ahh, i love my birthday and yesterday i got what i really wanted. a bit of sleep. it was too tempting, so cozy as i lay down with the kids for afternoon nappy time. too be honest, i think i am fighting the cold they both have had…garlic warrior here i come!

 
yes, tired but inspired. we cleaned the studio yesterday and as the sun gleamed through the doors today i took a moment to bask in the sun and be thankful for my hammers, my rolling mill, anvils and various implements of fire. reflected on the creations of the past year, who they were created for, the challenges through which i have grown as a smith and an artist. how funny to hear me define myself and yet how affirming.

 
one of my favorite custom engagement rings is back in the studio as i create a matching wedding band in 18k yellow gold. stunning ring. such weight in solid platinum with really beautiful, conflict free diamonds, (yes, very conscious of conflict free mining, the kimberly act as ’tis called in the industry). the diamonds in this ring are actually man made diamonds. perfect in every way.
 

one of my favorite ever engagement rings

 
continuing work on a really meaningful commission brought on by the life chain project. sue and i are designing her life bracelet. each charm made individually to celebrate and aspect or person in her life. to celebrate her 50th in march. so enjoying it, but no pictures yet.

 
for my birthday gift to myself i am making the aquarius pendant for my astrological symbol jewelry. the symbol makes me think of lightening and at the same time, i love the intimacy between the two lightening bolts, nestled together. i haven’t finished it, but hoping to in the next couple of days.
 
so thank you for sharing my happy birthday to me musings. i am so very very blessed.
spread love, share peace, and be so very well,
heather

i make peace signs every week. next to my custom designed jewelry, peace sign jewelry is my most popular request.
 

so what makes this particular peace sign so special?
 
the man who it was made for.
 
one morning a couple of weeks ago, i received a call from a gentleman looking for peace sign jewelry. he had a 60 s peace sign back in the day, is well versed in the history of peace sign, and has a deep respect for custom made jewelry. what makes him so special to me? the grace and eloquence with which he conversed and the profound message he shared.
 
nine years ago my new friend went into the hospital for routine surgery. a grave error occurred and he was given a large dose of a medication, not meant for his condition. the medication went to his brain and emergency brain surgery was performed.
 
his speech is slow and labored, he has difficultly giving simple information such as his address and phone number. and yet, he is so kind and forgiving. his message to me was simple. never, ever, underestimate the power of the brain. in the initial stages of recovery, he could not communicate at all, yet he could understand everything. (bear this in mind if you ever are visiting someone in a coma!).
 
be so gentle with those who seem less intelligent, for inside there may be someone who understands and feels so much more than they are able to express. the brain is so complicated…
 
so when i forged my new friend his 60’s peace sign, i wanted to add something special, to let him know that his message touched me in a special way. i am a cancer survivor, as they say, and i am one of the “lucky ones”, so i wanted to thank him for sharing with me.
 
i forged a handmade “s” clasp and welded it onto the chain. it is a little expression (and we didn’t even photograph it), but he should receive it on monday.
i so hope that his new custom handmade jewelry, forged by fire brings him as much peace as the information he shared with me.
 
peace, love and compassion to all,
 
heather
 

its getting busy here with holiday decorating, kids’ winter fair at the Waldorf School here tomorrowand holiday gift orders shipping depsite not getting as much time at the bench as I would like.

i wanted to make enough time for these pictures though, because every time i forge a new bar bracelet, i am so glad i still make them the old fashioned way, one at a time from flat bar stock with hammer and fire. i even roll out and hammer the links into shape, and of course every volute-style clasp starts as straight round stock, too.

this is why every forged bar bracelet i make is unique, and invested with more of my personal energy, care and love that might be apparent at first glance.

so here are pictures of the bar bracelet i just shipped a week ago, along with the had sewn leather pouch that i ship my custom jewelry in, a great detail for unique holiday gifts.
 

new wide bar bracelet December 2009

 

Wide bar bracelet and pouch

its a beautiful sunny fall day and we’re headed to the park, but i wanted to get this new piece of custom jewelry inspired by my LifeChain project published here because Sue just received on Friday after Thanksgiving and loves it!

its a great illustration of new ways to think about old jewelry.

i’d already written these notes about it, too, so now with a picture, here it is:

languishing in a jewelry box no longer!

from a marriage long dissolved,

the wedding ring made anew through hammer and fire.

Sue sent me her 14k white gold, standard comfort fit wedding band and told me to “hammer all the bad energy out of this wedding ring” and create a circular pendant.

i used a heavy torch on the gold, and hammered it hard into a new kind of circle.

we decided upon 9 diamonds in varying shades of blue, green and purple…nothing too saturated in color, pastel hues, ocean hues…

from a parcel of over 100 diamonds, i selected these nine diamonds….this took the longest time and i am really pleased with the palette.

when i was all done, the piece was rhodium plated.

a strip of black rawhide looped through the circle (a 14k white gold lobster clasp will be affixed to the rawhide once she wears the pendant for a few weeks and determines the exact length at which she would like the pendant to hang).

i think this is a really sexy, really powerful symbol of rebirth, growth and ultimately an expression of self.

what do you think?

its finally time for the zodiac signs!

the pot of gold idea i wrote about last time is a recent idea that will serve for a long time, i think, but i’m probably more excited right now about the zodiac symbols, handforged sterling silver pendants in the style of my peace pendants or om pendants.

my zodiac signs are the other way around: an old idea I’ve really wanted to do for a long time, just recently getting an opportunity to come to fruition, starting with the sagitarius sign.

for the record, the first zodiac symbol pendant i forged was a custom job, and one of my most successful jobs ever, because i got it just right for a very thoughtful client.

here’s the actual first zodiac symbol pendant, a leo sign.

yellow gold leo sign

here’s the testimonial, which shows exactly why this was such a successful project for me, because my work for him was such a perfect gift for her.

Hi Heather,

I just want to let you know that I received – and love – the Leo pendant…. Thanks, also, for the personal note that you included….

… turning 21 is a big milestone for us. I wanted to mark it with something special and nothing off-the-shelf would’ve adequately expressed the occasion.

Thank you for forging my feelings into something that will mark and enrich us for the years ahead.

Warmest regards and best wishes,
Mark Morgan

i’ve always been moved by this piece and this testimonial, and as a true to form aquarius, have wanted to share it with everyone else somehow, so this is the beginning of that: the handforged sterling silver Sagittarius symbol zodiac pendant, just in time for Sagittarius birthdays starting November 22 (through December 22).

sagittarius zodiac

this is just a preview, i may have to work on John for a better photo before they go online on the shop- i’ll post here when they do.

finally getting a chance to finish writing out this *great* idea, one inspired by my first custom LifeChain client and brought to you by the price of gold these days.

as we were talking about her individual life chain links and materials and watching the LifeChain videos together (on the phone and online…now neatly republished on my very own jewelry YouTube channel, she mentioned how she loved the idea of “reclaiming” old, treasured gold jewelry that went unworn, and her mom did, too.

(you can see me melting down and reforging gold of my own in the third LifeChain video).

could we make something smaller with their old gold? starting with a particular set of gold bracelets….

now if you follow me and my work and follow the gold market, you know i mean it when i say that it absolutely hurts to quote clients the price of a substantial, hand forged, custom gold piece of jewelry these days. especially compared with gold market of only five or six years ago, and especially as the holiday jewelry gift season arrives.

so it is with much joy that i credit one of my dearest clients with this new way of creating a meaningful piece of custom jewelry. remake your old jewellery into something you will love and wear or create a very unique, family heirloom type gift, just in time for the holidays.

your pot of gold

people always ask me (after they find out i’m a jeweller), what to do with their gold “scrap”:

• old bits of gold jewelry
• earrings missing a mate
• bracelets too twisted to salvage
• kinked chains
• jewelry missing jewels
• old wedding rings

…you know the jewelry you will never wear again.

what’s the gold worth? what can you do with it?

real gold and diamonds have real value, but somewhat diminished if just sitting forgotten in an old jewellery box, and just selling off old jewelry that’s been in your life or in your family forever has always put me off as a concept….

but i absolutely love this.

“do you think she could use my gold to make me something i will actually wear, make something i love
using this gold i’ve had all these years?”

instead of just old stuff, what you really have is your own pot of gold, gold that can be melted, milled, forged and transformed into something that will really reflect her style, something that she can wear everyday, a bangle, pendant, ring or earrings– we’ll find out (that’s the fun part, by the way).

find out more about the “pot of gold” transformation in the Life Chain videos or contact me directly here.

John is finally back to editing the rest of this series about my LifeChain custom jewelry project from this past summer in San Diego, just in time to help me illustrate that round of new inspiration from one of my fabulous clients I mentioned yesterday– check it out, and check in again this weekend to read about my first custom LifeChain commission!

a few weeks ago, after getting the studio set up, the house in order and the kids down for a nap, i sat down to work and…. wasn’t sure where to start.

i ended up posting to Twitter that i was looking for a sign, for inspiration, and calling it a night.

last week, looking over all of my work online with John, i found the inspiration I was looking for right where i always find it, where i should have been in the first place: with all of you, my clients, fans and followers. it was sort of an The Alchemist moment, where after some anguish, and sort of useless expenditure of energies, I found what I needed most right here at home.

on my orginal jewelry blog on Blogger we found this incredible testimonial posted last month from a long time repeat client back in San Diego posted as a comment that neither of us had seen– John quoted it right away on one of my main jewlery gallery pages and I’m quoting here so you can read it.

Heather made our wedding ring, then my wife’s 30th birthday ring and she adores each of them.

Our 5 year anniversary was no different, and I was so excited for my wife but didn’t want to ruin our dinner and spoil the anticipation. We were early enough to the restaurant with few patrons around, but it starting filling up quick. Not wanting the extra attention of a full restaurant, I couldn’t help myself.

BIG MISTAKE!!!! She was so enchanted with her new ring I didn’t even recognize my wife…. she was a little girl dreaming of beautiful rings someday and here it was! Sounds cheezy but it was true… we are not ostentatious in any sense of the word but she couldn’t stop herself all through the night from checking out her new ring in more poses than I could imagine a hand capable of!

And yes, it was embarrassing for us second hand / retro fiends, but if you’re gonna go big, go heather.

Thanks Heather for the tripleLindy on my wife’s hands! I will send some photos soon and I hope your move went smoothly.

Love Jason and Kimball and now Wilson!

i always turn to my custom clients for inspiration when i’m working directly with them on their jewelry, and here was wonderful Jason telling me what i need to hear all the way across the country right when i needed to hear it- thank, Jason and all my wonderful clients.

it seems now the beginning of a trend, with another inspiring set of ideas tumbling out of discussions with a different client over the few days after that– these next up here this week.

we have to go looking for the pictures of this ring Jason commissioned for his beautiful wife Kimball– little Wilson, I can’t wait to meet you!

I hadn’t made any bangles for a relatively long time, until the old hand forged sterling silver bangle on the

fortunately for my readers, the bangle (even at the really good price through the end of August!) hasn’t sold yet, and you could still get the deal of the year if you like this piece.

fortunately for me, posting this piece up for sale inspired a custom order for a little bit different bangle, which I just finished yesterday in this last round of bench work before packing up the studio for Pittsburgh.

John took a bunch of pictures of all the pieces getting their final polish yesterday, including the platinum ring I posted this morning; here’s the new bangle: solid gold but hammered very thin,with a couple of little 8 point diamonds flush set in the rim near the top:

new custom 14k yellow gold handforged bangle

This is a really cool challenge I had recently from a new client: create the classic “rollling ring” design in platinum, with each of the three joined rings a different finish: a smooth, polished (shiny) platinum ringjoined to a smooth brushed platinum ring (“matte” finish) joined to a third platinum ring with my trademark hammered and burnished finish.

Not having done a custom ring quite like this, I was somewhat anxiously awaiting my client’s reaction to the finished product, so imagine how ecstatic I was to receive this email yesterday!

“Heather,

Thank you making my gorgeous ring. I know the rolling movement of the three individual rings was challenge. But, the finished ring is perfect!

I love the weight of the ring and the way the rings roll over each over – it’s very soothing. Some how, you made a ring that feels like it was always meant to be on my hand.

You rock!!!”

-Susan Evans