A few more goodies from the Franklin show!

Playing with some new materials!

Pyrite, Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, Nacozari Turquoise,

Pearls, Ruby and Tourmaline cabs

It is always fun to sort through all of the goodies at the Gem and Lapidary Wholesale show.

This year I picked up lots of new pearls and these drilled beauties.  

Large oval faceted Aquamarine

Apatite 

Black Star Sapphire

(the star is more of a halo, not a true 6-8 point star)

I simply could not pass these by...

Off to a new home!

All finished and heading up the East Coast.

What is buzzing around my bench today!

 Today I am working on a pair of my queen bee earrings for an Etsy customer.  I created hand drawn templates that I glue to the sterling sheet. This keeps the details of each bee very similar to its partner.

I have done the initial sawing out and have drilled holes for the piercing.

  Here the saw blade is in place, ready to saw around the inside of the black outline.

Here they are ready for final filing and polishing.

Next step...  a run through the tumbler to harden the silver and then attaching the earwires and stinger!

Copper Flower Spurs with Sterling by MetalLuxe on Etsy

Copper Flower Spurs with Sterling by MetalLuxe on Etsy

Summertime in aqua and chocolate

Summertime in aqua and chocolate by luxe-design featuring platform sandals

A new flower for the collection!

Sterling silver with a bright finish and copper with a heat patina.

I got these finished just before we left for Boulder!  

Took them along and received many compliments on them.  They are light as a feather and have great movement. 

Mixed Metal Flowers

New flowers are blooming over at Metal~luxe! 

I am working on some new designs and combinations for my favorite blooms.

The Evolution of a Design...

I had jury duty last week and spent the entire morning reading about stone setting and sketching some new designs.  I was the very last person chosen to go through the jury selection process and was never questioned.  Overall the day was a success!  I did my civic duty and spent my free time working on creative designs.

Here are few progress shots of one of the lariat necklace designs.

I will add some more as I finish it up.

This is the sketch drawn around the stones.

This is two of the dangles after the final solder.
These will get cleaned and polished before setting the stones.

This is just a shot of the original concept with the components to show how the idea comes to life.

Still lots of work to do...

Happy February!

It has been a productive year so far!

I am working hard in the studio this past month replenishing my stock 

and designing some new things for 2012.

My Atlanta friends can find my work at Kudzu and 

I will be showing some new work at the RAD show on Feb. 11th.

I would love to see your smiling faces!

My new goal is to try to post more studio shots and show some works in progress.

I am inspired by my fellow metal working friend Louise O' Dwyer

Who has been posting her works in progress.

~*~