Modern Heirloom® Fine Jewelry

A good friend and talented artist brought up a challenge tonight she and I obviously share... The challenge of worry. I can absolutely relate. Good or bad... I worry. I'm not sure why but it seems the older I have become , the more this has begun to be a constant part of my life. Bizarrely, It seems that the more successful we have become, the more I worry. This strange place I am in now (having my business shut down by the storm) has been an odd form of momentary relief. I think maybe because for once in a long time, I had no choice. I have been sent to a place of merely reacting . I didn't have the typical ability to think and choose this moment. It was out of my hands and in the beginning that totally FREAKED me out. When we were younger in our Oregon studio days, we just went with the flow. I never lost sleep over life and decisions. I seem to be more like that with this storm and our recovery from it at least during my strongest moments. I am appreciating little moments o...

Exactly one month has past since the day I pulled out of town on an evacuation route to avoid the path of Hurricane Irene. Completely for the amusement of a "hurrication" as I had dubbed the trip to Asheboro , NC. I have grown up in the path of many a storm and have never untill now been touched by one truly.      The phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet. Near the end of it's life it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.... Which is precisely what we plan to do. This month has been a surreal path. From an adventure to escape a storm I never thought would hurt, to the reality of our studio and gallery's momentary destruction a day later. I was reminded of the days we bagan in this little old farmhouse as I walked into our flooded gallery. Fourteen years of renovating and ...

Latest Inspired Design Do you know what is so truly fascinating about our internet driven world? The fact that a person like myself can start my Sunday chatting with masterful artists around the world via video and watch them work. Our meeting ground.... Steve Lindsey's Engraving Forum . It is an excellent forum of the world's engraving talent and an excellent place for a budding engraver like myself to pick up tips and tricks from the world's best. I signed up for an observation opportunity observe the engraving of a side plate by  Roland Baptiste Engraveur. This is the Side plate I am observing Roland Baptiste engraving Literally,I get to look at Roland's graver block as he engraves. Observation and practise are after all two of the most important things when mastering engraving.      As I observed his work , I chatted with another engraver/jeweler in Belgium and an engraver in London. To  be able to connect with artists in my field all o...

 For the past couple of days, we have paused the creating for a moment to enter into an amazing phase of reorganizing our studio. As I mentioned a few posts back , it is crazy how many bits and pieces that collect in a goldsmithing shop after thirteen years of making things there. Time for a deep clean. I didn't want this pause in creating to pause my blog writing so I will give you a tour of our newly organized studio and introduce you to some of our favorite tools. Enjoy the tour! This is our Studio assistant ,Jimmie Lee and he is siked on his newly organized desk ...Now he is ready for the challenges we will be throwing his way..... "One more thing"as I like to say.  Although I prefer Hand Engraving  occasionally the job and budget call for a Machine. That is when we turn to our Signature Engraver ... My Favorite Bench because my  grandfather sat at it for 50 years, he was a watchmaker and I love the feeling of this bench. This is our...

     Sketching helps inspire the mind  Today as I approached the table of many parts,I was beckoned by these lovely little sterling leaf shapes and some silver wire which had been partially forged. They were asking for completion and I was in the mood for a stream of conscious creative session. One of those days where I throw the rigidity of predestined design rules out the window and rely on technique and instinct. Once I have selected my pieces, I begin with sketching to get the creative juices flowing. My intention is not to make these sketches (at least not today) but forging the silver to evolve it's shape  to get my mind working in a general direction to take my pendants in today. Keep in mind my goal...no particular design.   Polishing and cleaning          Feeling inspired, I begin to work.This is the Stream of Conscious part...much like the writing assignment we all know from grade school. My goal is just keep mo...

I headed to the table yesterday and was greeted by 2 ring blanks screaming to be completed. After all, we originally casted them in 2002. Unbelievable right? Especially considering they were in 14K yellow Gold. You would have thought we'd have used them by now. The good news is...when we originally cast them the gold market was $310 . So we tucked them under our mattress so to speak and they have since quadrupled their value before I even begin. The even better news......I have improved my skills in engraving so much I can really make something of them now.The perfect Blank canvas ready to be primed and painted    For more of the steps involed hit the play button below....    Step one is to clean the blanks.When I found them, they were so old they hardly look like gold and they actually are from the days when we hand carved every wax. So I sand and polish my blanks to a nice clean surface.I find no matter the finish you want in the end...a perfect polish is the bes...