Sunday, October 30, 2011

fresh and hot and "manly"



Well hubby wanted me to make something more " male and manly" so i did this one today and a couple of others that i still need to finish. I took an arrow head as an inspiration for this piece. The base is sterling silver 20 gauge and an 18 gauge copper piece that i appliqued. It is about 1 1/4 inches long. I like it because it is kind of rough looking. The edge of the sterling is chased and the copper was hammered. I used a very dark patina on it also to give it that aged cave men look. I think it came out pretty nice. R.J. likes it.
It better sell quickly. I cut my finger on the darn thing before i filed the edges now they are nice and smooth. I got some leather from my supplier and used that with a slip knot that i just learned. I love slip knots you can adjust the length on the necklace with it and make it longer or shorter. If they only knew here in the complex what i do. I was hammering away on the balcony today. I don't think we are well liked in this apartment complex. Oh well, got to make a living. We are thinking about moving back to New Mexico , back into our house. The people that live there at the moment are looking for a house and we will pay them the moving cost. R.J. ( my hubby) wants to go back to the University to finish his master in engineering. I want to go back because i am sick of the apartment. I cannot make to much noise here. Who would have thought hammering on steel could be that loud ( LOL). Like i said i don't think anyone likes us here. The other day the manager came by while we were working on the Jeep. She wanted us to stop immediately because people had complained. Well the Jeep has no water pump, radiator, belt , fan and no cooling fluid. She wanted us to drive it of the property. Yeah right, that Jeep aint't moving. We towed it in a back alley of the complex with the working Jeep. ( yes we have 2 ). That was fun. Now no one can see us working on it. There are only Garages.

Magical



I found a magical spot in the forest. I am always expecting a little fairy with rainbow wings to sit on one of those little mushrooms. These pictures were taken at Pyramid Rock in New Jersey this summer, where hubby and i went for a nice hike.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Roxy



That is Roxy our lazy Black Lab as you can see i am up and she is still in bed. Roxy came to us a couple of years ago when we found her in a Shelter in El Paso Texas. She was 9 months old and a bundle of energy. She is now 8 1/2 years old and still going strong. When we first got her they just fixed her and on the way back she started throwing up in the car. So we had to take the new dog to the vet were she got something for her stomach, that i had to give her twice daily. Mind you she was already 75 pounds with a large snout and big teeth, very big teeth and i had to stuff the pills down her throat. I never owned a dog before , my hubby had, but i never did. I had in my child hood, 1 mouse, 2 rats ( yes i find them cute ) , we had a little bird his name was Oscar and he lived until he was 13 years old ( they usually only live 2-3 years) but he is another story for later . And we had a big fish tank in the living room. Wow , i just realized if we would have had a cat, she would have been very happy to be with us. But back to Roxy. I survived the stuffing pills down her throat and we have repeated that several times since then. At 9 months she was also in her chewing phase , remember big snout big teeth? Yup. She got my not cheap Italian shoes that i brought over to the states. Oh those shoes were so darn cute and my favorite. A couple of pillows and other stuff and you know the worst thing was that not one of my husbands things were destroyed not one single shoe, pillow or anything else, no all mine. Even though i was the one feeding her, taking her out, brushing her fur, giving her water. I even had to fight for my spot in the bed a couple of times in the beginning. Now i only have to look at her sternly and she will move to the end of the bed were she belongs. Yes i know what a lot of people say , you should not let your dog sleep in the bed with you. I don't care. She is fine at the end and we don't have any problems.
So that concludes the introduction of Roxy our black Lab. I will write more about her later.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

What i made

I made some key chain rings out of Aluminium. They are really easy to make. You draw the shape on the piece of alu sheet ( i used 18 gauge ) with a Sharpie and then use your Jewelry Saw to cut out the pieces. Punch a hole or drill it and put it on a key chain ring. Voila you have a personalized key ring. On this one i cut out a little heart from one wing. So cute. Alu is very light and i love working with it. i might get more to make rings and bracelets , it is perfect for stamping. The key ring i used for this one has little balls on each end that unscrew so you can add your key.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tip of the Day

How to keep your Copper clean.

Copper as you know has a tendency to tarnish quite quickly. As an organic person, who does not like to put a lot of chemicals on anything around her house , i do not treat my copper pieces. Almost everything i make with my jewelry is the raw material without the use of any waxes, lacquer or acrylic. After all you and i will wear it on our bare skin and any harsh chemical can get through your skin into your body.

So getting on with the tip of the day.
The easiest and fast way to clean Copper is to use Ketchup. Yes you heard right. Ketchup. Ketchup has a high acidity  which gets rid of any tarnish on your copper piece, Just take a little dab rub for about 1 minute and rinse under water. Voila clean Copper. You can also mix the Ketchup with a little bit of salt to clean a lot of tarnish .
Don't have any Ketchup around? You can also mix Lemon Juice in a little bit of water with a dash of salt. Soak for a couple of minutes, rinse and wipe.

That is how you clean your Copper.
Hi there , I thought i give it a try and blog



I was born and raised in East Germany and was 12 years old when the "Wall" fell. Currently, I reside in New Mexico with my hubby and black lab "Roxy."

Art has always been my hobby and an escape from a stressful day job in health care. The vacuous desert of New Mexico inspired my creativity to fill the voids with huge colorful paintings of flowers, plants, mountains, landscapes, and extraterrestrial planets. Having run out of space on our walls, I began selling my pieces at a local farmer's market. Always in search of new ideas and mediums, I took a few courses in silversmithing and became passionate about creating custom handmade jewelry.