Sea Glass Earrings and Collecting

Just one example of earrings I will have in the Holiday sale.  These are made with sea glass from Pt. Townsend, Washington and fresh water pearls.  The sea glass we find  differs from Pt. Townsend to Orcas Island.  Pt. Townsend glass tends to be very rounded while Orcas glass is mostly flat.  Curt and I really enjoy the hours combing any beach for found objects.   

            

  I thought you might like to see part of our collection of rocks, shells, sea glass, etc.  The sand dollars are also from Washington.  Most of the shells are from the

Outer Banks of North Carolina.  These jars hold only a small portion of our collection.  We really are like crows collecting pretty baubles for our nest.

Gallery Art Sale
I will be participating in the sale at 212 Art Association in Saline. The 212 Holiday Sale will kick off Saturday, December 5th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  The sale continues everyday until December 18th.  I hope you will be able to attend!

Black Friday

Madness of the shopping hoards!  I felt like this crow gathering pretty things for my studio "nest".  Yes, I allowed myself to be involved in visiting stores on Black Friday.  Just couldn't pass up the sales at Michael's.

The picture was taken at West Beach Resort on Orcas  Island in Puget Sound, Washington.  This beach and surrounding beaches are where a lot of my jewelry stones and sea glass are gathered.  If you ever have the chance to visit the San Juan Islands spend some time on Orcas.  Curt and I are visiting again in the early spring.  Can't wait!  Definitely no shopping hoards at this place.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.   It is great when you are able to be surrounded by people you love and give thanks for having such a truly wonderful life.

Pearl Stack Necklace

I've had some more time in the studio working on "sputnik cheeseburgers" as my girlfriend Kat has named them.  They are fun pieces to make.  The piece pictured is made from copper, sterling silver and fresh water pearls.  The patina on the copper didn't show up as well as it looks in real life.  I'm still working on my photography skills.  Blogging is forcing me to record my work with better images.  I will keep working on them!

Necklace for Molly

Two sterling silver pieces with fresh water pearls.  I love "beating up" the metal.  I think the forging was my favorite part of creating these pieces.  My least favorite was riveting the pearls!  My daughter Molly proudly wears the piece in the upper picture.  The other piece will be in the sale at 212 Art Association in December.  Molly encouraged me to create these pieces.  Thanks for the inspiration Molly.

Necklace made from copper and a piece of beach glass from Lake Erie one of my wonderful knitting students gave me.  I've practiced a lot on drilling glass and stone so I don't have as many mistakes as I did at one time.  Today I set up my dremel drill press for drilling.  Wow - what a difference it made to be able to lift the drill easily in and out of the holes to clear them of debris while drilling.  Wish I had done that studio trick earlier!

Earrings made of distressed copper, enamel and
fresh water pearls with mixed metal beads.  The
enameling is a lot of fun.  I revisited enameling with
Richard Salley at Artfest last March.  I used to
enamel when I was in middle school. You never know when those early experiences will resurface.
I'm looking forward to my granddaughter becoming
old enough to play with all our art stuff!

Jewelry

I finally snapped some pics of my jewelry made from sea glass
and stones Curt and I collect on our Washington State vacations.
The piece has a center shield design of hand hammered brass and copper with a copper bale.
I've been invited to join the Holiday sale at 212 Art Association in Saline so I'll have more designs to share with you.  I'll include more
info regarding the sale when I have all the details.