Yellow & Blackened Cedar Leaves
March 4th, 2013 | Posted in Collections, Inspiration, Jewelry

I just came back from a gem show. My main reason for going was to source a rose cut diamond for a client I’m working with. I found some nice possibilities for the rose cuts and also a few gorgeous strands of beads. Here are some lovelies of precious, semi precious, seed and heishi beads.

Strands of Pyrite, Copper Seed Beads & Raw Diamonds

Strands of Black Heishi Beads on Black Sand

Strands of Neon Yellow Apatite, Jade, Red Jasper & Lapis
Details of ornaments from a holiday visit to the Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC.




I’ve made a lot of wedding rings for men, but they usually prefer white gold. Recently, I made a custom wedding band with my Glacier texture and cast it in Rose Gold. It turned out amazing. The Glacier’s rough and tumble terrain, combined with the copper’s warm and yummy hue, make for a unique manly wedding band.
FOR HIM: Glacier Wedding Band in 14 Karat Rose Gold listed in my shop’s CEREMONY COLLECTION.

It’s CYBER MONDAY and today I honor any orders placed with free shipping. Have fun shopping!

I’ve begun a yearly fall ritual of visiting a certain graveyard. I was amazed at the transformation of a particular grave I call the LOVE grave.

I took this picture last fall in the cemetery. I “love” the relief LOVE grave whether it’s in White or Black.

Same LOVE grave a year later and totally transformed by the elements. I wonder what it will look like next year.
I’m about to celebrate 10 years of making jewelry. I first began at Penland School of Crafts learning the art of metalsmithing.
This is one of my first designs, an organic hand-formed bronze cuff with detailing wrist bone relief. I quickly realized this design isn’t one to bring into production, everyone’s wrist bone is uniquely shaped and placed.

A yummy gold chain, a bit of black and a sweet thorn… yes, please.
Ready, steady, point & shoot with the oh so useful & quite handy dandy i-Phone.

Gold chain on charcoal soldering block. This was taken with the Instagram App. I love how abstract it looks.

Rose thorn cast in silver with yellow gold cable chain on charcoal soldering block.

Self portrait with finished Rose Thorn Necklace from the Botany Collection in my shop. This will go to a lucky lady in Chicago.
I just finished this redesign ring project. Here are a few pics of the process.

This is the final redesign image. From here we’ll go back to the beginning.

This is the original nugget ring that was used for the redesign.

Wax carved model for redesign. Diamonds are in place just for client approval, but will be set after the ring has been cast and cleaned.

Casting in the rough before sprue removal and cleanup. Setting the diamonds is the last step of the process.

Another picture of final redesign using Instagram.
I’ve begun experimenting with other mediums in my studio. My former background as a modern dancer and choreographer is finding it’s way into some of these 2D explorations. I’m trying to find connections with my experiences of creating movement and creating small objects into other mediums of expression. Here are some early developments.
My first experiment with encaustics, gold foil and a used soldering block from my jewelry studio.

My first experiment with acrylics.
