Before I began crafting tiny metals, I worked as a production assistant for a couple of beaded jewelry designers. When I started to do my own work, I felt limited in just stringing beads and so I went on to Penland School of Crafts to hone my skills in metals. Lately, I’ve been going back to my beaded roots and mixing it up with some hand-cast pieces. Here are some results.

Cast Auger Shells & Clasp strung with Kelly Green Thread and Granite Agate Beads.

Cast tiny Cocina Shell with Teal Seed Beads and accent Gold Seed Beads.

Cast mini Anchor with Poppy Seed Beads and accent Gold Beads.

Cast Blackbird Cameo strung with Poppy Thread and Indigo Seed Beads and Black Matte Heishi Beads.

Detail of cast Bronze Clasp.

Knotted Turquoise 6mm Beads with Gray Thread and finished with Braided Bronze Clasp.

My client calls this her “weddings ring” because the redesign I created repurposed the diamonds and metal from a couple of her wedding rings.

Here are a bit of the redesign details. I hand carved the sculptural design in wax and added details of tiny bead drops to give it an organic feel. After sending her old gold off to the refinery, I cast the new design in 14k peach gold. I featured the repurposed diamonds from her old wedding rings with a bead set style texture to compliment the bead drop design in the ring.

The result is pretty amazing and my client loves it! Makes me happy to have a happy client.

I just created 3 new textures to add to my collection of men’s wedding bands. These will be found in the Manlier Collection of my shop.

From the top and working down the totem pole are as follows:

Herringbone- inspired by men’s suit fabric.  Glacier- inspired by ice, rocks and mountainous range.  Plaid- inspired by men’s suit fabric.  Grid- inspired by lug nuts and grids.  Bark- inspired by various tree bark.

I’ll be selling my wares at the Rock & Shop Market in Durham on Saturday, December 17th. Check out the website for more information.  www.rockandshopmarket.com

Here’s a few new pieces that will be featured in the market . These items are all available on my shop as well.

BRONZE HORSE CAMEO NECKLACE- Hand-cast horse cameo pendant,  strung with matte black heishi beads and knotted with mustard silk.

BRONZE CLASP- Detail of hand-made bronze clasp.

MINI TRIANGLES NECKLACE- Textured triangles in blackened silver with tiny yellow gold jump ring details. One triangle hangs in the center of the chain and the other rests by the clavicle. Very sweet and sexy.

SHEEP NECKLACE- Tiny hand-cast sheep in blackened silver, strung with indigo seed beads. I made a mold of a model train set’s sheep, so he’s super tiny and the bright beads just make it pop.

MINI SQUARE POSTS- Textured square post earrings in blackened silver. Perfect for guys or gals.

ORIGAMI NECKLACE- Bronze hand-carved and cast origami pendant with blackened silver chain and bronze handmade clasp.

KNOTTED JASPER NECKLACE-  Hand-knotted Impression Jasper 6mm beads, knotted with teal silk and hand-cast braided bronze clasp.

You deserve a bit of TLC. Recycle your old jewelry into a new design. Purrrfect!

Contentment. Now wasn’t that worth it?

Custom designed ring using repurposed diamonds and gold. Mandarin Garnet Circle Ring with recycled White Diamonds set in Peach Gold.

Latest custom project with repurposed gold and diamonds provided by client. This pendant was designed with a lily motif. The client’s daughter is named Lily.

Chain attaches seamlessly to pendant and to petal detail with diamonds.

I’ve been working on a custom design project for a client that wants me to create cremation pendant necklaces. I went to the cemetery for some motif ideas. Here are some beautiful textures and lovely quotes I found while on my outing. Stay tuned for the cremation pendants in a future post.

I love this quote so much. I feel it down to my bones…

From the same grave stone. It’s a sweet heart and fleur motif.

I should re-post this one for Valentine’s Day.

Another image from the same gravestone. I’m not usually into stars except the ones in the sky, but this one is beautiful with the leaf wreath.

A leaf shadow. Lovely.

As a metalsmith, I’m all about how surfaces change with age and weather conditions. Amazing.

My latest custom design for a client using her emerald cut diamond and yellow gold from her old discarded jewelry. Beautiful emerald cut diamond nestled in a hand-carved low profile bezel oriented horizontally. The shape of the ring from above has a slight octagonal look with double bands in soft planes. I’ve been making a few of these cutout rings lately. I think this one turned out quite nicely. Soft, yet geometric to make it just a bit different.

I just recently made a bark texture style man’s wedding band for a client that found me on my website. He had such wonderful thoughtful things to say about my work, I had to share it. It tickles me pink, to make someone happy with something I’ve made.

“Last night I received the ring and it is beautiful! It is better than I thought. The color is not completely white or yellow but white with a hint of yellow which is very special. And I didn’t even think about the weight. The ring is not light, it has presence and I love it. Thank you very much for making it for me!”

Bark Band is part of the Manlier Collection in my shop.

In the background, horses at play. I love this photo of the one horse biting the other one.

In the foreground, a bas relief style horse head ring.

The horse head is from a white plastic whole horse that came with a bottle of whiskey. Someone gave it to me after they finished the bottle. I don’t know the brand of whiskey, nor did I have the satisfaction of enjoying the mystery whiskey. I did however, live behind the famous White Horse Tavern several years ago during my first stint in NYC. I’ve always adored horses. They are such beautiful and amazing creatures.

Ring shown in 14 karat yellow gold. Custom design for an equestrian client. All materials/metals used in the process were from the client’s old gold.