Pantone Fall Colors 2010

I don't usually follow seasonal color trends when I make jewelry. I order most of my supplies from the US and it often takes 3 weeks for shipments to arrive at my doorstep here in Canada. So, following trends isn't practical for my situation. For this Autumn most of my pieces are in shades of brown and golden colors with a few pieces including green as in my 'Enchanted Forest' themed pieces. And, of course, turquoise. My turquoise pieces ALWAYS sell well no matter what time of year I offer them.

My first solo piece I plan to make in my studio when I get my own torch at the end of November will be a turquoise pendant for my daughter. It's her 30th birthday on December 4th. The cab color fits into the Lagoon blue color scheme from Pantone. It will be embellished with 'water' elements which will further fit into the Lagoon theme. =) Here's the turquoise cabs I'll select her's from:



Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Stone Talk - Turritella Fossil

Turritella 'Agate' is a chalcedony rich sedimentary rock from Wyoming which hosts the fossil shells of Elimia tenera was originally incorrectly called Turritella agate. It was named after the sea snail genus Turritella because of the resemblance of the freshwater snail shells to the Turritella fossils that are found in agate in Texas and California. The Wyoming fossil shells, however, are in a freshwater sedimentary deposit and identifiable as the genus Elimia which is an extinct species of freshwater snails. These fossilized and less-silicified Elimia tenera occur in a region which is now southern Wyoming, northern Colorado and northeastern Utah.

The fossil beds are approximately 46 to 51 million years old and occur in the Laney Member of the Green River Formation. Evidence suggests that the Elimia tenera were deposited nearshore in a series of shallow lakes, which geologists have named the Fossil, Uinta and Gosiute Lakes. The climate was subtropical and there were intermittent volcanic eruptions. The best preserved Elimia tenera are from Lake Gosiute which fossils occur in the Fort Laclede Bed of the Laney Member at outcrops in Sweetwater County, in southwestern Wyoming.

I find this stone fascinating. The one in the picture will be made into a pendant. During the past several years of my rock collecting I've realized that I'm very drawn to fossils. I think it's amazing that extinct species are preserved for future generations to study.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - Classes One & Two

For our first class we learned about tools and safety precautions. We also selected stones for our projects, and used our jeweller's saw to practice cutting in copper sheet.

During our second class we hammered and soldered our ring shanks for our first project. I was surprised by how quickly the whole process happened. Heat, quench, pickle, hammer, form, heat, flux, solder, quench, pickle, file and we were done. I was also very surprised by how short the flame was from the torch. Filing takes the longest amount of time, and that's only if you're as meticulous as I am. I think I can do this!

I selected a triangular piece of brown jasper for my first ring. I forget what type of jasper, but I'll ask again on Tuesday. The instructor's husband cut the stone. Here it is:



And here's what my ring band looks like before I add the bezel set stone. I will be adding a larger backing around the bezel with some sterling balls as decoration.



And as promised eariler here's a picture of my pretty ammolite. I will be making this into a pendant with decorative elements representing vines and buds. It's a fairly significant sized cabachon at 31mm X 14mm. I will be posting this picture again in another entry in a series I'm calling Stone Talk. I love stones so there will be a lot of talk about them. =)




Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Trying Not To Sweat The Small Stuff

I had a little rethink about the issues surrounding my previous post and decided to take my own advice. Whenever one of my children is having a challenging time dealing with a "life doesn't always go your way" issue I ask them if there is anything they think they can actually DO about the problem. Sometimes the answer is simply "No." Sometimes we can't really do anything about a problem except change the way we react to it.

That might seem like a passive thing to do, but once you accept the 'do nothing' approach things start to shift inside. To me that's action. It's movement toward a better understanding of what's important. What's important to me is learning, and expressing creativity. The process of creative expression is healing. So, I'm going to continue to learn, and create.

Later this morning when the daylight arrives I'll take a picture of my pretty little piece of ammolite and show you =)

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.

Metalsmithing 101 - first class

I decided to edit this post because I'm not pleased with myself for sounding ungrateful or grumpy. My first impression was wrong. The instructor is very sweet, and very passionate about sharing her knowledge.

I'm really happy to finally be taking a silversmithing class taught by someone willing to show us students short-cuts and give us tips to help save us money. Feeling blessed about this opportunity is all that matters.

Ronnie is the jewelry designer at RadianTrace Jewelry. She's also the graphic artist at Mable's Makings, and the author of Ronnie Unplugged.