Sun Bracelet

I've been making sun jewelry for a very long time but I think that this is the first sun that I have put in a cuff bracelet. Just finished it before we went up to the fair in Chico to sell our work on Dec. 14th and 15th. It didn't sell there but a lot of other pieces did. It will find a home on a wrist next year I am sure. Most of the bracelet is silver but inside of the silver ring on top is a layer of heat colored copper, the sun form is silver and the dome on top is 14k gold.

Bead Obsession

Back about 20 years
ago or so when I first
got into making cold connected mixed metal beads, it became an interesting obsession for a while. I remember once that I could hardly make any other jewelry form for 5 or 6 weeks which is unusual for me. I would walk around with 10 or 12 beads on a chain and show them to anyone who stopped to look. The first ones were just a bead on a chain like the one at the upper left in the collage here, but soon I started looking for other ways to use them because I liked making them so much. And also they started selling quite well at art fairs that I was participating in. I have sold hundreds of them at this point. I started putting them in earrings, bracelets, as parts of more complex pendants, even a couple of rings and anything else that I could think of. It was truly play time for me. These pictured are just a few of the pieces that I did. I still make a few beads now but not like before although, who knows, the obsession might strike again at any time.

Puffy Heart Pendants

These are two sided pendants, front on the left, back on the right. One could wear them either way though. I made a template out of plexiglass in the shape of the hearts on the left and then, using the hydraulic press raised it into a puffy shape. The textures are from pattern plates that I stamp on nickel silver and then roller print on copper. I sometimes enjoy creating a design on the back of pendants, you could wear it that way but sometimes it is just a private aspect of the pendant that the wearer can just show to special people. I did a series of about 5 or 6 of these a few years ago and just ran across the plexiglass template so am thinking of making another and seeing how I can change it some. Mixtures of silver, copper, gold and brass with fresh water pearls.