Tower of Song Festival - May 23rd, 2009

This Saturday marks the date of the first Tower of Song Festival, to be held in Congress Square in beautiful downtown Portland, Maine. I am delighted to be a part of this event and cannot wait to be serenaded by some of my favorite local musicians while I peddle my jewelry in the square below!

This FREE event takes place from noon until 8 pm. Stop by and say "hello"! Click here for more information about the Tower of Song.

Behind the Scenes - Seaglass Rings

Some of my most-complimented items at craft shows have been my seaglass rings. People seem very interested in the design and construction, so I thought I would share a behind-the-scenes look at how they are made.

First, I cut out silver strips from sterling sheet metal. These strips will eventually form the rings.



Next, I shape the rings on a mandrel to the appropriate sizes and punch a hole on each side. At this point, I also polish the silver to either a brushed or shiny finish.



Lastly, I find just the right piece of seaglass for each ring. This part can be tricky...the glass can't be too thick or too wide or the ring won't fit correctly. I use a length of sterling silver wire to sandwich the seaglass between the ends of the ring and finish each end with a spiral to hold it tight.



There you have it. Available now in various sizes and colors at lofteddesigns.com!

Seaglass = Summer

Summer is almost here, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate the season than by taking a trip to beach! Since the beach is only 10 minutes from where I work, I often find myself combing the rocks and pebbles on lunch breaks for smooth pieces of seaglass.

Large pieces are getting harder and harder to find these days but I've managed to pick up a few nice ones recently. I just love turning them into beautiful jewelry! View more at lofteddesigns.etsy.com.

Dover Arts Festival - Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Just in time for Mother's Day...

Please join me for the 2nd Annual Arts Festival this Saturday, May 9th, in Dover, New Hampshire! The event will take place from 10 am to 3 pm at the One Washington Center mill building near the covered bridge.

Admission is FREE! There will be 40 artist booths (including mine!), a farmer’s market, live music and performances, the Dover Mounted Police, face painting and balloon animals for the kids. Don't miss it!

For more information and directions, visit www.onewashingtoncenter.com

Etsy & The Recently Listed Items Feature

I just switched my online storefront from Big Cartel to Etsy. This means I've been listing lots of things on Etsy over the past couple of weeks. Well, they have this feature where they display recently listed items as they are posted. It's kind of mesmerizing and hypnotizing, and I've gotten a little bit addicted to it. Every time I list a new item, I am compelled to watch it scroll by on the "recently listed items" page. For some reason I find it super exciting to see something I've made on a page with lots of other stuff.

This page is also a great way to be a lazy shopper for those who don't want to search for the perfect handmade item but instead would prefer that the item come to them.

Check it out sometime, but try not to get sucked in! It can be dangerous if you lack self control with the online shopping.

Bubble Pendants - Coming Soon

In Progress on March 29, 2009

I absolutely love to solder. It's so satisfying to start with a bunch of separate objects and then watch the metal flow and change before my eyes into a new piece of jewelry. So, this project is one of my favorites.

I call them Bubble Pendants and no two are ever alike. They'll be available soon (after some serious polishing) at lofteddesigns.com!

Maine Dog Tags and Maine Dogs Just Don't Mix

For the past couple of years, the state of Maine has given out dog tags shaped like the state of Maine. Cute, right? Wrong. Maine has lots of jutting towns and jagged edges that poke and prod delicate pups. So I registered the dogs, got out my jewelry-making tools and got to work.

First I used metal cutting shears to snip off the pointy parts. With all due respect to the entirety of York County and Downeast Maine, they had to go.

Then I filed the rough edges down. Smooth as blobs (Patrick thinks they look like piles of poo).

The puppies seem content! No more sharp edges!

Experiments in Tension & Kinetic Energy Ring

Made on January 27, 2009

I like to fidget when I'm bored, so I absolutely love wearing jewelry that I can play with. The wood on this ring spins on its axis...no more boredom...hooray!

I also like a good challenge, and it was a bit of a puzzle to figure out how to to engineer this ring – it's held together only by tension. No soldering, no glue, just sterling silver and wood.