On My Workbench: Silver Apple Branch Rings and Leaf Pendants

I’ve been working hard this past week on some new pieces, both custom and for my ready to wear line. I’ll have some pictures of the custom piece for you next week, it’s coming along great, and it’ll really show you more about the process of how I make silver leaves. But this week I’ve been working on finishing up my new style of Apple Tree rings. They’re cast in fine silver, and come in both a high polish silver and in a black oxidized finish. I love the way these bands came out, there really comfy, and on the thinner side of the twig rings that I cast, only 3-5 mm wide. The textures are really well defined in the apple bark, much more so then the maple tree rings.

The other piece that I finished this week is a luxurious Art Deco style leaf pendant, that’s set with a 5mm faceted White Topaz. The pendant’s hanging from a really incredible matching Art Deco style chain. Like my other leaves, I cast this Sage leaf after growing it in the garden. I hand carved the setting for the stone and set in the hand-made bail. This is a really special looking piece, the veining of the sage leaf sparkles and so does the stone, the entire piece is just so amazingly reflective.

 

The Blue Angel – A New Orleans Treasure

In early 2004, I took a visit to see one of my closest friends in New Orleans. She had been living there for a few years and I always looked forward to my trips to visit her Down South, where we would feast on Southern food, visit cemeteries, wander around the Garden District, go on Swamp Tours, and just generally have a wild time of it. My favorite part though was always the days we would walk around Metairie Cemetery. There is nothing like Metairie where I grew up. The graves are all monuments to life. Beautiful marble, stained glass, shinning brass, and copper turning teal in the salt tinged humid air.

We had been to Metairie at least twice before on this trip, taking pictures and walking around, most importantly trying to get a good picture of my favorite Angel  “The Angel of Grief.”  But the doors to the Mausoleum that she is located, The Chapman H. Hyams Tomb had always been locked. But on that lucky day the doors were wide open, no lock, no chains on the doors at all. The statue was bathed in an incredible blue light, which was shining down on it from three different stain glass windows, one a beautiful floral tiffany window, the other two were simple blue abstract designs. That day it was like everything was meant to be, not only were the doors open, but the normally pale blue tinged light was a deep violet blue creating a dramatic visual effect. The statue of “The Angel of Grief” was carved out white marble, in Carara Italy by William Wetmore Story and then shipped to New Orleans Louisiana.

An Unforgettable Moment

   Photo Courtesy of MelindaRoberts.Net

So, early last month I received a wonderful email from Melinda Roberts and Steven Moore, she’s the writer of Mommy Confidential and creator of The Mommy Blog.net. Melinda is recognized as a major influence in the mommy blogging community and has participated in events hosted by Oprah, Disney, Johnson and Johnson, Pampers, Google, and Clorox, just to name a few.

I was so amazed when I received her email. It was sweet and lovely and even included a video of her wedding. Which by the way, was every women’s dream wedding, I don’t know how she pulled it off with six kids! It was elegant and vintage with just the right amount of modern twist added in the color palette. I wish I could go back and make my wedding was this beautiful!

From her email I was surprised to learn that a few months earlier Melinda had purchased a lovely wire wrapped Citrine pendant from me, which she wore for her wedding. The email really shows just how wonderful and classy Melinda is, and I just couldn’t keep myself from sharing part of it here!

“Hello!

I’m writing to thank you for the part you played in making our wedding day unforgettable. The rings, flowers, food, cake, dress, decorations, and especially the Snickerdoodle sign just made it so beautiful and FUN.

We will be recommending your services to everyone, and I will make mentions on my website, so that should get you several thousand eyeballs on you and your fabulous business. “

While I had heard of Melinda before this, I have since become an avid reader and really adore her writing style.  Her book Mommy Confidential details real life, through illness, pregnancy, job gains and loss, as well as financial stress, all handled with wry humor and edgy wit. I also really appreciated hearing back from a bride. It’s nice to know that the day went really well, and to see pictures of your work in action!

To follow Melinda go to: Twitter: @themommyblog
Blog: http://www.melindaroberts.net
Facebook: Melinda Lorimer Roberts

Etsy Find: Hanukkah Shopping

I comb through the Etsy Finds e-mails everyday, looking at there beautiful choices for the holidays, and themed gatherings. Hoping beyond hope that I will be included. But yesterday, I didn’t have time, I was simply to busy.

But late last night, I noticed that my traffic had just absolutely exploded, and I had no idea where it was coming from. I looked through google analytics, and saw a mysterious annotation, called bronto. Well what is bronto, and why is my traffic coming from google bronto. What in the world is that I asked myself.

Well after doing some digging I found out that bronto is the service that Etsy uses to send out there Etsy Finds e-mails.  But alas, I had deleted all of my emails for the day, and there is no archive for Etsy Finds. I continued my search looking through my email trash can. Until there it was, the Etsy Find, Tell your Friend Veronica… It’s Time to Celebrate Hanukkah! And it had in it under the gifts for men, my beautiful, Song of Solomon Dog Tag Necklace.  Woo Hoo!!!