Working On Photography

First of all, thank you all for your kind words about my dog. I have always seemed to draw stray and abandoned dogs to me. Maybe that's my job, to give them some love and kindness that they never had before. The old dog was terrified of us when he first came here, I think he had been badly abused, but I just fed him and talked to him until he decided I was okay. I guess the last 2 years probably were his best, and I'm glad I had him.

On to lighter things. I've been working on my photography lately, because I really suck at that part of selling jewelry. I really need a tripod, and that's what I'm buying next.

These are all new or reworked pieces I've been doing the last few days. I like the rock background and the bumblebee cypress board. Bumblebee Cypress is a cypress tree that has been bored into by the big, black and yellow woodcutting bumblebees. When the tree is sliced into boards, there are these really cool holes and grooves in it. I think it makes a pretty background. I don't like just plain white backgrounds. They probably show off the jewelry more, but to me, it's just boring.

The first ring is one I've been wanting to try, and I finally did. I had a textured sterling silver band that I did a while back. it didn't sell so I reworked it! I layed it on my anvil, and used a big punch from my dapping set to flare the edge. Luckily I remembered to add the spinner ring before I did both sides. That's the type of thing I will do! I have a lot of DUH! moments in jewelry making! LOL I love it and it wears wonderfully.

The second pic is a set of stacking rings that I made from 14g sterling wire. I hammered them slightly on my ring mandrel to give them some flat edges to reflect light better. I added a brass and a copper ring for color contrast. These wear great, too.

The next pic is the night and day sterling earrings I did a while back. I took off the sodalite stones and added these to textured and domed copper discs. The texture is made by hammering the disc on an old file . It makes a cool, subtle, cross hatch pattern. I like these better since the rework.

The fourth photo is a teeny, tiny pair or sterling and copper earrings. The largest disc is only 7/16" wide. I used a couple of nail set punches to make the little circles, and the back end of a removeable screwdriver bit to stamp the silver.

The last pair are brass, copper, and sterling pendulums. The discs are riveted to the 14g sterling wire with a brass rivet.

Whew!! That's a lot!

I have some new things going this morning so I better get to work.

Have a great week~