Intentional Stones

A little playing with pink

Thinking about color from last week, I was experiencing a bit of a dry patch at the bench, so I decided to jump right in. 

I had pink on my mind.  Several ideas I'd had before Mother's Day really wanted more pink beads and most of what I have is a pale peach pink.  Still it's a lovely color, so I grabbed everything I could find.  Pink's a color that can come in every darkness and hue.  Some pinks are very purple, while others are nearly orange.  Pink can be intense and pale.  They're all in the piece I completed.  

 

The donut beads contain a golden rutile and slashes of pink.  The pinks are tourmaline, which is more purple, quartz that's very pale and orangish.  I balanced the different tones with whites and greys of botswana agate and rainbow moonstone. 

Pink is a gentle color.  If you're "in the pink" you're at the height of good taste and quality.  It's a relaxing and content color.  It's also a big favorite of little girls everywhere.  (My daughter's wardrobe is at least half pink, only half because I shop for her.) 

Whenever I wear pink, which is rarely since I think it's not one of my best colors, I remember the childlish glee of a bubblegum ring. 

There are a lot of shapes in this necklace, geometric and rough.  I think my next experiment will have to do more with that aspect of the design. 

The necklace is very long-50 inches and can be worn long or looped around several times or knotted.  It has a sterling silver lobster clasp, just in case you want to wear it close to your neck. 

-Simbelmynë

 

If a Piece Sits in a Basement....

...And is never seen by anybody but the artist, is it still art?

A pretty good question, eh?  Does it become art once it's pulled out and framed or worn? Will we ever know?

Fact is, we have about 60 items listed between our two shops, and hundreds in trays in my basement.  How on earth is anybody going to see the basement dwellers between shows? 

One of the new habits I'm trying to cultivate is photography.  My new phone is helping with day to day pictures, yay for a decent phone camera.  The Tumblr blog has been pretty busy.  But it's still no good for really good pictures.  With all my frustration, I've been avoiding the real camera and good lighting and well thought out backdrops. 

So, the new routine is "get one good photo a day".  I'll take two or three, sure thing! But even one is better than leaving the camera and the pieces hiding in the basement.  Spring weather is helping out, sunshine, overcast-Sure!  bring it!  Just as long as we avoid the four letter word beginning with s, I'm fine. 

Here's one from today.

A little work and I can get some things listed.  Slow progress is better than none!

-Simbelmynë

Dragonfly

This piece turned into a crazy interjection of heavy and lightweight elements.  The assignment "necklace with a forged element" really seemed hard to me.  It was an assignment for Jewelry Making I.

I like to make delicate things- bubbles, bugs, chain...  But the shapes you get forging wire-long and thin, pointed pieces, weren't speaking to me.  All I could think of was hooks and curves, and those are fine as part of a necklace or bracelet, but not as a focal componant. 

And then the dragonfly idea struck me.  Forging a piece of grass, the long spindly tail of the bug, the legs.  Perfect. 

I started having so much fun I forged out the clasp as well!  And it all balances the heavy metal with delicate light elements. 

For class I've been working to challenge myself.  Not only to learn each technique as thoroughly as possible, but to encorporate as many techniques into each project as possible. 

Turns out this philosophy is crazy.

The extra parts- the chain, endcaps, intricate cut work wings-those took up time and when I hit a snag-getting all those pieces soldered together almost ended everything.  A bit of the tail burned off, I slightly damaged the wings.  Fortunately, the benefit of working on it for class, I could take it to my teacher, repeatedly, and she helped me get it down and all of the damage was repairable. 

I've got several potential designs that spring from this one.  Yay for education!

-Simbelmynë

 

Bubbles

I'm tackling soldering and finally feeling successful, still it changes from day to day. I started working on this before crafting month. 

A lesson in jewelry class clarified a few things. 

1. The importance of scrubbing pieces off after they're removed from the pickle.  I was under the impression that silver was cleanest after the pickle.  The white residue counts as dirt and can inhibit the flow of solder. 

2. I don't need to pickle for every single step.  Sanding produces a nice clean surface to solder on.

3. A key ingredient to soldering is "serenity."  Not something I can buy from the jewelry supplier.  Unfortunate.

With these key ideas, joining metal seems to be working better and better for me. 

Except the lobster clasp (seriously I don't think it's ever going to be time efficient to make those) this piece used to be a spool of silver wire.

The necklace has changed slightly in concept as I built it.  Still I'm pretty satisfied. It's light and bubbly and fun.  I hope it will find a good home.

-Simbelmynë

Loop-in-Loop Chain

I finally have a chain I'm comfortable with.  The loop in loop is pretty easy to create.  The ends of carefully cut fine silver wire fuses when a torch is applied to it.  So I don't need to mess with tiny pieces of solder for this chain. 

Once they're closed, the links are elongated and then folded in half, pinching the ends together, and then hooked into the last link of the chain.  It's so easy!

I'm still working on my jumpring sawing technique.  I'm finding that an unreasonably small saw-(easy to break) makes it easier to keep the shape of the link and saw evenly. 

I'm also gaining more appreciation for masking tape as I use the very soft fine silver wire.  Next time I'll harden it more before I start shaping the rings, still it seems to remain softer than the sterling. 

This is a very thick chain.  Most suitable for wearing alone or with a substantial pendant.  I like this particular one, made from 22 gauge wire, because it's very light weight.  Large stone pendants can be very heavy.  It's nice to have a lighter necklace sturdy enough to carry one proudly.

I'm confident enough with it that I think I'll start experimenting with shaping the links for a more elegant look in future chains. I also think it's time to try a more standard shaped chain again.  The Little Torch is helping me with control in the tiny spaces involved in chain making.

Simply gemstones and silver

Our pieces this week:

This piece by Mina in faceted  cloudy aquamarine with a purchased, but slightly modified, sterling triskel focal.

This is a very very simple gemstone pendant by Simbelmynë.  Garnet and sterling silver.

Where are they now?

Minor celebrities: These are pieces that seem to get a lot of attention when they're out on the table, and still they haven't sold! 

By Simbelmynë Kambaba jasper, dumortierite, aventurine and white howlite.  clasp and pendant are fabulous bead show finds, wire detail is hand made.

Here's the Listing!

Mina's piece:  Lapis Lazuli, pearl and sterling silver beads and toggle.

Lapis in Waves

What stone won't let you go?

I asked and friends answered. 

That green stone, you know, the one I keep looking at? 

Apatite

Articles I've found identify apatite as yellow to yellow-green usually, but most of the examples I've seen sold as gemstones is usually deep green blue. While yellows are very much in the spirit of this spring season, it's those blues that won't let us walk away from the jewelry.  I'm not the only one who's confused.  The stone's name comes from a Greek word meaning "to deceive" because of it's variety of colors.

The literature I've looked at attributes amazing things to these stones.  It will help you realize your own strengths, integrate and balance emotions. According to some sources, it encourages psychic powers,  reveal past life and karmic influences, open the mind to dreams and creative problem solving.  It's a medical miracle worker-Improve declining eyesight.  The blue variety has wind energy and the green water.  Green can help us accept abundance and heal emotional problems with money.  Golden apatite can help you figure out what you really want at a confused time and with creative effort.

Here's where my own confusion kicks in.  I know I respond best to the stones when I'm most attracted to them.  Apatite was not having any conversations with me this week.  I gave rough chunk of dark green-blue apatite to two friends on pendants and we all wore them for an entire week.  To Nytesong and I it really said little.  I did have many dreams, but none of them prophetic.  (I hope that I won't be seeing my, unfortunately deceased, ) 

But to Catharine, it spoke volumes.  And, true scientist that she is, she wrote it all down for me.  She felt that she was "more able to appreciate other people's perspectives, and not stuck stubbornly only in my own viewpoint.  I feel less isolated in a crowd and notice things you usually don't about the environment."

My overall impression is that apatite is one of the choosier stones.  You're among the fortunate if it really does it's work for you. Catharine found it to be hard to wear with other stones. 

Apatite is a phosphate mineral-meaning it's primarily composed of calcium with six of PO₄ groups attached. Its different colors come from the fluorine, chlorine, bromine or hydroxy ions attached to it.  Hydroxylapatite is the greatest part of our bones.  Apatite is with us always!  When phosphate fertilizers were heavily used, apatite was a source. 

It is found in in Idaho, Tennessee, and Wyoming, in the US and in Brazil, Russia and northern asia, among other places. It is mined without harmful chemicals and pollution to the environment in open cast mines. Pits and terraces are dug and can be refilled and replanted once gemstone deposits are exhausted.  Mined materials are washed with powerful jets of water which separate the gemstones from the other rock materials. 

-Simbelmynë

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This gemstone entry is linked in the Intentional Stones Language of Gemstones and Metals page.

Also, as we learn more and more about these beautiful pieces of the earth, we'd love to hear about your experience visiting the places where they're found.  Please post your comments, links, travellogs, favorite pages, anything you like in the comments section!

Reference pages and books for today:

I always start off with the Book of Stones by Robert Simmons and Natasha Ahsian

GeoGem International Jewelers Mining information page

Wikipedia entry on Apatite

Chasing my Dreams

The blog's been a little travel and jewelry and everything-sparse of late. Mostly because of our return to the States. (yes, I'm still posting our Australia time, but we're back home in Pittsburgh) And, with the kids trying out school, I have several hours a day.

I'm learning the metal and making the jewelry.

So I cleaned up my studio, made a change to make pictures easier, and I've been working for a week.

Shaping and Hammering Silver

Stringing pink opals and pearls

Nothing makes the piece look as good as the outfit and person it was designed for.

So, I apologize for the long blog-cation I've taken.  It's been well worth while.

There will be wire. There will be stones. There will be beads. Most of all there will be metal.  (And travel and food and fun too!)

-Simbelmynë

Labradorite Lyre

When I don't have a direct inspiration of a specific form or image I play with the wire until it takes a free form shape.  Sometimes it's the stones giving me ideas, sometimes it's shapes and sometimes other ideas possess me as I work. 

This piece worked all three ways.  This particular hand cut briolette is much wider than usual for it's height and I loved the idea of mimicking that shape in wire, as if it was a container with a drop of liquid falling into it.  But liquid lead to swirls and the swirls wanted more stones and those stones reminded me of a string of stars...  The final necklace carries the smaller stone motif along the beaded strand.  

Labradorite probably inspired this creative process.  It tends to inspire whimsical thinking and creative confidence in me.  Nevermind that it is Mina's favorite stone.  Good thing I hadn't chosen her gift yet!

-Simbelmynë