Holiday Previews

New month, new topic for Etsymetal team bloggers. We are entering the busiest time of the year.
The Holidays are fast approaching! Give us a preview of what you are working on for this special time of year.

The Holiday season is apparently also the time for people to propose to their big love. The last couple weeks I already started gearing up with new engagement rings listed to my new wedding shop. There are still some on the bench that need some cleanup and stone setting. But oterwise the engagement season is already in full gear and should continue till Valentines Day.

For my other main Nodeform shop I have a few special one off rings to finish for the Holidays. Here a preview of what is still on the bench.

This is a rough casting that still needs lots of work. Its a wide armor type ring with an Aquamarine cabochon. The carved texture is inspired by rain drops falling on water, creating concentric ripples. I might also set a couple small blue diamonds into some of the ripples for some added sparkle. 

I am also using some of the earth colored rough diamond cubes. When I sell my rough diamond wedding rings everyone ask for light gray cubes. With this ring I want to show off the beauty of rough diamonds with those wonderful warm hues. Four cubes will be set in a 18k gold setting that sits off center on this wide silver ring. The ring here is still only half finished and still needs soldering and applying the brushed texture on the silver that will get intensified by a dark oxidation.

I also played with some other textures as shown on the left ring. I am still contemplating if I set some of those beautiful cognac colored diamonds in the silver band next to the roughs. It would really accentuate the difference between rough and faceted diamonds.

Other than that I will go through my inventory and see if I can list some of those sample and prototype rings. My made to order rings usually have a 2 to 3 weeks turn around time and I will probably stop taking Holiday orders for rings I don't have in stock in the first week of December.  Ready to ship rings can still make it into someone's stockings if ordered only a few days before the Holidays. I am also clearing out some designs I won't continue making in the new year and I am listing those sample rings in my sale section.

Please see what other Etsymetal Team members have planned for the holiday season.

Michele Grady Designs: www.michelegradydesigns.blogspot.com
Rebecca Bogan: http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog
Panicmama Jewelry: http://panicmama.blogspot.com
kate jones: http://katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
Evelyn Markasky http://markasky.blogspot.com/
Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
Erin Austin: www.metalmusing.blogspot.com
Cynthia Del Giudice: http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
2Roses: http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com

Rain and a Chalcedony Ring

Rain season seems to be slowly rolling into LA. Today was one of those rare rainy days after weeks or month without any rain. I love those wet days since I know tomorrow there will be sun again. Next day the air is clean and one can see the mountains clear and bright without all that usual smog. It's a great day to get comfortable with a cup of hot tea and be productive in the studio, while listening to the drops on the metal roof overhang.

To this rainy occasion I finally finished a ring I had carved in wax over a year ago. It was hanging out on my bench for month and month. From time to time it was picked up, rotated around, messed up a bit and put back to the other unfinished projects again.

I had set the Chalcedony in the silver setting a while ago but then decided it needed some flush set sapphires on the sides. And those took me a while to finish in between other jobs. Flush setting is not really my specialty.

Finanly photographed it a couple days ago and listed it last night. Today it already sold!!!!! Yeah!!!
I think that is a new record. Love it. Would be nice to sell always things that fast even if they sometimes take a while to get finished. So this baby will travel to it's new home tomorrow.

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