Oct.1, 2011

Fresh from the bench:

Oxidized sterling silver, red garnet and citrine

Oxidized sterling silver and carnelian.

Oxidized sterling silver and mother of pearl.

Rustic oak leaf earrings in oxidized sterling silver.

Oxidized sterling silver.

Hand cast sterling silver drop with small feather.

Hand pierced feather pendant necklace in oxidized sterling silver and amethyst.

Hand pierced feather pendant necklace in oxidized sterling silver and amethyst.

Crazy lace agate in oxidized sterling silver.

Crazy lace agate in oxidized sterling silver.

"Soar" necklace in oxidized sterling silver and mother of pearl.

"Soar" necklace in oxidized sterling silver and mother of pearl.

"Soar" necklace in oxidized sterling silver and mother of pearl.

Beautiful purple chariote, sterling silver and mother of pearl.

Beautiful purple chariote, sterling silver and mother of pearl.

All these will be available in the shop later today, after I finish making dinner! :)

Thanks for looking!

xox

Sabine

Crossroads

Have you found yourself to be at a crossroads from time to time?
Lately I have this urge to break out of my comfort zone and try some new designs, however, I think fear often holds me back from trying. Well, I am taking a big leap and without thinking about the cost of silver right now I am working on more bold and sassy designs. I have found myself to be stuck in a rut and not stretching myself enough when it comes to my work. Right now I am feeling so darn inspired that I could work none stop. Love it when it happens, however, the muse often strikes when there is much else going on such as my other job.  I went all nuts and ordered tons of new material and tools such as metal stamps. Hope they will get here soon.
We are taking a trip to Germany to visit my family in early august where I also will be attending a arts and craft fair. This trip also will give me a chance to purchase my cabs directly from my favorite stone cutters. I can't even tell you what it feels like to walk into a large room that is filled with shelves and drawers full of cabs in all sorts of colors, types and shapes. The last time I was there you could not drag me out of there. My boyfriend and my sister thought I am crazy to spend so much money on "just" stones. Thought they were going to have an intervention for me.

Today I enjoyed making some new items which all included turquoise, two of them I managed to get finish.
The necklace I made is so super lovely ( if I can boast my own horn ). It is composed of sterling silver and features 8 bezel set Kingman turquoise that surround a red juicy jade.
What a piece! It is large and bold and ever so lovely.
The earrings are crafted from copper, sterling and Kingman turquoise. I am not sure when I will be listing these items. I want to build a collection of new items and list them once I have cleared out some of the current pieces in my Etsy shop. I am having a HUGE sale right now, the biggest one to date. So please hop on over and snaggle up something before it will be gone forever.

Have a fantastic day!

~ Sabine

New organic pieces

I guess my love for nature and especially fall really shines through in my work lately. Yesterday I ordered a ton of new cabs, some of them are gorgeous colored druzies, agates and all kinds of jaspers. Most of them are quite small which I will turn into earrings. I realize that I haven't made a lot of earrings for quite a long time. It was really my intention today to make a whole bunch, but I was just sitting there feeling like I have some sort of creative block when it came to thinking up a cool new design. I did however, have no problems making new necklaces.
The one pair of earrings that you see in this batch I had made a couple of weeks ago but had forgotten to take pictures of them. They are awesome ( me thinks ). They come with oval bezel set rainbow moonstones. The patina really makes the blue-ish flash come out in this lovely stones.
They are listed here:

Here we feature a hand sawed birch leaf necklace with a 9mm bezel set mother of pearl cabochon. 

This is the exact leaf that I replicated.

Click here for the listing:

The exact same leaf in copper minus the pearl but with two "drops of dew" from sterling silver.

I lightly oxidized it for a more dramatic and rustic effect. 

Will be available in the shop a little later on today!

And then there is another organic leaf necklace, this one also boasts a bezel set mother of pearl cab. A lovely design and great for everyday wear or to a nice black V-neck.

This adorable lotus pendant necklace is set with a 7mm amber cabochon.

I obviously obsessed with botanical jewelry lately.

Most of these will make it into the shop sometime today. If not, then for sure tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

xx- Sabine

Local park life

This time of the year its extra special to be taking a walk through the local park here in Sandefjord. The leafs are changing colors and all sorts of fun little organic bits can be found like acorns, feathers, leaves, branches that are blown down from the strong winds we've been having. I just love this time of the year. The other day John and I went back, this time with a chunk of bread to feed some of the birds.

I was surprised how much these lovely swans can be so demanding. Some of them were hissing and almost ready to attack to get a little bite.

Nevertheless fun to photograph, especially during the evening sun. The light was just right, reaching through the trees and putting a fantastic glow on the water surface.

John feeding the geese. They are so cute and friendly. He looked like the goose whisperer there.

A curious little duck, anticipating a little snack perhaps?

Three geese lined up in a row, obviously watching John's every move to not miss a little crumb.

I just loved the colors on this bird. Not really sure if it is a turkey or some kind of goose.

A swan approaching the rest of the pack to see what all the fuss is about.

Curious duck

I enhanced these two last pictures a little bit to bring forth the intensity of these lovely fall colors.

Lastly, I couldn't help, but be inspired to make a few new pieces of jewelry. Rustic, rugged and organic pieces of hearts with bezel set stones, a artsy one of a kind bracelet and a couple of other necklaces. Unfortunately when I started to take pictures this morning it started to rain. I wasn't able to take pictures of all the new items, but hoping that the rain will lessen during the day. I have a light box, but it is so large that I need to take it down every time I set it up. We'll need to move to a larger place sometime early next year so we can have more room to set up a photography studio so I don't have to worry to go outside to take the pictures. I do think natural light is the best when taking pictures of jewelry.

Here are a couple of pictures of the new items that I managed to take:

A gorgeous ( if I can lose my humbled nature for a second ) bracelet with handcrafted and embellished sterling silver pieces, red coral, purple lace agate, hematite, onyx, enameled charms and Swarovski beads. The handcrafted links are oxidized and brushed to a satin finish. It measures 7" inches in length and can be made larger to fit your wrist upon request.

Rugged and organic heart pendant necklace. Hand formed from sterling silver and set with a 6mm garnet gemstone. Oxidized and selectively polished to a satin finish to bring out the rustic details. Inspired by the rugged landscape here and the fall.

The chain features a small stamped tag "E O N" which stands for Echoes of Norway which is my Norwegian line of jewelry.

Another rugged heart pendant necklace in the same style. This one, however features a 6mm black onyx cabochon.

Hope you like these as much as I do!

I'm feeling such inspiration today to sit behind my bench and create some organic pieces. Thinking about crafting some rugged circles with bezel set gemstones. 

How has your weekend been so far? Have you done something creative?

Thanks for reading!

xx-Sabine