Back in the Studio: Stackable Rings are Here!

Well, as mentioned, last week I was out of the shop because I had to go on another trip. This weekend I was able to fulfill some orders, as well as work on those stackable rings that I posted here a few weeks back.

Finally...they're done! They're called Stepping Stones, and they'll be listed in my Etsy shop sometime today (as soon as I get some time to sit down and write a clever little description!). I'll be offering these on a made-to-order basis, and I also plan to give my customers the flexibility to order three, four, or five rings. A basic design, really: 16g wire is soldered together to form the ring, and then a fine silver ball is also soldered to the ring. The fun part is flattening and texturing each ring with a chasing hammer. Even more fun is adding them to the tumbler and pulling them out after they're all shiny and sudsy from burnishing compound. Wheeeeee!

I'm sitting here right now looking at the set that I'm wearing on my pinky...the sparkle is fantastic! These ones are going to my little sister, as it was her birthday yesterday. Happy birthday sis!

New Materials; Old Favorites

First off, sorry for the delay. I have another deliverable for work next week so I've been working my butt off trying to get it wrapped up and finished. In other news, I had to rephotograph two of my best selling items recently, because the type of bead I used for them is no longer available. One of the products is shown here, my Santa Fe Teardrops earrings (available in my Etsy shop); the other is my Santa Fe Red Teardrops (also available in my shop). If you look closely, you'll notice the teardrop bead is flat rather than round. It's also a little more blue in color. Not big differences, but differences, nonetheless.

I have quite a few custom orders going on as well:

• A Reloj variation
• An Ocean Storm variation
• A set of stackable rings (sorry, not available yet, but soon I promise!)
• One plain hammered ring
• A pair of sterling silver hoops that have interchangeable beads (really fun to make!)
  

I'm happy to take requests! One of my favorite parts about custom orders is that the customer can give me an idea of what they want, and then I just go with it. It really helps spark creativity. If you're in a slump, I highly recommend going out and marketing the fact that you do custom work. You'll thank yourself for it, trust me.

In other news, I'm out of the studio all next week; another trip for work. I'll be fulfilling orders upon my return...4/19/08. If you don't hear from me until then, don't worry, I'm still around, and hope to be back working with much wire and metal upon my return. I also hope to do another giveaway beginning this month, which will probably trickle into early May. I'm considering a ring instead of earrings (that I would make for the winner, to fit her size). Which would you prefer, dear readers?

Expanding the "Warmth" Series

So, if you're familiar with my shop, then you know about my Warmth Earrings. For a while now, I've been holding on to a few different variations of them, and finally decided to start listing them this weekend.

These are Warmth in Turquoise, and I'm pleased with their results. The turquoise against the copper brings out a nice, complementary mix. In addition, with the rising cost of sterling silver, I can offer these to my customers at a pleasant price. In the next few days, I'll also be listing the same style made with amber and ocean jasper.

I also finally got to work on some more metalsmithing techniques yesterday...the project: stackable rings. I love how you can make them all thin and delicate and hammered out, with lovely little sterling beads as accents. My first set turned out acceptable, but not "sell-able." I put too much solder in between the joint, so it gave a messy little bump, and I forgot that when you wrap thick wire and then hammer it, it expands by at least two sizes. I'm making practice sets for all of my friends, so once I'm done with those I should have the technique perfected by then. My goal is to have the first set for sale this week.

I'd like to give my customers options...I was of thinking offering them in groups of three, four, and five. Your thoughts are appreciated--tell me what YOUR favorite number of stackable rings would be!