Boy, it feels GREAT to be back in my studio! The first thing I did was straighten up my workspace. Ahhhhh.... What a difference that made. It so nice to work down here when the work space is nice and neat.
One of the resolutions I made while I was at the beach was to focus on goldsmithing and to design more silver jewelry. So after decluttering my studio, I went online to look for polished natural stones for my new pieces. I searched for lapidary sellers on Etsy and ordered from Lapidarious, BsJewelrySupply, LostSierra, rockdewd, d4haley, and MetalAndStoneJewelry.
As the packages began to arrive, it started to feel a bit like Christmas in my studio. Each night I'd leave the latest envelope in my chair. And in the mornings, I’d wander downstairs in my slippers with a cup of coffee to open the little presents I’d sent to myself.
Even though I knew exactly what I had ordered, I still felt excited as I was tearing off the wrap--wondering if the stones would have as much color as they did in the online photos. I was soooo happy to find that every one of them was beautiful--some even more beautiful than in the photos! I can't wait to begin setting them.
I had a couple of days to wait before the stones arrived, though--so I fired up my torch and fused some fine silver wire into hoops that I hammered and textured. Here are a few of the pieces I made. (These will be in my Etsy store sometime next week.)
