How did you make that?

Ever since I first started selling my flower necklace at local craft shows in early spring, I have been asked the same question ... how did you make that?

Drum roll ... and my answer is ...

When I create jewelry using sterling silver sheet I usually will either sketch out a rough design or create a design in Illustrator.  For the flower I drew a rough outline of the shape and size wanted and placed a circle in the middle of the design where I thought the little round beads should go.

Then I place the flower line drawing on top of a sheet of sterling silver and, using my favorite saw, I cut out the flower.  After filing the edges, removing any scratches, and cleaning the silver I gave the flower a warm matte finish.

The next step was to create the little balls for the center of the flower.  Since I wirewrap all of my dichroic pendants in sterling silver I had a lot of leftover pieces of round silver wire.  Using my torch I heated the recycled pieces of silver wire until they formed little round balls.  Then I soldered the balls in the center of the flower.   

To give the pendant some depth, I concaved the flower a little before soldering on the hidden bail in the back.

Okay, now it's my turn to ask a question.  If you had asked the question, would this have answered it?

Beautiful Friday

What a perfect day this has been ... sun is shining, temperature is in the 80s, and my granddaughter is with me!  Such a great day to go to the park and enjoy nature!  We spent the morning in the park, and she had so much fun feeding the ducks and playing in the play area. 

And look what we found as we were strolling over to the play area ... this cute little turtle!

This is going to be a full day!  Tonight I will be at First Fridays Art Walk, just outside Quirk Gallery. from 6:00 to 9:30 PM.  If you are local to the area, come and join us.  You will find many of the craft vendors you are familiar with and shop from at South of the James Farmers Market!