Custom Sonas Ring

This ring is sterling silver with the word 'sonas' (Gaelic for happiness) pierced through the ring in the ancient Ogham alphabet. The band is about 5/16" wide.











It was created as a custom design. This was the first Ogham ring I tried making. I enjoyed making it because the process reminded me of the first rings I made in jewelry class. Were we started with a sheet of metal then cut and formed a ring out of it. Filing the joint so it lines up before soldering.

I am very pleased with how this ring turned out but am not planning on continuing with this style for several reasons. The first being the piercing process would not adapt well to narrower bands. The main reason is a stability factor while sizing the ring. Before I worked on this in sterling silver I did a test run in copper.

I started with the design printed on a piece of paper that I spray mounted to the metal. For balance in this design I added a second drill hole to the end of the word.



The part I wasn't pleased with when making the test ring became apparent when I started to form the ring. Because 'sonas' is cut through the metal it created a weaker point at the top of the O and A causing the letter to spread on one side (shown on right). I was able to avoid that while forming and sizing the sterling ring because I saw it as an issue in the copper test ring. Though I have found that it is possible to avoid the letters spreading as they did, this design will be left as a one of a kind.

The process of testing to see what works and what doesn't is part of what I love about custom work. It gives me a chance to play with designs I may not have thought of otherwise and to push the boundaries of what I can make.

Copper Cuffs

It has taken a while to get back my blog but I am here now. As promised here is a photo of the copper cuffs I was working on when I last blogged...

They turned out quite well. And even though the hammering alone took 2 sessions over 2 days I still say hand hammering is still better than using a machine to do the hammering for me. It is just a matter of pacing so as not to completely wear our the muscles ;) These cuffs took longer than usual because they are much larger than I usually make. They were a custom order and measure 2" wide by 11" long. Usually the largest cuffs I make are 1" wide by 7" long.

After hammering, the stage that was shown in my last blog post, I sanded the cuffs by hand and hammered them into their cuff form. The last step before photographing and shipping was to polish them to a high shine.

In the time it has taken me to get this post together I have made quite a few new pieces along with working on listings for my Etsy site. The new design for my animal line is the ferret. They turned out beautifully.

This is one of the ferrets in copper. In about 2 weeks time I made 9 of these total in copper, nickel, red brass, and yellow brass.

The other custom piece I had was a copper version of an engineers guild ring. It is to be a special present.

I like how it turned out and am quite happy I was able to figure out how to make the design from a photograph.

Woven Sterling Bracelet

This bracelet was hand woven from 22 gauge sterling silver wire. When finished its diameter is about 3mm (0.1181 inches). Once the wire was woven it was "drawn" to make the weaving more uniform and tighten the weave. Drawing is the process of pulling the wire through an appropriate size hole in a metal plate. Once the woven wire is "drawn" it is cut to the proper length and end caps are soldered on to accommodate a jump ring and lobster claw. The wire for this bracelet was cut to 6.5 inches once the end caps and clasp were put on it was a finished length of 7 inches.






Interesting fact:
It takes about 1 foot of wire to make 1 inch of woven bracelet.






Behind the scenes:
These are the tools I use in the weaving process. The whole thing begins with a spool of 'dead soft' wire. The wire is cut into 1-2 foot lengths for weaving. If the wire lengths were any longer they would become difficult to use because of a process called 'work hardening' which is where the wire gets harder and stiffer as its molecules align from being worked with. The wire cutters are an obvious choice of tools as something is needed to cut the spooled wire into shorter lengths ;) The ice pic is used to form the wire into each loop as it is pulled through a previously made loop. The jaws of the pliers are smooth so that they will not mar or pinch the wire as they are used to pull the wire through the weaving proces. I have found the glove to be a very important part of making woven wire. I only wear the left of my winter gloves as that is the hand that I use to hold the wire while weaving. It is not absolutely necessary to wear a glove while weaving but when I don't my pointer and thumb fingers get very tender from the pressure of holding the wire while weaving.

Not much to say today so here are some pictures of pretty things :)
The 'stone' in this ring is Blue Paua Shell. The ring is sterling silver with a half round band for comfort.

Anam Ogham Necklace
Anam is Irish Gaelic for Soul. This one was hand cut in copper. That is one of my gargoyle friends peeking out in the background.

Encircled Moon Phase Necklace.
So often in moon phase jewelry the new moon is left out. I feel the new moon is an important phase as well so made sure to include it when working up this design. It is also hand cut in copper. This is also the first of the smaller size for this design at 1" rather than 2".

Hammered Ring with a Twist
This design was actually one of my happy accidents. I was making sterling braided rings out of 16 gauge wire and mis-measured when cutting the stock wire into 3 equal parts for braiding. I ended up with one piece that was much shorter than the other two. So having 2 pieces of 4 inch wire I thought what would happen if I twisted them together, made a ring, and hammered it out. Well this was the result. I am very pleased with it and have continued making them on purpose.

Well I guess I had more to say than I thought!

Motivated

This past weekend was one of organization and planning. Every year for the past 5 years I have resolved to start working on stock for the Renaissance Fair season before April. This year I have finally succeeded!

The first fair we will be at is Mayfaire Renaissance Festival in Marshall MI. It is a two weekend fair; May 23, 24, 25 & 30, 31 2009. In one light it looks far off but when thinking about all that needs to be done it is just around the corner.

In January I began work on my stock of Dragon Tear Necklaces. They have yet to be epoxied and ribbons put on them but that part doesn't take too long.

Yesterday I started on creating two full sets of Ogham Pendants, that is 32 words per set, along with the 5 custom pieces I am working on. One set will be put aside for faire and the other listed in my Etsy shop as they are completed. Looking at the photo I have a lot of work ahead of me! Thankfully I enjoy the work :)


I even managed to slip in two listings today:

Simply Garnet and Sterling Silver Ring
This ring features an oval Almandine Pyropie Garnet set in sterling silver. Simple yet beautiful.

Braided Fairy Vine Necklace 2

Hand braided sterling silver on a black leather necklace cord. The cord closes with a sterling spring clasp.

Spoiled?

Last year my husband got me this really cool dragon ash tray that has become part of my jewelry making process.

I set him on top of the shelf behind my chair in the living room and one day I was looking for a place to set some pendants that I had cut but not filed yet. The trey in front of the dragon became the perfect place! The pieces were not likely to get knocked off and it was a place the cats wouldn't go. Our cats like to play with my pieces, they think rings and findings make great toys not to mention the cords and chains I work with.

After using the dragons tray for a few weeks I realized my folly... Dragons like to keep the pretty shinnies for themselves! So I made a deal with the dragon... I would give him some pieces to keep so long as he let the others find homes of their own. It was fine at first but now I think he is getting spoiled. It started with a hematite ring crown then a blue paua shell necklace. But now he wants a bracelet and wing cuffs! Perhaps I should have phrased our deal more carefully ;)

Ogham Pendants

Since I have been working with the Ogham pendants quite a bit lately I decided to share a bit about them. I have always been interested in 'other' writing forms. Fascinated by Egyptian hieroglyphs and the small amount of cuneiform that I was able to see in my art history and typography classes. It was especially interesting to see how writing changed over the years, how pictographs transformed into cuneiform.

I have also had a long interest in cultural differences, how words translate, how people express themselves through art and other means of communication, and the day to day interpersonal differences and similarities. With all of that combined with my interest in the Celts and Picts before them it was only natural that I would end up creating pieces in the Ogham alphabet. Through research I found out quite a bit.

The Ogham Alphabet:
Sometimes referred to as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet", Ogham was used between the 4th and 7th centuries AD in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. The initial alphabet consisted of 20 characters with a few more complex characters being added later. The letters were formed by combination of short lines on and at either side of a middle line called a "flesc". With a vertical flesc words are read from bottom to top or right to left with a horizontal flesc.

Although surviving traces of Ogham were inscribed on stone it was probably more commonly inscribed on sticks, stakes, and trees to mark boundaries. There is also evidence from early Irish sagas and legends that indicates Ogham was used for short inscriptions on wood or metal used to relay messages (some cryptic in nature or for magical purposes) or to denote ownership of the object. There is also evidence that suggests that Ogham may have been used to keep genealogy records, numerical tallies of property, and business transactions.

Of the 400-500 remaining inscriptions a handful have been found featuring Ogham along with the Latin alphabet, most of the inscriptions are in an archaic form of Gaelic and Pictish.

Each of the Ogham pendants I have made started with an English word I thought would be a good talisman or a word in English that was requested. From there I set to translating each word into Gaelic cross referencing the translation and meaning of each word with at least 3 sources. Once I was satisfied with the correctness of the translation I then translated the resulting Gaelic word into the Ogham alphabet to create the design for each pendant.

There are a couple of reasons I chose to translate the words into Gaelic before translating them into Ogham. The first is a matter of practicality, since I am using the original alphabet there are only 20 letters that correspond with the 26 letter English alphabet which would leave 6 letters to be approximated by phonetics. I did not like the feel of going that rout so I chose to use Gaelic which is a language that ties more closely to Ogham historically. The other reason is a bit more 'spiritual' in nature. The technique of using 'power words' to create an effect or draw an energy to ones life has been used for centuries. I have spent a lot of time thinking on this practice and realized that words do in fact have power but we don't often think much about the words we use every day. By stepping into another language we have to give active thought to what words mean and their consequences which creates an even greater amount of energy to the power of words we use as talismans.

I am open and welcome to any thoughts you may have so please share. And if you have a moment please check out the Ogham pendants I have listed in my shop. I will be adding more as I get them finished and photographed.

Newest Listings

These two rings are the newest additions to my Etsy.com shop.

Hammered Ring With A Twist
Not the typical hammered ring, this sterling silver ring started as 2 wires twisted together. After forming the band an hammering it opens the twist to create a beautiful flowing pattern.

Braided Sterling Ring

This ring was hand braided from 18 gauge sterling silver wire. Yes, the braiding for this style of ring does give me hand cramps after a while ;) It is a great style for men or women.

I have found the hardest part of what I do is the photographing and writing descriptions. I end up taking anywhere from 20-80 photos of each piece and then have the arduous task of narrowing that down to just 5. Sometimes I like more than 5 and it is hard to choose, other times I end up with only 2 or 3 that look good and I have to re-shoot them. Then there is the writing of descriptions... some days the Muses are with me and other days I just blank on what to say. But I like to think with each listing I learn a bit and that will improve future my future listings.

A Glimpse Into My World

Since I enjoy seeing how things are made and where they come from I figured today I'd give you a glimpse into my world. I don't have a traditional studio yet, we are still working on getting the basement cleaned out so I can set up shop down there, so for now I work in different parts of the house. My cutting is all done in our book room.

My cutting bench with a few of the pieces I am working on. Ok so the cutting bench is really a bed side table I have had for years but after moving in with my hubby there really wasn't any other use for it. Yes that is the hand saw that I use for cutting all of my pieces with its tiny blade. Today I cut some of the Ogham pendants seen in that photo. The Ogham pendants I am working on are Peace, Permanent, and Truth.



Once I have the designs cut I remove the paper and put it on the side of a shelving unit in the living room. I like having my previous designs where I can see them and it confuses people when they come to visit ;)

















The three Ogham pendants after they were cut, given the brushed texture for the back, and the paper design was removed. I have yet to file the edges, sand the pieces, and polish them.

Abstract Play

I decided to play around with abstract designs the other day. Instead of melting down the odds and ends pieces of metal that have been collecting on my work bench for casting I chose some of the interesting shapes and set to playing. After a little bit of refining to their shapes I set to hammering and forming bails. The results were some beautiful new copper pendants. They are already listed in my etsy.com shop.

Latest Finished Pieces

I finished up 2 custom orders this week.

Buan (permanent)

This piece was created for a woman who wanted a special gift for the love of her life. We considered several different words and found the perfect word to describe their relationship was "Buan" which is Gaelic for permanent, (effort) sustained, unfailing, lasting, durable, long. She was looking for a word that would express that they could last through whatever was thrown their way.

The second custom piece was a 2 word necklace.

Cridhe Treubh

Cridhe Treubn means Heart Kin in Scottish Gaelic. These were the first Ogham pendants that I cut with 2 words. Thankfully I was able to make them without the piece getting too long. If it had been any longer I would have had to adjust the layout of the piece putting the words next to each other rather than both on the center line which is traditional for Ogham writing.

I also took a break from piercing and polished up a few rings that were just begging me to finish them. A few hammered copper bands and a sterling braided band.

Styles I have been working with

Though I enjoy working with different techniques of jewelry making, lately I have been mostly working with piercing. The process of piercing starts with a sheet of metal and a design. A hole is drilled in the sheet metal and then the design is cut out using a small hand held coping saw creating a design that is pierced through the metal.

These are just a few examples of my pierced work:

Celtic Knotwork Necklace	Sinser (Elder) Ogham Necklace
Sea Turtle Totem Necklace	Howling Wolf Totem Earrings