Killer New Dad (or Old Dad) Ring

I’m so exited about this piece. A solid sterling ring, hand stamped with your crazy kids names around it. I can fit several on there (3 shown). Or a short quote, or your wifes name or a special date. Anything really. It’s here in my shop.

It’s GOLD!

What a seriously exciting thing, to actually MAKE a ring out of solid gold. Especially from 14k rose gold, which is my favorite metal(for now). I couldn’t believe I did it, and it fit! Wanna buy one? See how much? Off you go…

Cleopatra Drank a Pearl

Last night I taught a jewelry class to a gaggle of 10 year old Girl Scouts, for their “Jewelry Badge”. I pulled samples of my work, brought tools and gemstones to show them, and let them try their hand at punching metal discs and stamping them for a fun wrap bracelet. I was nervous and stressed about the whole thing, but once I got there it wasn’t bad, and I’m glad I did it. I put together an INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT JEWELRY sheet for them to read while they were getting settled, and I just knew you would love it. Amiright?

~100,000-year-old beads made from Nassarius shells are thought to be the oldest known jewelry, discovered in the Middle East in 2009.
~History says that about 40,000 years back, some of the first jewelry was worn by the Cro-Magnons, ancestors of Homo sapiens (that’s us). Their jewelry included crude necklaces and bracelets made of bone, teeth and stone stitched to animal sinew.
~Men were the first to wear jewelry as a status symbol and as good luck amulets to aid them in battle.
~Pearls are formed when a tiny bit of sand gets trapped inside an oyster. The oyster produces a “nacre” as a defense mechanism that coats the grain of sand, layer after layer. A pearl is formed naturally in 1 out of every 10,000 oysters. The longer the pearl stays in the oyster the larger the pearl.
~Legend has it Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl in soup and drank it, just to win a bet with Marc Antony. At the time it (the pearl, not the soup) was worth about $12,500.

Am I a goldsmith now? Why, yes. Yes I am.

So I did it again, and disappeared for months. But that’s okay. I’ve been living my busy life, working on orders, having fun with the kids and trying to not stress out about the never ending house project of installing new flooring throughout our second floor. I’ve also been learning how to use a jewelers torch, and I’m beginning to work in 14k solid gold, which is seriously amazingly exciting. No time now to share pics here, but you can always pop over to my Etsy shop, as there are a few of my new gold items posted already.