Sunday, March 18, 2012

sugar maple

sugar maple
glass enamel on copper
with cubic zirconia
$65

these earrings are about 1 3/4 inches long.  when i coated them with clear glass enamel they oxidized a little, producing a beautiful golden copper color with infusions of sage under the enamel.  the veination of the leaf shows in yet another coppery color.  the white CZ is prong set, and the sterling wires are handmade.

Friday, March 16, 2012

berber girl blue

by the time i got to morrocco i realized that i had been in love with tuareg symbols and jewelry for a very long time.  these are sterling silver and glass made in the ancient fashion, with the glass set into the tiny silver boxes with beeswax.  there are many ways to hide a cross into imaginative symbols that might not look at first like what the are.  many cultures incorporated the christan cross in their designs.  these are an exaggerated adaptation of one of my favorite tuareg cross earrings.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

the missing links


'before the wine....'  is a new necklace with a new hand made  chain!  i've been searching and searching for patterned wire to make a chain for my mixed leaf links.  all of a sudden i said to myself, "leigh, you can make your own patterned wire."  duh!  so...
i just pounded copper wire into a bronze plate with a simple twig design. now i'm figuring out how to make different designs that i can pound into my wire to make different chains.  the connecting links are bronze strips that i made with a lined texture plate.  now i'm off to the races!

Monday, March 12, 2012

painted lady pendant

painted lady
glass enamel on copper, bronze medallion, and copper neckring
$95

i've had so much fun playing with my glass enamels---it's called painting with fire!  and it is!