My hope is that your have had a happy, fun and healthy summer. My own summer has been filled with unexpected joys, such as hiring an assistant (yay, Amanda!), a motivational speaking engagement, a radio interview, and an appearance on IndyStyle on WISH TV.
It has included good things for the people I love, such as witnessing the power of Facebook as my son looked for a last-minute roommate replacement – and found one in the nick of time. And a new buddy for his dog (my “grandson”) Duke.
That fun stuff was tempered by rearranging my schedule for urgent dental work coupled with bits of sad news from near and far. As I progress through this summer, despite those downs with the ups, I still look forward to fun times with family and friends, appreciated all the more because I am fully aware of how very precious and tenuous everything is. The outcome? Do it now, say it now, give it now, BE it now. Don’t wait!
I was thrilled to be asked to help instruct Teyna and Julia in the making of their own wedding bands for their commitment ceremony. They chose to make hammered square rings of heavy sterling silver, the edges decorated with a pave finish.
The couple also chose to design their own engagement rings with me, and I made those separately (they aren’t shown until the end) . The theme for the engagement rings was orange for Teyna and purple for Julia, and to incorporate a dragonfly and some heirloom family silver. We ended up with the same ring style for both, yet set with two different gemstones to reflect their tastes in color. The rings were embellished with one pair of textured dragonfly wings each, and, in Julia’s words, “together, we fly.”
These two are among the sweetest and kindest people I’ve ever worked with. They treat one another in scuh a warm, gentle and fun-loving way. Indeed, the couple learned how to make their own rings. But I learned a whole lot more! Please enjoy this photographic journey with me…
This last photo was taken after the commitment ceremony to which I was invited. A big honor!!!
I’m excerpting from my recent newsletter, and updating my blog as to my whereabouts these past several weeks. But, unlike overprotective fathers, my blog doesn’t really care. It’s rather an inanimate object, yes? All kinds of bad keyword search Google-ish damanable metric-adverse things may have happened to my blog during my hiatus. I’ll never know for sure. However, just in case someone stumbles across these words, I’m compelled to apologize for not posting for awhile.
My plate has been overflowing with more activities than I can name. I took an this unusual break from my monthly newsletter for the past two months due to a temp job working the primary election – which turned into a job with major overtime! I’m glad I did it…but I won’t be doing it again. It gave me an appreciation for artists who work full time and try to fit in their art on the side. It validated that I’m not meant to split my time! So my focus will be on my custom clients, the creation of jewelry, and jewelry instruction. Feels good to know – again.
I’m back in the studio in fits and starts, and have completed a few projects for my lovely, patient clients, and more are underway. I’m currently making a wedding band for the engagement ring pictured below, and a wedding band for the groom based upon the bride’s ring. Soon, I’l be sharing photos of more “dreams made by hand.” Until then, thanks for sticking around.