WOYWW: It Must Be Summer

A couple ways I can tell it is summer:  chlorine smell in our hair, bug bites and bandaids on the kids, a flip flop tan on my feet, and best of all...time to get around to extra projects.

Arum Hoops

Sneak Peek:  These new hoops made it off of the workbench yesterday, but not under the camera yet and they still need a patina.  They will be in the shop later today I hope!  I was happy to have found a wealth of inspiration lately in the form of hoop designs, I can't wait to get back out to my bench pin and start sawing and hammering my other designs out.

The Artist's Stacking Ring

 This new stacking ring has made it to the shop.  I finally got around to designing myself a stacker ring set and this is what I came up with.  I wear it everyday!

My Handsome Helper

I also finally got around to photographing Matt so that I can add him on to my shop as an official assistant.  He does deserve a little more recognition, I think.  To date he has made nearly 275 wooden gift boxes for my jewelry to ship off in.  Wow.

Hope the summer is finding all of you productive and inspired!  Happy WOYWW.

WOYWW: Making Hoops

I never thought I was going to get around to working in the shop this week, with all this homework stuff I have to do these days.  But today, I just got out of bed and started working.  Forget the dishes.  Leave the homework till later.  And it's a good thing I did, because orders have been stacking up!  I still have a set of stacking rings (from a repeat customer!!) and a pair of little stud earrings to make.

You can see in the photos the earrings from start to finish.  It's neat to watch them transform from a boring piece of sheet metal into these pretty textured hoops.  I designed these one day, just messing around, and they have been super popular!  I kind of love making them because the process is all my creation.  Although, I should give some credit to a fellow WOYWW-er (hi Geri!).  She ordered my usual Isis Hoops but in a smaller size.  I thought that was so brilliant that they are now listed over in the shop.

I better get back to work!  Happy creating everyone!