Art Jewelry Magazine: Setting Irregular Stones with Large Tabs

Remember the first brooch I created during the brooch a week project back in 2013?

It was the inspiration for my latest process article in Art Jewelry Magazine! On newsstands April 7th (that's tomorrow)! For a sneak peek of the issue which includes thoughts on design from Tim McCreight and Micheal David Sturlin, as well as some incredibly inspirational pieces in the gallery section, head over to the Art Jewelry Magazine website and watch the May 2015 Issue Preview!

Thanks for reading!

So Many Singles: Earring A Day 12-46

Earrings 12 - 17 Sterling Silver and Turquoise

Needless to say I've been a bad blogger. I have however been a good earring maker and have yet to skip a day of this challenge.

Earrings 19, 22-28 Sterling Silver and Glass

Marking each day with the creation of an earring has the unusual effect of making time feel as though time is flying by, while at the same time slowing it down. On the one hand I've already created 48 single earrings, on the other hand I am taking a moment in each day to put aside my regular routine and focus on creating each one.

Earrings 33.34, 36-38 Sterling Silver, Obsidian, Korean Jade

This project has been great fun. Each new design is a loose experiment that often leads to an evolving series. Each series seems to run about a week with those that I am more interested in spanning two. There is a lot of freedom in the idea that with so many earrings left to create there is plenty of time to revisit a series or design if I wish.

Earrings 40-46, Sterling Silver

Follow along on Facebook or Instagram for daily posts, visit the asymmetric earring section of my Etsy shop to put together a pair of your own from the earrings I've created, or search EAD2015 on Etsy for a look at all available earrings from all of the artists taking on this challenge!

Thanks for reading!

One Earring A Day for 365 Days

Days 1-9

I started the challenge off with bits of this and that from my bench: a length of left over chain, a couple of eyelet lace components, and some gorgeous Amethyst briolettes that have been waiting to see some use.

Sterling Silver and Amethyst Asymmetric Earrings

 I continued on using up bits of scrap chain and several drip drop components.

Sterling Silver and Bronze Asymmetric Earrings

 Then I moved on to creating earrings that fit the first weekly theme: Plants and Trees.

Copper, Sterling Silver and Lapis Asymmetric Earrings

As you can see I've been attempting to make earrings that pair well with one another every couple of days and it's been great to start with an idea one day and continue to develop it the next. I can see sticking to this trend in the future and perhaps lengthening it out to following a theme for 4, 6, 10 days... or however long it takes for an idea to run its course. 

You can see all of the available earrings I've created for this challenge in my asymmetric earring shop section on Etsy, follow along with me on Instagram or Facebook, check out all of the available earrings from participaiting artists by typing EAD2015 in the Etsy search bar, and join in or follow along with the whole group on Flickr or Facebook! 

Thanks to Victoria Takahashi of Experimetal for bringing this challenge to life!

3xR week 52: Endings and New Beginnings

This is it! The last of the 3xR (reduce, recycle, reuse) pieces. I wanted to go big for this last week and I am happy to say that this piece turned out to be my favorite from the entire project!

Copper, Sterling Silver, Bronze

I started by sketching out the overall shape on a piece of copper sheet.

I gathered some silver scrap

and played around with layout.

After the two main pieces were soldered I started to think about how to connect them and decided to utilize some of my scrap chain. 

Then I grabbed some silver coils that had been intended for jump rings, but never used. I stretched them out, soldered the overlaps, flattened them, and then soldered them to the back of the two main pieces. 

Finally, I added the chain and a clasp that hooks in the front. 

I think this piece looks equally fantastic layered over clothing or against bare skin. 

Thanks so much for following along with the 2014 creative challenge! You can see my entire collection here and the work of all the other artists that participated in the project over on Flickr. This has been my favorite creative challenge to date and I know that I will continue to create pieces inspired by the work I created during this project. 

With the end of one yearly challenge comes the beginning of the next and this one is a fun one! Victoria Takahashi of Experimetal has challenged herself and her jewelry making friends to a year of creating one earring every day. Each participant with an Etsy shop has created a section for these single earrings so collectors can mix and match to create the perfect pair of asymmetrical earrings. Look for links to the participaiting shops in each Earring a Day (EAD) listing or search EAD2015 on Etsy for a look at all the available earrings. 

I am going to do my best to hang in there and will be using the various beads, discarded parts, and found objects that have been hanging out in my studio for ages. Chances are I'll work with similar components and ideas for a few days in a row making matching among my pieces a little easier. 

Day 1: 

Sterling Silver and Amethyst

Day 2: 

Sterling Silver and Amethyst

Look for a weekly blog post that reviews the earrings from each week or follow me over on Facebook and Instagram (@metalmusing) for more regular updates. With that I wish you all a very Happy New Year and the best of luck in your creative endeavors and resolutions! 

Thanks for reading!