Hello again! :D I know, it's been a while... :P It's wonderful to be back, and (finally) settled in my new workspace, (in the commandeered dining room of our new home. ;) ) so I'm going to make this post full of all the 'catching up' and goodies that I've made since the last post. Here we go...! ;D

 July and August were spent in a flurry of unpacking, building studio storage and placing furniture throughout the house...

September saw my first ever giveaway on Facebook. I figured I'd go with a sparkly 0.5ct raw, Conflict Free, diamond bar necklace set in sterling silver. (Awesome for those upcoming Holiday get-togethers. ;) ) A whole lot of fun, and very happily won by a lovely woman from my home province of Manitoba! :D Keep an eye out for future giveaways, as I'll definitely be doing more. ;)

Also during September, I made up a wonderful variety of new jewellery, which I made available in my Etsy shop, and much of which has been now sold. (Yay!) Shown above; 1ct total of raw, Conflict Free, diamond and silver earrings. Some of the other creations from August/September are shown below...

A 'Manifestation' Herkimer Diamond, (A complete crystal within a crystal) set in a deep sterling silver setting that just begs you to dive into it...

A Herkimer and a green Tourmalinated Quartz cab pendant. Like a  sunny Summer's day... ;)

A very fun setting experiment gone right, with an Almandine Garnet and sterling silver...

A sparkly, rock candy like Herkimer ring. (One of two that I made. This one having been sold almost immediately.)

Hessonite Garnet and a Herkimer. A really lovely Autumnal combination that was instantly adopted from my shop.  :D

A Labradorite, Tourmalinated Aquamarine, and Black Tourmaline in silver pendant. (Added to my personal collection. ;) )

A Herkimer and Peridot combination that reminds me of a storm cloud over a green field. I was very inspired by the mossy, forested world surrounding me for these latest creations.

After making all those lovelies, I realised how difficult it was to find tools when I wanted them, (from within the pile of chaos I'd created in my cupboard) so I used a Saturday afternoon and some wood scraps from the basement to make this spiffy jewellery making tool rack. (Yep, I'm proud. ;) )

This past week, and the week before was taken over by beginning to carve a walking stick for a customer in Florida, having the flu, then carving some more and working on all my lovely new gift boxes for shipping orders out during the coming Holiday Season! :D

All this while working on re-doing our roof!
So now you can see why it's been so long since my last post, but I'll try and keep them more current as things settle down a bit.
I hope everyone's had a wonderful Summer and I look forward to sharing the coming Autumn and Winter seasons with you! Thanks for reading and sticking with me. Your support and interest makes it all worthwhile! <3

I've been quiet lately, I know, but with good reason. ;) I've been working hard... Commissions and special orders, birthstone bangles, (like the one shown above) pendants, statement rings and engagement rings, with some paintings and illustrations in between.
(I promise to post more images soon! :D )

Add to all that the fact that I'm moving house,  packing like a madwoman, (I'm beginning to think I may have hoarding issues ;) ) creating a new, larger, private studio, and soon to be opening my own gallery for local artists, and a café, the silence becomes understandable.
(I hope ;) )

I've also been to the lovely Spring Design Market at the studio Taket in Gothenburg, (Seen Below...Well, you can see me, Vicki's getting something from under the table.  ;) )  with the very talented and creative Vicki Jacob-Aas from Murum Ceramics. (Pop over and have a look, her stuff is GORGEOUS! ;) )
http://www.murumceramics.com

As soon as I'm all moved and set up, there'll be tons of new goodies in my Etsy shop, and loads of new pics here, of my space, and designs. I hope you all have a lovely June, and we'll see you again soon! <3

Whew! It's been a while since I've been here! :P A lot has been going on...making of things, workups for book illustrations, setting up an art installation at Hantverksbageriet, buying a house, building a studio... Life just tosses it all at you at once, but it's never boring. ;)

So...here's some of what I've been working on in the intervening months....

Here are some of the rings I've been working on, and stones I've been itching to set. Closer looks at some of them are included below...

The beginnings of a 'Botanicals' line of jewellery, using lost wax castings of actual plants, twigs, flowers and seedpods, in solid sterling silver...

A silver-white, super sparkley, conflict free raw diamond ring, with a twig band. Very much fun to make, and I have a whole line of rough and rustic diamond jewellery planned...Wedding season, here we come! :D

Raw green Kyanite and silver ring... Looks like candy. Yum! :)

Even more candy-like, imperial topaz and silver... :D

Swedish amethyst, locally mined and set in silver...

A lovely rough and chunky setting for a raw piece of Pyrite...

Some of the lovely Aquamarine rings, both before and after they were finished.

I've also created a series of limited edition, hand detailed prints of some of my favourite photos, taken while wandering the city in the Spring and Summer months... LOTS more of them to see in my Etsy shop, and I'll be creating more as I take new pics, so keep an eye (or both ;) ) peeled! <3

Today on my workbech, (and soon available in my Etsy shop ;) ) silver, pink Kyanite and Star Rubies... Having waaay too much fun setting stones. :D

And here's the reason it took me so long to make that last post... ;) I've been very 'busy' with the torch and silver over the past week, and have some more pieces on my bench waiting for attention, bere's a peek...The ones you see here are all currently available in my Etsy shop. ;)

Two simple, hammered silver bangles (1.5mm and 2mm) 

Two variations, with Valentine's Day on the brain... ;) 'Two Hearts' and 'Forever Love'

One Garnet and one Labradorite...

Labradorite with smoky quartz earrings.

Labradorite drop earrings.

Smoky quartz drop earrings.

'Alana' earrings, from my hammered silver series, with black pearls.

Small labradorite earrings.

Amethyst drop earrings.

A woven and hammered silver ring...

And a woven and hammered silver ring with a bubble.

A textured silver ring...

And a simple hammered silver ring.

'Love of Sea and Stone' The first in an upcoming series of necklaces and jewellery pieces featuring silver, semi-precious stones, fresh water pearls and silver charms. In this case Garnet, and a hammered silver heart charm. A perfect gift for someone special this Valentine's day. ;)

Busy, busy, busy...Between the post Holiday madness, and onging jewellery experimentations, I realized I hadn't posted an image of the finished angel...So, here she is! :D

She really was a lot of fun to create, and I can see myself making more paintings along these lines, in the same media (ink, pigment markers and white paint pen) on 87½cm x 45cm HDF.

A detail of the finished image...

Detail of the far right of the finished image.

Have you ever had an idea that gets so thoroughly wedged in your brain that it won't let you work on anything else until it's out...? Yyeeaaahhhh...That was my day. So here's a look at my first piece of 2014!


 

It started with an idea, for an angel...I don't know why, I don't usually draw angels, but I have been obsessed with feathers and bird wings lately...

A little more planning and some idea for background...

A few hours later...The 'work police' say it's time to stop for the evening. ;) Ink and archival pigment marker on reclaimed HDF. The plan is to do the highlighting and wings with white paint marker. I'll hopefully finish and post her tomorrow. Wish me luck! ;)

Day number two with my Angel...I started work on the wings this morning...I think I may be a little masochistic,  (leaves, feathers, tons of detail in everything I do...) but I love it. ;)

A little more detail and highlighting...

And this is where I'm going to stop and go for a walk...It's getting to that 'Is this really going to work out...?' stage, where it gets really hard not to just abandon the whole thing....I'll just have to muscle through...