Anatomy of a Commissioned Piece

My best friend's boyfriend wanted a pendant for her upcoming birthday, and wanted something different. Her given names translate to the words 'pearl' and 'dove', so he wanted something encompassing both. First we started with a couple of sketch ideas. 

We decided on this last sketch. Since it was super basic and he seemed a little iffy on the idea, I created a more detailed larger sketch, below.

 There was also the idea to carve their names into the feather without it seeming too obvious unless pointed out. On the left 'RICH' on the right 'TOBY'

 Since this piece would be a casting, it first gets carved out of wax

 This is what it looks like immediately after casting.

After casting I soldered a little post into the 'cupped' part of the feather for the half drilled pearl to be glued (sigh) onto. It's really the only way to set pearls. Traditional bezel settings can easily break the pearl in the process. So, even though I hate gluing things, it had to be done. Antiqued, polished and then set the black pearl. Threaded onto a snake chain. And voila, finished product!  Pretty awesome, eh?

Sooo, It's Been Awhile

 Well, I figured it was about time I updated on a bunch of stuff that's happened since moving home. It's gonna be a long post. Around late September/beginning of October I got my work space all set up:

Started cranking out a bunch of jewelry for a small art festival that's held yearly at the temple my family and I used to belong to. That happened in December:

Before that though, was the freak ass snow storm the weekend of Halloween. The leaves hadn't fallen off yet, and now I know why they have to before it snows- all that extra surface area, the branches can't take the weight of the snow, and snap. Sooo many downed trees from that weekend. We lost power for 5 days. It was freaking warmer outside than in the house. FUN.

 Oh shit son. Yeh, NYC trees have zero root systems to keep them anchored to the ground

 There was something about the way the branches couldn't take the weight, how they split from the center. Made me think of a peeled banana.

Just another downed tree in the neighborhood

Moving on. Got sick for New Years, so that was awesome. It had been a while since I've had such a bad sinus infection- my face felt like it had been beaten in, and the pain radiated down into my goddamn teeth. Did 2 commissioned projects in December:

 sterling silver with cz

copper hannukia 

February I had a table at a temple's annual fun raiser:

Oh yeh, in January I went to VT for a weekend. So cold, so goddamn cold. About 10 F during the day and then below 0 F at night. Got some pretty pictures when we went for a walk. What was great, is when I got home to the 30 degree weather I was like "!!! Psh, this isn't cold! I just need my sweatshirt."

 Pretty little brook

 Yes this is beer in glasses being kept cold in the snow bank. Need I mention it was also -0 F out?

 So, this is ice on the window INSIDE the room. Condensation from inside froze on the windowpane since it was so damn cold out.

 I'm pretty sure the trees are completely ice covered. Really pretty.

Turns out some old factory was burning the fuck down

And, here are a bunch of the pieces I've made since moving back to NY:

 Copper acid etched

 Copper forged

 Copper star of david on leather band

 Copper Tree of Life Hamsas. Have them in nugold in a larger size too.

 Cloisonne Hamsa

 Sterling silver double hearts

 Cheesy little glass heart necklaces

 Filigree style Hamsas in copper, nugold, and silver

 Nugold acid etched cuff

 Also nugold I believe, acid etched

 Mexican Fire Opal in sterling

 Star of David in stilver

 Silver with garnets and amethyst in center

 I've got a thing for labyrinths, set with opal

I think that possibly about covers it. Went out to Cali for 2 weeks to visit with friends, got back mid-March. Finished that feather commissioned piece. Have been doing some work for another jewelry designer. Mostly been looking for work in the industry. Hopefully I'll get something. Will try to keep this updated more often...

Day 6, 7, & 8

Friday we drove from Omaha to Chicago. Ended up eating dinner and crashing at my cousin's place, hospitality was much appreciated :)
Saturday, had some Chicago pizza. Did not try the deep dish (I know, I know, it's the whole point of Chicago style pizza) but had their thin crust, which was still pretty damn thick. What was really delicious was the french bread with 3 kinds of melted cheeses on it with marinara dipping sauce. Om nom nom. I think I filled up on that more than anything and that's why had so little of my pizza. Anywho, we headed out to Cleveland, OH. Nothing much special other than our Mexican food dinner was also quite awesome.
And then, Sunday came. Driving through Pennsylvania, I forgot how goddamn GREEN everything is. I do really miss it. Kind of makes me feel like I want to don a pair of fairy wings and go prancing/frolicking in the woods causing mischief. They may not be the Sierras, but the Appalachians are still pretty awesome. It's a different kind of mountain range, more rolling and fluffy (weird description I know, but I hope you'll get what I mean with the pictures).
And I also forgot how much nothing there is in Penn. Mostly woods, the occasional farm, some horses and cows. There is also this huge SCA (medieval camping, remember?) event that happens there, and is actually going on right now, and I kept hoping maybe I would see signs for it or something, but I didn't. Boo.
Ok, here are the pictures:

 Just outside downtown Omaha. This dude who worked at the B&B in Boulder said he'd driven to Omaha a few times and told us about the painted silos, in his own words "I guess they had nothing else better to do?"

 What Cheer? Who's Cheer? Why Cheer? and so on

 So yeh, this is new- offering wireless internet at a rest stop. Color me surprised.

 Something was on fire.

 ...
That's really all I can think of in reaction to that name.

 So, actually kind of awesome. I think there were about 10 parachuters (2 had landed and 8 were still in the air)

 Dude, nowhere is normal. No. Where.

 Do you see what I mean by rolling and fluffy?

 What with the trees all growing to nearly the same height, I realize it's probably for power lines or something, but it really looks like someone took clippers and accidentally used the wrong length setting and shaved a strip right down the center.

 Pardon the streaked bug guts on the shield

I thought it was kind of a cool bridge.
And so wraps up my trip back to the east coast. Will post more pictures on facebook. Eventually.