My Studio

It's been a super busy season! I had to reorganize, reorganize and then reorganize! So here is my studio these days! In the closeup you can see Sparkklejar's beautiful tins which hold my various pliers!

I'm so much more productive and my shop is growing steadily! Thank you one and all for the terrific support! YOU ROCK!!

I'm ever

SPRING DESIGNS! A CREATIVE TIME!

It's raining silver! I've been in the studio working on new designs this winter and totally loved it! Thanks to last year's success, I was able to purchase some new equipment and therefore expand the many processes available to me.

The petals in the petite studs shown are made of up of little hearts - so cute for spring and perfect for Mother's Day! I'm making a pair for my Teen because they are work nicely for a young girl as well! I love that kind of versatility in a design.

I made the beautiful When Silver Blooms, which are currently featured in my shop, with my brand new dapping set! I made the Silver Bells too, which possess an absolutely delightful tingle! Too much fun!

I took a week off right after the Olympics, so I'm just getting back into the flow of things! I'm working on a brand new item which I simply can't wait to launch - think Football!!! I'm a huge CFL fan and I'm finally allowing myself to marry them up! Look for that in the next few weeks!

This week I'm concentrating of the new designs for Spring because it's finally HERE! My shop has been slow and that has afforded me this time to create! It feeds the Soul so well!

Speaking of feeding the Soul - please check out Owning Pink http://www.owningpink.com/! It's a fabulous site dedicated to being the most authentic being you can and thereby achieving the things you truly WANT not things you think you should! The Mojo Tips alone are worth signing up for! I am working on a piece to gift Lissa Rankin the totally awesome co-founder and human being! Highly recommended!

Thanks again for all the support - you all ROCK!

Many Smiles to you ALL!
Sharon

New Tools - New Designs

Welcome, welcome, welcome. I hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics - we in beautiful British Columbia, Canada are truly LOVING the role of playing host to the World!!

On the jewellry front, I've been having a blast!! I received some cash at Christmas and thought I'd do something productive with it other than a manicure and pedicure, which I badly needed. :-) I bought TOOLS!

I bought an awesome top of the line dapping set that will last a few lifetimes, a beautiful disc cutter and some stamping tools.

The dapping tools are used to shape metal and I had a ball making these Silver Spheres of Imperfection!! Ok, bad pun intended!! The Silvery Moon Pendant was super fun as well. Check them all out at my Etsy shop.

I haven't got the stamping down yet, it takes a bit of practice and I'm impatient so it'll be awhile before you see anything up in my shop which encompasses them. Keep watching though.

The disc cutter has been tons of fun as well and it has been instrumental in several new designs including the Silver Spheres as before I shape the sheet metal I have to cut it out. It is super easy to use and I wish I would have purchased one years ago.

I'm loving my studio these days and it's hard to pull me out of here, however the sun shines more often these days and with flowers starting to bloom here on the west coast of Canada - I'm being pulled outside. I'm sure my family will be very happy about that - maybe they'll see me every once in awhile!!

Til next time...enjoy!!!

Be Mine Valentine - Heart Felt Jewelery

Good day all! I've been in the studio creating from the Heart! After the dizziness of Christmas has for the most part passed, it's winter nesting time which brings the heart home and announces Valentine's Day. I've created several pieces with hearts, some new designs and others a heart-take on some popular MetalRocks designs such as my Silver Hammered Hearts with a Tail!

Enjoy a browse thru my shop and please comment as I dearly love to receive feedback.

Until next time, when our topic will be To Stamp or Not to Stamp - What Does the 925 or SS stamp Declare?

All the Best

Tis the Season

Good day all! Well it's upon us, the Christmas season, and my shop is buzzing. Sales have increased substantially and my family is getting meals prepared on the weekend and frozen. I'm happy, but the family, not so much! :-)

I've done a few new things including joining the EtsyCanada team and advertising at IndieNorth a wonderful site dedicated to promoting Canadian artists. http://www.indienorth.com/

I like to buy local so my thinking floated to, why not try to sell locally. My Etsy store was already established and doing nicely, but my Canadian sales were a small trickle. I found my answer on Twitter, where I met Beth, the wonderfully creative and industrious lady who is the force behind IndieNorth. Beth is a delightful Tweeter and gave me the wonderful hint to add the word 'Canadian' as a tag in my Etsy shop, plus a placed a very reasonably priced ad on the IndieNorth site and my Canadian sales have easily tripled! Thank you IndieNorth and Beth! I recommend all Canadian artists check this site out.

This week, I was contacted by Christina of Akane Designs http://www.akane.etsy.com who has kindly accomplished all the necessary administrative work to set up a new Etsy Team, called EtsyCanada of which I am happy to say, I am now a proud member. I'm looking forward to getting to know more Canadian artists from across the country and promoting our creations together. I'm super excited!!

That said, with sales soaring, I must get back to the studio! 'Tis the Season' and artists around the world are in high production and high promotion mode. Did I mention how much I LOVE IT!!! :-)

Have a great day and remember: Today is the tomorrow you've been waiting for! ENJOY!

Happy Easter Weekend!

It's been an exhausting week, but I finally got the first order to Manila Tag. I feel much better, but still have several pieces to make. As well, I've been trying to ensure my on-line store has daily new feature items if possible. It hasn't always been possible. I worked until 1:30AM last night and feel a little more caught up.

I decided to take Maria's lovely idea to make the Maria's Goddess Tear Studs with a 14K gold tail and a solid silver stud. I think the woman should design jewellery. The results are pictured and I think absolutely lovely.

I must run as I yesterday's turkey needs to be made into stew plus the Masters is on AND Canada is playing in the semi-finals in the curling. What's a girl to do but grab a beer and hit the tube. The turkey can wait!

Parent Panic - Thrilling Week of Sales

This week has been thrilling for MetalRocks on Etsy. People are finally finding me! Some of my designs have really taken off, especially the Goddess Tear Mini Studs! I shipped pieces to the UK, Australia, USA and Canada this week! If I can't afford the ticket, at least my work is seeing the world!

As well, the pendant pictured is called Imagine, as neither my husband nor I could agree with what we see in the piece so I decided not to try and lock down our or anyone else's creative interpretation. The process is one of my favourite (ok I admit I'm a melting metal junkie!!) called fusion. Suffice to say it was a satisfying fun week creatively.

On the parenting front, I'm wincing. My daughter, Kat, is turning 12 at the end of the month and I'm trying to prepare a party, sleepover, or whatever. Communication is not thriving. I'm suddenly feeling old, outdated, trend ignorant, and my daughter told me she and her friends think I have similar characteristics to her teacher. I didn't dare ask if they liked the teacher!! I can see them rolling their eyes when I try to chum around with them and of course all conversation stops when I appear, letting me know I couldn't possibly understand what they are going thru!! My feelings were smarting and then I started to remember; something that now takes effort!

I remembered ME. Me at twelve. It was more fun to look back nostalgically than realistically. I somehow felt it was necessary for me to understand a stage in my life so I could understand that stage in my daughter's. I got out the wine!

I was a head-strong kid and by the time I was twelve I was listening to no one. Luckily I was smarter than I was brave, so that helped save me at times. Back then people didn't talk about hormones or even mention 'that time of the month', these were all secrets. Remember Cathy Rigby and those tampon commercials and what a scandal it all was. I am embarrassed at what I put my poor unsophisicated mother through. I made only the most mandatory appearances at home and the rest of the time, well I don't even want to mention because my daughter will likely read this.

So after my little trip down memory lane, I realized while Kat may be changing, so are the times. Conversation may stop when I appear but I am still smarter than I am brave. I simply hide and LISTEN. Kat and her friends are totally interesting, definitely more advanced than I was, more conscious of who they are and where they are going, and very frank about hormones, boys, etc. It's all fascinating stuff and way better than TV! After all - all is fair in love and war...AND PARENTING!!!

Enjoy your day!!

By the Light of the Silvery Moon Pendant

I am so thrilled with this new piece. I posted it on Etsy on a Full Moon no less. It did seem fitting. I'm going to make a whole bunch of Moons and then start to put them together into bracelets, pendants etc.

Today I'm working on a new idea, if I can get to it. I love hoops and if you look at my site you'll see I have a good amount of them. I want to do a new take on them. My piece Refections, pictured here (along with my Moon pendant) is a design based on my love of hoops. Tomorrow post will hopefully have a picture of my new idea! See you then!!

Work in Progress

I'm super excited by my new Organic Freeform line. I love melting metal, it matter not what kind. I plan on making more nose rings and earring studs today. I usually like to melt at night as it's easier to see when things are going right or wrong, in other words, when to take that torch away!

Last night I made this totally cool new piece. I took a copper coin about an inch in diameter and melted a bunch of silver on it. Because the silver was sterling, when it was in the cooling process it cratered. Now it looks just like a full moon, which will be the name of the piece. I think I'll call it By the Light of the Silvery Moon. I'll post it as soon as it comes out of the polisher.

I just love creating!!!!!