240/365 ebony

sterling silver, ebony, brass, copper, saltwater pearl

The making of this ring was a comedy of errors. I fabricated the bezel first and cut the wood to fit, which was a mistake. The first piece was too small so I made the second piece a little too large and sanded it back which took forever, and the fit is not so great.


Next I inlaid (riveted, really) the wire into the wood, the wood split in one place but I was able to fix it with glue. I sanded it to a nice finish, then proceeded to solder the bezel on wrong - so the ebony piece only fit in upside-down. I suppose I could have made a new bezel, but I chose to finish the backside of the ebony, which had been rough sawn but not planed smooth, so that took forever.


I made a band from two round wires and soldered a strut between them. As I was soldering the band onto the ring, the strut desoldered and the band fell apart. I remade the band and tried again, this time with white out painted on the strut. It also fell apart, and one wire from the band ended up soldered to the back of the ring. So I stretched that wire out some and soldered the other end down, voila.


I applied tung oil finish to the ebony and let it dry about an hour, not really long enough for either the wood glue or the finish to dry, but the ring must be completed in one day, we'll see what happens. After epoxying the wood in I set the pearl on it's post. And you know what? I hate that pearl. Hate. It ruins the design. Bleh. I have to walk away for a while.

234/365 mahogany

Still experimenting with wood, this is mahogany, it's more porous than the bloodwood, I'm not sure if I will use it again.

sterling silver, brass, mahogany

featured artist: rachelle stromberg

Rachelle Stromberg of Mike and Mary Jewelry makes gorgeous modern jewels. She often incorporates circles and spheres in her work and many of her pieces feature pearls.

I am in love with Rachelle's Ring a Day Plastidermy Series, they are hysterical and so much fun. I will add more as she makes them, I couldn't wait until the end of the year to share them with everyone.

212/365 gitmo redux

I wasn't happy with the ambiguity of yesterday's ring, so I made another. This one has slightly more detail, is about 1/2 the size, and roughly the same scale as the other rings in the series. I still don't think it's as successful as the others.

Monkey with a Basket II, brass.

211/365 guantanamo bay

I think this one is too ambiguous, I may go back and add more detail.
I've decided to call this series American Terror.

Monkey with a Basket, brass.

Sensory deprivation at Camp X-Ray. The prisoners were shackled and made to wear goggles, ear muffs, surgical masks, and gloves.

195/365 ez form

Yesterday I purchased some rectangular brass tubing from the hardware store. Then I drove across the street for gas and found this note of someone's federal tax info, the back has standard deduction and withholding calculations, it looks like this person made $14, 291.00 after taxes (rounding to whole dollars, of course). I guess we'll never know if they chose to donate $3 to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.

percussive bracelet

I'm couldn't sleep last night and spent the wee hours making a percussive bracelet that I can wear while playing guitar. It took me quite a while to get the sound I wanted, I sort of can't believe I spent so much time on it. Kitty likes it. Here's a short example:

76/365 claddagh

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My mother gave me my first silver claddagh ring when I was a girl. By high school she had replaced it with a gold one, and sometime later, gold with a garnet heart. I'm not sure when I stopped wearing it, perhaps after college. I'm glad to have this one to wear for special occasions such as today.

sterling silver, etched copper, brass, nickel silver, fabricated.

Check out this amazing, gynormous claddagh made by Rosy Revolver, it is my favorite. EVER.

66/365 etched brass

etched brass, sterling silver

51/365 elements

Another Elements ring. Shibuichi, brass, sterling silver. This will be in my etsy shop soon.

elements pendant

A big focal point pendant that can be worn alone or in combination with the others, silver spacer beads can be added as well. Recycled sterling silver, etched copper and brass, steel cables.

elements collection

These are not rings, but I am very excited about my growing Elements collection and I had to share. Based on my stacking rings, these pendants can be arranged and rearranged by the wearer, worn separately or together. I am working on additional, more complex pendants, and earrings as well. My friend Sara Westermark suggested the name Elements, since that is what I have been calling the focal pieces. I love it, Sara, thank you!


The pendants are made of recycled sterling silver and feature etched brass and copper, and are strung on steel cable.

44/365 stackers

Today I made four more stackers, circles this time. Three in etched brass and one plain silver. They break up the angularity of the other rings.

42/365 stackers

I finished 10 more stacking rings today, these are all the same size, and I am officially sick of making them. I'm also working on small stands, not happy with those yet.


My girlfriend was over earlier and we had fun arranging the rings in different ways. She likes them all jumbled together and doesn't use the spacer. The elements are all at different heights, so they slide under one another.

Made of recycled sterling silver, etched copper, and etched brass.