Fall Wire-Wrapped Choker

I just finished this gold hammered wire-wrapped choker and earring set that is really pretty for fall. It has a Ruby Zoisite focal bead and is mixed with an assortment of green, brown and gold beads.

Beautiful day for a craft show :-)

We've been having a lot of rain the past few days, so I was expecting to have rain again today for an outdoor craft show. It was very overcast initially which kept the temperature down early on, and the sun finally came out around noon. Just as we were starting to pack up, I heard the pitter patter of drizzling raindrops on the tent roof. God has perfect timing ! It was a glorious day.

Copper Crazy !

I love hammered copper. I love the feel of it, the look of it, the texture of it, the shine of it. Making it, however, is NOT my favorite thing to do. I really have to be in the mood to make hammered copper. The tedious steps required to make it can be exhausting, plus I usually drill through a fingernail or something stupid like that. This week I finally pulled out a sheet of copper and made a few pairs of earrings. Hope you enjoy.

Sheffield School Article

A couple months ago I completed the Sheffield School course in Jewelry Design: Beading & Wire Working, which makes me a Certified Jewelry Designer. I was the first student enrolled in this course to complete, and took them by surprise with my progress so they don't even have the certificates printed yet.

I'm so excited to say that, being the first student to complete the course, the school wrote an article about me in their blog! Here's a link to the article. :D
http://blog.sheffield.edu/designer-monthly/2011/9/20/jewelry-design-student-postcard-debbie-bruce.html

Fall Herb Faire

One of my very favorite craft shows is coming up this weekend! It's the Fall Herb Faire, held in the backyard of a wonderful plantation house named "Pascalina". There's only about 25 booths, so there's not a ton of duplication (thank goodness and how refreshing for a change). It's right on Highway 78 with signs on the highway and you can see the tents in the back yard. The hours are 9-2. Be there !

I've been Certified !!!

As I noted back in March, I realized that to really be taken serious in the competitive jewelry industry, it would wise to take a course to become a Certified Jewelry Designer. I've been designing jewelry for several years but I was mostly self-taught, and it never hurts to learn new techniques and also look at your business from another perspective. So during the fall of 2010 I signed up for the Sheffield School course in Jewelry Design: Beading & Wire Working, and in July 2011 I turned in my final project (whew !!)

When I received my completed project with my grade (A, yay!), I was wondering why there was no certificate included. I later got a letter from the director of the school stating that I was the first person to complete this course, and that my "commendable progress took them by surprise" so they didn't even have the certificates printed yet (big grin :D)

My advisor asked me if she could write an article about me in the Sheffield School blog. I've been checking every day to see if it's up yet and Will keep you posted on that. But the important thing is I can now officially say I am a Certified Jewelry Designer!

Fire in the Sky

I have some beautiful Fire Agate beads which have a variety of colors in them, from bright orange to subtle light amethyst. I mixed these beads with Swarovski Crystals in Fire Opal and Light Amethyst, along with some copper beads, all combined together with handmade copper wire links. The necklace is joined in the center by a hand-forged copper pendant connector to create a long Y-necklace.


I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I had making it.

To see the listing on etsy, here's a link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/74443606/fire-in-the-sky-y-necklace

Sand and Sea

I've got a really long weekend ahead of me with hopes of creating several new pieces for my next show, coming up May 7th. I had some beautiful Blue Opal nuggets that were screaming they were perfect for this year's spring color palette. The beautiful blue, yellow and green opaque and semi-transparent beads have a light and airy quality. I decided not to mix them with any other beads, they are beautiful standing alone. I only mixed the chunky nuggets with hand-made silver links. I made a variety of pieces - 6 pairs of earrings, 2 bracelets, and a wonderful statement piece, a three-strand choker length necklace (above).

New Logo, New Look !

How do you like my new banner? Isn't it AWESOME! I just received my new logo, designed by Marilee Jacobi-Popovich of POPovichDESIGN. She's incredible with graphic design, branding, etc. If you need any graphic design work, I strongly encourage you to see what she can do for you. She can be contacted at marilee@popovichdesign.com.

Jewelry Design to the MAX !!!

A few months ago, I realized that to really be taken serious in the extremely competitive jewelry market, it would be a great idea to take a course to become a "Certified Jewelry Designer". I've been designing jewelry for several years, but it never hurts to learn new techniques and also look at your business from another perspective. What an adventure this has been so far! I'm almost finished. One of the last tasks required is to create an entire collection (about 18 pieces) of jewelry. This means each piece should have the same overall style, using similar design elements, etc. I created a "story board" to use as inspiration. This included some pictures I came across from Africa, and they were just beautiful.






My inspiration involved the colors found in Africa, and it included many of the techniques learned in the course.

One of the techniques from the course was to make a forged, heart-shaped connector. Combining the heart connectors with the colors of Africa, the name of my new collection is "Heart of the Serengeti". Here are a couple of photos of some of the first pieces in the collection:





I'm also having my logo completely redesigned by Marilee Jacobi Popovich of POPovichDESIGN, and it's going to be incredible!! I can't wait to get my new cards ordered.

Ready for Spring !!!

With this cold, rainy weekend, I felt inspired to create something more spring-like. I pulled out my Pantone Color Forecast Guide for Spring/Summer 2011 and started plundering. I came across a necklace I made a couple of years ago that had the right colors for this spring. I really liked the necklace when I first made it, but it was always getting tangled so I decided it needed to be cut apart and re-designed.

The beads are strung and knotted on lilac-colored C-Lon thread. The beads on the necklace are spaced apart to make the necklace light-weight. It has four strands, each at a different length.

The bracelet is strung with the beads right next to each other, except for a knot in between each bead to make it extremely flexible. I put a really big silver-tone toggle on it to keep the chunky look. It's about 15-1/2" long to go around the wrist twice.

The earrings are also very light-weight, even though they are pretty long.

Danish Cluster Copper Earrings

Earrings I recently made using a technique called "Danish Clusters". Copper, gold and turquoise beads on copper wire with copper kidney earwires. They are very light-weight and delicate.

These are going to get listed on etsy TONIGHT !

Where did the last year go ????

Wow, I had absolutely no idea it had been so long since I blogged. Just after my last post, our daughter got engaged, so I apparently spent the next year planning a wedding.








It was a beautiful wedding!





Just about the time the wedding ended, my church choir began rehearsing for our annual "Living Christmas Tree" performance (which meant rehearsals from August to the first of December).

So I've been very negligent in blogging, creating jewelry, and everything else under the sun. The Christmas performance is now two months behind me, Christmas holidays are over, and now I can hopefully start being creative again. (I do have to manage to find time to do my taxes soon, however - UGH!)