My 1st Sculpture...."Windy Day"

This semester at school has been very exciting and sometimes very challenging. The great
part of it is that the each challenge has made me a better jeweler. I am going to class each
day with the mindset that I am going to work and must get so much done as it is my job and
I must be efficient. So far that has worked very well for me.

Today was a wonderful day of doing a few things that I had not done before. Each thing
came pretty easy for me, even though there was a slight hint of trepidation in my heart
when I started out this morning. Once again, I got into that mindset, that I must get this
done for a customer and it must be done correctly and without error.

I was working on 3 six prong solitaires and a beveled bright cut. Taking the proper care
to do each step correct and with careful detail.

I glanced at my clock, and realized I only had 15 minutes of class left. I had one more prong
to push down on a six prong solitaire. I thought, "let me finish this up and I will only have to shape the prongs and polish in the morning." I couldn't get the last prong to lay flat against the stone so I pushed with my prong pusher just a bit harder and...............................

my prong pusher slipped....in doing this I created a piece of "art" that I titled ''Windy Day''.

All I could do was laugh! It was such a funny sight to see! I am so glad that it was me that made this uh-oh. In the morning I get the opportunity to ''repair" this piece. I figure it will take about 15 minutes at the most.

So, for all of you who do not like the sculpture I have created, rest assured, it is just temporary.

It will not look like this tomorrow by lunch. I will post a pic of the ''repaired'' ring in a future blog.

Be happy!

Life is gloriously grande!

My Etsy Avatar

This picture reminds me of my great love of vintage clothes, the romance of times past...the innocence of a time I will never know...the femininity of womaness...the power of inner beauty and the appreciation of being admired by someone other than ones self. (note the man on the right hand side of the page looking at the photographer) I am sure he wasn't watching the photographer the whole time.

It reminds me of how important details are. Look at the ornate designs of the door, mirror and crown moulding...that of course causes me to think about the ornate detail God has put into each one of us. It is this detail, that makes us so beautifully individual.

Just think of my pleasant surprise one day last spring, when I came home from college to see this beautiful picture on my desktop. Chelsea had found it in her great wanderings online. The Thankfully she had saved it before changing the desktop picture again.

After I joined Etsy, I went searching for a picture that I felt described part of who I am for my avatar. I found this in the saved pics. It was perfect!

Thanks Chelsea! You made my heart smile, one more time!

There is about to be a marriage @ Hampton House

The past two years my business life has been about school and preparing the shoppe
for what is to come after school in December of 2009. Today I realized that we
are down to 10 months.

Today Wes and I were preparing for a rummage sale at the shoppe. Truly we have
been preparing for it for close to a year now, but we are officially at the
place where it has to happen. No ifs, ands or buts about it. If it is in my back
room and it isn't a fossil, vacuum cleaner, or can be considered a jewelry item
then it must leave my shoppe to never ever return.

As we were preparing the back area today, I begin to feel like a bride. Excited,
giddy, overwhelmed, not knowing what all to expect in the future, and knowing
in my heart this is the right thing.

Tonight, maybe tomorrow, surely by the end of the weekend, I will start
purchasing major equipment for my jewelry store. Just typing that, I stuttered.
I am saying "I do" to the business, and leaving the engagement part of dreaming
the initial dream behind. I will go across the threshold of the shoppe in the
next day or two knowing that the engagement is over and the honeymoon has started.

Commissioning A Line Drawing

I did an alchemy on Etsy for a line drawing of my shoppe.
I am wanting to use it in advertising this year. I didn't
have a whole lot of money to spend, but I truly wanted
it done. That is how I decided to do an Alchemy.

Once I had made my Alchemy request, I received approximately
20 bids. Oh my! The selection process was hard. I am not
really good and saying no, especially when everyone has
what I am wanting. So the first thing I did was to decline
each offer that did not fit in my $$$ request. That deleted
about 5. Then I went to each Etsy shoppe to check out other
drawings of the artist. I wanted to see what their style
was. That allowed me to get it down to about 10. There were
some shoppes that had no artwork at all in them. That surprised
me, but certainly helped me to continue to cull them out.

One of the artist had included a link to her work. That made
my searching her work much easier. One point for her!

This one was done by www.rachelink.etsy.com


I searched through the rest of the artists found another one that
had put such a cheap price on his work, I couldn't walk away
from it, especially since his work was excellent. He had included
a link also. One point for him too!

This one was done by RASArtworks.etsy.com


Zero points for everyone else.


Eventually, I was able to decline all other offers except these two.

I am so very pleased with both of them. I will use both artists again!
I encourage you to use them if you need artwork like this done. They were both
phenomenal to work with!

Alchemy worked beautiful for me.