On the Bench

My inner procrastinator (OK, maybe it's my inner slug) has been getting the best of me lately and once again I've put the blog on the bottom of my list. Lets be honest, I haven't even been making lists! What I have been doing is starting a bunch of new work (hmmm... maybe I'm not such a slug after all). The finishing is coming along a little more slowly (yep, definitely falls under procrastinator). So I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I've got started on my bench as well as the pieces I've recently finished. Who knows, maybe this will motivate me to get more of them moving along!

First off, I had the opportunity to visit the Los Angeles Jewelry District this summer, I found a great deal on cabochons at a bead shop while visiting some family, my local bead shop had a huge sale, and I discovered a seller on Etsy (TigerBeadStore) that is local, so I'm swimming in great material! These are the beauties I scored in LA:

I also discovered that I love making cuff bracelets and started using them as a bench warm up, which resulted in this:

And that's not even all of them! Luckily I had the time and discipline to sit down and actually finish some a while back:

I've also been sending work out to galleries and such here and there and my favorite collections (I know, I know, a mother shouldn't play favorites, but what can I say) have been dwindling on Etsy. So, I started some new eyelet lace pieces:

OK, a lot of new eyelet pieces! Some of which I finished!

On another note, this year marks my 5 year anniversary! Yep, it's been five years since I discovered that metalsmithing was my passion and decided to continue my journey. To celebrate that I was able to find my dream job I'm having a big sale in my Etsy shop. Many of the finished pieces above are available and I'll continue to add anything new that comes off the bench! There is no way I could continue to work in this field without the support of so many of you. So hooray for the jewelry and Art lovers out there!

Thanks for reading!