RAW Inspiration : FOLDS

I am trying to get my head really into the RAW project and set some parameters before I design my first ring.  I decided to treat this project a bit different than how I usually design my jewelry and return more to the conceptual design that I learned in architecture school. Most of my other ring designs are influenced by gem stones I own. Once I play with a stone the ring shape usually materialized without ever sketching anything on paper. I use a very intuitive sculpting of the wax around the stone until I am satisfied wit the sculpture in my hand.
For RAW I am using CAD software to model it and print the rings in stainless steel or plastic. With that I want to explore more the formal aspect of form and shape and forgo using gem stones altogether. That won't be easy as I love those pretty starkly treasures of nature. But I believe the return to simple shapes and forms will be a great reward. And no one says I can't do variations of those shapes by incorporating gem stones later on.

I wrote down some themes I want to explore a bit more with my ring designs in the next 52 weeks. Some themes will last for multiple weeks until I am done with them or they will morph into each other.

The first one will be FOLDS.
Here some inspirational images I found on flickr.

1. Folded, 2. The Town School, 3. milwaukee museum of art, 4. green glasses in folds, 5. Chelsea Modern, 6. Folds, 7. Folded Spike, 8. jorge ayala/ folded surfaces (6), 9. Dress, 10. Fin_Shelter_07.jpg, 11. Folded, 12. the bends, 13. inner folds, 14. Habitat Egg - 4 Views, 15. folding facade, 16. 3 spine concertina fold, 17. stri_06, 18. Edificio Av. Mexico - detail, 19. Curved Fold Study, 20. garden inspiration, 21. ARKTURA_Flow Bench 2, 22. （Neil Denari）, 23. 2006 09.24 | Neil Denari - Endeavor Screening Room, 24. Textured Panel with Window, 25. Folded rock, 26. Folds, 27. Red rock folds, 28. Folded by Air, 29. Facetious from another angle, 30. bracelet cuff, 31. a land not mine, 32. Eyelash Viper (Bothriechis schlegeli, Greifschwanzlanzenotter), 33. voluptuous curves, 34. Satin steel, 35. Origami Romanesco, 36. on the window sill




Other themes for the next few weeks are:

• slices
• tubes
• surface deformations
• cellular/organic patterns
• nesting 
• growth
• chaos
• moire
• mikado
• screens
• interlocking
• flow - water - ripples
• bubbles
• hives
• roots
• branches

I am really getting excited about this project. I am hoping to post the first ring design on Sunday. I am still software challenged but hope to figure it out. Stay tuned.

Etsymetal Blog Carnival - Resolutions

What is a Blog Carnival?
It is EtsyMetal members who write an article on the same topic.
Our New Years Topic: Resolutions

Happy New Year! Frohes Neues Jahr!

Is that time of the year again that everyone makes a few resolutions for the new year and I am no exception.

First goal: I will learn 3d modeling for my jewelry line and create one ring per week.

“Old dogs can learn new tricks” and I really wanted to get into 3D modeling for some time. Well, I use CAD in my day job but it's mostly 2D and the shapes are simpler. The software I use at work does not work well for jewelry. So my goal is to learn form generation in Rhino3D. It's a software used to model simple or complex forms. 

 Playing around with different tools in Rhino to create a simple New Years ring.

To stay on target I joined Ring A Week ( RAW ) group on flickr. This is a challenge to create a ring a week. I did RAD (Ring A Day) last year but could not keep up with the photography portion and flaked out after some 30 or so rings. RAW will work better with my schedule. Just creating a ring a week in my usual wax working technique would not really be a challenge for me but doing so in CAD will definitely get me some gray hair. So I will have to finish a ring design every week in 3D and then have it printed on a 3D printer like Shapeways.  There will be a 2 week time delay between the modeling and actually getting the printed design in my hands but I think I will just roll with it. I am really hoping to expand my ring designs and come up with some new shapes and maybe even rings for new collections.

Second goal: Find more revenue streams. 

Selling on Etsy has been pretty good so far and it is constantly growing. But to kick my business into the next gear I will need to find more places to sell. Artful Home has been a good addition for the last 3 month. But I also need some local presence. I tried a couple retail and trade shows but it did not pay off. So I will have to start approaching galleries. Since I am really shy, this won't be easy to just go in and pitch my line. But I have nothing to loose and no excuse not to try.

Third Goal: Try more techniques and learn new skills. 

I am in the process of setting up my own casting equipment. I am still working out some technical challenges but hope to be able to do a couple test castings in the next few weeks. If all goes well this should allow me to cast pieces that my local casting shop won't do, like casting with stones in place and burn out of organic materials and plastics like the 3D printed models from the RAW challenge. With silver metal price still climbing this also allows me to recycle some of my old metal and scraps. One way to a greener studio.

The biggest goal for this year: Escape Cubicle Nation.

By the end of 2011 I would like to quit my day job and do my own business full time. I know it's a pretty big goal and I might not get there. But one has to aim high to accomplish something. For the last few month I tried to do a 4 day work week only and I really enjoyed that. It gave me a little more time for my jewelry and made the work week fly by really fast. I'd like to continue that for the next few month and eventually even reduce it to a 3 day work week. I still work the other days in the studio but at least I have a few nights off to do fun things like meeting friends or just reading a book.

Other than those business goals I love to have more fun and take extra time to enjoy my personal life. I need to get out of the studio more on weekends and take the bike and the dogs to the beach. What sense does it make to live only 3 miles from the beach but never ever go there to enjoy the nice sea breeze. I also need to practice more yoga to keep those back pains at bay. And then there are still a few remodeling projects around the house that need to get done.

Please check out resolutions by other Etsymetal team members:

Inbar Bareket http://www.inbarbareket.net/ 
ebeth http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog/ 
Hartleystudio http://annhartleystudio.blogspot.com/ 

Catherine Chandler http://www.catherinechandler.blogspot.com/ 
Thomasin Durgin http://metalriot.blogspot.com

Jenny Baughman http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/

Etsymetal Blog Carnival - Custom Orders

What is a Blog Carnival?
It is EtsyMetal members who write an article on the same topic. Our December Topic:
Do you take custom orders? What kind of custom work do you do or not do? What has been your favorite custom piece?

Custom orders can be a lot of fun. I like working with my customers to make their wishes become real. Custom jewelry orders are gratifying in some way. I see it as a compliment that someone likes my skill and designs enough to commission and trust me with a special request.
The easiest custom orders are pieces that are based on designs I have already done before but need a little tweaking to suit that special person. It may be a different gem stone, or the setting gets changed a bit (higher or lower), the band of a ring gets wider or narrower etc. Those are easy to predict what it would take to make that jewelry piece. Material cost can easily be estimated and the time for design and making is predictable.

One one those was based on my Wrapped Pearl design. The customer had a gorgeous Tahitian pearl that she wanted to use with that design. However, since the pearl was so beautiful we decided to lower the setting to show off more of nature's perfection. Out came such a lovely design that now became one of my bestselling rings. It probably does not have the special meaning that her ring had with the pearl she got as an engagement gift but it is still beautiful with the Tahitian pearls I now use for that design.

On the other hand, I sometimes struggle with custom orders that go beyond the tweaking of an existing design. The responsibility of creating this special piece of jewelry can be a bit of a burden. There seems to be so much more pressure involved in finishing a commissioned piece. What I love about jewelry making is that I can just design with my own flow of creativity. With custom orders this flow dries out very fast. I start to self-doubt myself, my skill and taste. What if the customer does not like the finished piece? What if something goes wrong with the special, unreplacable gem stone they gave me to create this piece? Every time I agreed to make a ring with a gem stone they gave me, I totally started to freak once it came time to set the stone. One little second of not paying attention and that stone could be broken or chipped. Most jeweler or stone setter will not give any guaranties for stones they get from their customers, but its still a huge burden to deal with. So my rule now is not to accept their stone. I turn down such request because it does not seem to be worth the stress it creates for me. Maybe in a couple years I am a bit more relaxed about it.

One commission that turned out great was this Tetra ring with the customers Tanzanite.

Custom orders can take a lot more time than when I just design my own pieces and because of this time they usually cost more that other already made jewelry design. It all starts with a discussion about the piece, its size, stones and metals to be used and the price of the piece. A 50% pre-payment is required before I start making the model in wax. If the custom piece includes a stone they own, I have to get the stone before starting to make a model. This ensures the stone will fit perfectly in the cast metal piece.  If the piece is very different from my other design, I usually sent pictures to the customer for approval. After all agree the piece gets cast, set and finished.

Due to this time involvement I often can't commit to custom orders as a I still have a day job and only leaves me nights and weekends to work on my jewelry.
I sometimes make exceptions for really good friends like this special engagement ring.

This was my first CAD CAM ring. It is a collaboration between 3 architects to design the perfect engagement ring for another architect. The groom had the idea of the honeycomb texture with a marquise sapphire embedded. He originally had a way bigger stone in mind but it would not have worked for the honeycomb band. Since my own 3d skills were not good enough to actually model this in Rhino, I asked my ex-husband and also a good friend of the groom to model it. Not easy to work with a person on a design when you are in divorce with them. But it worked out and the ring came out beautifully.

A couple month later I was asked to design the wedding band that matched the previous engagement ring. Both rings are cast in palladium and set with natural Ceylon sapphires. The wedding band was modeled by hand. 

So yes, I do custom orders when they fit my schedule and skills, and are in line with my own design ambitions.

Please do not ask me to copy or reproduce another jeweler's design.

Please read the stories of other EtsyMetal members:
Inbar Bareket http://www.inbarbareket.net/2010/12/blog-carnival-december-2010.html

Elizabeth Scott http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
Kerry Alice and Heather http://www.twigsandheather.blogspot.com
Victoria Takahashi http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/
2Roses http://jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com/2010/12/do-you-do-custom-orders.html

Fancy Rubellite Tourmaline Tetra Ring

I finally finished this Tourmaline ring with an awesome Rubellite fancy cut gem. The ring was modeled in wax and then cast in sterling silver.

I was actually dreading to do the stone setting for a while since I knew I had to try a new setting technique for that. I had to make a special pin burnisher from a old steel scribe. One can also use a old worn-out bur to make this miniature burnisher and then just mount it on a dowel or other handle. I followed the instructions in John Cogswell's book "Creative Stonesetting". The steel tool first needs to be annealed at the tip with a torch flame. When cooled it will be filed and polished to get a rounded tip. I started to set the stone by slightly tapping the heavy silver bezel with my hammer handset to lower the metal over the sides of the stone and basically tack it in place.

Then I started to rub down the edge of the metal rim by holding the burnisher in a 45 degree angle. This pushes the metal in a slight bevel over the rim of the stone. The pressure of the burnisher focuses on the metal rim. Since the steel was annealed it is softer than the tourmaline and therefore does not scratch the gem in the burnishing process. As the metal continues to move over the stone I raised the angle of the burnisher. At the end it leaves a beautiful uniform, reflective, inward-sloping rim. Then just the corners need some touch-up with gravers. I think overall this technique is actually faster and easier  then my typically hammer handset technique and it leaves this beautiful bright rim around a stone. I will try it out on a few different shapes in the future.

This ring is an incredible way to wear strong color. The pinks in this fancy cut Rubellite tourmaline cabochon is truly stunning. The dynamic angled setting displays the beauty of this rare cut stone with gorgeous natural inclusions.

The rubellite is a member of the family of tourmalines, and where its color shines in beautiful nuances is the range from red to shocking pink. I am drawn to a number of precious and semi-precious colored stones, mostly for their unique and beautiful natural color and/or inclusions. Inclusions should not be seen as flaws, but as proof of nature’s hand in creating an element of beauty.

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Square 1 Ring Collection

This week I officially released the new Square 1 collection. This is the refined version of the up-cycled ring I blogged about a couple weeks ago. I created an entire stacking ring set with this simple design.

Square sterling silver ring set with rounded sides and a textured and oxidized groove at the top. A 14kt square gold setting sits asymmetrical on the top groove of each ring and holds a rough diamond cube, a orange sapphire and a green sapphire. The grooves have a light texture and have been oxidized to give a higher contrast between the gold setting and the blackened silver. The entire set is 15mm wide.

The rings are also available as single rings. I always love how rough diamonds look in yellow gold. Its just a better color contrast then sterling silver.

The gold setting in this ring is 4mm square and the diamond ranges between 3.3 to 3.5 mm (0.4 to 0.5 points). The color of the diamond range from a warm yellow to a dark gray or whitish gray.

The new addition is a green sapphire ring. The band is 5 mm wide. The gold setting is 3.5 mm square and the natural sapphire is 2.6 mm square. The green sapphires range in color from a forest green, over olive to lime yellow.

The narrowest ring has a gorgeous orange Sapphire that looks like it is on fire. The band is 4 mm wide. The gold setting is 3 mm square and the natural sapphire is 2mm square. Vibrant Reddish Orange color, just awesome.

I am adding rings with blue sapphires and rubies in the next few weeks. If you are interested you can contact me about a price quote. All rings are available on Etsy and my web site. I will hopefully also get them onto the Artful Home site.

Birthday Present

Today is my birthday and I forgot to give myself a nice birthday present. Duh...
I wanted make a nice ring for myself with this amazing blue Topaz stone that I chipped a couple month ago. With the small chip on the side I can't sell it to anyone anyways, but I can still make a ring for myself and hide this chip in the setting. Unfortunately I am not that well organized when it comes to preparing for my own birthday. So here is the day and I can still only stare at the loose gem stone. Bummer! I guess I can still make it into a nice Christmas present.

But I finished a nice new ring yesterday that I have an eye on to just keep for myself. That might be the substitute birthday present and not a bad one either. Love how it came out.

It has a beautiful light blue Drusy Chalcedony which somehow looks like it has tiny brown freckles under the drusy crystals. I added some 18 karat gold bubbles on the side that look like tree dimensional freckles. It's wired that lately I am starting to add some gold accent to some of my pieces. Must be the Holiday season being around.

The ring is somewhat a mix between my Tetra line and the Ergo rings. It has the freeform shank design  and the underside of the ring is molded against the stone. It's very comfortable and fits me perfectly. This might be the sign to keep it. I guess I will have to make up my mind in the next few days.
I don't have this exact stone again to make something in custom sizes for my shop. But I have some other drusies in similar shape, one is black and the other red. Those would look perfect with the little gold accents too.

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Mandarines and Aquas

I finally spend last night until the early wee hours to work on some photos and post new rings in my shop.
I created these smaller versions of Tetra rings  in late August but did not get the photo shoot done until yesterday. The Tourmaline ring on the right was posted in my shop since a couple weeks and just sold last week. It's now on it's way to the Netherlands to find a new home. The other two rings use quite rare stones: a fiery orange Spessartite Garnet and a rare intense blue Santa Maria Aquamarine.

The garnet family of gemstones is large and varied, but spessartite garnet is no ordinary garnet. Spessartite is a brilliant gem that has a refractive index even higher than sapphire. It shows an amazing sunny glow. I have one ring made in size 6.5 and still have 2 other similar stones available for custom sizes. One is a cushion cut like the gem in the ring and the other has a brilliant trillion cut.

Spessartite Garnet Tetra Ring

As with most gems, the more intense shades of aquamarine are the most popular, and the intensity of the shade changes depending on the source of the stone. The most sought-after color is known as the Santa Maria aquamarine. Santa Maria aquamarines are a deep ocean blue and have an enchanting fire and brilliance. Found at a single mine in Brazil called the Santa Maria de Itabira mine, Santa Maria aquamarine stones are quite rare. Lose yourself in the rare, intense blue of this Santa Maria Aquamarine gemstone ring. The faceted aquamarine has a amazing blue color. It's size is 7 x 7 mm and it weights 3/4 ct.