kristinellis.com

I won first place at the Columbus Rock & Mineral Society Show

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:49:29 +0000

The Columbus Rock & Mineral Society’s annual show was Easter weekend at the Vet’s Memorial building in downtown Columbus. This is the most unique, educational and interesting of the gem shows in Columbus. The show features many displays of member’s collections, as well as competitions. I entered 2, the jewelry and lapidary category and the open class.

Looking around at all the fascinating mineral specimens and gems for sale is a great way to spend a day. This is a beautiful selection of amethyst geodes offered for sale by one of the dealers.

I won the open class contest with my enamel pin!!!

Here is my jewelry taking the blue ribbon in the open class competition case.

Here is a closer view of the pin. I’ll have to take a better picture of it soon!

My ring took second prize here!

My handmade sterling silver ring with faceted glass jewel took second prize in the jewelry competition. Check out the beautiful faceted calcite gem! What a fabulous treasure for collectors…

My prize money bought this!

My prizes included some spending money at the show, and I picked out this beautiful piece of chrysoprase rough.

You can see in the background all the interesting rough, uncut gems offered for sale by http://www.cjpgems.com

Thanks to CJP Gems for being on my blog and helping me spend my prize money!

Bonita Hessler Cochrun, Jan Dennison, Philip J. Hickman, Susan Ward, Megan Monteith Corwin, Kris Early liked this post

A Spring Hike in Mount Gilead State Park

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:26:30 +0000

I got out my camera and went for a walk at the park this afternoon. What a beautiful day! The trees have yet to fill out and the early Spring foliage is a vivid shade of light green.

These were the first flowers I captured at the park.

While focusing on some trees across the creek, I caught a robin having a bath nearby.

And I found some pretty flowers on the way home, too. Just look at that blue sky…

Michelle LaCoille Harris liked this post

Carine, your ring is finished!

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 01:02:28 +0000

I just finished your ring today! It is has been such a pleasure to collaborate with you on this custom jewelry project. I am so pleased with how the ring has turned out. It is heavy and dramatic, yet comfortable on the hand. I gave the ring a dark antique patina and polished the highlights to accentuate the silver lightning bolts. I have signed the back with my initial K, Handmade and Sterling. Do you like the patina? If so, it’s ready for you to buy, just click on the paypal button!

Sugilite Ring Progress

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:52:07 +0000

Here is the progress on the sugilite ring so far. The basic structure of the ring is finished. The next step is polishing and setting the stone. What do you think, Carine? This is your ring

Rachel Elizabeth, Sue Lacy liked this post

Sugilite Stone with the Silver Lightning Bolts

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:46:27 +0000

For my friend in Belgium, here are the lightning bolts next to the sugilite stone. Which one is your favorite?

Liz Franklin, Rachel Elizabeth liked this post

Broom Straw Casting

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:49:21 +0000

How to do broom straw casting!

First you need to set up all your tools and supplies. You need:

old broom, soaked in water for about a half hour
some concrete blocks and fire brick
a ceramic crucible to melt the metal in
a torch, I’m using an oxy-acetylene welding torch because it works quickly
borax for flux
scrap metal, I’m using sterling silver

Hold the torch close into the mouth of the crucible so the the heat envelopes the metal.

Keep that heat going!

Heating the metal viewed from another angle.

Pour the metal across the wet broom in a slow line. The broom will smoke as the metal drips into it and solidifies.

As the broom cools, you can start picking the silver forms out of the broom

Here are my new silver broom straw castings

A Selection of Sugilite Stones

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:47:23 +0000

Here are 7 sugilite stones ready set into rings. I love the different shades of purple! I cut and polished each one in my studio, and they are all one-of-a-kind. You can click the picture to see a close-up.

Hayley Greenwald Savage liked this post

How to Make a Replacement Fish Hook Clasp

admin — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:51:59 +0000

I received a commission for stringing a pearl necklace. My client brought me the Japanese Akoya pearls and chose a vintage silver clasp with a pearl set in it from my collection. The clasp was also from Japan, and it matched the new pearls perfectly: beautiful luster, warm pink overtones, and a subtle orient. Everything you want in a Japanese cultured pearl. There was just one problem: the clasp was missing its hook. I decided that this would be the perfect way to chronicle the steps in making a replacement hook for a vintage fish hook clasp.

I started out with a workshop essential, Tim McCreight’s book, The Complete Metalsmith. Here you see his handy diagram of a fish hook clasp and how it works. On top of that is my vintage clasp and a small piece of sterling silver sheet stock. You can see the basic proportions required. The hook part is about 2/3 the length of the housing. You can also see that the hook snaps into place along the support pins in the housing. I have drawn the basic outline of the hook I need onto my sheet metal with a sharpy marker.

Here you can see that I have drilled a hole to connect the hook to my pearl necklace and I have sawed out the hook from my piece of sheet metal. You can also see the structure of the fish hook clasp housing that the hook must fit into.

Now, I’m checking for fit. My next step is to mark the hook right where it hits the pins on the housing. This is an important step, because if I get it wrong, I have to start over. After marking the location on the hook, I file 2 notches in the outside of the hook so that it will snap securely into place and hold the necklace. This is the safety feature of the fish hook clasp design, if the clasp comes undone while being worn, the hook will still catch on the clasp as you can see in the picture. After filing the notches, I hammer the hook a little to give it enough spring that it will slide in smoothly and snap into place snugly.

Here is the finished project, polished and ready for the pearl necklace. Notice the notches. This lovely vintage clasp has a new life for my client!

Here is the restored fish hook clasp in the closed position.

This is how the safety feature works. The housing is suspended on the loose hook. A repair well worth getting my fingernails dirty!

Here is the pearl necklace I made for my client, strung, knotted and clasped!

Sugilite Ring

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:01:51 +0000

I made this ring. I’m posting it because of a special request. The ring is sterling silver and holds a sugilite stone in a bezel setting. I ground and polished the stone in my own studio. When I started cutting the stone, I wasn’t sure what patterns were hidden inside. But as I added the final polish, the clouds of purple and red became clear. Beautiful!

Joyce Gray, Hayley Greenwald Savage liked this post

Wednesday Night Enameling Class

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:22:20 +0000

I really enjoy teaching my Wednesday night enameling classes. I never know how my pieces will look when they are done, so its always an adventure.

This is a project I worked on last Wednesday night in my enameling class. To show students how to apply enamel onto copper objects, I began this little planter project. This is the piece with powdered enamel applied. It’s ready for firing.

After firing, I applied an orange color to the outside of the planter. It looks brilliant at this stage, but the glass is still just powder dusted onto the copper and adhered with klyr-fire, which will vaporize in the kiln as the glass melts.

Whoa! This was a surprise. Apparently, I did something wrong in applying the enamel, and most of the orange color fell off. The black areas are bare copper. Notice how much darker the glass is after firing. Enamels are always changing as you work with them. The more I looked at it, the more I liked the patterns. What to do next???

I decided to apply a transparent red over the orange, leaving the bare copper alone. This is a departure from my normal technique, but I hope for a dramatic effect!

Well, here it is after firing! Good coverage of enamel this time, and I like the contrasting colors. I have quite a few more firings to do to take care of details, but this planter is coming along nicely.

Here, you can see the inside, too. I like the dramatic color contrasts. I’ll post more pictures as I work on it!