Keepsake Necklace with White Oak Cab

The last of the three White Oak Leaf, Keepsake Necklaces:

Sterling Silver Leaf which is sweat soldered to a copper base.  I made a cab out of a piece of salvaged white oak from an old tree and added it to the pendant.  

Because the pendant is so rustic, I decided to compliment the pendant with a mutli-leather, brown necklace with rustic copper hook and eye.  

*Order A Keepsake Necklace for yourself or someone you love; They make the best gift!

Bayside Wire Designs

Oak Leaf Pendant Almost Finished

I am almost done this pendant.  I'm working on the wood cab you see

on the pendant.  it will be a bit smaller than you see.  

Here is what I'll be doing next:

- Covering the cab with epoxy (the reason for this is because this piece of 

oak comes from old wood pieces salvaged from a dead oak tree and they're

quite fragile.  By completely covering them with epoxy, I figured they 

would be protected from wear and tear).  

2.  Adding a bezel (a strip of silver soldered to the plate to hold the wood cab 

into place).

3.  Finish the bail (to hang to the chain).

4.  Polish it up and add a bit of darkening solution to make the leaf pop out.

5.  Package it and send it on its way to my customer!

Designs with Raw Ruby Gemstones - Something New!

I received this awesome lot of raw, uncut gemstones and I've been busy designing post earrings / studs, and pendants and possibly bracelets with these - check out the natural beauty below - I used .925 sterling silver for my creations.  I really like how these turned out.  I think I will design a pair for myself. 

I decided to keep the design minimalistic so that all of the focus would be on the ruby gemstones themselves.  Wonderful gift idea!

Beach Anklet in Smokey Cat's Eye and Sterling Silver

Wonderful, sexy, beach anklet in smokey cat's eye with contrasting gold, glass beads. Anklet is feminine and delicate with sturdy .925 sterling silver, lobster clasp. Great gift for her. Click here for more information on this wonderful item. See more items in my Etsy Shop.

Progress on my Sheryl Crow Earrings

A client walked in my store about a month ago with a magazine in her hand and asked me if I could custom make a pair of earrings that would be similar to those worn by Sheryl Crow on the front cover of Red Book (issue of August, 2010).  Of course, I will not copy the design exactly, because that's just not right, but I will make them in a slightly different size and in .925 sterling silver. 

This is a whole new venture for me.  I usually do wire work, a bit of silver clay and some soldering, but I've never actually worked with silver sheet.  This should be interesting.

I finally got the template of my main earring design transferred onto my .925 sterling silver sheet and I traced out the design and very slowly cut it out with my jeweler's saw. 

This jeweler's saw can be a pain.  The blades are about the size of a couple of strands of hair and they break very easily if you're not careful.  The heat caused by constant friction against the sterling silver sheet causes the blade to get brittle and break.  In order to prevent this I need to constantly lubricate the blade with beeswax. 

Now, I'm getting ready to cutout the center part.  I'll need to transfer my design and drill a small hole in order to enable me to pass my jeweler's blade through it (the jeweler's blade easily comes off  enabling the metalworker to pass the blade through the hole and then attach to your saw).  This is a necessary tool to make cutouts from the center of a piece.

See picture below of my first and second step - It doesn't look too pretty at this point...

Working on New Project

What a beautiful morning!  The sky reflected soft hues of pinks and reds as the sun slowly came up over the horizon.  I'm feeling a better today.  All is good and it's a perfect day to get some work done. 

A client wants me to make a pair of earrings just like she saw in a magazine.  The technique involves silver metalwork and I can't wait to finish them.  It'll be something really different from what I ever made.  I'll be posting pictures of my progress. 

I'm always learning new jewelry making techniques and this project is the perfect introduction to silver metalwork.  I've been doing some soldering, but needed to upgrade my tools.  I did order a better system, but I'm waiting to setup a shop outside my house with a good ventilation system because soldering sterling silver is very toxic and can be hazardous to your health if it's not done properly.


I'm still offering a great SALE in my Etsy store.  Everything is reduced, plus FREE Shipping on most of my items, plus you get a coupon with every purchase.  This sale ends today at midnight (Atlantic Time).

Well, I have lots of work to do.  I'll be back with updates of my work.