Why a blog, why now?

Well, why not?  I love to create things and I want to share.  I will be blogging about different projects I have worked on in the past and new projects that are in the works.  Explaining a little bit of how I did it.
Your welcome to come and peek into my brain.  I think I will start with something old.


Back in I think it was 2004, I took a soldering 101 class at FIT. I had always wanted to learn how to make jewelry working with metals. I had been making beaded jewelry and loved it! I really wanted to turn this into a career but instead it remains a hobby. Here is my final project which the teacher called museum quality and which landed me an A. The assignment was to make a bracelet using at least one hinge. I had extra time to work on mine since I wasn't working at the time so I made one with 9 hinges. Here is what my final project looks like.

I incorporated beading design into this complex hinged bracelet made of sterling silver and garnet. It reminds me of an abacus.  I also put my first initial into two of the plates just for the hell of it. Mind you I did most of the soldering in my tiny kitchen when I lived on the UES in NYC.  I had to map out on paper with exact measurements in millimeters (that is very small) my design and how all the pieces would fit together.  And then, I had to figure out in what order would I solder the pieces together.  For those of you who don't know anything about soldering, "solder is a fusible metal alloy used to join together metal workpieces and having a melting point below that of the workpiece(s)". What this means is that there is hard, medium and soft solder.  When you are making a complex piece that requires more than one stage of soldering, hard solder would be used first so that when you soldered the second time with medium solder, the hard solder would not melt.  The hard solder does not melt because it takes a higher temperature to melt than when using the medium solder where less heat would be applied to the piece. But before soldering can begin, the raw materials need to be sawed, measured, drilled, filed, polished, hammered and otherwise prepared.  After the piece was all soldered together, I used sterling silver wire to thread the beads in between the pre-drilled holes. 

Here is a picture of my first project in that class, a pendant inspired by the chinese symbol for longevity also made in sterling silver with garnet cabachons stranded with garnet beads.  I like garnet.

I would show you my secret jewelry designs but then I would have to kill you. 
Maybe one day.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more creativity!