The new gator buckle in bronze.  Wouldn't this look cool on a alligator belt?  I'm still working on the final modle for the master mold but this is pretty mcuch what it'll look like.  I have sold this one but I'm taking orders for the next casting session.  They are 65.00 in bronze and will be available in silver, priced according to the market.

tioga art show

This weekend was great. The show was well attended and the weather was warm and sunny, sales were good and I got an award!

new Gator buckle in bronze

Branch cuffs

A sampling of some of the Branch Cuff bracelets I'll be showing and shipping to galleries this month.

New Copper Necklaces

This is a group shot of a few of the new copper necklaces. I'm putting everything on leather now and offering the chains as a separate sale. I've had great response to this idea. This series of pendants and earings is colored with patinas and heat and coated with acrylics. The color in Photoshop is blue green, in this post it's green so I don't know what your seeing but the actual color is greenish blue turquoise to sky blue. The red copper is showing red magenta and actually it's more red orange. If interested I can do better with individual shots of pieces you might be interested in. This is just a sampling of some of the new designs.

Well gold is at an all time high of 1040.00 per oz. That's the size of a the current gold dollar coin but twice the thickness. We can't make a whole lot of jewelry with that much gold. I think you'll be seeing the prices go up sharply. I ran my gold sale as long as possible but now the gold is worth more than I was offering the jewelry for. If you bought something I thank you and you got a great deal on gold jewelry. If not you missed said chance. I wont be making gold jewelry with out a custom order, but anything you I do in silver can be done in gold. If you have a special project or a set of wedding bands you want made let me know. I still do alot of that but the prices will be a little higher as long as gold stays over 1000.00 an oz.

gold sale

I'm still having a few request to leave this up a while longer. New fans on face book haven't had a chance to see it yet so I'll leave it up a while longer.

From the bench

Here's one for the techies that like to see the process. This is a shot of my bench after 2 or 3 casting sessions. These are all silver except for the gold hearts in the upper left corner. They are still attached to the sprus and casting button. All the others have been cut off but nothing else has been done. This is what sterling silver looks like after casting. Now the fun begins. Figuring out what to do with it all I have a few ideas. But first it's grinding, sanding soldering on parts buffing and tumbling for a high polish finish. Antiquing (oxidizing) for contrast. Most of these pieces will be used in combination with other castings, stones or beads for color. The little gold hearts will be soldered onto the cross. These are part of my hearts line and part of a wholesale order. The trees will get finished and put on chains. There are a couple of leaves in there that will get the same treatment. Just a nice simple statement about nature and the beauty of curved line. Everything else is up for further design. The branches are molded from actual sticks that were drift wood found on the beaches of the north fork of Long Island. The texture will pop out with finishing. The leaves are all one of a kind as is the rose. Not sure what I'm going to do with the rose. Any ideas? Stay tuned to see what comes out. It looks like a mess now but some beautiful jewelry will emerge after I wave my magic wand over it.

Link Bracelets

Diamond shape links with graduated balls dancing around the links. solid sterling

I'm still looking for a name for this one. It's a little heavier than the one above and below and it has 14 gold balls in each link. I haven't done this a while since the cost of gold is so high but I love the contrast of metals

This one I call Sting rays but it could be stars too. These are nice light weight bracelets. Great for summer. Silver shows off you tan

New Buckle and Bracelets

Here's a new lab buckle in sterling. this one is shown on an 1 1/8 in. belt but will fit on 1 1/4. I also have a bulldog and a corgi buckle that are profiles like this.

Two views of the first of a new series of bracelets I'm calling "Blue Ridge"

Three new bracelets made of bronze and silver. Wrapping the bronze in silver keeps the bronze off your wrist and wont give you a green mark. the bronze will ozidize to a nice dark brown and have a nice contrast with the silver vine.

Bronze Patina buckles

Salmon bronze Patina This is a salmon head that I did the same patina to. Again this is a one of kind finish. They always come out different and there is no predicting how they will look. This is the actual buckle you will get. 58.00 including free shipping. This patina is not shown in the collection for sale on my website www.jewelryartstudio.com but I have all the other designs shown there in polished bronze and siver and the patina can be applied to any of the other designs.

Here's another idea for dad's day. I'm offering a free belt with these bronze buckles. These are one-off buckles because of the patina I applied. They have an almost iridescent quality. The bronze takes on a crystalline surface when lightly etched with a certain mild acid. This effect is permanent but the color will darken. However it just increases the contrast and makes them look better with age. 58.00 including free shipping.

New Rings

Garnet in an abstract leaf setting 48.00. Sold thanks

snowflake obsidian in a double spiral setting. This one reminds me of fern fronds 48.00 sold thanks

Moonstone in a double leaf setting 48.00 sold thanks

These are one of a kind rings set with semi precious stones. Most are size 6 1/2 to 7 but can be sized

bronze

I am working with with bronze more lately, since gold is at almost $1000.00/oz. and silver is at $15.00/oz. That's about triple for both in about 3 years. We are in a squeeze between high material costs and low retail prices. Bronze is a great alternative. It has long-standing value as an art metal and it ages beautifully. It's great for buckles. I have been using it for my fish-face buckles and in other jewelry for many years.A free $30.00 belt is included with these buckles.


This is a cast bronze salmon or trout that fits on a 1 1/2 belt. It has a high polish finish but will patina to a golden brown with greenish highligts. Shown on a brown belt. This is one I can do over and I'm selling this first one on the blog and to my facebook fan club for 45.00 Free belt and shipping

The belts I use are snap on so they can be used with other buckles. The 1 1/2 inch belts are all dark chocolate brown. These pictures look a little blue greenish on my lap top but teh actual color is a very nice dark brown

This buckle is cast and then forged. It's a heavy duty buckle with a nice weight to it. One of the nice things about bronze is I can use more of it. This buckle in silver would have to be 170.00. (I'll be happy to done like it in silver for you ) It's about as heavy as one of my fish head buckles but actually has more hand work in it. This is a one off buckle. No mold was made. The wax for the casting was hand manipulated and formed into the basic shape. After casting the final shape and finish was done with a hammer. It has a bright, high polish finish but will patina to a beautiful brown.

If you want it before it goes on my website or to a gallery it's 55.00 That includes the 1 1/2 belt and shipping. If you want it without the belt it's 55.00 (that's what I mean by a free belt)

I also finished up a silver buckle I started long ago. It's much smaller and lighter than the bronze one and has more of a dress look. It also fits on a 1 1/2 belt. This one is totally forged from a piece of silver rod. Another fan club deal I'm offering this one for 95.00 with belt and free shipping. Call or email for details on belt size and paynment opptions.

Gold Rings

The 3 gold rings cast in white gold, yellow gold and rose gold

casting steps

First step is tomake the wax modles. Here I have the silver bezel cups already made so I can place them and build the wax ring around the stone

This is the rough casting still attached to the spru and button. The spru is the feeder gate for the liquid metal to flow to the design. The button is extra metal to allow for shrinkage as the hot metal cools and contracts. You can see 2 gold casting here also one in yellow and one in rose.

The fishished rings

Here a some new shell pendants. These are cast in solid silver and come with a chain. These, are made from molds of shells I found on beaches in Florida as are all my cast shells.

This is called a "baby's ear" shell

This is the top of a conch

Here is a pendant I made as a demo for my "open back and odd shapes" pendant class. This is a moon shell I found over New Years on the beach in So. Carolina. I ground it down on the back until it was flat and made the bezel and added the wire. It's also a demo for the "Bails" class to show creative ways to attach chains.

New Ideas

These 3 new pieces are demos for a new class on what to do with your scrap. It's a combination of melting and fabriating using found metal and scrapes

Cast Gold Ring

Another custom wedding ring. This is a man's ring carved in wax and cast in 14k white. the edges on this one are very rounded for extreme comfort and easy removal.