Behind the Scenes: Longhorn Skull Necklace

I've been on a bit of a southwestern/ wild west kick lately. I think it began when I finished reading "The Dark Tower" series by Stephen King a few months back. Images of windy, desolate terrains littered with longhorn skulls kept entering my mind.So I began to sketch these skulls and make an attempt to create them in wax. Normally it's not too difficult for me...I will often carve or form what I am looking for in just one try. Oh yea, I'm just that good ;). Well, not this time! This lil guy took me three failed attempts to get it right. Starting over on a design is not fun, but doing it three times is just crazy. Normally I might have just decided it wasn't going to work and move on to something else. But I had to get it right, and I'm pretty pleased to say I finally got it looking exactly as I'd planned.

Carving out of wax:
Cleaning and finishing the casting:
The finished product:
So upon channeling my inner cowgirl, I came across these awesome images by Gil Elvgren:
And I'm in love with this chic southwestern inspired clothing by Haute Hippie:
Next three Haute Hippie images from Shopbop.com:
Wouldn't those ensembles look great with the Longhorn Skull Necklace?!

The Tide Pool Collection

Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.
Robert Henri

I love the ocean. Frankly, I can't understand how someone couldn't love it. And as cliché as it sounds, it inspired my newest jewelry collection. I wanted to create waves of shiny metal, in varying sizes and patterns. So I carved out three wavy disc shapes, and the Tide Pool Collection was born.
This collection has really just begun, because there are limitless designs I can create with these little guys.Large Tide Pool Necklace:
Tide Pool Necklace and Earrings:
Large Tide Pool Ring:
Tide Pool Rings in Small, Medium, and Large:
Tide Pool Bracelet:
I will be adding everything shown to the website shortly, as well as countless other Tide Pool designs! In the meantime, I leave you with some beautiful vintage inspired seascapes I found on Etsy:Seascape photos by The Black Spot Books.

Anniversary Dinner

My husband and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary about a month ago, and I've been meaning to post some photos of our delightful dinner ever since! I wanted to surprise him with a nice meal at home complete with a set dinner table (we usually eat on TV trays so this was pretty fancy for us, hehe). I actually pulled out one of our folding tables we use for shows, and set it for a romantic dinner for two!
"Fine dining" placemats from Anthropologie:I love these little animal head shot glasses from Goody Grams:
I made us delicious bourbon tea cocktails, muddled with orange, mint, and honey: And for dinner I made us chicken pot pies and melon mozzarella salad:
To top off the southern feel, I played some old school blues and folk music...it was a perfect Monday night in after all of our weekend celebrating.

Behind the Scenes: Hama Rikyu

As I've mentioned before, many of my pieces are inspired by travel and different cultures. Though a lot of them come from my own travels, a few are taken from my imagination about places I want to go to! Case in point, my newest piece named after the Hama Rikyu gardens in Tokyo. I would just love traveling there someday and sipping tea in one of their breathtaking Japanese gardens. With these images of weeping willow trees and peaceful bridges, I got to sketching.

Hama Rikyu Necklace with White Topaz:
Here is a look at the making of my Hama Rikyu earrings and necklace:

The Final Products:
Both the earrings and necklace with be available in an array of gorgeous natural gemstones. Below is the Hama Rikyu Necklace with Amethyst:
Some beautiful photos of Japanese Gardens, by Raceytay:
Lovely artwork by Katsushika Hokusai, a Japanese artist in the early 1800s:
And last but not least, I would be lying if I said that one of my favorite video games didn't inspire this piece a little bit. It's called Okami, available on PlayStation 2 and Wii. For those of you that don't know me that well, I must admit that I am a bit of a video game nerd. So for all of the other nerds out there, believe me when I say you must give this game a try. The imagery is stunning and the game itself is amazing. I keep telling Kevin when we get our German Shepherd someday I want to name her Okami. He is not convinced. But it would be cool right...right?? ;)