Gorgeous Stones, How is such beauty possible?

New work in the Etsy Shop today.

I'm continuously amazed and fascinated by the variety and natural beauty of stones 

that we dig up from our great Earth.

My love of organic beauty has carried me forward into my artist muse of choice, 

metalwork that incorporates treasures from the deep.

Enjoy a few pieces of new work, 

as I try to emulate the radiance of the stones in sterling silver.

Thanks for stopping by ;o)

All work can be found in the Etsy Shop

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xoxoxxx

Sentinel Tentacle

Ok.  So do you remember in Matrix 3 when the sentinels poured through the roof in zion? 

Well, I'm a geek like that, and I definitely do. 

I am fully aware that this does not accurately represent one of those sentinels' tentacles, but for some reason every time I look at this necklace it reminds me of them ;o)

Judge for yourself

Now available in the Etsy Shop

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xoxoxxx

new beauty...

Custom piece for a lovely lady from Finland using her incredible Ocean Jasper cab ;o)

and the landslide brought me down...

What began as a horrible disaster, has become one of my favorite new pieces!

This piece began with my intentions of soldering a little pyramid of the tiny silver balls, but turned into a horrible mess when my hand shook, and my soldering pick swept the whole pile over right when they were at the perfect temperature to connect properly. It was actually quite beautiful in a way, this little mini landslide of molten red-hot silver balls, cascading off of the perfect pyramid I had painsakingly stacked. After quenching my mess, and taking a second look, it really began to look planned this way, sort of a controlled chaos...so I went with it, and now I plan on trying to repeat it again!

"I took my love and I took it down

I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Well, the landslide brought me down."

available in The Shop now ;o)

.................................xoxoxxx...............................

military and leopard...combination for the not-so-faint-of-heart...

this is a piece for those that love to make statements...something that is a bit out of the ordinary, yet still familiar. a piece that combines two very in and trending fashion statements...military + animal print.

a duo of hand pierced and formed brass dogtags, with hand etched leopard print on both sides. the gorgeous leopard pattern was the result of a piece of lace that I transferred to the brass, and chemically etched around the design it left. oxidized for color and effect, and hand buffed with a protective wax finish to protect the pieces for years to come. not one two dogtags will be alike! these two tags hang from a sterling silver ball chain, keeping the theme true to military style for this Fall/Winter 2010 Season.

this piece was actually the result of my EtsyMetal Teams Project Runway Challenge, and I fell in love with it so much I felt I had to offer it on my site! follow this link to see the results for this weeks and others on the blog. I love these fun challenges! http://etsymetal.blogspot.com/2010/09/project-runway-season-8-episode-5-there.html



in The Shop now!

chohua jasper tomahawk necklace

Chohua Jasper...the feeling that touches me when I gaze at this stone...

is filled with visions of great wide open plains...

hand stitched leather fringe headdresses...

meticulously and intricately beaded medicine bags and neck pouches...

fresh feathers adorning almost everything, uniting the richness and vitality of nature and the circle of life...

great, powerful weapons, welded by men with great prowess.

yes, chohua jasper is the perfect stone for me to channel my inner native american, whose culture has fascinated me ever since I can remember. I used to stick feathers in my hair and holler chants around a pretend fire cooking dandelion medicine soup when I was a child. I was given a indian seed-bead loom at the age of 7, and feaverishly wove necklaces and bracelets until my fingers fell off.

yes, the second I laid eyes on this gorgeous grey stone with bleeding crimson splashes, I knew exactly what it was going to become.

in The Shop now ;o)

EMPR Challenge - Season 8 epi 5

finished with my piece for this week.

I conceived this concept from the beginning and wanted to run with it more to create a more elaborate piece...but have run out of time.

I choose Military (concept) + Leopard (textile). 

my husband is in the Air Force, and I love playing with his dog tags.

choosing the military concept for this challenge hit very close to home for me.

brass military dog tags, hand-drawn leopard print etching, silver ball chain.

berry crunch

Gorgeous Ocean Jasper from Madagascar, truely incredible, never seen anything like it!

Reminiscent of berry crunch cereal in the mornings...colorful splotches of muted marshmallow color, swimming around in my leftover milk.

In the Etsy Shop tonight!

on the way-side

i've been so busy lately, working on several custom orders (thank you dearly Erin of HauteHardware and Mary and Lina ;o) )...but i had to pause a glorious moment to catch my breath (while varnish dries, and shiny silver tumbles in the tumbler) to post some of my work that has been on the way-side lately.

samples of my self-teachings of electroforming...getting better slowly, but sure enough ;o)

just a couple fun rings, will be added to my etsy shop soon

gorgeous turquoise


scrumptious fossil coral....fun little blossoms for your finger ;o)


until soon, i bid you adieu

too late for autumn

now that it is nye, i thought it was high time i posted this most definitely, autumn piece.

one of my experimental pieces, i think it actually holds a lot of prospect. flame coloring copper is so much fun to play with, and there are a few people out there that have completely mastered it enough to essentially "paint" pictures on copper, just using the flame. i of course, can barely manage to get it to turn random colors in an even more random placement...but learning by doing is what keeps me goin ;0>

i finished it with a low-gloss lacquer to preserve the color before i had my renaissance wax...on all future pieces i will use the wax instead, unless of course the piece just needs an extra bit of shine.

gifting against my will

so, theres nothing more rewarding than giving to others, right?

i created this piece for my boss for a much deserved Christmas gift. this particular turquoise stone spoke to me and said "cindy", so i simply had to part with it.

ah well, its spirit will live on.


*sigh*

the "eye"

my good friend lesley of www.beadgenie.etsy.com celebrated her birthday over thanksgiving weekend, and i am so proud of the present i created for her i have to show it off ;o)
her favorite stone is labdorite, and i had found this one well over 8 months ago at the local rock hound store. i'd been saving it for her birthday, and i'm so glad i did. her daughter lily calls it "the eye".