emjc- pr collection mosaic

emjc- pr collection mosaic
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

This probably deserves a much longer post and description, but well, the holidays are upon us and there is much for me to do!

This is my final collection for the project runway challenges we've been having.

We had a brief mini challenge the week of the final episode airing in order to give us all more time for the final collection. I was so happy w/ the mini challenge piece I decided to run w/ it for my final collection.

Each piece has copper leaves and all but the hair stick has 14k gold balls. All is fused, which is a lot of fun and makes for some risky maneuvers!

I'm having a holiday sale this coming weekend here in town (if anyone is around I'll be at the 283 Holiday market on the 5th) - after that sale if they are are still available - these pieces will be up in my etsy shop. Right now they are just floating in limbo :)

Also - don't forget that you can enter to win my giveaway pendant - which is actually the mini challenge piece and the inspiration for the final collection!

emerald and 14k

emerald and 14k
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

I am so excited about this ring, I had to blog about it really quickly. Its 14k gold and a 3mm emerald. Its the first emerald I've set and I am so happy w/ how this ring turned out. The green is so vibrant - at first when I saw it, it seemed too bright - but after getting it set - I think paired with the gold looks amazing, almost delicious! I hope she loves it too :)

Giveaway on Down and Out Chic!

My dear friend Christina has an amazing blog and is doing a giveaway of one of my new items! You can check out all the info on her blog!

Where have I been?!

I'm sorry I've been absent so much! I've been out of town a lot and just really busy in general. I'm hoping that now Thanksgiving is past, things will actually start to settle down just a little bit!

Look for a post later today - A friend is hosting a giveaway on her blog (a giveaway of one of MY items!! :)

so keep a look out for more regular posting, and a chance to win some free jewelry!

EMJC-PR6.11 - Create a Complimentary Look

I missed last week's challenge, which makes me sad, though I will go back and 'make it up'. This weeks challenge was to create a complimentary look for one of our best pieces. I was torn between the wedding challenge and the create a character challenge, but had a good idea of some simple and pretty complimentary earrings for the wedding challenge, so that is what I picked!
They are fused argentium sterling silver and 14k gold. I like adding a patina to the silver to high light the gold even more.

Make sure to check out the Etsymetal blog for the rest of this week's entries!

If you care about where diamonds come from...

Please sign this petition to ban Zimbabwe Blood Diamonds. It is really horrid and needs to be stopped.

A bit from the website:

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe has sent his brutal army to seize control of his country's diamond fields. 200 civilians have been murdered and profits from our wedding rings are used to fuel violent political conflict.

Official diamond regulators meeting in Namibia this week will decide whether to suspend Zimbabwe and stop Mugabe selling his blood diamonds on the world market.

We have just 24 hours to persuade these countries to act - let's get a massive petition together and deliver it directly to the meeting in Namibia. Sign the petition below and then spread the word to anyone who doesn't want our gifts of love to finance hate.

EMJC-PR 6.9 - bling

Running just a little behind... again! And I kind of feel like I cheated this week... just kind of. These were a custom order for a friend that I've been needing to make for a long time. And I finally made them this week. But I felt that everything about the challenge fit w/ these earrings. They pushed me very much outside of my comfort zone. Though to glance at them you might not think so. They are made from fused 14k palladium white gold. With the cost of gold the way it is, risking on fusing these little puppies was quite stressful. In fact, the first pair I made didn't turn out, so I made them in to a different pair of earrings. In addition - these were her diamonds, and the largest diamonds I've set to date. So yeah, overall, a scary pair of earrings to make, scarier than if I had just made them for fun! So all of that put together makes me think they are A. definitely bling, and B. something out of my comfort zone, annnd C. they fit in w/ the theme of all my other project runway pieces!! Oh and these are the earrings I made from the pair that didn't turn out. They are 14k palladium white gold and 22k yellow gold, all fused.

Ohhh the gold, the Gold!

(say it like you would "the horror, the horror!")
What are you doing to me!





Its kind of like jumping rope - but the kind when your friends are swinging the rope, and well, maybe they aren't really your friends. And you stand there, watching the rope swing around and around, not knowing quite when to jump in. Maybe you'll make it in safe, or maybe the rope will smack you on the head or whack you in the ankles. Oh and maybe instead of a rope its a big chain or something.... sigh. But I had to order, so maybe I won't watch to see what happens the next few days, just so I'll be blissfully ignorant.

more earrings, more photographs

still working on some new photos... not so sure about the gray anymore. I chatted w/ a friend about the gray paper and we were talking about how flat and hard it looked, which doesn't really go well w/ my work.

so i went searching for some gray fabric that might be nice. but i didn't really find any that i loved. this was the best of the okay.... i took a whole bunch of photos this morning b/c i wanted to get some new things listed in case anyone wants to buy a little something to win my gift certificate give away. but I have a feeling i will be rephotographing them all, at least for the thumbnail.

I'm not a fan of seeing the texture of threads/fibers in fabric. basically I want some sort of fabric where you don't see any texture, but that looks like a soft gray cloud. i like the white b/c it doesn't look like paper. Another gray fabric I found was a soft woven suede sort of stuff - but in a photograph it looked like fur! I think in some ways the macro lens works against me in that it really captures the texture of everything that is in focus. Good for the jewelry, bad for whatever backdrops I seem to be coming up with.

So I'll keep looking. If you know of something soft and gray without any texture, let me know! :) You can check out these earrings here.

$50 GC giveaway extended through today!

Just an added note that any item purchased before 5:00pm EST TODAY will be entered to win as well. I will pick the # at 5:00pm and will contact the winner!

you can see more details from the previous post...