Blue whale necklace, sketch to finished piece

Never throw old sketch books and drawings away! I came across a treasure trove of 8 year old sketches the other day, including the little whale on the left. I've been thinking about doing a whale so the timing was perfect! I don't have a scanner so I took a photo of the drawing and then opened it up in Adobe Illustrator. I traced it and worked out the shape so it would work as a pendant. Since precious metal clay shrinks 12%-15%, I use Illustrator to figure out what the size should be to start with to get the finished size I want. All I do is get the drawing the size I want my piece to be, and then scale it up 113%. I then use that as my template. It's a very accurate way to work with the shrinkage inherent to all metal clays.

David Worcester Jewelry Designs

Through the magic of Facebook, I've recently reconnected with my old friends and employers David and Helen Worcester. I worked for David and Helen for 6 years when they were located in Guerneville, California. David is an amazing designer and a master at producing absolutely flawless fine gold and gemstone jewelry. I assisted him in all stages of production, except for stone setting. The skills I acquired while working there have been a huge asset in my new venture, both the metalsmithing skills and the in's and out's of running a small company. I even worked the big JCK jewelry show in Las Vegas a number of times, which was quite a change of pace for me, putting on fancy clothes and writing orders for thousands of dollars!

David and Helen have just launched their new web site, and they have added Argentium silver their line. You should check it out: www.davidworcester.com/

Changes in the studio

There's been some big changes around my house lately - my boyfriend Kelly is now fully self-employed too! He's a transmission builder and mechanic, and while he does have shop space, he does his transmission building in the garage (along with his sister Laura - they both clearly have some sort of mechanical aptitude gene!) This means that he needs more space in the garage, and since neither of us will be doing any motorcycle racing this year, the race bikes are now in the living room, aka the Lulu Bug Jewelry studio. He built the rack, and since the bikes only weigh 220 pounds it was surprisingly quick and easy to get my bike on the second level. I took advantage of the space that was previously occupied by an end table to create a second work station, so I now have more work space in our crowded little living room despite the presence of two Yamaha TZ 250's. The two dirt bikes are next to the house under a tarp, my poor Ducati 996 is in a shed in the back yard, and a friend has our one remaining Ninja 250, so for the first time ever there are no motorcycles in the garage. It makes me a little sad, but we're both really focused on our businesses right now, which is a good thing.

Even more new stuff!

I was busy this weekend! I had a customer request a tiny squirrel and a tiny cupcake, so I etched some other new drawings while I was at it. I got Sherri Haab's electronic etching kit before the end of the year and was hoping to make the switch to using that instead of Ferric Chloride, but it's requiring more experimentation than I have time for right now. I broke down and bought another gallon of Ferric Chloride, which lasts me about a year. I do hope to get the electronic etching sorted out (as well as the light sensitive resist film, that was a complete disaster!) but for now I need to get things done, so I've gone back to the tried and true method. Everything pictured here is currently available at my Etsy shop.

New stuff!

I've got spring fever and want to see some color! These are my latest offering, color wheels, just listed on Etsy. They are sculpted fine silver inlaid with tinted concrete. You can see them here.

Grandma says thanks!

My Grandma Paulina saw everyone's birthday wishes and is very touched! She would like to say thank you to everyone, it really meant a lot to her to have so many people from all around the world wish her a happy birthday. The Chicago weather cooperated and she had a great day (the photo is from her celebration yesterday). I think I can safely say that we all hope to look as good as she does when we are 99!

Happy 99th birthday grandma!

My amazing grandma Paulina is 99 today! She still lives by herself and cooks great food and makes yummy Christmas cookies. She was born in the small town of Triebswetter, in what was then Austria-Hungary and is now Romania. She came to the USA with my Grandpa in the 30's, and was very fortunate to have got out before the communists took over. She has 2 daughters, 5 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren and 1 great, great grandchild! Happy birthday grandma - we love you!