Why sterling silver?

Ever ask yourself why you do the things you do? I've been using sterling silver as my main material for many years now and I don't think I ever asked myself why I choose this material over others. When I began making jewelry at the age of 14, I used base metals and beads. I started using sterling silver when I was learning metalsmithing. I think using precious metals was my symbol of becoming a professional. But when I think about it now, there are many reasons why I prefer making and wearing sterling silver jewelry over the alternatives. Here are the main reasons I can think of the top of my head:

1. Affordable - Sterling silver jewelry are affordable! Much more than other precious metals like gold, platinum etc. Even compared to base metal jewelry, sterling silver gives you better value for money.
2. Lasting - With proper caring, silver jewelry can last for many years while other base metal jewelry tarnish and lose their original look.
3. Color - are you a gold or silver color person? most people tend to prefer one or the other. I personally prefer silver. Even when I bought a wedding ring that was made of gold, I choose white gold.
4. Sensitivity - Many people have sensitive skin and can't wear non precious metals.

Can you think of more reasons? I would love to hear them. Feel free to post your comments.

Oldies but goodies

I was looking through some old pictures of my earlier works and I discovered some really great designs (hope I'm allowed to say this about my own stuff). These are things that I have created in the past and didn't repeat again. I tend to stop making each design after a few times because I love to keep them in small series so that they remain unique.

new pic old pic

Actually, my bird parade ring is an "old" design that I created a few years ago. I recreated the ring and uploaded to my etsy store. I was quite surprised at the reactions it got. I think it is more popular now than when I first made it! In fact it is one of my most popular items now.

I guess this is partly because the photograph turned out so great. You can see above the old photograph I had and how much better it looks now. I have even started expanding this design and I made similar bird parade earrings.

So I'm thinking of re-creating some additional designs to see if this success can repeat itself. Maybe I'll discover other creations that were retired too early.

Blog features

I've been featured in 2 blogs today:

Judit wild has a blog called "then and now" where she displays works artist did when they just started compared to their current work. It is so great to see how people developed and evolved in their work. My feature shows a work I did when I started creating jewelry. I was working with simple wire then, not silver. I still like this piece. Maybe I should re-create it in sterling silver and offer it in my store. The current work is a simple textured square silver pendant with a red Agate stone.

1987 2009

"Stuff under $20" is a blog dedicated to helping those who like to shop for nice things but are on a tight budget. N + S find cool and pretty stuff that costs less than $20!!! They choose to display my Fleur De Lis earrings, one of my latest creations.

Blue and teal and aqua and turqouise

Usually my favorite color is purple. However, recently I find myslef drawn to the blue colors and especially the light blues also called teal, aqua, torqouise etc. For some reason this color connects well with the spring and summer seasons. Maybe it's because it reminds me of the clear blue sky or the ocean. Whatever the reason, the result is that after making and posting a bunch of new jewelry items, I've discovered that my store became all teal!!! I fixed this by adding some other color items as well, but teal is still very dominant. Now I just hope that others will share this passion for this color.

Earrings

Though I design jewelry, I don't wear much jewelry myself. I might wear a necklace or a bracelet when I dress up or have some kind of special event, but not on a daily basis. The only jewelry item I can't leave home without are earring!!!

Earrings are without a doubt my favorite piece of jewelry. In fact, when I started making jewelry many many years ago, I only made earrings. I only started making other stuff when I began selling my work. But to this day, even though I enjoy making other items like rings, pendants etc., earrings are still my favorite.

These are some of my personal favorites at the moment:

Breaking the rules of symmetry

Most of the time I create jewelry designs that are symmetric. Don't even know why, I just do.

However, recentrly I made some asymmetric jewelry designs and I and very happy with them. They have a "breaking the rules" feel that makes them more intriguing and fun to wear. I guess I need to check my boundries every now and then to discover new creative possibilities.

New line of nature inspired jewelry

I stopped writing for a while beacause I was too busy working. Hopefully now I will manage to write more often.

I've been working hard on improving my etsy store and I'm starting to see some results. I have also been working on new jewelry. My new items are mostly inspired by nature. Made many designs with natural elements like flowers (an all time favorite of mine), branches, leaves etc.

Some items are allready listed in my etsy store, others will be in the next couple of days.

Guess this is what happens when you move to the country and are sorrounded by nature all around.