Custom Designs

I love the challenge of creating custom designs for people as it forces me to stretch my creativity and try new things.  One of our latest requests was for a cross pendant (in brown or beige tones) on a brown suede cord with some sort of matching earrings.  I thought of the cross pendant we had made for a friend last year in a mokume gane but decided to try a few other techniques and then let her choose which pendant she liked the best.

This is the pendant she chose and so I made earrings to match.  Because she likes her earrings to dangle a fair bit, we added the sand opal Swarovski crystals which added a nice finishing touch.

The filigree cross pendants shown in the photo below were created by arranging tiny strands of clay to form a pattern.  These were a lot of fun to create as well as the mica shift ones shown in the bottom photo.  A mica shift is a technique where you create a ghost image in the clay.  The crosses appear textured but in fact they were sanded to a silky smooth finish and then buffed to create a satin sheen.

We decided to finish the crosses with some rich velvet ribbons to create an elegant look.

Wild Things

I've been feeling a little on the wild side these last few weeks since I had a real desire for making animal prints. I don't know exactly what it is that attracts most women to this style --maybe it is the little piece of our untamed nature or just a rebellion against our expected place in society. For me, however, I think of soft furry animals to snuggle up with. In any case, I enjoy creating these designs and the feeling I get touching and looking at them.

We've also added some new styles to our collection such as the "collier" with matching earrings and bracelets.  Let me know how you feel about these new styles.

Who's the emBOSS?

We really like doing up special orders for people - it sometimes forces you out of your comfort zone and try something different. This is a shorter style necklace with some matching earrings we did for a custom order. She told me she was really into teal and brown. I like those colors as a combination myself but never considered combining them in clay. We really like the end result but when I was looking at the lentil swirl pendant and disc earrings, I felt it was lacking something and then thought about the latest flower cane I made. Adding the flowers just gave it more of an embossed look and the finishing touch it needed. This could be a new trend for us -- we will see what kind of response it gets. 

We also did something special for her husband since we are starting up a men's line of chokers as well. Both of the necklaces have a hidden magnetic clasp in a matching clay bead -- something else we are experimenting with.

Flowers for Mother's Day

I have my parents visiting from out of town this week. It has been quite a few years since my mom has been around for mother's day, so I'm glad I was able to make something special for her this year. One of the things is the floral brooch here.

She's suffered with arthritis in her wrists and hands for years and therefore isn't able to wear a wrist watch. She wears her watch instead on a chain.

These are 2 chains I made for her watches. They have a lobster claw so can be interchanged with her watch faces.

For Dave's mom, she had picked out this "mokume gane" gecko brooch and some clip-on earrings that matched. She also wanted some earrings with flowers so I made her some to match a necklace Dave made for her birthday last year. I think she will be pleased.