New Texture has a name: Sands of Time

There is a certain level of enjoyment and anxiety about 'naming' a new ring design or texture. Some names were kind of a given, like my tree bark rings - they were "just" rings before they were wedding rings, so I didn't have any particular wedding thought in mind when naming them. Unlike the "Love Rocks" and the "Tooled w/ Love" rings. Then there is "Subtlety" who is in danger of having their name changed. I feel like it fits the rings, but is so irritating to type - and then I had a customer who even commented on it too! It's a mouthful and complicated - the exact opposite of what the rings are. I'm thinking I should just change the name to "Comfy Cozy" but not sure that would be the best either! haha!

For these new rings, an idea popped in to my head pretty quickly as to what the texture reminded me of. Maybe it was the fact the first ones I did were in yellow gold. Combined with a strong hint of ancient Egypt - and lots of sand. At first I was a bit against the idea of sand because it might make some people think the texture is from being sandblasted, which it isn't. But then someone commented that it did remind them of dirt or sand, which confirmed my thought, so I decided it would be fine.

When I was a kid my mom sometimes watched soap operas and I remember one "Days of our Lives" and the slogan was something to the effect of "Like sands through the hour glass, so these are the days of our lives" (in a deep throaty voice while the image of a big hour glass was on screen - think... early 90's soap opera cheese).

And I really liked the sentimentality of giant hourglass and the sand representing a couples life together, the grains being days or special memories shared together over the many years of their lives... thus... the name Sands of Time. Sweet huh? Little bit of ancient Egypt, loads of sand and a soap opera memory from childhood! And I'm totally in love with this texture. I hope loving couples are too - as this texture is SO fun to create!



And I also did a diamond prototype, for either an engagement ring or for a wedding band w/ a diamond (or a ring that someone wants to wear um, for whatever) It is a 4mm band w/ a 2mm diamond - super subtle and almost blends right in w/ the texture. I love it!



oh and did you notice the sandstone as my nature prop? clever huh? :)

The first listing is up and available here.

Where I've been and Where I'm going....

So this title sounds a bit more 'deep thinking' than its really meant to be, but it might be fitting!

I've been really busy that last two weeks wrapping up all the custom orders for any June/early July weddings. I will be taking two weeks away from the studio for a yoga teacher training course starting on June 5th. I will be back in the studio on June 21st - but during that time, I will not be making any jewelry! I'm pretty excited on many levels.

The photos are all the rings I made in the last week and a half - it was a HUGE push - which is why I haven't been around here much! I wanted to make sure everything got done that needed to be done. I got them all finished and then some. There are a few more rings I'll be finishing up today that aren't in the photos - though I think they may deserve their own photo finishes. :)

I'm also really excited to be embarking on my yoga teacher training journey. The first session is 2 weeks this summer. The second session will be in January of 2011. I haven't been this excited about something in a long time... well, I don't know about that. I'm a pretty excitable person. But this does feel different in terms of it being a major life changing experience. I'm debating blogging about it over the next two weeks. If not during, I definitely will after it is all over.

I'm very interested to see how it affects my jewelry as well. I haven't taken a two week break, well, since I started my business full time in 2006.

Oh, and I'm getting my hair all chopped off. Big Changes! I'll post some before and after photos :)

Dandelion Rings and Tea Tab Quote of the Day

I had a custom order for the men's band and finally got photos of a set taken of the gold dandelion wish bands. I think they turned out so lovely and with the giant crop of dandelions everywhere, its the perfect ring to post for today! Doing them in yellow gold seems so natural. Love them!

and there was a new tea tab quote today! The past few days have all been repeats. This one may be from a long time ago... but I don't think I have posted it before.

True wealth is the ability to let go of your possessions.

have a great day!!!
xoxo

New Rings - Redwoods

I had a customer request something similar to this a couple months ago and since then I've been wanting to create an offshoot of my tree bark collection and call it Redwoods - a heavier and chunkier tree bark texture cast in 14k red gold. EtsyMetal has a new wedding ring challenge and I figured this was a good excuse to create them. I also made a simple twig engagement ring to go with it. I used a chocolate diamond for a nice earthy look with the red/rose gold. A very light patina has been added for a final touch. I really love the look of them and I hope many other people do too!

14k Palladium White Gold Subtlety Set

Oy! Where have I been?! busy busy and feeling like I have things pretty organized and under control. Though that does mean I've been lacking in A. editing photos. B. uploading photos. which then leads to C. blogging! Both flickr and blog have been sorely neglected, though my jewelry has not been. So I say this is a good thing, though it does portray me as a bit on the boring side. And it does leave my RAD #'s needing to be organized...

I do have a new lovely set to share - Subtlety Bands in 14k palladium white gold. The photos got taken, edited and listed on Etsy in my wedding shop! So they are the winners for the week, while other designs got neglected and are sitting unedited on my desktop. Maybe this week...

EMJC-PR6.8 - Wedding Challenge

So this week was a little interesting for me since pretty much all I do is make wedding rings, and some other wedding jewelry every once in awhile - so in a way it wasn't as fun of a challenge for me - but I still wanted to try to push myself in a little bit different direction than usual. I called this my "Eclectic Bride". I was inspired by working w/ a recent client. Long story short - she sent me several links of items she liked. In my head - I mixed them all up and created this necklace! Every week I seem to find something new to add to the already existing motifs I'm trying to stick with. This is the first time I've added the gold balls to the organic vine pieces and I LOVE it. I also opted for the patina this week - it added to the 'eclectic' feel. Some sections I left the patina on full strength and others I cleaned most of it off. I think a little bit of patina helps the gold to stand out more.

Another thing that is fun about these challenges - I do hold myself to the deadline (I went a few minutes over today on my photographing due to a phone call that caught me right at the end!) so there are some finishing things that I think I'll tweak later, but I wanted to remain true to the deadline and get it photographed as is at 3:00.

And now for the blog post. whew - its been a busy day and I have lots more to do - so I'm out!

front page!!

woohoo! its been ages! how exciting :)
Thanks to Amanda for letting me know!!

14k subtetly bands

14k subtetly bands
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

I love how these turned out. These bands are really some of my favorites, so simple and silky smooth. I was so happy to be able to make them in yellow gold.

Available on
Zibbet
Etsy
Artfire

Finishing up custom orders

I've been busily trying to get caught up, of course, I think that probably my usual state, so nothing new! Just wanted to post some photos of the most recently finished custom variations.

Rose Gold with patina and Diamonds (100% recycled metal + conflict free diamonds)

Sterling silver and Diamonds

Sterling silver with champagne and white diamonds

On tap for today.... and a hint

Lots of new and fun things to photographs - this was a quick image I took yesterday - just on auto w/ flash - so it doesn't do them justice, but its just a hint of how fabulous they are. I'm thrilled w/ these and the batch of rings I'll be mailing out today! Hopefully I'll be finishing up several others and get them photographed as well.

Comparison - sterling, 14k palladium white gold, 14k yellow gold

comparison
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

I've been meaning to post this here for awhile, and today is the day!
Just wanted to show the comparison in color of the 3 metals I use most. These are shown without the patina, but give for better comparison of the true colors.

Subtlety - New Wedding Bands

Subtlety
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

When I was first learning to cast, I remember my teacher specifically saying not to cast something that can be fabricated more easily. When I was thinking of making these rings, that was all I could think about. Was it worth casting these when they are really just simple bands? The more I thought about them and looked around at other "simple" sterling bands, the more I realized that they are different and they are worth casting. It's subtle, hence the name.

The edges are soft and there is a very slight 'texture' that can only be achieved through the soft wax that I use. They are silky and satiny looking to me. And oddly, were hard to focus on as there seemed to be no hard edge the autofocus could land on! There is something about these that make me really happy. They are almost calming. A customer said it reminded her of a pool of water. They kind of remind me of a gentle breeze... maybe blowing over a pool of water.


You can see the listing on Etsy or Artfire.

ant hill garnet and palladium white gold w/ patina

ant hill garnet and palladium white gold w/ patina
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

so things have been really busy - as you might have noticed in my lack of posting. I am finally starting to feel like I'm getting caught up. I still have.... well, a lot of work to do, but I've gotten over that hump of feeling completely overwhelmed. I opened my Etsy shop back up - I had decided to close it for a few days to give myself some breathing room. It really helped! Yesterday I completed some important projects I had been working on. This set included - the first tube setting in palladium white gold. I've done tube settings before, though just using ones that had been purchased. Since you can't buy tube settings in palladium white gold, I knew I had to make my own. And since the tubing existed - I figured I could do it. I had to do a practice one in sterling first and I think it turned out pretty fabulous!

Though oddly enough - I am finding that flush setting is easier for me. I was scared of it for so long and now when I have an extra few minutes I drill a hole in a discarded ring and throw a stone in just for extra practice! It revamps the ring and gives me more confidence in offering it to customers.



So, yup, I'm still really busy, but going to try to come back to a more balanced work load that includes at least a couple of blog posts a week!

etsy front page wedding banner

etsy front page wedding banner
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

I was super excited when my EtsyMetal friends let me know that my rings were on the rotating banner on the Etsy front page! Yippeeee!! These sorts of things make me really happy. It took a few hours before I caught it on there, but managed to grab a screenshot!

Love rocks wedding bands - 14k palladium white gold

love rocks wedding bands - 14k palladium white gold
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

For right now, I've decided to keep the name the same - AND, I've finally gotten the palladium white gold set finished and photographed! They are hammered with 3 different hammers over several different courses. Just an extra little dimension beyond a simple hammered texture.

These are my favorite of the three metals and I don't know why it took me so long to get them done. Sometimes, the things I like most, I have the hardest time sharing I guess! You can check out more photos on flickr or the listing on etsy.

New Wedding Band set - Midnight Vine

Midnight Vine - set
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

These were based on a ring I made many many years ago. One of my very first cast rings. Its refined a little bit from the original version, but I think has the same essence - and I think is a much more successful as a wedding band. You can check them out here.

14k yellow gold love rocks wedding band

14k yellow gold love rocks wedding band
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

Another mark off my list of things to do! I'd been wanting to make a set of these in yellow gold for quite a while and finally got them finished today! I particularly love how they look with the patina, though they look quite nice without the patina as well!

They are the reclaimed texture I've used before that is created using three different hammers, all kind of layered together to give a lovely 'granite' like texture.

You can check them out here on etsy or here on artfire.

palladium w. gold love knot w/ patina

palladium w. gold love knot w/ patina
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

I love working w/ palladium white gold - and I think it looks oh so lovely paired w/ a diamond and my tree bark texture! My new listing for EtsyMetal's New Release Thursday!

14k palladium white gold tree bark rings

14k palladium white gold tree bark rings
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

I got the set all finished. I'd done a set before but they were both the same width - I had yet to do a complete set! But yippee!! all done! These are without the patina. I'm half hoping they want the patina so I can add it and get photos of them with it. But its much easier to add the patina than it is to take it off.

Though they do look quite lovely just as they are! So warm and lovely and luxurious. You can see the listing here

Leaf and Diamond ring

leaf and diamond ring, a bit more patina and dulled down a bit
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

This was another custom order - one of a pair I am working on for a sweet sweet couple. I love the simple elegance of the single tiny leaf imprint and slightly offset diamond. It was made in wax and the diamond was cast in place. I had initially finished it shinier and with the patina only in the leaf, but it was a little too 'blingy' (my word, not his!) for the groom, so I added some overall patina and kept a matte finish. Its simple, elegant and organic.

Check out flickr for more photos and the shiny previous version.