Very Art Jewelry Project

This piece is named Stargazer after the lily it portrays.  This idea came to me while sitting at a show admiring a garden across the way.  The middle of the ring is enameled fine silver in which I drilled holes for the stamen before I started enameling.  I learned a lot with the construction of the ring.  The unconventional bezel as well as the stamens posed interesting challenges.  Keep Creating

Sending in Scraps

This week I took the plunge at $43 a troy oz. for silver and ordered some sheet and half round wire.  After cringing as they ran my credit card I decided to take an accounting of my scrap silver to turn in to be refined.  As I order my silver through riogrande.com, I am refining through them also.  If you turn in fine and cadmium free sterling, and take a credit towards future purchases, you get 75% of your weight.  Also, after drilling and sawing my silver I sweep off the shavings from my bench pin and am planning on turning in the shavings for a credit of 40%.   I think these are really good rates considering they have to refine it and roll it.  Does anyone know of any better rates?  Keep Creating :)

In the Wake

In the wake of all the disasters lately, hurricane Irene, the wildfire in Oklahoma and Texas, a lot of people are loosing all that they own.  Though it is only by chance, I feel very lucky not to have gone through something like this.  When I see all the destruction, I can't help but think we define ourselves by what we own.  I am also guilty of this.  Lately, I have tried to have a societal impact with my ongoing buying of stuff.  For example, toms.com, "with every pair you purchase, TOMS will give pair of new shoes to a child in need."  I recently bought a pair and have advertised for them to everyone I talk to.  I encourage you to make socially conscious purchases. As a crafts person who sells their wares, I am considering donating a percent of each  purchase to a charity.  Has anyone done this or have any suggestions for doing this successfully and easily? Keep Creating :)