A Few New Arrivals

Just a few new bits now available in the shop.



A green version of the Monsoon (Night) necklace that's already in the shop. Sterling silver with Chinese turquoise, Emerald and labradorite accents.



One of two matte/polished pairs of earrings that I've finished. Perfect for summer; Sterling silver with labradorite beads.



I think the lustre of garnet is really striking; especially complimented with freshwater pearl. Sterling silver with garnet, garnet beads and freshwater pearl.



The second pair of summery matte/polished earring with peacock pearls.

The White Vinyard Earrings

I'm not really into stone lore so much. It's kind of a language, like the old Victorian system of truly "saying it with flowers". Floriography enabled people to send coded messages to one another by way of colorful vegitation. For example, an arrangement of Bird's Foot Trefoil, White Carnation and Lobelia meant that you might want to think again before walking down that dark alley. Whereas a bouquet of coriander and lime blossom meant that you were TOTALLY going to get some.

Stones don't have quite the same specific meanings, although obviously some people put a great deal of stock in their benefits. I've often heard that a stone that you connect with is YOUR stone, so if I have a stone, I suppose that it's the White moonstone. I'm not sure if I like it because it seems to have an inner glow or that it goes with absolutely everything in my wardrobe, but I've always felt drawn to it and use it often in my jewelry.

The White Vineyard earrings came from a dream where I was walking through an entirely white landscape, complete with white fruit on the vines. These earrings feature moonstone AND freshwater pearls, which compliment eachother so nicely; the opacity of pearls sets off the luminosity of the moonstones. Check them out here.

Ladies in Lavender- A Sale!

I was hugely pleased to sell this pair of earrings only hours after listing them! Ladies in Lavender are traditional Egyptian twist earrings with two different shades of amethyst beads dangling from them.

I haven't done much wire work recently; I've been concentrating more on sheet silver. But it was refreshing to get out the pliers and twist away.

Many thanks to my lovely customer! They're in the post today.

This Shining Earth Earrings

A few years ago, I had a part time job at a small jewelry shop. It wasn't a gold and diamonds affair, but rather baubles made in Mexico or India from silver and semi-precious stones. It was, by all accounts, a cushy job, albeit rather lonely most of the time on slow days. However, I was often joined by my employer, the owner of the establishment.

And she was bat-shit crazy.

In the field of business acumen, her lack of common sense was quite literally breathtaking. She kept all of the takings from the shop in paper bags in a box in the basement, shoved in between old cardstock and rubbish. The justification? "Safes are expensive and would put up my insurance premiums." However, this self-same mad woman who didn't wish to pay higher insurance premiums took the rather unusual step of taking out TERRORISM INSURANCE at a cost of £50 a month. I'm sorry? One has to wonder what silver-tongued salesman serpent managed to convince her that her tiny jewelry shop in the middle of a small town was IN ANY WAY at risk from the forces of Al-Quaida. That guy must have smelled the insanity a mile away. She also paid FAR above what any retail worker could consider minimum wage, so for someone who wanted desperately to hang on to cash, she was awfully good at throwing it down the toilet.

Personally, she was also seven different flavors of odd. She could sometimes be creepily empathetic, taking your own problems far too personally; even weeping at bad news that you yourself had received. But, at other moments, she could be stunningly rude and unreasonable. After she'd chased off the 4th manager in less than a year with a barrage of insults, I let her have it with both barrels, fully expecting to be dismissed myself. Instead, she practically crumbled into a pile of dust and slunk out of the shop in a fit of self doubt and loathing.

The only thing that I had in common with this bizarre woman was an undying love of smoky quartz. She traveled twice a year to Mexico to buy from local artisans for ridiculously low prices which she would mark up more than 200% upon return, so her profit margin was pretty healthy. It was rare that she came back with smoky quartz pieces, but when she did, she always made a point to show them to me before they were sent to be hallmarked. One such piece is now a part of my jewelry box. (I got a 33% discount, so I only paid about twice what it was worth instead of three times.)

I don't tend to work with faceted stones, but when I saw these smoky quartz briolette beads, I knew that I had to have them. I love the teardrop shape, it's facets and how it compliments the matte finish of the sterling silver circles. This Shining Earth earrings are simple enough for jeans and a t-shirt or elegant enough for a night out. (I'm already planning to make a pair for myself.) Check them out here.

Circe Necklace

Like most floaty folk-chick types, during my time in college oh those many years ago, I developed an obsession with the Pre-Raphaelites and JW Waterhouse in particular. I wanted everyone to know that I was a sensitive soul that cherished love and beauty. The truth is, I liked listening to "Jagged Little Pill" over and over, drinking beer, playing naked soccer at 2 in the morning and trying to make time with sensitive theatre boys who had long hair and cried easily. There was a girl on the dorm floor that inhabited who actually LOOKED like Waterhouse's "Wildflowers", so naturally, we all really WANTED to hate her, but she was too cute and friendly, so we all tried to keep our simmering resentment on the back burner while she tossed her long, flowing, dark, pre-raphaelite locks.

Waterhouse's paintings have stayed with me though the years, however; "Circe Individosa", depicting the famous seducer of Odysseus poisoning the sea, in particular due to it's exceptionally beautiful blues and greens. I could never find a print of it, although other more popular paintings of his adorned my walls, such as "Hylas and the Nymphs", "The Lady of Shallot", "Ophelia", "La Belle de sans Merci" and "Destiny". In listing these prints, it occurs to me that I owned quite a few more than that; not an insignificant investment in art that ended up stuck to dorm room walls with blu-tack. Do I know the whereabouts of any of those prints at present? I do not.

Bar none, my favorite stone to work with is Labradorite. The play of color inside a particularly nice cabochon is enough to keep me visually occupied for ages. I've made two Circes, but have found that it's difficult to get ahold of the particular teardrop cabs needed to make more. I peruse eBay often in hopes of finding something, but often come up empty-handed. The smaller tear-drop cabs are even MORE difficult to find and came from a company in Thailand that unfortunately no longer exists.

This is the remaining Circe; it's partner was sold at Christmastime. Have a gander at her and her lovely friends in the shop.

Welcome

I'd like to say that metal always called to me, but it didn't. I wasn't born with silver in my veins. I got into jewelry because I wanted to spend a spring semester goofing off and I was fortunate enough to attend a liberal arts college that allowed me to do just that.

There was rather a lot of melting in the beginning. And burns. And swearing. And saw bites. And firescale. But little by little, I've got the hang of bending Sterling to my will and coming out with a nice finished product.

What influences the jewelry?. Fantastical stories in particular. My shelves are crammed with lush, illustrated faerie tales and sweeping epic trilogies like Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials , Lord of the Rings , and Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom . It's the love of stories such as this that drove me to want to adorn myself with them. To make jewelry as potent and sumptuous as the stories that inspire me. I hope they'll inspire you too.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.