Jewelry Artists Retreat, more photos!

Here is the view from the back of the house.

Lovely, isn't it?

The lake is gorgeous and so quiet this time of year. I am sure in the summer it is full of boats, and people, water skiiing, music, laughter....

but in the fall, it is VERY peaceful.

I like it.



I keep receiving requests for images of the people from the retreat - with names. As mentioned ad nauseum, I'm slowly editing photos, some are blurry or have horrid lighting, but I've found a few that I think I can safely share.

Despite some poor images, between yesterday and today - you've got 13 faces and names.





this is arrival day, not everyone was there yet - but we have L to R

Nancy E., Sue, tiny-head-Wendy, Ann, Janice, Deborah, Nancy V., Saree











To the left is Lisa, with tiny-head-wendy.















This is Saree, hard at work with her flexshaft.

One of her goals for the week was to know her flexshaft and the attachments better.














Sue - always smiling. :)

(Despite horrendous tool issues this year - and many trips to the welding shop to try to fix the torch)












Angela - Muscling her way through a tough solder job!
















Ann overseeing the etching

(get your face out of there girl - watch out for those fumes!)














Janice and Christy take a break to smile for the camera, then.........









BACK TO WORK!























Rina and Deborah - pushing each other to move outside of their respective comfort zones.














Nancy E.

This a perfect photo of her - she looks serene, no?

That's Nancy E. - gentle pace, gentle tone....steady does it - quietly working all day.

Definitely a southerner on Southern time. :)





Last post you saw Luetta and Linda.

So that wraps it up!

More photos yet to come of tools and projects.

~Janice

Retreat (obscenely image heavy)

JAR 2009:

It went off without a hitch - we had a GREAT week! YAY!!!!

I am already planning for next year - and thinking about tiny ways to make it even better! We had 10 people and it was PERFECT. One change for next year is that I am thinking we will cap at 10 rather than 13. It provides a little more breathing room and allows us all to set up in the garage.

Its great to all be in one room and just feed off each other. You get to hear all this hammering and flexshafts whirring, and sawing, and lots of talking and laughing and we can't forget the music on the ipods. And all the materials - metal and rocks......great stuff.

Good times. For sure. :)

And the view.........its lovely, isn't it?


Now for some down to business photos:

And then some pics of a few things I made while there:

This is a rather large pendant - turquoise, aquamarine, citrine, and onyx. . . I completely chased the background, intending to LOS it, but just haven't gotten there yet. The entire piece has a lot of different texturing. It has been a royal pain to try to get a decent photo of this - its much prettier in person.

I luv it.

This is a ring someone there showed us how to do Christy? Saree?...mmm, Saree I think. She had found a similar one in a book or magazine and a few girls made them. Mine is a bit different than theirs but they were all really neat. This is the most comfortable ring! It began as 10 ga sterling wire - I forged it down a bit, stamped, formed, LOS'd. After I got to looking at it - it began reminding me of our life's journeys - so that is what it is - a Journeys Ring. I will be making more of these.

This one is up on Esty.

This is one of my favorites.

A flashy little ring (comparitively speaking) featuring a little garnet and custom cut jasper.

This ring is a direct reflection of creating on the lake - as it reminds me of the meandering shoreline of the lake we were on.


Available on Etsy.

LOVE this ring too! lol This features a very large red ocean jasper stone that is cut with generously sloping sides which allowed me to keep the bezel really low and still provide for a good secure setting. This stone is highly polished, as is the setting - the whole thing just glows and its super comfortable to wear!

Available on Etsy.

This next one is totally NOT me, but it was a GREAT experience to make. The little prong settings are pre-fab, not something I usually do, but they came to me in a studio buy-out, so I'm using them! The ring has a handcrafted scroll base and then features a large blush topaz and 5 3mm amethysts. Totally bubble gum, candy, sugary sweet. Not me.........and yet, this ring has really grown on me - its just so PRETTY!

Finally a little pendant - for practice. I was supposed to demo bead setting but never got around to it. This was my little practice piece to ensure my gravers were sharp and that I could still raise a bead! I then went round and round with a milligrain wheel a couple of days later, just for fun.

Other stuff:

H1N1 has arrived at our houe. Its thrown quite a wrench into our lives this week. LG has had a temperature ranging from 99-103.8 for most of the week but he is FINALLY fever free today Strike that - phone just rang - temp is back up to 101.3. Hopefully that will continue and he will begin to feel better each day. Unfortunately others are not recovering quite as well. A young man in our are just lost his life from H1N1 and complications - he was just 18.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/21363895/detail.html

There have been other deaths in our area. Its almost mind boggling to me. I tend to think that w can 'fix' or sustain or work around most 'common' illnesses - flu, colds, sore throats, that sort of thing. To know that someone can be 'healthy' and then in a relatively short period of time be gone......sort of unreal.

There is a very real possibility that someone you know will end up with H1N1, in fact it is more than possible - it is probable - at least here in the states.

So watch for symptoms, stay healthy, and get treatment if you begin to show any signs of flu-like symptoms.

PSA done. :)

Take care

~Janice

Only 10 more days!

That's right - in only ten more days its open registration for JAR 2009! (Jewelry Artists Retreat 2009)

If you have thought about coming, mark this date on your calendar!

Its a GREAT experience that you won't soon forget. ;-)

Get away for a week on beautiful Lake Gaston in North Carolina!

Get away for a week on the lake that is full of fun!!

Different jewelry techniques in metalsmithing,wirework, patinas and etching and resin and roller printing and maybe even cutting and polishing cabs!

This is a jewelry retreat that is a week full of lots of exposure. Not to mention tons of fun and laughter, good conversation, creativity, and FABULOUS food!

Week of.........October 11 - 18, 2009.

More info here

Leave a comment if you have questions or anything - I'll get back to you!

You don't have to have a ton of experience, just a willingness to learn (and share) and an open mind to meet new people!

~Janice

Jewelry Artists Retreat 2009 (JAR 2009)

Jewelry Artists Retreat 2009 (JAR 2009)

2009 JAR is scheduled for the week of October 11-18, 2009.

The house is located on Lake Gaston in Littleton North Carolina, just over the VA line.

This is from the back balcony of the house - looking down to the boathouse/dock and the lake.

Some information to help you begin to plan.

Of note:

The house is a shared living space and while the house is large, the sleeping quarters themselves are tight. There are TEN beds between 2 rooms in the downstairs, 5 in each room that range from doubles to singles some of which are bunks (full on bottom, single on top) and trundles (pull out singles that come out from under the bunks). Everyone gets their own bed but its a tight arrangement!

Registration
Will begin in January 19, 2009 for alumni of the 2008 retreat.
Will begin February 19, 2009 for all others.

The number of participants is limited to 13

Fees:

Rate - 2009 remains the same as last year - no increase!

$250.00 - with $50.00 of that as NON-REFUNDABLE deposit required due at time of sign up to reserve your space.

Meals:

Meals may be eaten collectively or on your own, however all attendees will be required to pitch in $20.00 for a grocery run the first day which will include things like toilet paper and paper towels. This may be paid in advance or upon arrival. Breakfasts and lunches tend to happen in small groups as people got hungry and wander into the kitchen, however dinner was usually all together which was GREAT fun!

What to bring:

This is not a hotel, you will need to bring toiletries (shampoo, toothpaste, toothpaste, etc). Bed linens are provided, as are bath towels, however we are (collectively) responsible for washing any linens/towels we use and returning them to their place. There is a fee applied to uncleaned linens which will be passed on to the guest responsible (i.e, I will not incur the fee for your dirty linens). There should be enough pillows for everyone to have one. If you require additional pillows, please bring them.

There is a grocery store very close though as well as a new hardware store! (yay!) So if you forget something, you can easily go buy a replacement.

Planning:
We will begin getting together a list of jewelry related supplies in the Spring after we coordinate a bit and get a feel for who has signed up and what each person can bring. This past year (again) we had duplicate items that we didn't necessarily need and not enough of some other things (like tables) - we keep learning and will do our best to think it all through before hand. However, you can definitely plan on bringing your own handtools such as pliers, saw, files, etc.

Pictures

Here Saree is working on the back downstairs porch - from here she can see the lake and hear the waves gently slapping at the shore. Of course, she probably also hears lots of laughter and chatter and hammers striking metal!

Some gals selling/trading bead stashes. This was a LOT of fun this past year - sharing our bead stashes, unloading things we just don't think we'll ever use, gaining pretty shiny things and beady things from our friends. I think this year we will dedicate one night to setting up a big open trade/sales room. Come prepared!

And a pic of the garage with tables and tools, and just lots of 'stuff'!

You can see pictures of the house here (you do not need a google account to view, if it doesn't open right up, look down near the bottom of the page and see if there is a link that says open in new window or something similar)

More to come, so stay tuned!

If you'd like, you can begin to ask questions or chat with others in this thread at the Jewelry Artists Network Forum. (you will need to register for a free account. Its worth it - there are tons of great people there and lots of fabulous information!)

~Janice

OK, its almost back

I FINALLY got part of my website back together. What a headache. I have done away with the 'entrance' page that was just a photo and said, of all things, 'ENTER'. Really original, right? Now its just a straight shot onto what used to be the 'second' page. And that page is almost empty. But at least its not blank anymore!!! See?

http://www.doxallo.com That should get you there.

HOWEVER, a bunch of the links of different pages are still messed up - they go no where or to error pages.....I hope to finish 'syncing' all the links tonight and creating the new 'jewelry' page which will have categories of items for sale. WHEW. A lot of work. In a way its enjoyable, I guess it speaks to my 'creative side' but on the other hand oy. its not enjoyable cuz its well, like work....html, coding, ftp -- ugh. THAT is no fun to me.

I spent a few minutes browsing around other jewelry/metalsmith sites this morning - looking just at colors mostly - forget layout, I don't even want to think about THAT right now. But it had occured to me that my colors might be a bit bold. A lot of websites are white or have a lot of white and they look so professional...but sometimes they also look a bit 'storelike', cold, commercial (not in a good way) [this is just my impression], so what do you think? Are my colors too bold? Should I go more neutral? Is there research that suggests one thing or another. You know, like 'they' say this or that works best..? Please give me your thoughts.

While I was wandering around the internet and blogland I came across this:
http://truthifudare.blogspot.com/ not sure what to think. It could be interesting. Or it could be a huge waste of space. What do you think? While we're on the topic - or semi-topic - what do you think of the whole "Post Secrets" phenomenon? Have you read the site or the book? Have you sent anything in...? I don't get the intrigue. My 20 year old has the book......just one more thing I don't 'get'.

I think that may mean I'm getting old....or I'm already old.

OH, and on another note - we have dates for the 2009 retreat!!

October 11-18 2009 -- same place, on the lake, Lake Gaston, NC. YAY!

More lessons from JAR 2008

Before I launch into some more things I've learned....let me first show the piece I made for the gift exchange. This was made for Cheryl and is sterling, charoite, onyx, hand engraved, patinated.



I love it and I hope she does too! And it was fun to make to boot!

OK, so more lessons...

Laugh. Laugh hard and laugh often.

Find people who inspire you. Hang out with them (helps if you organize a kick ass retreat once a year), go home and make things. Repeat.

Boat trailers are heavy - REAL heavy. Don't try to lift them. Ever. It won't work and you (and your friend who shall remain nameless) will both just end up feeling really stupid.

Buy earplugs. Use them - as needed, in all sorts of situations. ;-)

Scribes can take a beating.
Scribes like the one at the left are FAR more durable than I ever thought. They make really good, really deep holes in very thick metal and retain their sharp point.

Hand graving is hard. BUT, it is way cool and very completely absorbing......even BEGIN to get a knack for it and it can take you away into 'the zone'. But be careful or you'll zone your piece all to hell with very little left.

Finally, I've learned to hid when a camera is put in my face. And never, never, never stick my tongue out while scrunching up my face and tilting my head to one side 3 # from the lens.

So that's all that comes to mind right now. Although I guess I've also learned that I'm not as young as I used to be and these weeks away sans family really do me in. Its worth it, but my recovery time is definitely a lot longer........

Lessons from JAR 2008

OK, I learned a lot while I was there rubbing elbows with all the talented ladies, but there are a few things that really stand out to me.

First, and maybe most important, I think I finally learned that if a piece doesn't look right, its not necessarily crap to throw in a box. More likely - its just not done yet. If I keep pushing and tweaking and revising - it can turn out better than crap, more than just ok - it can be, dare I say it.....'good'.



Second, music energizes. Play it in the studio. Play it loud. Christy reminded me of that.

Third, you can say anything about anyone if you follow it up with 'bless his (her, your, their) harrrrrrt'. For instance, "that girl is a dumb fool, bless her harrrrrrrrt" It works. Try it.

Fourth, two wire clothes hangers bent just right double as a great flex shaft hanger.

And lastly, for now, don't try to wash 5 loads of sheets at 8am when checkout is at 10am. Just a bad idea, doesn't work, don't do it.

More later........

What a week! JAR 2008

Hokay.

The 2008 Jewelry Artists Retreat (JAR) has come and gone and WOW, what a week! There is no way I can unpack it all in one post so comments will probably trickle into my posts over the next week, but here's a start.

There were 13 of us, all women - in one big house - remember, you can see it here. We brought tools, tables, torches.....books and magazines...gifts and giveaways......and all kinds of metal and wire and beads and gemstones....food, chocolate, and alcohol...oh and some clothes and other stuff.

Seven of us returned from last year and 6 were new with us this year. We all helped set things up on Monday morning and then we dove in creating. We laughed and shared and talked and ate and became great friends.

I don't have all the pics yet but here are some of the things I worked on while I was there:

(sorry these are kinda pixelated - I didn't have proper photo editing software)

This is all of it - except the gift I made for the exchange and the tiny beads I made for a challenge we did while down there.

The idea for this first piece was for it to look like something unearthed....ancient...with the shiny rubies a dichotomy to the battered/aged metals. Its copper and sterling and rubies. Tiny lil' rubies.

Set with an astonishing boatload of different numbers of 'beads' - oops! - maybe some of them got knocked off during the dig. ;-)

A forged sterling bangle that would fit a rhino..if you see one who needs a bangle, do let me know. :)

my lil' ol' tiny tanzanite ring...its like a siamese twin...a stone on each side

(its the same on both sides but I have no idea if thats both sides or just two pics of the one..HA!)

In honor of Hanna -a bunch of us did scraps pendants/things.

This is my feeble attempt at 'random'..yea, yea, I know.

A big ol' pendant:

With prongs! YAY!

sterling, kyanite, citrine (or yellow sapphire....who knows..) roller printed, forged, etc. blah blah blah -- OH, but wait -- did I mention - PRONGS!!! Inspired by Christy. I think I soaked up her talent just by sitting near her. She's special, bless her harrrrrrrt.

Fun with the mill:

(oops, will have to find the pic later)
brass

And finally a spinner ring - not done - just pickled - don't you love that white ghostly appearance?

this will have 4 2.25 mm stones set in it when its done. And it spins. Spinning makes me happy.

I am hoping if I put alternating blue and red stones that when it spins it will look purple.

Maybe I'm just dreaming.

One of my FAVORITE things I did there was the gift piece. On Monday I finished the piece for our gift exchange (thanks Melissa for organizing that!) but I didn't get a photo before giving it to Cheryl. I think others took photos of it so I'm hoping to get a copy.

These 12 women have some serious mad skills (thanks Christy - I'll wear out that term REAL quick...) and I am so very thankful I got to spend time with them!

The end.

Ready, Set......GO!

Well, not quite yet.

The retreat begins in ohh, well, let's see - ummm about...in a ummm mere...hmmmm fleeting oooohhhhh 72-ish hours.

YAY!

But I haven't packed a thing. Really. Well, ok, I dumped some shampoo and conditioner in two small containers...and I tossed them on top of a rubbermaid box that has some 'stuffs' from last year's trip. And that's about as far as my sorry ass behind has gotten.

Where is all my energy!!???? I think its been sapped by single parenting (PTA, soccer, tennis, homework etc with my son), a wacked out adult daughter, work, bills, buying the car.....

This is why I NEED the retreat. I get so tired sometimes and this getaway is the perfect remedy! However, if I don't get movin' I won't be ready at all to go on Sunday.

I need to do the following:

• pack clothing/personal stuff
• pack up my studio
• pack the food I'm taking
• make sure all the laundry etc is done
• pull clothes for my son for school and soccer next week (and oh yea, school pictures are on Tuesday while I'm gone)
• Make sure his soccer uniform and ball, cleats etc are at the ready
• write an emergency medical note for him
• leave lunch money for him in a baggy
• set bible and AWANA stuff out on desk for Sunday
• Grocery shop so they have food to eat while I"m gone
• Buy tarps to cover seating etc in my NEW CAR

• Fix spelling on blogpost

hmmm, I know I'm forgetting something....

Help?

Reclaiming my studio

Many of you know that I had a studio 'disaster' this past week. I have been reluctant to post about it simply because it was such an awful experience. It frustrated me and left me weary.

However, I've gotten my studio mostly back together and have actually improved some things so it is time to share.

My flexshaft has always hung from a nail that protrudes from the side of the cinderblock wall, behind the right hand side of my bench. The nail is a big long sturdy son of a gun. However, a flexshaft motor is fairly large as well. AND since its located behind the bench, and my bench is deep - itts a bit of a stretch to use it comfortably for things like drilling, since you have to come in at the piece from the top. So as I was working one night, I pushed the foot pedal and the motor JUMPED (ok, FLEW is probably more like it) off the nail and came CRASHING down on my bench.

But not just on the bench mind you. It landed on a (closed) container of ferric chloride...you know, etchant. METAL etchant. And. . . . it broke the container. No, not really. It SMASHED the container. And etchant went EVERYWHERE. In my face, on my neck, clothes, the bench, the wall, ALL of my tools that were out, metals that were out, pieces in progress, stones, bead strands, my rolling mill, all over the flexshaft, on the desk lamp, puddles on the floor. I mean, it went pretty much everywhere.

If you've never cleaned up ferric chloride, let me just tell you that its not enough to wipe it with a paper towel. That just gets off the surface excess, but it doesn't 'cut' it from surfaces...it just smears it around. So I had to also go over everything with a wet paper towel, then again with a dry. It took me DAYS to clean it up - doing a little at a time each night. (remember, I work FT outside the studio each day) Well, I finally got it all done. Then came putting the tools back. I took this moment of cleared off bench time to collect all scraps and stones and wipe the entire bench top and then put things away. I hung the flexshaft from a long plant stand attached to the wall (with two screws and 4 bent over nails for good measure!)

So I've reclaimed my workspace even better than before. That makes me happy.

Looking at some of my pockmarked tools still makes me sad, but such is life. Life goes on and I've learned a lesson and tools can slowly be replaced. I wasn't injured which is probably the most important thing of all.

One additional upswing to this is that it should make packing for the Jewelry Artists Retreat next week much easier!! Speaking of which - YAY!!! Only 8 days and then I leave!! WHOOHOOO!

If you're not familiar with this retreat - its 7 days of non-stop jewelry making. In a very large house, right on the lake in NC, with a group of very talented and wonderful women metalsmiths. . . . it is such a good time and I can't wait to see everyone and play from sun-up til sun-down. You can see some info and pics from last year here , here, and here..and in another couple of weeks you'll see photos from this year!!!

JAN One Day Retreat

This Saturday was it!

The NE one day get together of some of us from the Jewelry Artists Network Forum.

A bunch of us trekked to Rina's studio this past Saturday in PA. What fun! First, Rina has a GREAT space - in an old mill type building - she rents a large room with 3 other women. There is a HUGE square table right in the middle...a little higher than waist high I guess. Enough space on each side for someone to work VERY comfortable - on all four sides - bench pins installed. So cool. Then around the edges of the room are 'stations' such as a soldering bench, a flexshaft table.....an anvil and a vise in another corner. Two HUGE windows that open to let air in (ventilation) -- HIGH ceilings. Jut a really nice space.

Everyone brought some food or drink....so we had a big spread and never had to stop all day - we just nibbled as we did our thing.

I got there about 10:40am (from MD) and was greeted by Rina and Angela (from NY). Shortly thereafter Gary arrived from Jersey. YAY! What fun! We hung out chatting and showing some of our work we brought with us -- then we (finally) got started on some flush setting! YAY (what fun!) Gary walked me through the first one and then I did one on my own - though I couldn't get the stone to stay in (big flaw 'eh?) I still felt it was a success. He did the final set on the second one for me -- but I feel like I have the idea down. Lisa (also from PA) showed up (finally!) during the flush setting part and then it was just talking and show and tell and eating and laughing and talking and some demos and talking and talking and talking.....Lots of talking.

More talking than demo-ing or making really -- but I think we were all really happy with that. It was just so cool to connect with these people that I have grown so fond of online - to meet them face to face - YAY! How fun! (anyone wanna smack me yet) lol

Rina is a great host - gracious with her space and time. Gary is a WEALTH of freakin' knowledge - he's da' man! Lisa is just -- well Lisa - fun and chatty and extremely generous. Angela brings a definite grounding and real creative flair.

All in all it was a great day - it could only have been better if Angela could have stayed longer and maybe a few more people could have come. Ooooooooooh, and if my car wold have started when I left. Another story for another day

Ohh and we met Linda, one of Rina's studio mates. That woman can be described in one word - spitfire. She's a little dynamo. Truly. And couldn't be nicer. Ooooooooo, and we met Rina's hubby. Who took it all in stride and was a GEM to help (with everyone else) in getting my car restarted.

A BIG thanks to all of them!

~Janice

I've been called out!

For non-posting, I've been called out by Hans Meevis (see link to Hans's blog on sidebar). I've been wanting to do more posting about process and networking and general life rather than simply posting shots of my work....so, being called out is a good thing.

I don't know about you, but as an artist, I go through dry spells. Where I make literally NOTHING. I'm in one of these dry wasteland times right now. Thankfully (or not) metalsmithing is not my full time job right now, its my hobby. So dry spells don't kill me, other than I hate the way it feels to not be creating. I've been told before that the dry spells are usually times of drinking in lots of inspiration, revitalizing the inner creative spirit. I tend to agree, but it makes the waiting no more enjoyable. When the inspiration begins to flow forth again I know I'll go through a period of creative fervor. Come on fervor!

In the meantime, I took part in....well, not really 'took part in', more like volunteered. I didn't have any stock, so I volunteered to man the Maryland Metals Guild booth one morning at M'Art sans actually being a part of the show. M'Art is a show coinciding with The Assembly 2007, which was hosted by the Maryland State Arts Council. "The Assembly" is a yearly gathering put on by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. (thats a mouthful!) and this year it was in Baltimore - YAY! The Maryland Metals Guild was invited to have a booth, and about 10 or 11 artists displayed their work. I had a great time! It was such a good experience for me to see the work of my fellow artists and to man the booth, speaking with customers. Watching my fellow booth worker, Shana Kroiz, interact with customers was a an eye opener. She has such a natural way about her and is so knowledgable, she seemed at complete ease. And shse made a lot of sales, of her work, but also of others work. I think maybe its easier sometimes for us to sell other people's work. :) Shana's work is incredible. Organic forms, lots of earthy colors - you can view some of her work on Flickr (which my firewall is blocking right now for some reason - be back with with a link later). Shana works with enamel and also FIMO. She uses the FIMO to make what she calls 'sketches' which she then replicates in metal. Her earrings were really a big hit at the show. They are two part earrings with the back being as large as the front if not larger! They are awesome - and truly little works of art. Some are pierced and some are magnetic. The magnetic ones come with extra magnets, so you actually wear half an earring as a brooch! Well done Shana!

What else is going on? I am gearing up for the 2008 Jewelry Artists Retreat which will be held in October, same place - Littleton NC. Sign ups begin in January and then the real planning ensues. Who is bringing what tools, how are people getting there, who has the chocolate!???

I am also taking this 'down time' to re-organize my bench. Ev just posted some pictures of her newly designed and cleaned up bench on the forum and I'm green with envy. I am hoping that some of my Christmas presents this year will be in the way of bench organization. I've asked for some heavy duty industrial C clamps, some shoe shelves to add height to the back of my bench (table), 2x4 with little clamps to put on the wall so I can hang some hammers. Just what every gal wants for Christmas right? ;-) I think my family has finally acquiesced and come to terms with the idea that YES, this is REALLY what I want and what will make me happy. An organized workbench - music to my ears.

Back to the topic on Orchid - see other blogs to check out in the sidebar here. :) [and don't forget to check the sidebars on THEIR blogs, you can bloghop all day]

The 2007 East Coast Jewelry Artists Retreat!

The 2007 East Coast Jewelry Artists Retreat went off with flying colors! Everyone had a great time and we all learned a LOT of new things!

I did my first hinged piece (and my first real pierce/sawing work)! Fabricated from sterling sheet, sterling tubing, bezel wire, MOP, and a rhodocrosite....hit some bumps on the way but end result is workable!






I also did some more fold forming! This is a score and fold copper piece with sterling and rutilated quartz.








here is a pic Wendy took in her cube.....the sterling piece isn't set yet and the chain (Jen's Pind) isn't finished...but there is my FIRST try at repousse'! Its done without a sketch or pattern, I was just trying to get the feel for the pitch and the chasing tools. Kind of looks like two catepillars though, doesn't it?





I can't wait to do this again next year!! 2008 East Coast Jewelry Artists Retreat - here I come!