33 pendant: “Unabashed”

Valli Hilaire of The Fast and the Fabulous referred to me as an “unabashed Clint Bowyer fan” in her blog entry “To Infineon and Beyond”. Had the opportunity to meet that wonderful woman at Infineon Raceway on June 18.

And its true! I have other drivers I like, but Clint is my favorite.

Only drawback is, there is an absolute lack of really cool #33 jewelry out there. I kept threatening on the forum that I would make my own. I finally made good on that threat:

Copper & brass with sterling rivets. This was the experimental piece, and I have other ideas in mind for the future…whatever number(s) I end up putting on it (them).

Notice all the scratches in the numbers? I kinda lost my temper at this piece at one point, took my file to the brass in a not so loving way. Was having a little issue with the rivets. Almost chucked this piece in frustration. My jewelry instructor basically told me to get over myself and keep at it. I'm glad he did. Future versions won't bear the scars like this one… unless of course somebody orders one that way.

And a slightly less “dramatic” looking shot of this:

Hmmm, too bad its 3 in the morning… I want to go make another one RIGHT NOW!

Some Odds & Ends (Catching Up)

I’ve been neglecting my blog lately, so here's a few new projects to catch up with:

Skull charm. Cut out of brass sheet metal, engraved & polished. My husband claimed this one as soon as he saw it:

Thumb ring. Used loose woven emery cloth and a rolling mill for the texture. Comfort fit (rounded inside, much more comfortable than the “flat” bands):

My very first bezel setting. Cross stone cabochon. Soldered all the links on the chain too:

Working with Connie Tescar’s Sleeping Tree tutorial (for my mom). More of these in the works:

A different variation of Connie’s Tree of Life:

Learning a new weaving technique. A pair of earrings using the wonderful tutorial provided by Nancy Wickman:

I’ve also finally gotten a few items photographed that I will be posting on Etsy. Stay tuned for that!