Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July! It has been a very awesome, albeit long Fourth of July for me. I had a great Saturday Market and an even better Fourth of July show. I finished thirty pairs of earrings. Here is one pair of them that I couldn't wait to share. I think they turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. What do you think? They are a gorgeous shade of purple and the way they sparkle...mmmm! I etched butterflies into the surface of the dichoic glass before fusing them. Afterwards I wrapped them in sterling silver and accented them with a lighter shade of Swavorski crystal bicones on sterling silver earwires.

All the hard work I did last week to get ready and make more earrings last week was definitely worth it to me, but now I am exhausted from going to long on too little sleep. So it is off to dreamland for me!

Updating Earring Prices

I spent most of today reviewing my dichroic glass earring prices. I've updated almost all of my earring prices, not including the fancier wrapped pieces.

In this process I've discovered two things. One the amount of glass used in the cabochons doesn't have a very significant impact on the overall cost of the piece. What has the biggest impact is the gold filled earwires VS the sterling silver earwires. My favorite gold filled ones (like in the picture) are nearly five times the price of the same style in sterling silver. Ouch! Also the gold filled wire I've used for wrapping is twice as much as the sterling silver wire.

As you browse my Artfire studio you will notice that the earrings done in gold have increased in price. Sterling silver earrings have gone up, down or stayed the same.

Black & Silver Dichroic Glass Earrings

Here is today's newest offering, stunning black, silver and white dichroic fused glass cabochons wire wrapped in sterling silver and suspended from sterling silver earwires with black Swavorski crystal accents.

I didn't get a chance to work on any glass today, but I did get a lot of other stuff accomplished-shopping, housework, marketplaces all delivered and in a few hours I'll be hanging out with my best friends!

Blue & Purple Honeycomb Dichroic Glass Earrings

Today I managed to get these pretties listed in my studio. This uses up another cabochon set from "The Hoard". I've wrapped them up in sterling silver and suspended them from sterling silver earwires.

It really feels good to get some more cabochons out of the hoard. I look forward to getting more used up. I still have three more pairs of earrings to list that also came from the hoard. In addition to working on the hoard I started cutting cabs for earrings out of my stash of glass slabs today. I finished cutting out the last of the dichroic doodle cabs. And then I went to cuttings cabs out of the different colored ripple slabs.

I finally fixed the comments section on my blog yesterday. I changed my comment settings over to a pop-up window and it is working now.

Ethereal Vines, White Dichroic Glass Earrings & Pendant

More goodies! I finished the pendant today and listed both the earrings and pendant in my Artfire studio today. These cabochons are out of white opal glass that has been overlaid with hand drawn and etched dichroic glass. A lovely shimmery silver-blue that in the right light also goes purple.

I was supposed to have a class last night, but was stood up again.....From now on these folks will be required to come in and physically sign up for my classes.

I edited all the titles in my Artfire studio today. Before the title had the name and then a short description of it. Now the short description comes first then the name. This way I seem to show up much better on the searches.

I have got to figure out a way to make a catalog of my pretties. I know that there are several places I could leave one at. I guess for me the main problem is my printer. I don't think it prints very good pictures. I think I will also do a bit of searching on-line. I may be able to put something together and then order it.

Red Sweetheart Dichroic Glass Pendant

Despite all I have had to do today and yet to do, I managed to squeeze enough time to get this pendant finished. I tried yesterday, but my hands just weren't working well enough so I decided to wait and try again today. Here it is, my Red Sweetheart Pendant! Another one of those cabs that I was working on last week all finished in sterling silver. Hope you like!

Red Sweetheart Dichroic Glass Earrings

Here is my newest pretties, my Red Sweetheart Earrings, freshly listed today! A pair of my handmade dichroic fused glass cabochons created of red glass overlaid with a hand drawn and etched design in silver dichroic glass. All wrapped up in sterling silver wire with sterling silver earwires. Next a matching pendant!

Dichroic Fused Glass, Hearts & Flourishes-Valentine's Day Sale!

Here is the first finished pendant and earrings out of the finished cabs. Aren't they gorgeous? I love them! And just wait till you see the heart earrings and pendant coming up next. I just listed these in my Artfire studio, Hearts & Flourishes Earrings and Hearts & Flourishes Pendant.

I have a Valentine's Day Sale going on now through Friday, Febuary 5. Everything in my studio has been marked down 30% including the clearance items.

Green Velvet Dichroic Glass Earrings and Pendant

Another set finished! Rich green and violet, handmade dichroic glass cabochons that I have wrapped in sterling silver. The pendant features a wire woven bail. The earrings are finished with sterling silver earwires. I really love the look of these woven bails. The dark blue in these is actually violet. Next sunny day I will take some more pictures and see if I can get the violet to show as violet instead of dark blue.

Mike and I are taking the boys to see Avatar tomorrow. I may not get a chance to post. So please forgive me in advance if I don't post tomorrow.

Custom Ring & Aurora Borealis

Here's today's project, a custom wire wrapped ring that was commissioned. I'll be dropping it off tomorrow. I'm grateful to have managed several good color pictures of it!

I have never done any fusing where I've fused dichroic on top of dichroic or so I thought until I was taking a close look at this cab this morning. Turns out I layered blue-magenta-green clear ripple onto clear and then layered
black cherry clear ripple on top of that. Then because the colors didn't show I set it aside for a couple of years. So it has taken me a couple of years to fuse the slab onto white glass to show off the colors!

I finally came up with a name for this set today and listed them in my Artfire studio. I named them Aurora Borealis Earrings and Aurora Borealis Pendant.

Ripples & Unnamed Dichroic Glass Wire Wrapped Jewelry

Wanted to take a quick moment and share the finished pieces from today! Hope you like! The first set I plan to call "Ripples" The color is very mesmerizing and soothing. I have no clue of a name for the gold ones yet. I have all the earrings wrapped and finished from that last batch of cabs. I am still working on the matching pendants though. I have to run, it's late and I still have to pack my toolbag!

Day 24 Of AEDM

And here is today's goody! A trio of my handmade cabs are sterling silver wire wrapped together with Czch glass beads and suspended from a sterling silver chain. Notice the handmade dichroic design in the cabs. This lovely has yet to be named and listed.

I had hoped to work on stage two of Project A today, but didn't have enough time. :(

Day 17 Of The AEDM Challenge

I seem to be in the mood for rings. I made another one today. The pictures just don't give this lovely cabochon justice. It has such deep, rich blue shades in it. This is one of the cabs from my hoard. I set it in sterling silver. This one is my favorite of these wire wrapped rings so far. My ex came up with the name for this one, "Galaxy". It is truly fitting.

Days 13, 14 & 15 Of AEDM Challenge

I had to slow down a bit and take a break. I went out Friday evening with a friend and Saturday I went to a craft show that I didn't get into because the time limit snuck past me and then went to the movies with my boys. But now I need to catch up and share what I have been working on!

I liked my blue "Twinkle Hoops" so much I decided to make a pair in gold with forest green cabs. Then I made some with silver lever-back hoops with moss green cabs. Then I decided I needed to be able to offer handmade hoops in sterling silver and 14K gold filled. So I made my first ever pair of 14K gold filled wire hoops using the mimosa (coral) cabs. They were so much fun I replaced the silver lever backs with a pair of handmade sterling silver hoops! I will be adding these to my Artfire studio in the next couple of days.

I also had to include a picture of the small stained glass panel I just finished.

Day 11 Of AEDM Challenge

I managed to get another pendant put together for the AEDM challenge. I call it "Eclipse". Today is day eleven. I used one of my dichroic fused glass cabochons in black and silver. I wire wrapped it in sterling silver with another woven bail. This wire wrapping variation looks much better to me than the previous two. Now I just need to practice the technique! AEDM challenge is going to give a wonderful chance to do just that!

I also wish to share my newest stained glass project. I have gotten it all cut out and then ground the edges to remove jagged corners and sharp edges. This also helps to fit the pieces together nicely. Tomorrow I will foil it, solder it, clean, patina, clean and wax it. I'm excited to see it all finished and held up to the light!

Day 8 of AEDM Challenge

Today I managed to get two items made for the challenge. I made a new pendant using a square cabochon in the same colors that I used to make my "Ice Queen" pendant shown in the picture. The other is a pair of earrings. I have these lovely lever-back style hoop earring findings in both gold and silver. I took a pair of my little, 8mm cabochons in deep blue and wire wrapped them in sterling silver making them into a pair of "charms" and hung them off a pair of these silver hoops. These earrings use are the same shade of deep blue as in this pendant and the one I just made!

I made a quick trip with my aunt to Aberdeen, Washington to deliver half a beef to my uncle and his wife. It is a 6 hour drive one way. We drove up yesterday and came back today. We split the driving, but I am totally exhausted or I would go take pictures, list the items and share them. I will be sharing them tomorrow though!

I will be starting on the new pricing upgrades tomorrow. Also I plan to run an unofficial poll!

Day 3 of AEDM Challenge

Today's challenge piece for me was a nugget of tumbled, polished turquoise. I friend of a friend commissioned me to wire wrap it so she could wear it as a pendant. I did manage to get it wrapped in sterling silver. I'm not real happy with the bail. As I'm out of time and have wasted over three feet of wire in four attempts to wrap the thing I've decided I'm done. I have learned that I don't like wrapping irregular, lumpy, bumpy objects and will never take on a commission like this again. I don't feel I did justice to the stone.

As I'm not about to take a picture of my failure I decided to share my newly listed Black Cherry Ripple ring! An adjustable wire wrapped dichroic glass cabochon done in sterling silver. I also listed my necklace and pendant from day one and day two.

Day 2 Of Create Art Every Day Challenge

Here is my first piece created for the Art Every Day challenge. I chose this dichroic glass cabochon I made. I wire wrapped it in sterling silver wire adding two rondelle beads. I am really pleased with it.




















And here is the second piece I created today. I wire wrapped another one of my cabs in sterling silver wire and Czech seed beads. I love this one too!












And last but not least is a picture of all those chains I put together yesterday. I used bulk chain and findings.