Sept. 24, 2011

First of all I'd like to extend a HUGE Thank You to all of you who snaggled up a few items from my shop this past week! WOW! I am truly humbled! Every single sale inspires me to continue on my path of  metal- smithing and makes me want to stretch myself as a metal artist!


Here are a two items fresh from the bench today:
Left the sand casting alone today and decided to make a couple of bezel set items with some pretty new stones I got in the mail last week!
First we have a stunning picture jasper heart cabochon that is set in sterling silver ( swoon, look at the pattern on this beauty ). I wanted to keep the setting simple to make the stone the center of attention.

The second item is a "Garden Party" necklace that showcases a beautiful ocean jasper cabochon that is suspended  off a cute hand pierced flower, embellished with a mother of pearl.

I am still having a few projects I am working on, but it's almost 6pm and I think I will have to keep my promise to J. that I am making breaded chicken nuggets for dinner. So I better get cracking in the kitchen and leave the studio alone for the time being.

Looking forward to spend an evening on the couch watching a recording of this weeks Project Runway!

What are your plans for today?

Have a great one!

Thanks for reading!

Sabine

Happy Sunday

I have been spending all afternoon today taking new pictures and making a few new items. I am absolutely excited about my new photography and how it turned out.
Tomorrow I am going to try to re-do my Etsy shop which means posting all new pictures and a few new items. John is working on a new banner tonight. We are also thinking about a new name. Most people that contact me regarding my jewelry always think my name is Sabinea. So, I think we might go with my other shop name that I use here in Norway which is "Echoes of Norway". It will be much easier to have one uniform name and look for all the shops.

Here are a couple of new items that I made today! Both of these are composed of ocean jasper and sterling silver. Truly stunning stones. They will be listed in my Etsy shop a little later today. But first I am going to watch a movie which I haven't done in ages.


Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Sabine

Amusing adventures of metal

And then we have another beauty. An eco friendly ring! Bezel set Fordite* see story about it below! Will be in the shop tomorrow!
Fordite:
Fordite, also known as Motor Agate, is a unique automotive enamel material with an interesting history. The original layered automotive paint slag "rough" was made incidentally, years ago, by the now extinct practice of hand spray-painting multiples of production cars in big automotive factories.The oversprayed paint in the painting bays gradually built up on the tracks and skids that the car frames were painted on. Over time, many colorful layers built up there. These layers were hardened repeatedly in the ovens that the car bodies went into to cure the paint. Some of these deeper layers were even baked 100 times. Eventually, the paint build-up would become obstructing, or too thick and heavy, and had to be removed.
As the story goes, some crafty workers with an eye for beauty realized that this unique byproduct was worth salvaging. It was super-cured, patterned like psychedelic agate, and could be cut and polished with relative ease! Wow!

“RECYCLE IT!” seemed to be the resounding sentiment. And so it was...
As word got around about this remarkable material, it's been said that rock hounds started showing up at auto factories, offering to help remove that problematic paint!
Bezel set Ocean Jasper. I'm in love with this one. The colors are just so organic and earthy. A true gem*.
Sadly, the techniques that produced this great rough years ago, are no longer in practice. Cars are now painted by way of an electrostatic process that essentially magnetizes the enamels to the car bodies. This leaves little, or no overspray. The old factory methods that created this incredible material are long gone.
Voilá!

Ahhh the fall has arrived with new items...

Isn't she lovely! I love this piece. Made myself one as well! :) This loveliness is composed of sterling silver and a ocean jasper focal bead. I stamped the butterfly myself by using my rolling mill. It is a tad oxidized to bring out the texture. It will be in the Etsy shop sometime this weekend! :)




Simple and beautiful. Sterling silver and ocean jasper.


Bezel set goldstone cabochon necklace. Simply stunning! I picked this stone up in a lovely shop in Strasbourg, France. Utter delicious:)




Listing:

Orange calcite donut, bezel set. Absolutely stunning if I may say so myself:) The colors are really intense. In fact. it reminds me of the orange flavored life saver candies...mmmmhhh yummy!



Listing:


This ring will be in the shop sometime this weekend!





Listing:





Listing:

Oh boy

I'm in trouble! My heart sings with utter joy and skips a few beats when I get to play with some stones. And boy, I can't wait to pick up some new stones ( especially Ocean Jasper ) when the Mr. and I get to Germany next month. I put in a HUGE order and am also thinking about selling some of my stones in my supply shop. Oh I just can't wait to go to some cool jewelry supply shops, get myself some new tools and tons of stones....*sigh*. I am working on a couple collections that are still in the sketching stages, involving pearls and organic sterling silver "woodsy" type pieces. I think it will be a nice collection, just in time for the holiday season. I think the trip to Germany will bring upon newfound inspiration in many ways. The Mr. and I really need some downtime. We both have been working hard this past year and can not wait to start driving, taking some pictures, putting up a tent along the coast in Sweden and listening to the waves crash in. Nevertheless it will be a fun trip.

My Etsy shop has been really slow in the past month or so. I don't think it's a good idea to keep on posting new items all the time if they are not selling right now. I am hoping things will pick up again after the summer. I am really glad to have a steady customer base here though. That keeps me busy throughout the year.

I've had a long day. Been up since 6 am and it is now 10:30 pm. Need to get some sleep which is not easy with the midnight sun in its full glory. However, it is quite spectacular to be able to sit outside past midnight with the sun shining brightly. Today we had 24 degress celsius!! Gorgeous day! Life is just great! Sometimes I really need to pinch myself.

I am grateful for being able to share my life with someone that could not fit me more, that believes in me and encourages me to pursue my dreams. He often helps me with new design ideas and once in a while sketches out a design idea he's been thinking about, like this one
I'd be so happy if someone would purchase it. It would mean a lot to me and to him, I'm sure :-)
I'm just saying....:-)


Ciao for now,

♥

Sabine