Charmed By Austin

while I wait

2008-01-05T16:17:00.001-08:00

The silver clay still isn't here, so I made a few more spoon pendants while I waited. My grandparents are visiting this weekend, my granddad sat and watched me make these. He had many suggestions for me: my pendants should be listed for around $500 (if only), I should make them shiner, I should try making rings (which I am planning on doing actually), and I should invest in more tools to make my work easier. I finally got to give him his x-mass gift, a sterling dulcimer pick:

He loved it, seems to work pretty well too. I might make up a few more of these to put in my store, not exactly jewelry but it could be worn as a pendant or put on a keychain and it would be a great gift for guitar players. I gave my grandmother this piece I made for her:

She was very moved, said it melted her heart. These are the first items I've ever made for them come to think about it. Here's the bracelet I made yesterday too:

My mom was nice enough to model it for me. Added it and one of the pendant I made today to my store, can't wait till I have the materials to work on more.

bracelet making

2008-01-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

One of my silver spoons came in the mail yesterday, it turned out to be a good deal smaller then the pics on ebay made it seem, but I had some time to work on it this morning and it made a very nice, dainty bracelet. Had to use a different chain on it then I was planning too because of it's size, but I found one that worked perfectly. I'll take a picture of it as soon as I have a few other items made to go with it, I'm really happy with how it turned out though. The silver clay still hasn't come, soon a it does I'll start making the dozen or so pieces I have planed and if they turn out like I want, I'll start adding them to my store.

doodles

2008-01-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

The materials I ordered haven't come yet, so instead of making jewelry I've been using my spare time combing the internet for inspiration. I'm leaning towards an almost fantasy style, something different but still daily wearable. I doodled a few designs this morning, these aren't necessarily actual pieces I'm going to make so much as the start of a direction. I want to incorporate flowing curved lines to make the pieces seem organic. Here's a few of my doodles:

new materials

2007-12-30T23:25:00.000-08:00

I just ordered some silver clay to play with and I went out and bought a jeweler's torch for firing. From what I've read, this sounds like the perfect material for me to work with. I'm playing around with a few pendant designs, hope they turn out like I want. I ebayed myself some more spoons too, think I'm going to try making a few more bracelets like this one:

That set was a gift to my girlfriend and I'm really proud of them. I'd like trying a few on etsy and see how people like them.

modeled

2007-12-30T12:09:00.001-08:00

I altered some of my spoon pieces and made some new ones, most of these are going into a display case at a local store so I thought I'd take a few pics first, and my gorgeous girlfriend was more than happy to model for me.