For my post this week I decided to do a stacked stone setting. I wanted a unique looking piece as a gift for my sister so I created this. I'll include the tutorial by Oxana at the end.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I followed the tutorial basically for securing the stones in place. This is one of my biggest challenges. I love Oxana's tutorials she does an amazing job. Here's the photos of my process
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
I did a really simple bail instead of the long one she made in the tutorial. The key behind these tutorials is that you use them to learn the techinque and then create your own magic. It is so great that these folks take the time to record these. Oxana is one of the best and I highly recommend checking out her YouTube Channel and following her for great ideas!
I usually put my Weaving Wednesday projects up for sale but this one is going as a gift for my sister.
Over the weekend of July first hubby and I took a trip up to visit my sister Kallan. We spend the entire weekend there with the family and had a fantastic trip. We spend Saturday in DC and I wanted to share some of the wonderful photos!
So I'm sitting here reading my trending news and getting started with my day. A friend tagged me in a meme that started my mind working.
Artist/Photographer - Unknown
I had a good laugh and shared it on my business Facebook page. I then decided to head over to see how Nichole's Fundraiser was going for her class. Nichole is a teacher in Baltimore County and has started a GoFundMe Page to raise money for flexible seating for her class. Flexible seating encourages collaboration and creativity and has been seen to improve health & learning in school settings. You can find more information on it here.
To my surprise I found that she still had only one donation. I have seen it shared several times but really was shocked that no other donors had come forward to help with this very attainable goal.
We all know there have been some pretty relentlessly stupid Go Fund Me pages created and just a quick google search will show you that people have collected money for personal makeovers, to help pay for the wedding for the sister of Dillon Roof, the racist shooter of nine people. Each of these campaigns raised money. You can see a few of these here.
My mind bounces back to the image that I was tagged in. Perhaps drinking from the skulls of my enemies could help bring things back in line but really, really what is truly wrong with our society is that people toss money at these crazy ideas and do nothing to help support teacher's who are just looking to do what is best for their students. In this case I'm using Nichole's page as a real world example but you can see this in all sorts of Go Fund Me's out there.
Our society needs to find tribalism. We need to find a way to go back to making sure the lady next door has a fan when it is 100 degrees outside. We need to make sure that the kids at our schools have lunch and a decent learning environment. We need to make sure that we are taking care of our own. And by our own, I mean earthlings. Everything that lives on the earth.
This is a lot to take in and maybe I'm being a bit too philosophical about it all in trying to create some sort of oneness for us all to latch on to. But still...
I know money is short and times are tough but if each one of us takes a tiny bite, that elephant will be gone in no time. Maybe you pass on that Starbucks coffee or skip the movie and donate that cash to a cause you believe in. For me, I took my monthly budget to buy new silver and donated it Nichole's Go Fund Me. If we all did that we could blow these goals away in no time!
This week for Wrapping Wednesday I decided to work on a tutorial from YouTube. I'll include the video at the end of this post. Remember when you're working with tutorials, it is best to use them to learn the basics and then incorporate your new knowledge into an original design if you intended to sell the piece. Some tutorials do not include the freedom to sell the original design of the creator so be sure to check that before putting your pieces up for sale.
Here's my prototype for a Crescent Moon I'll be listing in the shop. It turned out pretty good.
Photography & Jewelry by Renee Sosanna Olson
Basically I started out following the tutorial for measurements. My three pieces of wire and gemstones are below.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
I created the frame and test fit the center pieces.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Next I wired it all together and added the little gems.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Then I decided to try with a different shape frame. This time I created a crescent moon shape.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
I took my little shapes and put them inside the moon for a dry fit. I was going to weave them together and then I thought, maybe I should solder them instead.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Here are the finished pieces. I applied Liver of Sulfur to the first two pieces with the gems and then tossed all three in the tumbler for polishing. They turned out quite nice. I think I'll make this moon in sterling silver and put it up in the shop for sale. :)
So I had some interest in the the metal etching so Hubby made these two really cool pendants which we will be carrying in the shop now. I am going to have him rotate the crescent moon a bit to make it more Hecate and less Diana but yea I love it. I also ended up finishing three sterling silver rings and two pendants. I love how they turned out.
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