Joyheart!

I don't get much time to work in the metals studio when the kids are home for their winter break.  I still need to be creative!  I've been baking, doing crafts with the kids, and working on my fiber arts.  I finally decided to open a new Etsy shop for my fiber arts and fun family inspired crafts, pieces that wouldn't fit into my Knitsteel Handforged Jewelry and Metalwork shop.  I will of course combine shipping between the two shops. I always refund for any shipping costs overpayments of one dollar or more.

Take a look! http://www.joyheart.etsy.com

Grandma's Costume Jewelry

Have I ever told you how much I love love love costume jewelry?  I like the stuff my Granny used to wear- glitzy, goldtone, over-the-top and well made, with absolutely no precious materials involved.   That's why I took a jewelry class in the first place, so I could make myself the gorgeous leafy goldtone jewelry that I loved but either couldn't find.  Well, let's re-phrase that.  I couldn't afford the pieces that I wanted, other than the ones I inherited.

It took years before I had the technical skills to make the pieces, and perhaps longer to develop the creative skills necessary to go from vision to metal.  These days, when I'm not using gold or silver, you will see me creating multiple leaf brooches in bronze and copper, more flowing, cascading pieces, reminiscent of grandma's costume jewelry.





A customer already bought this brooch, my largest one lately...


and then requested matching earrings.  I love how they turned out!

Holiday Ornament Swap

My ornaments are done and shipped for the Holiday Ornament Swap hosted on Swap-bot.

Take a look!  Click on the photo titles under the photo-mosaic to see the larger sizes, with comments, on flickr.



1. Ornament Swap 1, 2. Ornament Swap 2, 3. Ornament Swap 3, 4. Holiday Ornament Swap ornaments, 5. Holiday Ornament Swap ornaments, 6. Holiday Ornament Swap ornamentsCreated with fd's Flickr Toys.

Here's the ornament photo pool www.flickr.com/groups/holidayornamentswap08/p ool/
and here is the link to the swap on swap-bot. It's too late to sign up this year, but you can read and get the idea of it. www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/24124

Simplicity

If you follow my work and my hobbies, you probably know that I am not really one for artistic simplicity.  I love rich, complicated form, full of texture and movement.

But sometimes, I am inspired to focus in on just a few qualities.  A recent commission for classic wedding bands inspired me to make these simple elegant 14k gold earrings.




In truth, the first set of wedding bands that I made was too thin.  I re-made the bands in a more substantial gauge for the clients.  Then I was looking at the first set, wondering what to do with them.  I decided just to play.  How often does one get to play with gold?  I sawed each band in half, then simply hammered them, enjoying the thickened burnished edges and subtle surface ripples.  I polished them lightly and tumbled them for the perfect sheen.  Then I hung them on handcrafted 14k hoops, to make interlocking loop on hoop circle earrings. 

I love how they turned out! - simple, elegant, classic forms, yet still with the sensual textures and surfaces that I find so appealing.

As always, click on each photo to be linked to the listing page with full details.

Pink Glitter Holiday Crafting

Oh you know I was ready for the Christmas season before Thanksgiving!
We had a wonderful relaxing feast at home.

The kids and I worked on glitterhouses for our handmade Christmas village. We bought cardboard houses from Hobby Lobby. The kids painted them.

Then I helped them glitter the houses- a Glorious Mess.

So we're having a fun time starting off our handcrafted Christmas village for under the pink tree. I will continue to update you as the scene and the tree take shape. We still need more handcrafted ornaments and lots more glitter.

I'm not trying to make everything myself. I've purchased

• bottlebrush trees from Saturdayfinds
• Whimsical polymer clay gnome houses from MyWhimsicalWishes
• and that supercute pink and red reindeer from CupcakeChristmas

I'm also working with one of my favorite Etsy sellers, Acorngirl- having her create a custom joyful nativity scene. I'll be able to show you pictures of it soon.

For some really nice glitter houses, visit Pieceful Bits at the brand new Lollishops. She makes super cute glitterhouses that sell out fast. To see what she's done, and that's already sold, visit her flickr pages http://www.flickr.com/photos/skybluecrayons/

For more info on how to make your own glitterhouses, look at this guy's website http://www.littleglitterhouses.com/
-everything you want to know about making new glitterhouses as well as repairing and restoring vintage "putz" houses.
I love the Christmas village pictured on the first page. It's gonna take me a few years to work up to that standard, let alone that scale. So pretty!!!