item of the week

this week's item of the week is the diskis bracelet from my signature collection. this bracelet is based on a custom design i created for a client a few years ago. as i was working on sketches for the fall preview and 2009 pieces, i came across my original drawings. i was reminded of how much i enjoyed making it then and thought it would make an excellent edition to my original line now. plus, i really liked that i would be adding a bracelet. i don't make many of them so it is a refreshing edition as well. the random pattern of different sized disks is how i like these elements best.

this will be the last item of the week until i get back from my west coast trunk show tour. i will also be "closing" my shop until then as well. you will still be able to visit my site and all its pages and even place orders, i just won't be able to fill any of them since i will be away from my studio.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week’s item of the week is the aligned shadow box in both earrings and necklace form. i made these in an effort to bring some depth and dimension to my otherwise rather flat preface collection. i also wanted to add sheet metal in some way rather than working with my usual wire shapes. after i made them i tried to come up with a good name and thought shadowbox was fitting. there is something very pleasing to me about shadow boxes and the like. they remind me of the many dioramas and dollhouses i made as a kid. this new shadowbox reminds me of those tiny spaces that I filled so happily and meticulously. i think this new form has potential to be filled with something...you might just see that next year.

the aligned shadowbox earrings and necklace are both part of my fall preview. all fall preview designs are currently 20% off until oct. 15.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

for the next couple of tuesdays i plan to write about my new fall preview pieces for item of the week and i want to begin with my absolute favorite, the scallop links necklace. when i designed my pieces back in august, this style was not included because i hadn't thought of it yet. the idea didn't exist until i was actually making my preview pieces a few weeks later. i was working with another completely different idea for the steel and gold collection, playing around with various shapes and combinations, but was really struggling. nothing satisfied me. a few days later i remembered my desire for more dimension in my work and considered how i could make this happen in my new pieces. i had also just gotten back from the beach and had shells on my mind, specifically scallops. i started manipulating my long oval shape with a hammer and was very happy with the resulting curve. when i linked a few together i found they created a wonderful scallop edge. i also liked how loose the pattern was, changing as the necklace shifted on the body. the above picture shows this quality nicely.

all my new fall preview pieces are 20% off from now until october 15th.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week is the stacking rings from my steel and gold collection. i know i have mentioned this before and it may be old news to some, but that class i took with maria phillips a few years ago and the things i learned there play a significant role in my work today. this is vastly evident in my steel and gold collection. i learned how to solder steel with gold in this class. i experimented with some old binding wire that was lying around in the studio and the 18K gold solder i had on hand. i made a bunch of simple rings and forged them into different shapes, hammering each along its surface and sides with more or less force every stroke. i loved the results - simple shapes in near-black metal hints of bright gold. later these little pieces turned into an entire collection. my stacking rings are closest to the originals, except they are always round:

please enjoy 20% off the stacking rings for the week sept 16-22.
originally $70 for a set of 3, on sale for $56.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

today's item of the week is the bean bracelet from my egg & bean collection. i made the original bean bracelet for myself long before the entire collection came to be. i can never find bracelets to fit my freakishly small wrist and wanted a few hammered bangle style pieces for easy, everyday wear. i first made a small round bangle in sterling wire and then bent it into an ovoid. then i took it a little further by adding the indentation along the side. i tried it on and couldn't believe how well it fit. the ovoid fit naturally over the curve of my hand and the little bend allowed the bracelet to sit just so. it was definitely one of those eureka! moments for me.

please enjoy 20% off the bean bracelet for the week, sept. 9-15.
regularly $60 each, on sale for $48.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week is not one but two earring styles - small and large aligned post earrings. when i was deciding on this week's item i thought, "what shape do i absolutely love?" i had a quick and easy answer - aligned - which i think you can see best in these two pairs of earrings. i create this shape using a "finger shaped mandrel" intended to make ring bands with the comfortable, more natural shape of a rounded square. i bought this mandrel a few years ago as a treat. later, when i was developing my preface collection, i didn't want to limited myself to working with just the preface shape so i turned to that mandrel. i felt its design was complimentary to the unconventional geometry of preface. for my aligned shape, i hammer the outside of the piece and flatten the top and bottom ever so slightly in the rolling mill. the result is a simple, mildly unexpected form.

please enjoy 20% off small and large aligned post earrings for the week, sept 2-8.

small regularly $50, on sale for $37.50
large regularly $58, on sale for $43.50

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week is the diskis necklace. i designed a graduated disk necklace in 2001 for a school assignment in which i had to reticulate silver. (reticulation is a technique in which the surface of the metal is melted in a controlled manner. the surface bubbles and ripples creating amazing organic textures.) i am attracted to things that are graduated in size, thus the simple 6 disk pendant from large to small. later, when i created my first collection pieces, i pulled my drawing for that assignment from my sketchbook and designed the focal point of my "diskis collection." this time however, i used a very different technique called "roller printing." for this technique, a rolling mill is used to transfer the texture from a source to a piece of metal through pressure. first, i created a textured metal plate using different hammers and chasing tools that would provide circular marks. once i had covered the surface with tiny dots i ran it through the rolling mill with a piece of sterling silver underneath. the resulting texture was a wonderful relief of circles. i intended this texture to resemble the surface of the moon, but over the years i've had lots of clients comment on what they see when they look at the diskis series' dotty texture, my favorite is "something magnified under a microscope."
i used the same plate for years, by the way. i finally made a new plate this year.

please enjoy 20% the diskis necklace for the week, august 26 - september 1. regualrly $120, on sale for $96.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week’s item of the week is the complex necklace from my layered collection. i designed this necklace to be versatile. the 18” chain has two clasps instead of one, allowing for easy disassembly. it can then be styled in a number of ways giving the wearer options and a more personal and active role in the life of the piece after it leaves my studio. you can find this necklace in my layered collection in my shop.
please enjoy 20% off the complex necklace for the week, aug 19-25. regularly $200, on sale for $160.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week is the tiny traipse necklace. i chose this piece simply because it is one of my absolute favorites. i don't even remember why i created it, although i was probably thinking something like "wouldn't it be cool to make these thin sticks with tiny circles punctuating either end?" i love its simple, delicate-looking design. you can find the tiny traipse necklace in my signature collection in my shop.

please enjoy 20% of the tiny traipse necklace for the week, july 29 - august 4. regularly $66, on sale for $52.80.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week... small preface post earrings. by now you probably know the story of the preface shape and how it came to be a few years back. this year i got into soldering posts on earrings and began making more post styles than my usual circular earwires. i thought for a long time that posts were a pain, but then my friend and fellow jeweler, aran, told me about the magic of these special standup cross-lock tweezers. they act as a third hand, firmly holding a post at a perfect 90 degrees just where it needs to be on the earring. genius! (thanks, aran!) now i can't get enough of posts. you'll find these earrings in the preface collection in my shop.

please enjoy 20% of the small preface post earrings for the week, july 22-28 (regularly $72, on sale for $57.60)

thanks for reading.

p.s. here are the tweezers. if you're a jeweler, i highly recommend getting a pair. they run about $7.

item of the week

this week's item of the week is the long oval necklace from my steel and gold collection. this shape was a new style for the collection in march 2007. i designed the oval this particular way because i wanted a long, graceful shape with a little bit of character. the near 4" length allows for a softness or looseness in the line which is a nice contradiction to steel's reputation as being hard and tough. i chose one long oval as the focus because i am drawn to single elements, as you can see with so many other pieces in my shop. this is definitely one of my favorite shapes to make, too.

please enjoy 20% off the long oval necklace for the week, july 15-21. regularly $96, on sale for $76.80.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week is the egg and bean charm necklace. i added this design to my egg and bean collection a few years ago because of the positive response a similar version recevied when i wore it to a trunk show. the evening of the event i was frantically getting ready and as per usual i did not have any jewelry of my own to wear. (i rarely make things for myself.) i had a few miscellaneous egg and bean shapes laying on my bench so i grabbed them and threaded them on a long chain as i walked out the door. that evening i got many comments on the necklace. i really liked it, too. it reminded me of a charm necklace i had when i was a kid. i also liked it because of its interchangeable possibilities. when it was time to design my new items for spring i added the egg and bean charm necklace.

today i offer this necklace in 5 colors - black, red, white, turquoise, and gray.
please enjoy 20% off the egg and bean charm necklace for the week, july 8-14. regularly $130, on sale for $104.

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week are the simple layered earrings. these earrings are made of three different sized circles, all hammered flat. when i was designing my layered collection, i wanted to create earrings with a bit of an edge, but they also had to be very wearable. this simple, asymmetrical design had both elements.

also, i am a child of the 80's and remember lots of big circle earrings and mismatched earrings from that time. i often think about what i wore and what was in style when i was growing up. sometimes those memories make it into my collections.

please enjoy 20% off the simple layered earrings for the week, july 1-july 7. regularly $72, on sale for $57.60

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week are these sweet little earrings, called little babies. this is not rocket-science metalsmithing, just a hammered jump ring and me wanting to make something tiny and very simple. after i finished them i kept referring to them as "little babies" because they were tiny and cute. later, i was reminded of a song by one of my all-time favorite bands, sleater-kinney. you'll find them in my signature collection.

please enjoy 20% off the little babies earrings for the week june 24-june 30...and just for fun, i'm throwing in the little babies necklace, too. they're both 20% off!
little babies earrings regular $30, on sale for $24
little babies necklace regular $30, on sale for $24

thanks for reading.

item of the week

this week's item of the week is the tension necklace. in 2004 i had a short residency in seattle, wa. one saturday i was having a hard time getting motivated to make my work. to get myself warmed-up, i had this idea to make a sterling ring of two hammered bands, one of which would be held in place inside the other with tension. i ended up spending most of my day on that ring. it took awhile to make the two rings themselves and then to get the fit of the band inside band just so. there was a lot of hammering and then fine tuning of each band. that ring design later translated to the tension necklace, only now the rings are two steel bands soldered with 18k gold solder and then hung on a fine gold chain. this design, found in my steel & gold collection, is still challenging to make and every once in awhile i cannot get the tension right. the name is fitting in more ways than one.

please enjoy 20% off the tension necklace for the week, june 10-june 16. (originally $110, on sale for $88)

thanks for reading.

in the meantime

i was just trying to post another greece installment, but discovered i can't find the cord that one uses to transfer digital pictures from camera to computer. although i have lots of pictures of greek jewelry shops and the jewelry inside them, i don't have pictures of the work i actually bought. since the cord is missing, well, more greece posts will have to wait. in the meantime, i thought i would write about a few new happenings.

i have more new gallery representation with heidi lowe gallery in rehoboth beach, de. heidi will be carrying my studio jewelry and my preface collection. she also invited me to make cuff links for her upcoming cuff links show, "night of the stud" which opens august 2.

my ring "this came a bit later" will be included in the upcoming exhibition "30 small works" at gallery up in rock hill, sc. i sent my application and images for the jury just before i left for greece and the acceptance letter arrived while i was away. when i got home i had a huge pile of mail to sort through and happily discovered that my ring is featured on the show postcard before i even saw the acceptance letter. needless to say, it was a great surprise!today i got the new metalsmith magazine in the mail. i saw the back cover first and was so excited to see my studiomate geoff giles. he is featured in an ad for rio grande because he won a saul bell design award last year. i've known about the ad for awhile but this is the first time i've seen it. i think it's pretty awesome - go geoff!



jewelry of the month is coming up in just a few weeks. i will debut this new project july 1.

finally, item of the week will return tuesday, june 10 and guest star friday will return friday, june 13.

thanks for reading.

bon voyage...

i leave for greece tomorrow! i just wanted to write about a few things before i go...

item of the week is now on hold until i return. i'll start that up again on june 10.

there will also be no guest-star friday posts until i return, unless i can get to a computer. i will try to blog while i'm away, but it all depends on internet availability. please do check back now and again, though! i will resume guest-star friday on june 13.

my studio and office are closed pretty much as soon as i post this entry. you are welcome to visit my site and place orders while i am away, but i will not be able to fill the orders until after i return. thanks for your patience! (i will be gone from may 6-june 1.)

my klimt02 page is now live. please check it out and while you are there, visit some of the other jewelers' pages. there are so many incredible artists to see!

i have a brand new shop that i am very excited about - artstream in rochester, nh. artstream offers a gallery and exhibition opportunities for emerging and established artists, art classes, and media designs services.

...and, finally, here are a few more greek jewelers i've found while researching contemporary greek jewelry.

rallou katsari

sonai riz

mania lyrintzi

loukia richards

bon voyage and, as always, thanks for reading!

item of the week

this week's item of the week is my flat egg necklace. i started making this necklace a few years ago because i wanted to create something that was not a circle. at the time, i was producing circles over and over and each had to be near perfect. this was beginning to feel limiting and i wanted to loosen up a little. i thought creating an organic, slightly abstract form would do the trick. so i took some paper and began cutting. i had maybe 30 pieces when i was done, mostly soft ovals and beach pebble-like shapes. i had three favorites including the one pictured above. it reminded me of an egg...my egg and bean collection and an excellent compliment to my collections was hatched!

this will be my last item of the week until i return form my trip to greece...please enjoy 20% off the flat egg necklace for the week, april 29-may 5. (originally $75, on sale for $60)

item of the week will start again on june 3!

thanks for reading.

item of the week

i really enjoyed revisiting an older design last week with the ratio times one necklace so i decided to feature another older design this week, my wire line earrings. while i was in school i made lots of necklaces and rings, but very few earrings. i was more interested in these other forms of adornment and didn't even wear earrings that much, actually never. then one day while i was designing my original collection (now my signature line). i was sitting in my studio and the wire line earring just sort of came to me out of the blue. i thought threading a length of wire through the ear instead of attaching it to the lobe with a post or hook could be very interesting and even strange. i made a pair that were very long - they brushed my shoulders. i started wearing them to my day job and got lots of compliments and comments. i was on to something... making these earrings and the positive response i got caused me to think more about earrings and the ear as a place to adorn. since i still wasn't wearing earrings that often, it all seemed odd to me, but my mind was changing. i made the wire line earrings shorter and forged them just a little to add strength and pretty hammer marks. then i made them even shorter so i could have two sizes to offer my clients. these earrings were the gateway to more earring designs and shortly after i added different styles to my line.

now i love making and wearing earrings. i rarely leave home without a pair on.

please enjoy 10% off my wire line earrings for a week, april 22-28. (originally $46 for the medium length, $41.40 on sale and $40 for the small length, $36 on sale.)

thanks for reading.

item of the week

i was just trying to pick an item from my shop for this week's item of the week when i decided to go with the one piece that started it all, the ratio times one necklace. this necklace is the very first collection piece i ever designed back in 2002 when i began my business. how did i come up with it? when i sat down at my bench to design my original collection (called "ratio" then) i was thinking i had to choose a shape that i could easily reproduce with the tools i had and so i choose the circle. i had all kinds of mandrels and hammers for that! and, i was drawn to this shape for reasons i can't quite explain even to myself. i thought a circle about the size of a quarter could work and had lots of wire on hand. i measured a length of wire, filed the ends, soldered them together, and gently hammered the piece into shape around a mandrel. i liked the hammer marks and the handmade look of the finished circle, but it needed something else. i had taken a class with metalsmith lori talcott the summer before and had learned a bunch of filigree techniques, including how to make these tiny balls of silver. i enjoyed making hundreds of them at a time and loved the subtle detail they added. i thought this element would be perfect for the circle so i soldered 5 on randomly around the edge. i was pleased with the result and expanded that one piece into a small collection of earrings and necklaces. over time this design has evolved into a solid collection for me, now part of my "signature line." i only solder one little ball on now, preferring the very minimal effect using only one has.

last week's item of the week also included a sale on the featured item which i have decided to incorporate regularly, just because... please enjoy 10% off the ratio times one necklace in either silver or 14k gold for a week, april 15-21. (originally $60 for silver, $54 on sale and $210 for 14k gold, $189 on sale.)

have a great week!

thanks for reading.