Contrariwise ramblings

The person who originally commissioned this pendant decided not to purchase this piece. The silverwork on it was bigger than she expected.  So you'll be able to find it listed in my Etsy shop.





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Would you like to be a Contrariwise Follower and see what trouble I might be up to or what I'm working on? All you have to do is click on the link on the left in my side bar.

I've just been fascinated by this particular stone. The detail is amazing. I've had people look at a cabochon and tell me that they can't believe that it's a stone and not a painting.

Because I liked these agates so much I started buying cabs whenever I could. But lately, two things have happened: 1. It's getting more difficult to find cabs 2. The price has gone through the roof.

The stone is mined in Oregon and the owners of the land no longer allow mining  (at least that's one of the stories I've heard.)  so there  is no more new stone to be had.  Only the earlier mined slabs are available right now.

This is the third agate that I've set and this one is a beauty.  Each has been in a different setting but, because I was inspired by the forest scene in each stone, I've always cut a leaf pattern into the back of the settings.

I just listed this necklace tonight and it can be found in my Etsy shop.   (More pictures are there.)



But you may ask, where did the name, Prudent Man come from?   I've wondered myself and just found out. (All hail google!)  The name "Prudent Man" is a reference to a clause in the 1872 mining law that states a claim can only be filed on a lode or vein that a prudent man could earn a living from by working it.




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I'm taking a little break from soldering.  I had a frustrating couple of weekends and my brain and my metalwork were at odds with each other.  So I decided to go back to wirewrapping, which I haven't done for a while.

Although wire-wrapping briolettes may be agonizing to some, I find it soothing.  Looping the wire carefully around the stones is almost relaxing to me.  I love getting it just right and ending up with a neat line of wrapped stones lying on my workbench.

I dug out my boxes of beads and gemstones and looked for something to work with. My boxes are color-coded and, being inspired by the spring, the box with pinks and purples called out to me.

These new earrings are of amethyst and peridot and their particular shades of purple and green are a perfect contrast to each other.  They remind me of hyacinths.  I also made similar earrings in rose quartz and amethyst.

After finishing the wire-wrapping, lining up my little creations on the workbench, and sitting there gazing at them,  and felt much better and happier.

I might be ready to tackle soldering again now.





Just listed my my shop a couple minutes ago, more photos of the amethyst earrings can be found here, and photos of the rose quartz are here.


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Just listed these in my shop a minute ago.

I have a handful of Sleeping Beauty cabs I bought about a year ago and, while they last, every once in a while I get around to making another pair of earrings.  Each pair of earrings has been different in design.  (To see the other earring styles in my blog, go here and here.)  And I think each new pair has been better than the last.

These latest earrings were an experiment in stamping metal.   They look simple, but I probably made them in the most difficult way imaginable!  (It's all in my learning process.)  Next time, I'll know better.

More photos of these earrings can be found here.

And, right now, I have several new pieces in my tumbler:  a couple different gemstone earrings and a large Prudent Man Agate pendant.  I hope to be listing them in my shop in the next couple of days.


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Like I wrote in my blog a few days ago, I've been busy lately.  This past weekend, I went through my bowl where I keep all my cabochons and this particular stone called.

It's weird.  I'm sure I've owned this cab for over a year, and I've ignored it.  But suddenly it insisted to be made into a ring.

One half of this particular stone is Prehnite in a luscious pistachio green and the other half is a chocolate-colored matrix.  I loved the stark contrast when I first saw this stone, and I though it needed (wanted?) to be set in a clean modern setting. 

But I couldn't resist adding a little extra detail;  so I created a band to evokes an Art Nouveau feel. And, of course, dragonflies are often themes in Art Nouveau - so my stamp fits right in!

(Those little curlicues in the band were the hardest part.  They just didn't want to stay soldered in place at first.  But I eventually throttled them into submission.)

More photos of the ring can be found here.

Today I've been taking photos of more new stuff and I hope to post more on my blog and in my Etsy shop in the next few days.  But I'll also have a new post on MooShu. 

Because of the winter cold weather, he hasn't gotten a haircut in the past several months and his coat has gotten really long.  Because the weather has gotten warmer, he seems to be really hot. Although his water bowl is kept filled, he still pants a lot.  So tonight, we're taking drastic measures. 

The shampoo is out, the shears are ready, and the camera is fully charged!

All we have to do is catch him!

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I've had these cabs for over a year, set them as earrings over Christmas, and hadn't taken any photos till last week!  And now I finally listed them in my Etsy shop. 

I bought them at a local Gem and Mineral Show that's held twice a year at the fairgrounds. The dealer  must have had hundreds of Sleeping Beauty cabs rattling around in a box and my daughter spent a long time sorting through them to find matching pairs for me.  I still have about 8 matching pairs which, at my rate of setting them, should keep me busy for the next 8 years!

Here's a photo of the mountain  ---->

(Hmmm. I guess someone really had a vivid imagination.)


Well, if you want to see more pictures of these earrings, just go here.

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I've become absolutely fascinated with Morrisonite Jasper and have bought quite too many cabochons recently. (I just can't help myself .)  This is the first one that I've set.

Morrisonite Jasper is known as the King of Jaspers.  It's a rare stone that is known world-wide for its deep rich colors and unique patterns. I think you can see why.

Until I started working with cabochons, I never appreciated how special they are.  Some unique stones can only be found in incredibly small areas - for example, in just a single riverbank.  Morrisonite comes from a mine on one side of the Owyhee River canyon in southeastern Oregon near the Idaho border . It's no longer mined .

Therefore, as with Morrisonite, the supply of many beautiful materials is limited. Once gone, they're gone forever.

I love buying cabs online. I think it’s because, when they arrive in little packages in the mail, I get as excited as if it was Christmas morning! And when I open them, it’s always a surprise.

I’ve recently bought some new cabochons from Dale at JustCabs. When this Snake River Dendritic Agate arrived in the mail, it took my breath away.

The dendrites form a perfect miniature tree, which seems to be sitting on a golden brown hillside. If you use your imagination, you can see mountains behind it, also in shades of golden brown. The background color of this agate is white, but it glows with hints of peaches and purples.

The entire scene felt very Japanese to me, so I decided to set the stone to emphasize that feeling. I cut pieces of silver to create a bamboo twig to sit next to the stone. 

I thought about cutting out a design on the back, like I've done before.  But I had already put in so much time into this setting - and I was anxious to get it finished - that I decided to just do a little curlique as part of the bail in the back.

I just listed it in my shop.  More photos can be found there.

During the day I have a full-time job, but in the evenings and weekends I steal away a few hours working on my hobby and improving my techniques.

Depending on what else is going on in my life, this may mean that I may not get to my workshop at all for a while.  But on a good week, I might get as much 12 hours.

In the past couple of weeks, I've gotten some gorgeous stones which have inspired me to create new pieces of jewelry - but I've been so intent on working on them that I didn't want to use my spare time to take photos!  So I have a lot of new jewelry to photograph and list in my shop.

Today I finished this new ring and decided it was time to take some photos!

The stone in this ring is a black lace agate.  Nature created a perfect miniature landscape within this wonderful stone.

The agate has an image of autumn reeds in the foreground bordering a flowing stream.  In the background clouds float in the late-evening sky.  A full moon peeking behind the clouds illuminates the scene 

To complement the flora of the stone, hand-cut leaves are asymmetrically positioned on the setting and the motif is continued in the band.

A signature dragonfly can be found on the back.

More photos of this, my latest ring, are found here.

Saw + hammers + disc cutter + bracelet mandrel =

I think this is the first cuff bracelet I've ever made.   I had just gotten my disc cutter and I wanted to see what fun things I could do with it.  Plus I had a bracelet mandrel that I bought over a year ago and never used.  Why not try out both at once and see what I could come up with?

Time to play!

I made the cuff in copper which I texturized with a hammer.  I randomly made holes in it with the disc cutter, then soldered on silver discs. (Yes, the disc cutter's great at finding new ways to use all those silver scraps I have!)   Using a rawhide hammer, I formed the bracelet on the mandrel.  Then everything was oxidized and polished to bring out the texturizing and the silver accents.

A very simple equation.  Right?

More photos can be found here.

I was at an out-of-town gymnastics tournament with my daughter all weekend, but during the past 2 nights I had some time to finally  finish this custom order.

Front:

I was buying a few cabs from StonesInMotion, one of my favorite lapidarists and, in a last minute decision, I decided to pick up this laguna agate.  Although I don't generally pick up pastel-colored stones, I thought the banding throughout the stone was lovely.  What a surprise when it arrived.  Out of all the cabs I bought, I think I liked this one the best!

The stone is lavender and pink, and the natural formations seem to be reminiscent of clouds.  Coupled with the crystalline center, it's a truely exceptional stone.  When I designed the setting for it, I tried to make it reflect the cloud-like designs of the stone.

This is the first time I made a setting like this.  I don't know what you call the technique, but I soldered sterling plates upon each other.  This ended up making the ring quite substantial.

Since I got this first laguna agate, I've been trying to buy others.  I've discovered that they come in so many different colors.  (Yes, I do have more now.  A couple of red-banded ones can be seen here.)

It's amazing to me that many types of beautiful stones used in jewelry can be found in only tiny areas on this planet.  For example, I've learned that these laguna agates are only found in mountains on the border of El Paso Texas and Mexico.  Most of these areas are in the top third elevation of the mountain. Many of the claims don't have roads to them and have been worked entirely by hand.  The areas comprise a distance of only 4 miles or so.  And this is considered to be quite large compared to other Mexcian agate deposits!

If you'd like to see  more pictures of this ring, they can be found here.

I'm a little behind.  Last week was absolutely crazy.   In one day, I had a ton of orders and commissions in my Etsy shop.  I had no idea what was going on!  It turned out that one of my rings got featured on Etsy Finds, something I'd never known about.  Each day they feature a dozen items that revolve around a theme.   Wow - talk about exposure!

Then I my daughter had a gymnastics meet last Friday.  (WHY do they do these on a school day???)  After it was over, I immediately I turned around and headed out to IU for Mother's Weekend with my older daughter.

(BTW, I learned something new.  Mother's Weekend with a female college freshman requires that you go to over-priced clothing stores where your daughter would not normally be able to shop on her own AND purchase items for her which make you wonder WHERE THE HECK WILL SHE BE WEARING THIS SKIMPY OVERPRICED PIECE OF $#**???   But from what I've heard, Mother's Weekend with a MALE college freshman can be an eye-opening and life-changing experience that give you a whole different perspective on your offspring.  So. overall, I consider myself pretty lucky.)

Anyway.  I got back home last night, so it's time for me to get back to my blog and letting you know what's new.

I have so much new stuff that I've been working on.  I recently purchased some cabochons from Lost Sierra.  He has some great stuff and whenever he lists new items, they go so fast.  So I felt very fortunate to acquire some of his Oolite stones.  I'd never seen these before but I really like the contrast of burgundy against a grayish-green background.  The look is rustic, yet modern.

While I purchased several of these, only one was ring-sized.  I felt that the flower-like orbs of the stone were quite busy, so I thought a simple setting would be appropriate.   (More photos can be found here.)

More new jewelry to come this week!

I had lots of plans for today.  I 'd finished several new rings over the weekend and I was going to list them in my shop.  The photos were taken, the descriptions written, all I had to do was get on line and click a few little buttons.

But then I got into work and found that I had SEVEN HOURS OF MEETINGS on my calendar.  (Aren't there OSHA laws against that?!?)

So I never got around to listing my new rings, ended up working late, and now am finally logging on after dinner.

Sigh.

Anyway,  I just listed this Ocean Jasper Ring.

This is becoming one of my favorite stones.  I love each piece of Ocean Jasper because they're all unusual and unique.  This one has peach colored eyes surrounded by green lacework.  The background is white but it's even got little swirls in it!

In order to play off the orbs in the stone, I added some solid silver orbs of my own in the setting. I textured the ring band with various sizes of "circles" in a pattern, and the cut-out circles in the back of the setting are supposed to be orbs in reverse.  Then everything's been oxidized and polished to bring out the highlights.

(And there's that contrariwise dragonfly again!)

More photos can be found in the listing.

I'll just have to list my other rings tomorrow -  I'm tired but I still have the kitchen to pick up!  (Hubby is off picking Emma up at gymnastics, so I'm not complaining.)    

I ended up finishing quite a few projects this Saturday AND even taking photos. 

Here's the first piece, which will be listed in my shop this evening.  It's a piece of Candelaria Hills Variscite surrounded by leaves and fronds - and even a flower!

I probably made that little silver flower last fall, when I was playing with my disc cutter.  It ended up in a jar where I put odds and ends.  I suddenly remembered it just as I was deciding where to place the leaves around the setting and thought it with fit right in.  (If you look at the variscite and use your imagination, I can see a couple of flowers in the patterns of the stone.)

And as a final touch, I added a little contrariwise dragonfly on the underside.

UPDATE:  If you want to see more photos, here's the listing.

I made so much jewelry over the Christmas break, that I'm still way behind posting about it in my blog and listing it in in my online shop.  And here's another piece that I finally got around to photographing.

I made the band of this ring by fusing silver. Fusing silver is a method of joining it without solder.  The metal melts only on the surface, leaving the center unchanged.  As you can imagine it's pretty unpredictable.

This ring was an experiment that somehow worked.

I originally planned to antique the silver, but after seeing the result I couldn't.   I just loved the way the silver curliques are incredibly shiny and crisp against the background of the band.  And because of the extreme heat I used to fuse the metal, the silver on the band reticulated, leaving it with a wonderful soft sheen.

Only after I made the band, did I decide upon the stone.  I had a chunky square amethyst and thought it contrasted nicely, so I bezel set it on the band.  (For those of you who do silversmithing, I think you can appreciate how hard it is to bezel-set a stone on an uneven texture.)

I was so pleased with the way this ring worked out, that I decided to try fusing silver again.

Guess what.  It was a complete and frustrating failure.

After the abysmal failure at my second attempt at fusing, I think that this ring may end up being a one-of-a-kind Contrariwise creation.

If you want to see more photos of this ring, click here.



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Here's a pair of earrings that I thought I sold but I just relisted in my shop.

I bought these cabs earlier this year and I fell in love the set you see on the right and stayed up very late making the mountings for new earrings. I just couldn't resist working with my new purchases!

By 1 AM I'd finished 2 bezel settings and was trying to solder on some decorative bits. Then in an awkward moment, I dropped a mounting.

Awk!

I could hear it hit the concrete floor of my garage. A quick search didn't lead me to find anything -other than the realization that I really should clean under my soldering station. So I got a flashlight and searched everywhere!

Drat! I couldn't find it. Half an hour later, I gave up, thinking I could look more thoroughly after a good night's sleep.

The next morning, I must have spend over an hour searching for the missing mounting, and cleaning up in the garage as I went along . There was all kinds of crap under my soldering table - boxes from purchases, plastic bags, chemicals, stored stuff I might use some day - but no more.

I didn't want to give up. I'd spent too much time on the setting -as well as the time I spent searching for it- and it had to be somewhere.

After going through every inch of the floor, through the trash, underneath the cars, I decided to search my trash can once again. Maybe in my frenzy it got thrown away with the trash.

I looked through it, unfolding the little bits of paper and small plastic bags I'd crumbled and thrown away. Then finally, when opening up an old plastic bag, something fell out and I heard the sound of metal hitting the floor. THERE IT WAS!

Yes, now I could finish those earrings. FINALLY.

And here there are!

I'm pretty pleased with how these earrings turned out. They're different than anything I've ever made before. The stones are bezel-set with a decorative "frame" around the bezels. I also antiqued the silver to highlight the stones and the settings. These earrings have a real hand-crafted artsy look to them.

They not demure little earrings. At about an inch and 1/4 in height, they're are large and make quite a statement. The photo on the left gives you some idea of the perspective.



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When I was little, one summer my mother took me to Eastern Europe to visit relatives who lived on farmlands there.

It was very strange and incredibly backwards to me. I dealt with no TV, no friends, odd surroundings, strange people who spoke a foreign language, homesickness, and OUTHOUSES!

Now that I look back on it, I had a wonderful time.

I remember wandering alone near a barnyard one day and, finding a long piece of copper wire in the dirt, I began playing with it. Eventually, inspired by my surroundings, it gained shape and became a horse.

Although it was long ago, I remember this vividly. Afterwards, my relatives were amazed and made a fuss that, out of boredom, I had created a piece of art out of rusty trash that I found on the ground.

That wasn't the last time that I created something from wire or dabbled in the arts. But over the years I got older, went to school, got a job, and had a family. Somehow I made time to have hobbies and create, but it was stolen time.

A few years ago I started making jewelry. Stringing beads evolved into using wire and metals which evolved into metalwork, which I am very happy with right now.

Above are a new pair of earrings I made this weekend by playing with a bit of scrap wire.


It all comes around, doesn't it.



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Can you tell that I've been busy in my workshop lately? I spent many fun hours there over the Christmas break but I hadn't really gotten a chance to take photos until recently. So I have a lot of new work to share with you.

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