Here are some photos of my works-in-progress for those curious about what my pieces look like before they're finished :D.

In case you don't recognize it, that's an Alexander ring in the making :).
He goes through an "awkward stage" before he's finished...

We've also got:
A Sylvie (this one's a size 9) that's almost finished, just needs the patina bath/selective polishing.
Some unfinished navette shaped stud earrings made with sterling silver posts and brass settings. These will be oxidized to a striking gunmetal finish, and set with pretty vintage rhinestones (haven't decided what color yet).

Here's my soldering setup. Note the "third hand" (that creepy - almost sentient - looking contraption hovering over the charcoal soldering block). My third hand is an absolute lifesaver during tricky soldering operations. You can also see another soldering surface (that beige brick thing that's standing up on its side), my Dandix flux (love that stuff!), my soldering screen, which I use to suspend my work in the air so I can heat it from the bottom (good for soldering bezels to sheet), my steel bench block, a cup of cold water that I quench small pieces in, my dapping punches (they're off in the back), my tweezers...and what appears to be the handle of my soldering pick. So there you have it, a glimpse at a typical jeweler's workbench :).

My workbench is more than a little messy...this photo doesn't even expose the half of it! But that's all right, there's actually order to my disorder and I still manage to get my work done, so whatever. (Justification for not cleaning that cluttered ol' thing :D... Ah, the sweet smell of denial.)

Gotta get back to work. Hope you enjoyed the snapshots!

<3 Chelsea

Current Projects.

Hello all!

Thought I'd give a quick update on what I'm working on right now.

My "Alexander Ring" is such a lovely style, and people seem to like it, so I decided to start offering some new color options. Right now, I'm working on an Alexander in "Siam" - a deep cherry red. I'll post pictures of the piece when it's finished :D.

There's the original Alexander in "Erinite".

He's a 12mm cushion cut square Swarovski crystal stone, set in one of my hand forged bead border Sterling Silver ring settings. Look how special he is; don't you want to take him home? (Well, one of his twins, since someone's already bought him.)

Okay, now that I've started humanizing the ring, I think it's time for me to get back to the workbench. (But really, isn't he sweet? Mwahahahaha.)

Here's the color of the stone I'm going to be using today. It's much more sparkly in real life, but this at least gives you an idea of the shade. Gotta love that blood red!

Until next time...

Warmly,
Chelsea

Ol' Crockpotsy Returns.

Mmm, yes. The subject says it all. Including the fact that my nickname among close friends is "Crockpotsy"...but anyway - I'm BACK!

I've added quite a few new styles to my shop since my last blog post.
I've also moved. Twice. First time was from San Antonio, TX to Alpine, TX. Then from Alpine to Boston, MA.

Alpine is a beautiful, mountainous desert town, located about 80 miles from the border of Mexico. It's pretty small (population is around 6,500)...and REMOTE. I'm from Massachusetts, and hadn't lived out of state until I got to Texas in December '10. Massachusetts is very densely settled. There's no space between towns. Where one town ends, another begins, and that's that. So, when I moved to Alpine, TX - located in an area of the US where there are literally over 100 miles between some of the towns - I was sort of in shock. The nearest town to Alpine had a population of just under 600 and was 30 miles away. 30 miles. WHAT. You mean the town just...ends? And there isn't another abutting it? This was my reaction to the concept of "counties." So, Alpine was rather isolated compared to what I was used to. A little TOO isolated. I didn't know anyone there - other than my boyfriend, whom I live with - and I'm...painfully shy. Not so good at engaging complete strangers. In my mind (most) strangers are just friends I haven't met yet, but I can't seem to translate that into friend-making actions. My friendly, compassionate nature gets caught behind some sort of barrier, which really doesn't work out for a non-hermit living practically in the middle of nowhere.

Gene and I stayed in Alpine for about three months, enjoying the landscape and the quiet, but became so homesick that we just had to come back to good ol' Boston. So, here we are, and here we shall stay...at least for the foreseeable future :). I can say with 100% certainty that we made the right decision when we chose to come home. Being away from this area, exposing myself to a new and different place, has really deepened my appreciation for Boston and MA in general.

I'm currently happily settled into Boston and preparing for a jewelry party for which I am the featured jeweler. I love doing these. Ya got your snacks, your wine, your excited ladies that are ready to shop. It's a fun time. So I've gone into (almost) full efficiency mode and am cranking out the jewelry to prepare for this event. Well, except for right now - it seemed like a good time to take a break, bake some cookies and tend to my previously neglected blog.

I've been experimenting with lots of different styles and techniques. And I really enjoy them all. Some jewelers have a very specific style and don't deviate much from it, but I like to do a wide variety of things. This week, I designed a very tribal necklace. It features dagger shaped cream mother of pearl beads, antique/oxidized copper beads and findings, turquoise colored chunky magnesite rondelles and moonstone chips. It's very earthy. I also do quite a bit of glittering rhinestone jewelry set in hand forged sterling silver settings - real glitzy, sparkly stuff. So I've got this juxtaposition of contemporary design and primitive design, and if I had to choose between the two, I don't think I'd be able to. That's just how my work is. I'm a very curious and experimental person, and I think that really shows in my designs. Some may say that being some sort of a jack-of-all-trades in the jewelry design market may hurt business - people talk a lot about occupying a small niche, and while I understand and respect that perspective, I think that the variety found in my work means that I have the opportunity to reach more people; to connect with them through my creations. And that feels pretty damn good to me :). What about you? In your creative endeavors, are you more of a "niche" artist, focusing on a certain style/discipline that speaks to you, or do you prefer to branch out? I also realize that branching out can sometimes lead to "finding your niche" - a niche you couldn't have known that you would end up having until you had branched out enough to find it! So we'll see where I am in a few years, haha.

And now I must get back to the workbench. Gotta make some earrings to go with that tribal necklace I spoke of :D.

Wishing you well until next time!
<3 Chelsea (Crockpotsy)

Bead porn and cookie rhapsody.

I wish I could take credit for the term "bead porn" (no, it's not what you think!), alas, it is not mine. Contrariwise (don't know her real name, ahaha) used it to (aptly) describe her blog posts that involved pictures of new bead/gem loot. All us bead and gem enthusiasts really do just drool over that sort of thing :D.
Contrariwise has been a huge inspiration to me. Unfortunately, her etsy shop is no longer open, and I haven't seen a new blog post in quite some time. I don't know if she's still creating, or where she went in the world of the interweb, but I was sad to see her go.

I went to a Rings & Things wholesale bead show a few weekends ago. It was the first show I've been to that required a business license. I was so psyched about it; it made me feel pretty legit :D.
And I am, but I guess I experience owning a business in this sort of surreal way...I mean, I'm just ME. A person. That does things. And now I'm A Business. Recognized by the government. Getting paid to putter around with metal and gorgeous beads & gems. I'm like some sort of VIP with these wholesale-only bead shows. And here I am, just getting around to breakfast at 3:30 in the afternoon (I'm on a late-to-bed, late-to-rise schedule right now). You know what I'm having for breakfast? French fries. Not even good ones. The crappy premade frozen kind. That's my breakfast today. Can you see why I'm having a hard time identifying with the Business Woman persona :D? But I do nice work, I put myself into everything I do, and I make sure my customers are happy. I guess that's what really qualifies me as a proper business owner. Maybe everyone who starts their own business and hasn't been doing it for a million years feels this way sometimes.

So, yes. I went to this Rings & Things bead show. My boyfriend woke me up about an hour before it started and told me it was happening. I had no idea. He had been talking with a local artisan in the etsy chat rooms and she told us about it (much thanks!). Of course I was down for some spontaneous bead shopping. I always am. I didn't have a large budget that day, but I did get some lovely beads and I feel good about them. Here you are...bead porn. I shall share some inartistic photos of my loot with y'all. I would have spread them out on a table...but I don't have one, so I used what I could find; an ugly shipping box, ahaha.

These beads are showin' off what their mama (that'd be Mother Nature) gave them. Click on the photos to view them full size.

In other news, I am ready to report back on how the aforementioned chocolate chip cookie endeavor went; AMAZINGLY. They were fucking incredible. Like, I didn't have very high hopes for them because sometimes my gluten-free cookies come out pretty weird. Not necessarily bad, but not what I think of as "cookies." But these...THESE WERE SUPERB. Better than any wheat flour-based, dairy-laden chocolate chip cookie I've ever had. I put Tollhouse to shame. It's not even that my mouth has forgotten how good a traditional cookie tastes; my wheat-eating, cookie-loving boyfriend thought they were phenomenal, too.
I did a modified version of this recipe. I can never just follow a recipe, you know. I always have to change something. What can I say, it's in my high maintenance baking nature to do so. I used different flours, which are what I had on hand, and if you eat soy, a blend of millet, brown rice and soy flours gives gluten-free baked goods an excellent consistency. It didn't end up being vegan, because I didn't have enough palm sugar (I stay away from cane sugar when I can - it doesn't agree with me in the large doses you'd find in a cookie) on hand so I had to supplement with honey, but it could easily be made vegan.

I realize these photos are kind of awful...it was nighttime, and I knew these cookies weren't going to live to see the light of day, so I took some quick photos with my terrible indoor lighting. Don't worry - your cookies will not come out looking disgusting should you use this recipe. It's just bad lighting :).

Here's what I did:

* 3 tablespoons ground flax meal
* ¼ cup hot water
* 3/4 cup brown rice flour
* remaining 1 1/4 cup of flour was 50% millet flour and 50% soybean flour.
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup Earth Balance margarine
* 1/2 cup granulated palm sugar (cane sugar could be used if you like)
* 1/4 cup honey (could sub agave nectar for a vegan version)
* 2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
* 10 ounces gluten-free vegan chocolate chips (I could have used the whole 12 oz bag...but I wanted some chocolate chips left over to snack on when the craving strikes :D)

A note on the chocolate chips: I think that the quality of the chocolate chips in a cookie is VERY important to the overall flavor of the finished product. I personally like Guittard semisweet chocolate chips. They're vegan, gluten-free, very reasonably priced and you can usually find them at a conventional grocery store. That's the brand I used in these cookies and I was extremely pleased with the flavor.

So, ya just follow the instructions for the original recipe I linked to, but add the liquid sweetener (honey or agave nectar) to the liquid ingredients. I also found that my modified recipe made quite a few more cookies than the amount projected by the original recipe. I ate a good amount of the dough (I really can't control myself with cookie dough around :D), and it still made 36 cookies (the original recipe says it yields about 24). They weren't too small, either. I think that's the first time I've ever ended up with MORE than what they say you'll get. Even taking into consideration the fact that I will inevitably eat some of the dough, I never come anywhere near getting the sort of yield a recipe says I'm going to have. So this was a really pleasant surprise.

Also, I baked mine for about 10 minutes and that was perfect. I mean, my oven might be fucked. I haven't checked the accuracy of the temperature. But I just thought I'd put that out there - check them after 10 minutes so they don't end up burning.

And, of course, I have some new work to share :D.

Geometric Hoops

Hand forged gunmetal/black oxidized Sterling Silver tall trapezoid hoop earrings with glittering 4mm crystal beads. These beads have a light AB (aurora borealis) coating on them, and sparkle in the light with glints of peach, purple, pink and yellow. I'm planning on doing them in other colors in the foreseeable future, too.

Robin's Egg Drops
Recognize the beads :D? Rounded rectangle cut natural Amazonite beads on hand forged antiqued sterling silver earwires. They have little hammered tapers peaking out the bottom, and I've brushed back parts of the black patina to reveal bright silver. They're kinda rustic and modern at the same time :). I like making this style and it will be a regular offering in my shop until I run out of Amazonite for it.

Here's a sneak peek of my new ring - Alexander.

When I was naming him, that's what came to mind, and I liked it, but I was feeling conflicted about it because this ring is rather feminine, and I had all this gender role nonsense telling me that it needed a "girl's name." Well, fuck that! So this is Alexander. I've been exploring hand forging beautiful sterling & fine silver bezel settings for vintage Swarovski glass gems and contemporary Swarovski crystal "fancy stones." I'm really loving it, so I've decided it'll be a new line for my shop. I'm going to continue to collect gorgeous vintage and contemporary Swarovski rhinestones and expand on this idea :D.

This particular ring features a contemporary Swarovski crystal "fancy stone" in Erinite, which changes from a warm tourmaline green to a cooler aqua blue-green depending on the light, with a gorgeous antique cushion cut. I LOVE this cut, and am going to be using stones like this in many more pieces. I've forged a sterling & fine silver bezel setting with a tiny silver orb border. This ring is a size 7, but I can make more in any size. Will be listed in my shop later tonight!

I also made a new banner for my etsy shop. My old one was pretty bad. This new one's definitely an improvement. I'm all nerdily excited about it.

I know in my last post, I said that I would have an announcement regarding my line of handmade stitch markers, but that is going to have to wait a bit longer. It's in the midst of something that needs...tweaking.

That's all for now :). 'Til next time, dear readers, I wish you well.

New goodies.

Hello!

I've been meaning to write a blog post and update you all on what I've been working on lately...took me a while to get around to it. I've found myself spending every working moment making new pieces and listing them in my store (which is definitely a good thing!). Poor ol' blog has fallen by the wayside a bit. But that's okay, here I am to remedy this situation :D.

Every time I use the phrase, "haven't gotten around to it," or some variation thereof, I think of this guy that my mom used to work with. Whenever he checked in to see what the status was on some proposed task and someone told him that they "hadn't gotten around to it yet," he'd hand them this circular piece of paper. They'd have that "what the fuck is this shit?" look on their face, and then they'd see that it had text on it. "Tuit." Round Tuit. He helped them get a Round Tuit. Har, har, har. I love that sort of humor, I admit it.

On the agenda today, in addition to my usual work, I have decided that some chocolate chip cookies are in order. I haven't made chocolate chip cookies since before I developed an intolerance to gluten, so I will be experimenting with gluten-free, vegan chocolate chip cookies. I'm feeling optimistic about them - I think I can rock the fuck out of these cookies! I mean, even if I make some sort of grave error and they end up being terrible, the chocolate chips I have are so delicious that they may just salvage them. I have a chocolate safety net. I'm psyched.

Here's some stuff I've been working on lately:






This is a ring that I made for my mumsy. I bought this stone (a gorgeous teardrop shaped blue sea sediment jasper) a while ago, and my mom fell in love with it. So here it is, all set in a hand forged sterling & fine silver setting that Mom and I designed together :). I shipped it out to her today (she lives in my home state of MA) - I think she's going to love it!



This one's also for my mom. A long wire wrapped necklace in sterling silver (oxidized to gunmetal/black), iridescent paua shell, purple mother of pearl and teal faceted Czech glass. When I look at it, I think "Purple Peacock." I love these colors together! I might make this style again and offer it in my shop at some point.







This is a new style that I'm offering in my shop. I call them Little Leaves. Inventive name, I know. But it fits :D. These little pretties are carved Czech glass leaves suspended from my handmade sterling silver fancy flourish earwires (oxidized to gunmetal/black). I like 'em. I'm currently offering them in five colors (dark amber, icy turquoise blue, amethyst AB, kelly green and light icy lime) and I'm planning on expanding the color palette soon, so keep your eyes peeled for some new color options in the coming weeks.






Here's a sneak peek of my latest pendant style - Moonbeam! I love this little guy SO MUCH. The colors are absolutely incredible. You really have to see this fellow in person to get the full effect, but I did my best to capture some of the glory with some photos. He'll be listed in my shop either later tonight or tomorrow :D.




That's all for now! I'm going to make it a priority to update this blog on a more regular basis. I already have something in mind for my next entry, in the way of some new sterling silver earring styles, a report on how the cookies came out (and photos if I don't eat them all before I can take some, haha) and some news regarding the handmade stitch markers I offer in my shop. Until then, fare-thee-well! And do feel free to drop me a virtual line - I'd love to hear from you :).

~ Chelsea

New Work and a (delicious!) Vegan/Gluten Free Banana Bread Recipe.

Hey there!

Here we are with the first post. I considered doing a welcoming post, but I think I'd rather just jump right in! Such is my nature :).

I've been working away at my bench, and I've added a few new pieces to my shop. After listing the pieces, and taking a look at my Etsy storefront (I always like to lovingly look at the final product of my internet efforts, hehe), I noticed that all of the hand forged sterling silver designs I've done recently feature an oval stone. That was (I THINK) completely accidental. But I do have to ask myself, "Was this a coincidence? Do I have some sort of secret/subconscious obsession with ovals that I was previously unaware of?" I believe the answer is yes to the former, and no to the latter. At least, that's what these ovals would have me think, as they quietly stage their takeover of my storefront. The truth is, I'm way more into trapezoids. But, I digress. Here are my latest pieces!

"Sundrop"
Vintage light topaz Swarovski glass gem set in handmade oxidized/gunmetal black fine silver setting with matching sterling chain.
I made this pretty in honor of spring's (impending) arrival. Hoping it will chase away the winter blues the cold weather can bring :).


"Sylvie"
Natural Kyanite and sterling silver handmade ring, with brushed oxidized/antiqued patina. Size 6.25.

What can I say, I love me some Kyanite. I'm working on a custom Sylvie ring for one of my customers in a size 4.5, too. Definitely going to work with more Kyanite in the future!


"Elektra"
Pendant featuring an electric blue Magnesite cabochon set in a handmade sterling silver filigree/openwork bezel setting. Antiqued, with polished highlights.

Man, I LOVE working with gallery wire (that fancy filigree wire holding the stone in place). It is just too stunning. And, what do you know, this Magnesite cabochon just happens to be my favorite color :). I think I'll be making one of these pendants for myself in the foreseeable future. I can't resist, and there's really no reason to!


"Alexa"
Multi strand taupe vegan glass pearl and antiqued silver bracelet.

I love this style. I think it'd make a really gorgeous bridal bracelet. It can be made in quite a variety of colors, too.

So! That concludes my most recent additions. Yesterday, I designed some new drop/dangle earrings - shop listings to come this weekend! They're on the smaller side (averaging about an inch long), perfect for days when you want a little something for your ears but you don't want to go as far as a pair of chandeliers. They're pretty AND comfy. That's the sort of thing I wear most often, although I do respect a pair of large, show stopping earrings. As a jeweler, I hate to admit this, but the fact is that I'm most likely to wear something that I can sleep in. It's true - I am extremely forgetful when it comes to wearing jewelry. If I have to take it off when I go to bed, I probably won't remember to put it back on when I get up!

And now for the promised gluten free, dairy free, egg free banana bread recipe (which could easily be made vegan by substituting another sweetener such as agave nectar for the honey).
I am gluten intolerant, and have various other food allergies, which means that a lot of what's out there for gluten free baked goods aren't really an option for me. And I'm not about to just never eat a cake again in my life. So, I'm constantly trying to find or come up with recipes that not only fit my dietary needs, but TASTE good. Well, I've definitely found it in this banana bread! Like, holy shit, it is truly amazing. I am SO excited to have this in my arsenal. Now, I'm vegetarian, not vegan (used to be) but my meals are largely vegan due to a dairy allergy, with the rare addition of an egg every now and then. I do mean rare, though. I'm VERY picky about where I source my eggs. I need to know, beyond a doubt, that the chickens are being lovingly cared for, and are free to forage for bugs in a pasture as is their nature. None of that "we're going to call this 'free range' but that actually just means that there's an obscenely small door that the 1,000+ chickens can't even find in the warehouse they're essentially trapped in" crap. That means going to small, local farms, talking to the farmers and ascertaining their level of respect for their animals. Most of the time it's just easier to cook without eggs :).

I made some mods to the original recipe, which you can find here. I made substitutions/mods based on what I had around the house.

Here's what I did - I think it came out pretty fuckin' good.

Dry ingredients:

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup Millet Flour
1 cup Soy Flour
1/3 cup Palm Sugar (this is much easier on my body than cane sugar)
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 tiny scoops of Pure Powdered Stevia (you'll know what I mean when I say 'tiny scoops' if you've ever bought a little jar of this) (if you don't want to use stevia, just add a few more teaspoons of palm sugar or cane sugar)

Wet ingredients:

1 (preferably somewhat old, but not rotten) Banana, mashed (next time I would use two, but this time I just had the one and made due)
1 1/2 cups Unsweetened Soymilk (reduce to 1 cup if you're doing two bananas)
3 tablespoons Flax Meal in about 1/2 cup water, given a few minutes to thicken
1/4 cup Honey (for vegan version, use 1/4 cup Agave Nectar instead)
1/4 cup Earth Balance Margarine, melted
1 teaspoon Gluten Free Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. In smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients and mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well (you could use a mixer, but I just used a whisk).
Transfer batter to a greased 9x9 pan.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until center springs back when touched.

I would post photos of this delicious banana bread...but my boyfriend and I ate the whole thing before I got a chance to photograph it :D. Next time!

Well, that was a nice first blog post. Hope y'all (embracing my new Texan status here - just moved to San Antonio a few months ago) enjoyed my ramblings!

With love,
Chelsea.