Stone Soup Challenge update

As promised, I want to share with you the lovely items I've bought from other artists as part of the Stone Soup Challenge.

First of all, I found this sweet little mouse ACEO by Melody Lea Lamb:

The mouse was the perfect gift for a dear friend from college. It's a long story that involves me rescuing a couple of mice from becoming a snake snack at a pet store while little kids looked on and then giving them — truthfully, dumping them on — my best friend, sneakily, while she was out of her room. Ummm... They multiplied. And I keep sending her reminders all these years later. I still wish I could have seen her face when she walked in and saw the cage sitting on her bed, but I'm really glad I wasn't there.

My friend was delighted by the ACEO and reports that Melody Lea made her feel special by enclosing several extras with it. I know that she has been a dream to communicate with, and I'm enchanted by the way she captures the essence of the little animals and birds she paints. Please take a few minutes to visit her store. Bet you'll find something you like.

Next, I fell in love with these lampwork beads by Art by Lisi. 

This is her "Tropico" colorway, and the breezy island colors beckoned to me while we still had tons of snow on the ground and freezing temps. I have a special plan for these beads and will show you later.

Lisi's beads are like candy: I want more and more. I'm sure I'll be a regular customer. She makes most of them to order, but it's well worth the short wait, and you know you're getting special attention, so please browse her shop. I know you'll find your own "gotta have" colors there.

On the "buy local" front, I first met Abby and Bo Coffell of Entwined Designs at a holiday show last year. Bo makes lampwork beads, and Abby turns them into gorgeous jewelry — and has begun experimenting with metalsmithing, as well. Abby is becoming a good friend, and I'm looking forward to purchasing beads from them.

And finally, I did a bit of bartering at Saturday's show. I've admired Vladimir Zhikartsev's work for years. I first became aware of him through the World Ice Art Championships held in Fairbanks every March: He's one of the top carvers with many awards under his belt, including the 2009 team 1st Place and People's Choice award in the abstract multiblock category for this piece. 

Besides being a world-class sculptor, Vladimir is also an accomplished painter, and I've been lusting after his work for quite some time. So when he offered to barter, I jumped at the chance to trade jewelry for prints. I chose two gorgeous framed pieces — this Birch Tree and another piece called Shallow Water. And in return, I'm flattered to say my jewelry will be headed to Russia as gifts for his family and friends.

Next I'm planning to purchase more beads from Deborah Gregory of Sweetwater Designs. She's offering a "buy one, get one" sale in her Etsy shop until May 1, so hurry over and snap up some of her gorgeousness before it's all gone.

Whew. Now I'm headed into Fairbanks to deliver some jewelry to New Horizons and the Artworks. [Edit: Didn't make it to Artworks; hope to get there Friday.] I plan to mail a package to Portfolio in Anchorage on Thursday, and I will have photos of new work up soon. It's easier now that we have all this glorious daylight!

The missing link

You know, I know that I'm an exceedingly lucky person. I love what I do, and I love where I do it. Even after living in Alaska for 14 1/2 years, I am still facinated by its utter difference from Georgia, where I grew up, and I know there are few other places in the world where I might encounter lynx or bears or moose on my own property. The Aurora Borealis still stops me in my tracks — freezing or not — and the Midnight Sun still gives me a huge energy boost.

Of all the "jobs" I've had — from newspaper reporting to state government work to selling office furniture to providing respite care for elders — making jewelry is what I choose to do for the rest of my life. I can't imagine ever growing tired of it or disliking it or wanting to give it up.

Still, I sometimes feel there's something missing.

And this year, I've finally realized what that missing link is. It's you!

I spend almost all my time alone, which does suit me. I like quiet — or I like cranking up the Talking Heads or B52s on the stereo. (Egads, I just dated myself. Most of you will have no clue who those bands are.)

You've heard the phrase "spark of creativity." Well, it's hard to create a spark in a vacuum.

At the new year, I decided I wanted to break out of my shell a little bit and work on developing new relationships. And like magic, as soon as I made the decision, opportunities began coming my way. (The blog has helped a lot.)

I'm thrilled to have made new connections with people who've bought my jewelry, with people who've admired my jewelry, with other artists and artisans. I've got a great email correspondence going with a couple of you, I've spoken with several of you on the telephone, and I've met more than a handful of you for coffee and conversation. One of you generously offered to help me make a banner for the blog (which is progressing beautifully), and someone else is considering photographing my jewelry on live models.

And to a person, you have inspired me. You've given me new ideas and suggestions, you've asked me for a special piece for a special occasion, you've shared your reactions to my work and even pushed me to try something different. Every time I meet one of you — whether in person or by email or on the phone — I come away with renewed energy, eager to get to the bench and make something new.

Thank you!

This Saturday (the 25th) I hope I'll meet lots more of you at the Spring Break-Up Bazaar on Eielson Air Force Base. If you're in Fairbanks, it might seem like a long way to drive, but hey: It's gorgeous out there, and all of us artists are finally stirring from the winter doldrums, brimming with enthusiasm and creative spark. Please stop by my booth and say hello!

If you're nowhere near Eielson, how about Homer or Denali or Anchorage? I recently sent a small shipment to Fireweed Gallery; I'm working on the first order of the season for the Magic Carpet at Denali (opening in mid-May); and I'll be sending a package off to Portfolio in Anchorage next week (after a bit of a hiatus, so this is particularly exciting).

If you're nowhere near Alaska, I've got some ideas percolating in my head that should come to fruition after the bazaar, and I'll be taking photos and writing about them here. You can always get in touch if you see something you like. Please do! Because I've just realized how much I need you all.

Here's a hint of one of the new things: A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book on metal embossing techniques, and I was so enchanted with it that I started looking on-line for some embossing tools. I almost decided not to fiddle with it because the new tools seemed expensive, but how's this for serendipity: I found a set of antique Japanese (I think) embossing tools in a lovely case on eBay and got them for a song. Here they are:

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

After this week, I hope I'll have time to play with them. My ideas about how to incorporate embossing into my jewelry are a bit hazy at the moment, but the seeds are there, and I can't wait to see what blossoms.

Happy Spring!

(P.S. Wow... It's been a month since I posted, and I have a lot more to share. So next time, look for an update on my purchases for the Stone Soup Challenge, plus a couple of new designs.)

How do you know you're buying my jewelry?

Does that seem like a silly question?

Well, it just occurred to me that I haven't shown you my logo, so you wouldn't know what to look for when you visit one of the galleries or shops that support me. Of course, you could just ask, and they'll take you right to my things. But in case you're shy, here's a photo of my Ruffles chain and the matching earrings — on the Tin Cup Designs card.

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

I hope soon I'll either figure out how to incorporate the logo into the blog layout or that I can barter with a graphic artist to set up a layout for me. I'm also hoping to sell a bit on-line, and my "store" will need to show my "brand," too. (Hint: If you're a graphic artist and you like my jewelry, get in touch and let's see if we can work out a barter arrangement.)

At the moment, I have an experimental "booth" set up at Bonanzle. I've only posted four items: two chains and two pairs of earrings. I'd like to hear your reaction to the site: Is it easy to use? Is it appealing? Would you actually buy something from there? 

One feature I do like is that customers can chat with me while browsing if I'm on the site or leave comments I'll see immediately if I'm not. The idea of having a conversation with you is appealing.

I'm also planning on setting up shop on Etsy and Artfire. I'll let you know when I do, as I'll want feedback then, too. I feel a little like Goldilocks: I need to try them on to see which site is "just right" for me and for you.

I do want to emphasize that I have no intention of allowing my on-line sales to overshadow my galleries and shops. They will continue to be my primary outlet, and in these tough times, I want to do everything I can to promote and support them. Please help keep the arts community alive and vibrant by visiting the galleries where you live.

Longing for summer in Alaska...

It's March. We've still got two or three feet of snow on the ground, depending where you step. It is warmer: Yesterday it was about 27 degrees F. We're gaining nearly seven minutes of daylight every day, and our days are already nearly 12 hours long.

But I'm impatient. Yes, I could be out there on my snowshoes, enjoying the clean sharp air and looking for animal tracks and birds. I do love the way snow makes various things — say, a stack of summer tires or a clump of small spruce trees — look like cupcakes with icing or sugared donuts.

But dang it, I'm ready for some color! I want leaves and flowers and butterflies!

When I'm feeling like this, the best thing I can do is pull out the dried leaves my friend and I collected over the past couple of years and make a Forest Floor cuff. Like this one:

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

When I'm working on one of the Forest Floor pieces, I'm not just shaping metal. I'm enjoying summertime in Alaska.

Did you know that scent is considered the strongest trigger for memory? The scent of the leaves, stored in layers of blotting paper, is fresh and earthy — and when crushed in the rolling mill, the leaves' sap and oils perfume the studio. Instantly, I'm back in the woods, kneeling on thick moss, watching the sun shine through the canopy of birch leaves, picking berries.

Here are just a few of the plants I use in my jewelry. All of them live on our 10 acres in Two Rivers.

This is Alaskan Dogwood. (Being from the South, where dogwood is a tree, I laughed when I first saw this tiny earth-hugging bush. But it makes a gorgeous carpet of green in summer and crimson in fall.)

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

This is High-Bush Cranberry, good for jelly.

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

And poisonous Red Baneberry.

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

Here is Fireweed, the barometer of our summertime. As the blooms progress up the stalk and finally burst into puffy white seed fluff, we know summer is going and it's time to batten down for winter again.

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

And here are our lovely Alaskan Wild Roses. They seem to bloom all at once, and only for a few days. They're everywhere; the air is sweet with them. And after the roses come the brilliant red and orange rosehips.

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

You'll find these and many others in the Forest Floor pieces.

Just as in nature, no two cuffs or pendants or pairs of earrings will ever be the same because the leaves are crushed and destroyed in the embossing process.

After the metal is embossed, I saw the edges a bit and file them. I like to make the pattern irregular, like the bug-bitten edges of some plants and trees.

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

The leaves always shift a bit while going through the mill, so I'm never sure what I'll see until it's done. There's always a "flaw," where the metal slipped too much and the pattern didn't take or where the leaves cracked or moved too far apart. This actually delights me.

These are opportunities to play, serendipity instead of mistake. In the cuff you see here, a slight diagonal space along the bottom edge didn't take the leaf pattern at all. Wonderful! It gave me an opportunitiy to hand engrave cross-hatching there. The straight lines contrast nicely with the irregularities of the natural forms, don't you think?

Now you know that each Forest Floor piece carries with it the reality of nature in Alaska, the memory of specific summer days and specific places, and a little bit of serendipity. What a wonderful mix!

Swiss cheese, anyone?

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

Or perhaps a lunar landing?

I don't make these very often, but I always have fun when I do. Dropped them off at New Horizons yesterday, along with some very shiny, very curvy thin cuff bracelets.

Still playing with brooch options for the Leaf Moth. Nothing's quite right yet, but I dreamed about it last night.

Leaf Moth pendant in progress

Here's a first quick look at a copper and sterling silver Leaf Moth Pendant. I've figured out an interesting way to convert it to a brooch and hope to work on that tonight. This made me so happy, though, that I just couldn't wait to share it. It's going to be awfully hard for me to sell it. If you have the least bit of interest in it, start sweet-talking me now. *grin*

From Tin Cup Designs Handwrought Jewelry

Color Joy

Need a spot of color to brighten your day?

Stop by the Artworks or New Horizons in Fairbanks. 

I'm making a delivery of these sterling silver and glass swirl drop

earrings later today.

How do you make that?

Many, many times I've been asked, "How do you make that?" or even, "Do you really make all these things?" So I thought I'd show and tell a little of the process.

Most of my work starts out as a coil of silver or copper wire of varying gauges (thicknesses). Some of it, such as the cuffs, begins as a plain sheet of silver or copper. I keep the raw materials in a chest by my bench.

Today I'll just talk about how I make the chains. 

First, I cut off a length of wire and wrap it around a wooden or steel dowel until I have a coil of 20 to 50 or so links, depending on the size. I use a jeweler's saw to cut the coil down one side to make a bunch of open links.

Next, I use pliers to push the ends of the links flush together. I then solder some of the links closed with an oxygen/propane torch. I line a lot of them up at one time, and this is what it looks like (except that the board is usually at least half full of links).

Once I've soldered those links, I join them together with others and then solder all of those to make a chain. Some chains require more than 100 solder joins. (Yes, it takes time and patience.)

Next I hammer each link of the chain. Here are my beloved hammers.

See the one in front on the right? That's a planishing hammer, and I use it 90% of the time. It's my oldest and most beloved hammer.

After everything has been hammered, I toss it in a rotary tumbler with steel shot and let it go for up to eight hours. This is where it gets the bright, shiny finish.

And here you have an 18-inch "Paperclips" chain and earrings with 42 individually soldered and hammered links.

So, every single piece of every single chain I make, including the shepherd's hook clasp, has been formed, soldered and hammered by me. (The only thing I don't make is the earwires for the earrings. If I did, I'd spend days and days just making earwires, and even I'm not that crazy.)

A Taste of Art

We all need hope — and sometimes a little help, too.

I hope you'll mark your calendar for February 21 and make plans to attend A Taste of Art, to benefit Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption. This year's theme is "One Heart, Many Faces." The fundraiser includes silent and oral auctions, dinner and entertainment. Scroll down for details, but first, take a look at my Circle of Hope necklace, which could be yours... if you submit the winning bid...

I apologize for the poor quality photo, but in scrambling to get to town to deliver the necklace, I forgot to take a picture. This is from my camera phone. However, isn't Danere Hanna, FCA's secretary, a lovely model? (Hint: You might find yourself in a bidding war with Danere's husband if you want this one-of-a-kind piece.)

The necklace is sterling silver. Both the hammered round-linked chain and the large circle focal point are incised with lines, which create real sparkle when polished (and will make an interesting, almost tribal, pattern if you prefer to let your silver oxidize naturally over time).

You really should go to the auction and get a good look at it for yourself. Here are the details.

A Taste of Art

6 p.m. to midnight February 21

at the Westmark Hotel Gold Room in Fairbanks.

All proceeds benefit the programs of Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption, which provides counseling and support for families, pregnant women and girls, as well as adoption services.

For more information and tickets, please call 456-4729.

I'd love to hear from you if you're the lucky winner of the Circle of Hope. I will be happy to make earrings to match!

Well, hello there!

After much prodding and a few well-placed (but gentle) boots to the figural behind, I'm starting a blog for Tin Cup Designs. I don't know why it has taken this long, because I've always wanted to share my creative process, new designs and upcoming shows with you. And I certainly want to hear what you think, so please let's make this a conversation.

First of all, I'm headed into Fairbanks later today to drop off some jewelry at Artworks and New Horizons Gallery. Stop by if you need a quick gift for Valentine's Day — or just a pick-me-up for the JanFebs. (That's what I used to call the winter blues before I moved to Alaska and discovered that winter can last from September until May or June. And with the temps headed towards 50 below right now, if you're here, you probably need a boost.)

The pendant at the top is one of the new pieces I've just finished. There will be more very soon, I promise.

This one is called "Chained Heart." It's a repoussé copper heart attached to a matte-finished sterling silver trapezoid with hammered edges. The heart swings back and forth on a tiny silver chain attached by a copper rivet. 

I've been thinking a lot lately about the paradoxes of loving anyone or anything deeply: How love can make your heart soar, free as a bird — and then tether you before you get too far away. How the bonds of love can be a comfort and, sometimes, an uncomfortable limit. Most of all, how love truly is the energy that fuels the Universe, and that when I'm really working — when the hammer sings and the metal dances — I'm filled with it.

Have a lovely day!