Technique Tuesday!
This is a project that I filmed for HGTV a couple of years ago. It was filmed in the heat of an early summer day, and didn’t air until mid-December. It was a trip, I’ll tell you that!

Materials:
vintage optical test lens (to purchase lenses)
photo to use on pendant (original will not be harmed)
clear fixative spray (Krylon Clear Acrylic Spray)
drop loop
head pin
assorted beads
Golden’s Polymer Medium or Diamond Glaze
bail or jump ring
Tools:
photo-editing software on computer (colored photocopies can be substituted)
printer
1-1/2 inch hole punch
paintbrush
pliers: chain nose and round wire cutters
Step by step instructions

Make Art Monday!
After years of making these optical lens pendants, I have decided to call it quits.  I actually took what I thought was going to be a brief break from making them at the end of 2008.  They are the only “production pieces” that I’ve ever made (I think), and somehow I just couldn’t ever seem to bring myself to resume when the break was supposed to be over!

I’m perfectly happy to share with you how they’re made, however, and tomorrow for Technique Tuesday, I’ll do just that!

Artist: Sherry Eckert
Website: Moondrops Jewelry
I work with several natural materials and I also work with Precious Metal Clay which is pure silver recycled from the film making process. It is then mixed with an organic binder and water and I can then roll it, cut it, texture it, mold it etc to make rings, pendants, earrings, bracelets etc.

I use concrete and rough cut or raw stones in some of my designs and well as molds of shells and corals, leaves and branches. I do beadwork with semi-precious stones, pearls, wood, glass, recycled jewelry, just about anything I can …read more

Mood Swing Studio has several lines of wonderfully fun and whimsical baubles available at any one time.  Since many of them are made from recycled or one-of-a-kind materials, you shouldn’t wait when you see something you like…and there is a lot to like!

There are sweet pendant necklaces like these, and also lines of more glitzy wearables.

Artist: Andrea Panico
Website: Pico
Little Architecture is a collection of jewelry that references the inspiring work of architects Santiago Calatrava, Luis Barragan, Tadao Ando and others.

Constructed primarily from silver, Indonesian teak and ebony, the pieces illustrate an intimate investigation into scale and form. Select pieces feature unique and irregular semi-precious stones, and gold vermeil is used sparingly to highlight form. The collection is being produced in Indonesia by a team of skilled artisans the designer met while working with a furniture manufacturer in Bali. All wood used in the collection is scrap wood from nearby factories.

Pico founder Andrea Panico believes …read more

Betty Necklace
8″x5″x 3″
Ebony wood, White gold tube settings, diamonds magnetic clasp
Artist: Mayra Orama Muniz
Website: Mio Studio
Using exotic hardwoods as an expression of organic moving forms, self- taught artist Mayra Iveliesse Orama Muniz has created a line of jewelry that reflects on her life growing up in New York City and the more recent influences of the last five years living in Puerto Rico.
The many landscapes of her life — from modern industrial city to the tropical rainforests of Puerto Rico — have become her inspiration.
The miniature sculptures Muniz creates are a melding of richly textured woods and cool metals. Her …read more

Artist: Alisa Michelle
Website: Alisa Michelle
Alisa Michelle Designs has been in business for over 13 years and have sold to hundreds of stores around the country and the world.
Currently the line can be found in stores such as: ICE (Sunset, Brentwood, Fred Segal SM), LF (Various locations in So. Cal), Studio Sebastian, Rosie True, Bodhi Bazaar, Rosebud (Japan), Moda Salon, Galena and many, many more.
We cater to a long list of celebrities such as: Halle Berry, Hilary Duff, Faith Hill, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Milian, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Brooke Burke, Taylor Swift and many more. Currently our jewelry will be featured …read more

Artist: Gayle Friedman
Website: ArtJewelryOnline
I am interested in the stuff that flows in and out of our hands – in my case, it can be a scrap of fur, or fragments of metal that I encounter on my bench. These things are often imbued with unexplored meaning and emotion. I am drawn to relationships, and in making my jewelry, I get to explore the relationships that we have with these materials, the people and places they come from and how they can be understood through the medium of jewelry.

Gayle Friedman lives and works in Washington, DC.  She studied metal
smithing with Anya …read more

Artist: Anna from Lila Ruby King
Website: Lila Ruby King
I am Australian artist, now living in Athens, Greece, my educational background is in printmaking and jewellery design. My work is largely inspired by nature and I think that is what draws me to work with natural materials. I like working with found pieces of wood, not only because it is a recycled material, but also I love the idea of taking something that would otherwise be overlooked and turning it into something beautiful and desirable. It also has a simplicity which suits my style of work. I have also started a …read more

Artist: Jennifer Dawes
Website: Dawes Design
Jennifer Dawes lives in rural Northern California where she has distilled her knowledge of metal smithing into an exquisite line of jewelry. This versatile collection can be mixed together to create a contemporary playful look while keeping to a classical ideology. Each piece is handmade, fabricated and finished at Jennifer’s studio in the coastal hills of Sonoma County, California.
Jennifer just recently launched Sustainably Beautiful, her initiative in creating jewelry in a socially and environmentally responsible way. She only uses recycled gold, conflict free diamonds and responsibly mined stones. “I try to leave …read more