Fresh from the bench

Here are three more pieces I managed to finish today! Little bit quirky, fun and whimsical. My style these days. I am sure that will change again. I tend to go from rough and rugged, to fine, to whimsical and then back to rustic. I never know what kind of mood my eager muse is into when she is active.

I just go with the flow.

The first piece is composed of agua nueava agate, mother of pearl and sterling silver. I actually had something completely different in mind when I started on this piece, but somewhere along the crafting process it changed. The first word John uttered when he saw it was "Aztec". I didn't really mean to make anything aztec inspired, rather botanical. I guess it has both elements to some extend.

The second necklace is a fun little necklace that showcases a beautiful jasper druzy in this gorgeous green-blue color, a lovely flower and a hand sawn butterfly. Just charming I might say.

And then lastly we have a "forest trail" necklace which features a running deer, a moon and and several flattened silver granules on copper. Dangling below is a stunning golden colored rutilated quartz cabochon. Love this one because it resembles my love for the outdoors, wildlife and the night sky. 

The "Aztec" piece is already listed in the Etsy shop! The other two I'll be listing either tonight or tomorrow. If any of these tickles your fancy let me know and I can reserve them for you!

Wishing you all a happy monday!

Thanks for reading!

xx

Sabine

Yearning for spring

The sun was out in its brightest force today, making the whole landscape look incredibly beautiful, with sunbeams reflecting off the snow. We have been incredibly lucky this winter so far regarding snow. We have only perhaps 2-3 inches compared to last year where we had a couple of feet. I'm dreaming about spring, about warm temperatures and crocuses poking their heads through the ground.
Yearning for spring, yeah! This is why I have been feeling compelled to make colorful pieces of jewelry lately. As you can see below, my spring like dreams have transformed themselves onto metal. I want to make nothing but floral shapes these days. The muse is on strong. Trying to hold her back a little. She is as usual all over the place. Often, when the creativity circus comes to town here in this household, I could make nothing but jewelry all day. It can really work against me in some ways as I have too many ideas and too many unfinished projects laying around that often don't get finished. I am in the learning process of working on one piece at the time and to stay focused.  It doesn't matter to me anymore if I can't manage a shop update every week. I had put so much pressure on myself.  If it doesn't feel right I am not going to sit behind the bench and force myself to come with something that in the end does not transcend what my work is about. I want quality, not quantity.
I have been trying to push myself a little bit harder to make more elaborate pieces and to learn something new. I would really like to be getting into metal etching, but am a little weary about all these chemicals. If any of you happen to have a good idea about what to use, let me know.

Here is my latest piece. I am having two more in the pickle pot and hope to have them ready to polish tomorrow.

Hope you like it as much as I did making it!

Sprout necklace. Oxidized sterling silver and green onyx.

Happy  Monday Everyone!

Thanks for reading!

xx

Sabine

New work

I know it's been a while since my last shop update, but I had very little time these past two weeks since we got back from Germany. One of my co- workers is on holidays and I filled in most of her position at my day job, plus I had quite a few local custom orders that I needed to finish.
I do love it though when I know that I'll  have some time to spend behind the bench, creating whatever comes to mind. So, this is exactly what I did these past two days, create, from the heart.
I am waiting for some new materials and stones which I hope will make its way into my mail box early next week.
Quite a few have asked if I am going to continue making cast jewelry. I sure will, it is just a big process that takes a lot of time, plus I like to do a big batch all at once so that I don't need to stink up the house a few days in a row. It is quite a health hazard actually to be breathing in the fumes from melting silver. I do wear a gas mask plus I work under an exhaust fan, however, after last time I had a metal taste in my mouth for 2-3 days afterwards. I did some research and found out some rather disturbing news regarding those fumes that I now reduce my time casting to just a couple of hours versus a whole day.
I do find it SO much fun casting, but health comes first.
My mother gave me a ton of ancient coins that I will try to cast in silver next week.

I am also still working on my new line of more affordable jewelry which includes a lot of brass, copper, gold and silver plated brass and leather. Not sure though it if will be a good idea of combining those items with my higher end items in my Etsy shop. Perhaps I'll open a new shop for that alone.

Below are some of my latest creations. Hope you like them as much as I do! I had so much fun. Sometimes it feels great being a hermit and be a slave to the muse!

Chrysoprase in oxidized sterling silver.

Chrysoprase in oxidized sterling silver.

Chrysoprase in oxidized sterling silver.

Chrysoprase in oxidized sterling silver.

Funky German glass bead earrings with hand forged sterling silver links.

Funky German glass bead earrings with hand forged sterling silver links.

Butterfly necklace with bezel set turquoise cabochon.

Butterfly necklace with bezel set turquoise cabochon.

Butterfly necklace with bezel set turquoise cabochon.

Sunrise necklace in oxidized sterling silver and rhodochrosite.

Sunrise necklace in oxidized sterling silver and rhodochrosite.

Sunrise necklace in oxidized sterling silver and rhodochrosite.

Frontier earrings in sterling silver and light pink amethyst.

Frontier earrings in sterling silver and light pink amethyst.

Green jasper druzy necklace in sterling silver with embossed butterfly.

Green jasper druzy necklace in sterling silver with embossed butterfly.

Green jasper druzy necklace in sterling silver with embossed butterfly.

Green jasper druzy necklace in sterling silver with embossed butterfly.

Turquoise necklace in oxidized sterling silver.

Turquoise necklace in oxidized sterling silver.

Hand forged earrings in sterling silver and lapis lazuli beads.

Hand forged earrings in sterling silver and lapis lazuli beads.

Frontier earrings in sterling silver.

Frontier earrings in sterling silver.

This is my shop update for this week! There will be more items to come next week.

Thanks for reading!

xox

Sabine

From the bench

Heat forged necklace with bezel set red jade.

Heat forged necklace with gorgeous rutilated quartz.

Heat forged necklace with gorgeous rutilated quartz.

Pyramid shaped hematite pendant necklace in sterling silver.

Pyramid shaped hematite pendant necklace in sterling silver.

Feather and pearl necklace in sterling silver.

Feather and pearl necklace in sterling silver.

Pyrite colored titanium agate necklace in sterling silver.

Pyrite colored titanium agate necklace in sterling silver.

Hand casted medallion with bezel set chalcedony.