for me---I am always frantically replenishing my pillaged sample set, designing and making new work and pulling my hair out while getting ready for my major wholesale trade show in February. But alas, I have joined the party and am hoping for some fun, inspiration and stimulation.

Here is my first ring of the challenge. "New Year's Ring" 1/1/10.
Sterling silver and champagne cork.

Happy Holidays!

My best jewelery memory....

Once a month, members of the EtsyMetal team are asked a question and then requested to blog about it. This month's question is: What is your best jewelry memory?

I don't have a single best jewelry memory. But all of my best jewelry memories are with my husband, Ben. That sounds like a cliché, but it's not really...

In case you are wondering (or worrying!) NONE of the memories include him getting down on his knee. He never formally proposed or presented me with an engagement ring. (And that is a story for another day!) In fact, in the 17 years that we have been together, he has only given me 2 pieces of jewelry. (And why should he, right? Although a nice big stone that I could put into a piece of jewelry might be nice someday. hmmmmmm.)

I have digressed a little from my original thought...

I met Ben when we were attending Tyler School of Art---I was getting my BFA, he was getting his MFA---we were both concentrating our studies in the Jewelry/Metals Department. After a year of friendship, our relationship evolved into a more romantic one. I have many fond (and some not so fond) jewelry related memories during this period of my life. One in particular was when I was working late in the studio one weekend night. Ben really wanted me to watch one of his favorite movies "Robin and Marian," but I had to work on my project. So he rented the movie and brought it to the studio. He pulled the forming stakes I needed to use in front of the studio television, so I could watch the movie with him while I worked. (Nice date, huh?)

I don't have digital images of my school work. These are badly scanned from slides.

I don't think this is the piece I was working on when we watched "Robin and Marian", but it of the same time period (circa 1992).

Another fond jewelry memory I have takes place years later...

I had started my business and Ben was teaching Jewelry/Metals at Rowan University. We would go to Rowan every Sunday---he opened the studio for his students and I would work on my own jewelry. We would drive from Philadelphia to Glassboro in the late morning and pick up lunch on the way---many times we would eat a picnic lunch on the lawn near the jewelry studio. We would spend all day there---I would bring waxes that that I injected at our home studio and we would invest them, do a quick burn out and cast. We would drive home Sunday night---many times fighting with the summertime New Jersey to Philly beach traffic---and would listen to "This American Life" on the car radio.

Ben and Danielle casting at Rowan University circa 1998

To read about my fellow EtsyMetal members' best jewelry memory, please visit the following blogs:
Andes Cruz Designs
Bijougirl
Sara Westermark