In Wonderland...

I've been consumed with Alice in Wonderland lately.  I don't know if it's from me changing my name back to Alice, or if the anticipation of the upcoming Tim Burton movie (btw, one more week, can't wait), but I'm obsessed.

I've been wanting to make Alice in Wonderland inspired jewelry for forever.  Finally yesterday, I started drawing scenes from the book. I'm having the most fun with these sketches. I have no idea how these are going to translate into jewelry, or if it's even possible.  Here's what I've been busying myself with during my free time.

Even though the original illustrations by John Tenniel are public domain, I wanted to draw my own. Maybe I'll use his in the end. We'll see.

The very beginnings of some raw sketches.
Cats, cats, cats. Hookah smoking Caterpillar dispensing caterpillar wisdom. And a portrait in the works of the Mad Hatter.

Mushrooms! 

I never knew until yesterday how much I love drawing mushrooms. This weekend I am definitely making a mushroom belt buckle.  And some mushroom necklaces. Who will wear them? I don't know. Someone like me who loves magical woodland things.

 I think I will draw a few more scenes from the book just for fun. But as far as putting Alice in Wonderland into jewelry, I'll draw little portraits of the main characters in the form of pendants:

Alice

The Cheshire Cat

The Mad Hatter

The Queen of Hearts

The Caterpillar, only because he's so darn cute, all sleepy and haughty on his fat mushroom of a pedestal

Maybe I'll make a charm bracelet, too, out of the objects in Wonderland:

the drink me bottle

the eat me cake 

the golden key

a tea cup 

a pocket watch

a mushroom 

playing cards

a keyhole

a rose

 

I'm open to suggestions... 

What kind of limited edition/one of a kind jewelry would you want to see come out of this?

Work in Progress Wednesday - big earrings

Ok, today's work involved about 2 tools, and zero use of the torch.  

Here we go. 

Work in Progress Wednesday - big earrings, comin' atcha:

Materials: Sheet sterling.

Big honkin' disc cutter.

Cutting the discs. Ear protection in place.

Disc goes into cupola.

 

Doming.

Applying hammered texture.

Smoothing the sharp edges.

Finished earrings.

Fun!

Well,
I'm off to spend some quality time with my girl :)



And later on when she's napping for a couple hours,
I'll be reading this:

To pull in inspiration for the new line of limited edition
Alice in Wonderland jewelry that's coming sooooooon.

Have a great one!

Summer in February

Last weekend we were building 4-foot snowpeople in our front yard, and this weekend we were in t-shirts and flip flops, riding bikes at the park. That's what I love about Atlanta winters...a few unexpected summer days can pop up anywhere between November and March.

"Safety Girl", as she's been known to be called. 

She loves that head and eye protection.

 Riding Slow

Riding Fast

Fixing a "flat tire"

Slide

Swing

Skip

Love

That was a fun afternoon. I got zero work done this weekend, and am so happy about it.

Happy Monday, you guys. Have a great start to the week :)

Oh my gosh, don't write me off yet!

Geez Louise, is it really Friday already? Where did this week go?

 Ok, I fell SO off the ring a day wagon (and the blog wagon). At one point I was seven days behind schedule.  Now I'm only behind by 3.

Here's a little picture show of what I've made since last time:

Discus Rotundatus - day 21/365 (Feb 11)
copper

Amber Brambles - day 22/365 (Feb 12)

amber and sterling

Schism - day 23/365 (Feb 13)
copper wire and silver bead

The Silly Little Play-Doh Rose - day 24/365  (Feb 14)
play-doh and sterling

Scorpius - day 25/365 (Feb 15)
original hand drawn art, etched in sterling silver

Free to be ME - day 26/365 (Feb 16)
original hand drawn art, etched in sterling silver

I love this one. She'll be for sale in my Etsy shop this weekend.

Three rings to catch up on (they're already half-made on my workbench), 

but this weekend is going to be a crazy one:


Saturday: 

 make a ring, take SweetPea to a b-day party, clean house, get groceries, cook, cook, cook.

Saturday night: 

Host a Middle Eastern themed potluck for my French friends, 

 eat, eat, eat, 

drink, drink, 

play Rock Band with said friends...

Sunday: 

Do dishes, clean house. 

Make one, two, three, four, five, six rings. 

Pick up the cake.

Host a baby shower for Andrea. 

Talk about party central :)

I want to leave you with a short video that my friend Tomi of Metal Riot made about her ring a day.  Great little video, and the words at the end sum it up perfectly for me. 

February 14th

We are loved. 

And so are you.

Happy V-Day

Thanks again for the roses, Mom.

xo,

Alice :)

One February afternoon...

Frosted

Kisses

Romp

Stomp

Tromp

Swing

Swung

"Puuuuuushhhh!!!"

Teamwork

Fortify

Peek-a-Boo!

Mama Snowlady & Princess SweetPea Fairy Snowgirl

Peace

A little bit o'Canada in the Deep South

The Winter Olympics start tonight.

We've got one and a half Canadians living in this house.

Since I'm in charge of dressing her...

SweetPea and I are wearing our Go Team Canada! gear in support 

of my compatriots.

Don't forget to watch the opening ceremonies from Vancouver tonight

at 7:30 EST.

And speaking of the "True North strong and free"...it's been 
snowing like a maniac out there.

Yes the snow has made it to Atlanta.  At least 2" of it so far, and still coming down strong.

I'll show you pictures tomorrow to prove it.

See ya then!

Work in Progress Wednesday - Wild Wild West

Voila ce que j'ai fait aujourd'hui .

I went down to the studio this morning and was a multi-tasking fool.
I've had orders (Etsy and wholesale) coming out of
my eyeballs this is a good problem to have, I know...
But I was really excited to make this ring, so I squeezed it in
between custom orders and the like.

I know you like Work in Progress Wednesday
(because you tell me you do, and that's why I bring it to you).

Today's ring is called Wild Wild West, only because it's the best
title I was able to think up.  I meant for it to look like something antique (you know I love jewelry that looks like it belongs in another time and place).

I wanted to make something that looked mid-1800s, but with more of an Old West than Victorian feel to it.
I think the etched filigree does the trick.

This was really fun for me to make.

Hope you enjoy!

In the beginning, it starts off as a drawing.
And then an etching on a plate of silver.
2 separate designs here = 2 eventual rings.

Cutting the 2 designs apart with my heavy-duty bench shears.
 

2 rings - one for today, one for another day.

Forming the ring band.

Flaring the edges.

The bezel wall is set.
This was my first time doing a bezel setting on a curved surface.
It worked!

Setting the stone, and trying not to break it.

Someone asked me to take a picture of my hand punching the camera. So here.

Wild Wild West ring in sterling silver and iolite.

Side view.

Looking up at the sky view.

My poppy tag has to go somewhere, so I put it on the outside for a change.

Thanks for stopping by. 

I love it when you visit.  

the Riches of my Heart

While it's true that the riches of the most important kind are those that are intangible:

Health

Happiness

Love

... I add to this list two very tangible riches of my own.

Grace: my angelic daughter, sent to me straight from heaven itself and although some days she brings the reputation of the terrible twos to new realms, she is the embodiment of her middle name Angelina - "little angel".

Jonathan: the mate of my soul's. And, the. most. incredible. man. a girl could ever wish for.  An amazing guy. A phenomenal father. An extraordinary husband. He doesn't have a bad bone in his body.  Nor does he have a single enemy in this world - can you imagine that?

For day 19 of the ring a day challenge: the Riches of my Heart.

It is made of metal and stone. 

 A cold, hard exterior of brushed sterling.

But unsnap the lock, 

spin the top around, 

and within it, the warmth of pure love -  

images of the two people in my life who make me 

the single most luckiest person on this planet. 

My little SweetPea, as cute as a baby bunny, giving her teddy bear a hug.

 

My handsome Jonathan, holding an adorable Gracie in his arms.

The Loves of my Life.

The Riches of my Heart.

I've never made a locket before, and I totally winged it on the design.  

I'm proud of how it turned out.

I'll keep this prototype for myself. 

But I can make one just for you 

any time.

We have a winner!

As promised, 

I announce to you the winner of my first-ever blog giveaway: 

Congratulations Amber

she who commented that she found my blog through  EtsyGiveaways.com.

psst: Amber, I sent you an email this afternoon. Please write back to me with your mailing address so I can send you your prize.

Thank you so much to everyone who played!  

The response was way huger than I could have ever imagined :)  

I will definitely be doing another one of these in the months ahead, 

so if you didn't win this time, there is always next time.

I'll be back here tomorrow to show you some of my latest in the ring a day challenge. I have a feeling tomorrow's ring is going to be a good one...

...see you then :)

A frenzied Friday post

One of my favorite songs right now (Uprising), from one of my favorite bands right  now (Muse).  For your enjoyment:

The music brings me back to my childhood - watching Dr. Who (the one from the 70s) while my Mom made dinner.

And the video reminds me of Erin Tyner's photography. I love that style of photography. I'm not sure what it's called is it macro photography, or am I making up words?

Side note:

My blog giveaway closes tonight at midnight EST - 5 hours to go! Winner will be announced on Monday.

Off to have dinner with my girlfriends - and I'm running late as usual.  Ta ta!

Have a great weekend, you guys.  *kiss blown your way*

Blog feature - thank you

Thank you so much to Kristen and Liz at coolmompicks.com for featuring a review of my Spinning Circle necklace on their awesome and inspiring blog today.

You can click here to see this necklace in my Etsy shop.

You can click here to go to coolmompicks.com and see all the the fantastic featured items.

 

You can click here to see the review that I'm beaming about 

and PS, you can enter to win a free jewelry giveaway from my shop on their blog, so do it!

Work in Progress Wednesday - Be Mine

Here's a picture by picture post for you of what I made today for the Ring a Day challenge.

Part of the challenge for me, personally, is to expand my breadth of metalsmithing skills and experiment with new media.  I have never worked with resin before.  I kind of went into today's project blindly and just hoped for the best. This ring was made with the intention of looking like a classic box of Valentine chocolates, with the little "doily" and all. I'd say it turned out pretty swell.

 Be Mine ring - day 13

 Cutting the doily.

Soldering the layers together.

Soldering the wall of the heart to the base.

"Upsetting" the edge (silversmithing vernacular).

 Soldering the ring band and signature tags.

Ring is ready for color.

Mixing watercolor paint and 2-part epoxy

this is the part where I had no idea what I was doing...

Applying the resin to the ring.

Then I let it sit for a few hours to cure.
Then I sanded down the surface.

Success, thy name is old-school-Valentine-box-o'chocolates-style-ring.

Not bad, not bad at all... 

Back of ring.

The perfect way to say Be Mine this Valentine's Day.

You can find this ring in my Etsy shop on Friday.

Hope you enjoyed!  

See you on Friday.

Ring a ling!

Hello!  I haven't seen you in a few days. How've you been?

I've been just ringy!  These days I've been eating, drinking, sleeping, and breathing rings. Come and see what I'm talking about.

This ring a day challenge that I've thrown myself into is a bit of a double edged sword.

On the one hand, I am having the most fun seeing what comes through my fingers when the pressure is on to create new and original things on a daily basis. There's no time for laziness. I do love that I am in the studio creating every single day.  On the other hand, there's always a  nagging thought in the back of my mind that I  need to be making a ring.

So, my first and most important job is being a mother to my SweetPea, and some days time is just not on my side.  You'll know it's been one of those days when the ring of the day ends up being something simple and wire-wrapped.  Realistically, as much as I wish it, they can't all be phenomenal. In order for that to happen, I'd have to put SweetPea on the back burner, and that ain't happening.  Thus I do what I can with the time that I'm given.  I've hit my stride on the ring a day thing, and so far so good.  Will I last to day 365? ...that, we'll have to see.

Here is an assemblage of rings from days 1-9

And those from days 10 and 11 deserve a little spotlight, I think.

Serpentine Sheild ring - day 10

The serpent is one of the most revered and feared creatures in nature and religion. I just love making serpentine themed jewelry. There is so much symbolism associated with snakes:  rebirth, revenge, poison, medicine, and guardianship. Very few creatures have the power to simultaneously amaze us and repel us.

This Serpentine ring reminds me of ancient Rome, where the serpent was a household god and serpent rings were worn to ensure health, strength, and long life.  The ring has been rusticated to look ancient, too.

The front of the ring hugs your finger from knuckle to joint, but the sides conform comfortably to those tricky spaces between your fingers. The back of the ring is open to keep your finger from feeling a pythonesque strangle, and it will fit a size 7 to 8.5.

You can find it here.

Day 11's ring is another throwback to times of old.

Primordial ring

 Most rings are made of metal and stone. Big whoop. This one's made out of an actual prehistoric dinosaur.

That's right-- the cabochon is a piece of dinosaur bone, and it simply begged to be married with my hand-etched mosaic-pattern, which I imprinted in sterling silver for a completely unique, prehistoric flair.

The Primordial ring has a purply-blue patina that pulls the entire design together in a modern-stone-age-rock-star sort of way.

Wear this ring for cocktails with the Rubbles, for a benefit at the Natural History Museum, or to channel your inner terrible lizard in the board room.

You can find it here.

 This is today's ring - day 12.

Peruvian opal beads that look like little ice cubes. So I named the ring On the Rocks. I'll be listing it in my Etsy shop later tonight.

So there you have an array of rings from the last few days.

Tomorrow's ring is going to be something totally different.  If you're new to my blog, tomorrow will be work in progress Wednesday, so you'll see the step by steps of the making of the ring.  I'll be working with a medium I've never, ever tried before hand-tinted resin, and I'll be working with zero direction or help, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will actually work. Be sure to check back here to see if what comes out is a masterpiece or a disaster-piece.

One last thing. Thank you to everyone who has entered my first-ever blog giveaway.  The response has been crazy insane - more than I ever expected, so thank you! If you haven't entered yet, just click here to find out more.

A demain!

That means see you tomorrow en francais.