Finishing Off the Old Year

Today was the first day I have been in the shop in a little bit of a moment. I was up and going making new stuff for the shop it was a pearl of a day with these little treasures.

Christmas Holidays

This was the first Christmas for us in Mt. Dora and they really go all out with the decorations here. So the season started off with my sis visiting us for a little visit, then it was enjoying my first gift from Frank a plane ticket to visit my son and his family in Alabama for a week. This is some pics of Trey and Asa somehow Shannon his lovely wife didn't get into the pics haven't figured that out yet.
What a wonderful visit it was, now it's on to the New Year and may it bring all that you wish for, hope for and now you will accomplish. Happy New Year all of you. See you next year!

Having a Creative Time

I have just been creating away these last few weeks, working on all kinds of projects at one time which is usually how I operate on things around here. I am still trying to make my Memory Quilt of all the fabrics of all of my families lives from fabric that was in my mom's stash. Here is some more pieces and the process I chose to use to make them.

In addition to making the quilt I have been working on the cutest jacket for one of my grandsons, my daughter saw this jacket and described it to me and we found a picture of one like it and I created it for him. This was the final product of both our creative minds .

Then there was Turquoise rocks to cut and cleaned to prepare for cabbing. I love the ones with the ribbon in the middle these will be on atticktreasres.etsy.com this week.

And finally jewelry that was added to nancycreations.etsy.com this week

I must say this week has been a busy week, enjoying myself in Mt Dora and being the most creative I think I have ever been, see you soon.

Homemade Christmas

     As a child I always remember my mother planning what she was going to make for this aunt and that aunt, cooking loads of all different kinds of cookies and peanut butter and chocalate fudge, red velvet cake, fruitcake from this old 85 year old recipe. One of our aunts would have to read us the Night before Christmas story, Nanny would come my grandmother will loads of food, aunts would come tons of people were there. Loads of cousins to visit with we wouldn't see any other time of the year. It was truly wonderful. A Christmas house always in total chaos getting everything made for Christmas.
     I always gave my children as much of this as possible when they were growing up, I still hang their ornaments on the tree and they are now 32 and 29. Maybe this year I will give them to kids and let them start hanging them mmm maybe not hang on to those memories a little bit longer.
     So in my house now once Novemember arrives it drag out the paper and start planning who gets what for Christmas. Christmas cookies to make, the old fashion kind out of old cookie cutters that are vintage , with lots of icing and sprinkly stuff all over them. Drag out the old fruitcake recipe of moms. There will pj's to make since now everyone is so spoiled and wants them since I made them all a pair one Christmas. A quilt or two will be finished that's been worked on throughout the year. Scarves hand knitted since I learned to knit when my mom was passing in the hospital my 85 year old aunt showed me how. There may be some hats crocheted. Christmas decorations done I hope this year to make a Bay Leaf Cone tree for my dining room table. I will start a new tradition this year by making a tree ornament. I always make just about the same menu for the holidays my gang is spoiled they want umm get ready for this , potato salad and devil eggs must be there for every holiday meal. There will be at least a 20lb turkey cooked in mom's old roasting pot who knows how old that thing is. Of course the Macy's Parade will be on for everyone to comment on. Laughter , good times, stories of Christmas past will be shared from everyone just good holiday fun.
     My Christmas list is almost finished for the buying bunch, I really try to shop from the artist on etsy.com They have wonderful presents for everyone in my family, there's a fantastic journal maker who makes wonderful journals for $9, some of the greatest supply arts anywhere you could possibly find for that budding artist in the family. Loads of Vintage clothing , jewelry, decorator items, sandals, hair ribbons, stuff toys, babie items, loads of cool t shirts with star wars stuff on them gosh the list just goes on and on . Have a wonderful Christmas enjoy your families and good friends, eat and be merry, all of us artist here on etsy appreciate and honor the fact that you like our art and you take the time to purchase from us and tell us how much you like it by leaving a feedback which shows others we are good people and we treat folks right and you are not just another person you are a customer who likes us .

Tuesday, December 6, 2011December Blog Roll... Handmade Holidays!!
December Project Blogroll – Handmade Holidays
Each month the Aspiring Metals team chooses a topic and each participant writes about that topic on their blog.

This month is all about the holidays which will be here in no time at all and so we are each writing about our ideas for making this a Handmade Holiday.

See all the great ideas by visiting the blogs below:

Mary Anne Karren - silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/
Jessica @ Abella Blue - www.abellablue.com/blog
Stacy - formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Brown – resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
Lilian Genebra - www.girllovesglitter.blogspot.com/
Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs - allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Claire English - brightstar109.blogspot.com/
Gayle - thisartistsjourney.blogspot.com
Nancy - nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Autumn Bradley - www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com
Amy Estelle - amyestellemetalworks.blogspot.com/2011/12/handmade-holidays.html

Catching Up on Times Past

     Somewhere in life I read a quote that simply said it all "Memories are photgraphs in you mind." I love to collect quotes they are everywhere in my life in my mind and in my studio's and my home. So if you know any drop me a convo and let me know one of yours. When we moved all I could think of was the amount of STUFF I have, all kinds of stuff, fabric stuff, jewelry stuff, rock stuff just lots of stuff which making moving a real pain in the butt. So my big decision and yes I know it's backwards was once moved in I would start to part with some of it. I mean really I have to much stuff. So right off I placed some of my vintage hats for sale on etsy, and all kinds of other vintage stuff at cornacopia.etsy.com if you go there and don't see anything you like come back to visit often as stuff is being constantly put there. So that solved my vintage collection problem. Then onto the fabric stuff, well I have lots of old fabrics that my mom used to sew stuff for me, my kids , nieces nephews stuff she wore anyway lots of fabric and scraps . Well in another lifetime I was a quilter yeah me lil miss impatient, so when she passed my sister and I divided the fabric. My original plan was to make a quilt with all these fabrics but I stopped being a traditional quilter a long time ago. So I decided to do this the enjoyable way. I cut 8 inch squares from newspaper and started doing string quilting on it. This is the old traditional way of things back in the old days . Actually where paper piece quilt technique came from. I remember my mom doing it this way its simple my kind of way so here is a few photos to see how its done

First you cut your squares, then grap a handful of scraps press them yeah I know just do it and quit whining. Now the next part is your choice you can draw lines on the newspaper , or you can simply wing it. Cut you scaps into strips any width will do it doesnt matter all the same width or different whatever. Told you it was simple. Now start at a corner any corner. Lay two strips right side facing together on top of paper square now sew 1/4 inch seam. finger press open now add another strip to one side of the first and then you just fill up the square . If you addtional help I can show you step by step here on the blog just let me know and consider it done.  So here is the first square . I have to do three quilts of these squares one for all of us to remember our mom by If you have any questions please email me or convo me on etsy or comment here .

Having a Happy Thanksgiving

 Well we traveled no far to the Farm which is about and hour and a half away. There was my favoite uncle and his wife as well as my sis and brother and Franks brother and my daughter our long lost brother of course called and checked in as well as our cousin who is Uncles youngest child. complete with four dogs who just love each other and three cats and that is what we call a Thanksgiving feast. The feast was made by my brother and sis who live full time at the Farm and my daughter brought over mash potatoes, we brought along green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole. They cooked a huge turkey , dressing, sweet potato pie, pineapple upside down cake, pumpkin pie, waldorf salad gosh I am sure I have lefted something out but we ate and ate and ate some more. All of us had such a good time talking about old times and holidays past , Frank and Mike shared some of their holiday pasts, it was alot of fun and loads of laughter and teasing which has always been apart of our get togethers. We all felt the presence of Mom and Dad and how much they all enjoyed the holidays with all of us. I hope your holiday Have a wonderful weekend and get started on the Christmas shopping on Etsy.com where you will find loads of artistic handmade treasures for your loved ones as well as yourself and loads of goodies to decorate you home for the Christmas holiday, please try to shop handmade and purchase from artist instead of the mass produced items you see everywhere, some of our items may cost a little bit more but they will be handmade and as a artist myself our hearts and souls go into everything we create no matter what it is and you buying from us makes it an extra special holiday for us. I would like to extend my own personal Thank you for joining my blog and shopping at my etsy shop nancycreations.etsy.com , this is one of my personal thank you's for the holidays.

Finally working in the studio again

It's been a busy week getting ready for college again and all that wonderful stuff. Although it's been a little rough getting time for the studio and the site. I am on a mission to fill nancycreations.etsy.com with lots of new goodies and the return of some of my oldies. The site now features two new items and pendant of labradorite and the silver organic bud earrings I featured here on the blog. A new rainbow moonstone will arrive this evening as well as a Labrdorite ring yes I have been busy in the shop at last hurrah , I have just got to be firm about this shop time. It's a short post for now until tonite see ya or go check out the new additions and let me know what you think.

My ring will visit Hollywood

I was contacted on etsy last week and this ring was purchased to be worn on a certain actress hand when she does her televison show that will be featured in January, sorry folks that's all I can tell you until just before the show airs in January and I will tell you when to turn in to see it on television. I am very humble and excited to have this happen to me.

The Love of a Sunday Afternoon

I love Sundays , it's the best day of the week , laying around the house , cooking big feasts, making cookies today , yes Franks favorite Sugar cookies. As I promised here are so pics I did when I was making the little silver flowers they are dainty sweet with a little organic feel to them they will arrive in the shop on etsy this week along with a couple of other pearl earrings in both silver and brass.  This is a sneak peak at the new studio bench, well it will be nicer when everything finds a place to go on it. haha

In the pictures following the photos of the studio you will see the flowers as they are made, formed, soldered they will be post earrings , pickled and ready for the shop. Hope you enjoy a sneak peek in the studio and how I work on earrings and if they are any questions please do not hesitate to ask in the comment section or email me at nancy4133@gmail.com and they are no stupid questions especially in making jewelry, always please wear protection for your eyes and well as your nose for inhaling things you shouldn't always adhere to all safety rules for your own protection.

Working in the new Studio

 Well it's up and running full throttle. Oh there is still a little bit of stuff everywhere and my bench is still not organized but I couldn't wait any longer I had to get at it again. Feels like forever since I was working on the bench. So first I made these lil cuties now I did a photo shoot of the making of these and I will post them hopefully this weekend


I have an admission to make I am terrified of setting faceted stones I get all knotted up inside when it comes to setting them, now I don't mind making the settings for the designs just the actual setting of the stone. In the month of Novemember I am working setting these lil buggers as many .as I can . I am going to get through this trauma on way  or another . And now lets get started with ring 1. Okay heres the info , I really wanted to just jump in there and start hard settings first okay, umm any of you like this, just go ahead and do a hard setting then the rest should be easy  right? So I pick a Pear Shape stone of blue topaz, orginal design was for the band to start on each side of the stone, well that wasn't happening this time it just wasn't . So we when for under the setting on each side of the hole in the bottom. Which HB says we need to do I can't exactly remember why maybe to keep the stone clean or because it will cloudly otherwise I will have to ask her. Any how heres the results for ring 1.

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The Cabbing Studio Arrives

Yes that's right now all my treasures are here with me , Frank is calling me the Rock Troll , my daughter calls me a Leprakaun with her gold. Yeah I do like my rocks and stones and fossils treasures yes they are. Now comes the process of putting it together. Today was play hookie day and of we went to the art festival in Mt Dora.It was great, lots of people, bands played all day long, and I indulged in a funnelcake of course. This is home to some wonderful orange groves check out these right beside a Walmart Store can you believe it, isn't this great I am going to love living here. If you are ever in Florida Mt Dora is only 30 miles from Orlando come and check it out a very scenic little town and the people are so friendly full of southern hospitality.

Finally Made IT

Yes it's official we have finally found the house, It's located in Mt. Dora FL. This is a small town full of art. Yes I have landed in a town that simply flows with art, everywhere you go you see it. I love it. We got a house on 2 acres of land , it sits upon a hill , the wind blows a gentle breeze all the time. The dogs have their own private dog park. Still putting the house together man what a  lot of stuff to move and sort through. I can't wait to get the studio up and running again. Patience is the companion of wisdom although I don't do to good in the patience department umm looks like I am about to have a lesson. Hang in there have loads of pictures to post and info on chasing yes I am working on learning to do some chasing.

Finally Half moved

Yes to some this may sound a little bit odd, but yes we are half moved . Actually we have arrived at the farm as most of you know I am seriously fond of here in Florida , this is where most of my ancestors came and settled besides Virginia. I was born and raised here along with all my siblings. Most children have a backyard mine was just a little bit bigger than most. Anyway this is my Home of homes in my lifetime. Its where I come to unwind and find myself when I get lost, it's my roosting spot, my sanctuary where I can find peace. We are staying until this wonderful realtor finds us a home that will not have any problems with 2 doggies. Then we will finish our journey to our new home. So tonite Frank finishes up his teaching at the local college here in Jax I am currently hanging out a Starbucks enjoying coffee and cake and catching up on my computer stuff. Got  a package delivered this week of some secret stuff that I can't wait to add in the nancycreations.etsy.com shop for all of you to see of course you will see it first here. Yeah. I did bring a lil studio with me so I could work on some stuff here , this not having a studio is the pits I just handle life without some supplies on hand thats when creating gets a lil wacky and anything can develop. I am seriously going to have to destash when we finally get settled I love doing to many art forms , to many supplies to move around you wouldn't believe all the clear containers we moved seemed like thousands. Do you ever find you just can't limit yourself to one type of art medium, me I like to draw, paint, do collage, do fiber arts of all kinds. It just creates to many  supplies so I have decided to get rid of stuff. Maybe we can put our heads together and figure out a way to destash stuff to my fellow art buddies if you have a favorite type of art you do and want some additional supplies let me know maybe I can send some stuff to you perhaps.

The Last Day in my lil Dollhouse

It's the morning of the last day in my dollhouse as I lovingly call it, I have really enjoyed living in it with all it's character. Today is the last day of packing and moving, this evening the truck will arrive and all will be loaded up on it to leave Jacksonville. I really do love this city as I fondly call it my little Atlanta which it reminds me alot of. The houses here are fantastic , of course if you have a bridge phobia not the city for you although I always found them so exciting. I packed my mini studio to go with me to the farm for a week until we find another house going to do some cool stuff there to keep me occupied , take lots of walks , and just relax this packing has been the pits man I hope I don't move again for a long time. Life offers you up so much info if you see it clearly. This experience has shown me that I definetly need to downsize my stuff, you know your stuff as we artist commonly call it , its our stash, our supplies that we bring into our studio because we simply like them they can be anything from big to little, dull to shiny, picked up in the street or even a store, just STUFF. My stuff consists of many things, fiber arts, metal arts, lapidary and now to add to the bunches leather arts one day I will combine all together and make on heck of a wall hanging of sorts with all incorporated into it.
Tonite the girls from the salon will get together with me for our last time together for a while , gosh I will miss them terribly they are the greatest of friends, not many salons can put a group of women together side by side and there is absolutely no friction between any of them they all love each other and wish the best for each other and quite simply are there for each other no matter what. Well its time to finish up what is left to do before the load up , see you at the farm.

It's Moving Time Again

 

     Yeah it's true time to pack up the studio's and move on towards Tavares FL. Now Tavares is near Mt Dora which is a great place lots of really cool shops as well as a fantastic Artist Co-Op which I found last month when I visited Mt Dora and guess what they loved my jewelry  and I am going to try to get into the Co-op. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Well first studio that got packed up was of course the Fiber Art studio, as you can see I did kind of sort of downsized the books and fabrics a little bit. Oh well. Bubba/Baby Beast has had enough already with this packing up stuff.

Fibert Art Studio Stuff



Daisy says this is way to much for her she will just take a much needed nap keeping up with mom is to tiring for her.



The Saturday Post at Night

     Ah the peaceful evening here at the homefront, not a usual thing around here remember I live with two dogs which one answers to the call of Baby Beast or Wee Beastie oh but he is adorable and sweet and of course my precious Daisy and lets don't forget the cat I saved who now only loves Frank and ignores me umm oh well. The days and  nights are filled with jewelry ideas fighting with fiber art designs inside my head in constant battle although as usual the jewelry mostly wins. I once again find myself wanting to try new techniques  and visit old ones that I have learned. I have a long list of wants this week new etchings, some new enameling, some new copper and brass pieces I have loads of ideas just wanting to be made into creations and please give me some feedback here gang tell me what you think of the designs and if you don't want me to post the comments thats ok I will not post them we can keep them private.
     I am so excited my baby girl is coming for a week long visit next week she is the sweetest girlie in the world even if she is all grown up and studying to become a nurse , she is one of the lucky people who to  has the ability to walk in both worlds she is also a wonderfully gifted artist can paint fantastic pictures . My two babies were blessed with all my mothers artistic talent me I only got a little compared to them. My son is a out of this world tatoo artist he is the greatest artist aswell fantastic at all mediums , makes me madly envious . Good evening to all of you

The Holiday Visit

     It was so wonderful this last weekend visit for the holiday. I took an extra day off from work and the fun began, I learned traveling with dogs is alot like traveling with kids, very busy. Got everything all packed up and off we went. We celebrated Kathy's birthday who is my sister with a BBQ and lots of fun and laughter, even the dogs had a blast playing with my daughter Crystals dogs. They love the country almost as much as everyone else does,it's so peaceful and calm there. On sunday my cousin had to plow  the fields of peanuts for harvest because the rains were coming in the next day. There is nothing like the smell of the fresh dirt of the earth brought to the surface it's a smell I never forget from growing up there. It was wonderful to take longs walks, enjoy morning coffee outside with a view of the earth meeting the sky. The quietness and peaceful sounds of the country side coming to life. The muscadine grapes are ready for picking so of course we had to savor some of them one day I hope to make some wine. Of course that southern tradition of eating boiled peanuts was on the menu of fun. It was just exactly what my soul needed to regroup and recharge .

TGIF Hurray!

Sorry for no postings lately I have been taking a little time for myself so selfish of me I know. The summer is finishing up for all of us. Fall sometimes flows through the air so fleeting a feeling but its there. I have been doing simply not to much made a pendant for a friend leaving to start a new direction in her life, college I am so proud of her, her going away slash birthday present is this

Tomorrow is the Holiday

     All is quiet and peaceful here at the homefront, the tooth is getting better poor Frank grilled me spareribs today and I couldn't even eat them it was still a little bit painful. That sucked totally. Daisy and Bubba went for their first walk since Daisy surgery for spaying. They really enjoyed  it alot just a short little stroll to get them out of the house. They had alot of fun especially Bubba who now weighs in at 43 pounds and is only  4 1/2 months old. He is so massive a true brute but so silly and goofy. He is terrible he jumps on the couch from four feet away he is so strong and powerful we have got to slow him down someway. Lots of training ahead for him I see in the future. I am enjoying our little holiday except for the tooth issue, each day it seems to get a little better. Next week it's back to work and to school, the normal life we have created here, It does not seem possible we have lived here almost a year time is just marching on so quickly it scary at times wish I could just slow down the clock a small bit at a time. This has become one of the best years of my life with all it's up and downs changes, but its been good , blessed with Frank my lil baby dogs, children, grandchildren, a good boss to work with, and great people to work with, a great teacher at school and lots of other wonderful things. I always believe one should enjoy life to its fullest as if  it's your last day on earth because sooner or later it will be. thats life accept it we are all terminal in this world , take time to laugh love dance a little , have fun smille enjoy life to its fullest potential.

Hanging in for the Fourth of July Celebration

Frank and I are just hanging around the house, Daisy just got spayed and I had the root canal so its lets take it easy time, kind of like a mini vacation at home. We are doing some BBQ , checking out my supply of stones for my show that is coming up in the fall. Man has Ocean Jasper gone up in price, whew I was shocked, of course there is no more collecting it and when you could collect it was only found in Madagascar and by boat only you couldn't move it by land it was to rough. Thank goodness I keep a stash of rocks mountain high because I do sell cabs. This weeks choice will be turquoise, ocean jasper, chrysocolla, sodalite, and pink stuff. I can't wait to get started already have a game plan so in the fall I will have lots of cabs different sizes , shapes, colors all new and shiny. WEEEEE! Also some sonora sunset found my stash of that also. Lots of pretties coming these will be on the atticktreasures. etsy. com site for purchase .

The tooth is finally fixed thank goodness

     Whew I just don't know where to start, the root canal was scary at best a little painful at worst but it's done all over and finished hurray! No pain other that where they gave me shots all 5 of them but they did get the little sucker numbed so great heh? Was there only a hour and a half, left office and found a great little old dame lady house for Frank and I. We will go and interview it tomorrow to see if its what we want , I really like it but its a little bit smaller than this house which could be a problem for us with all my STUFF. Fitting a  silver studio , fiberarts studio and a cabbing studio into one house can be alot of stuffing. UMM we will just have to see.

     Now onto my next news, well do you remember a few postings back about the avacado tree seeds, well I tried the putting them in water and that just did not work for me. So I just popped them in a pot outside and really didn't think they would come but guess what yes they did, I am so liking the idea of my own avacado trees gosh how big do they get they are the dark ones  not the bright green ones guess I had better investigate this . So here they are the Famous Nancy Avacado Trees.
     Folks I am afraid it's going to storm here in a few moments so happy to share with you the news of the avacado tree, wow isn't that great lil trees of my very own.

A Delay Sorry Folks

I am so sorry everyone but I have a real super real tooth pain. You know it's wierd you turn 50 and everything goes to crap in a hand basket for real man, suddenly you become a high maintence person just to stay healthy. Suddenly it's diets, exercising taking care of your skin man just a few things the list goes on and on. Well this little tooth problem started off as a simple cleaning, then progressed to need to replace 20 year old fillings to a second filling because something was wrong with the first one, on it went to another exam and filling to discover that it now needs a root canal . Is this the pits or what? This entire process went on for 4 months yeah unbelievable right? So tomorrow I will go in for the root canal and hopefully this will be the end of the saga or else they will just have to remove it enough is enough. So it continues hopefully all better , then I will post second part of the prong series for everyone and share all my other news. Thank you so much for commenting on the blog , I was so happy to hear from people and thank you for liking my blog. Yes I do believe in sharing info and helping one another with techniques, all our creations are our own, each unique, I don't copy people's art I do my own thing its mine all mine now if someone else copies mine I am flattered , I am sad for them to miss out on the opptunity to create their own piece but it's okay because sooner or later they will gain confidence in themselves and so their own thing too.I am not scared of creating , it's fun its exciting, gosh if it all doesn't look good just melt it down and create something else, its done by you and only has to please you really not anyone else. Go for it , if you get stuck email me I will try to help you out if I can I am not a perfect know it all but I will help if I can but go create everyday create something its so good for your soul. I will share a little secret with you I knit yeah I know knit, umm yes but only scarves and only in the knit stitch nothing else this is my down time thing it relaxes me once I tried to knit a scarve in a sampler pattern okay, well I thought this will be cool I will learn all these new stitiches , well the scarf is still not finished , it was way to stressfull for me , so I just knit my lil scarves I think I will fill up a bag and give them to maybe the homeless to help with the cold this winter, it's my relaxation my medation my calming thing.

A quiet moment in my day at last

    Ah a quiet moment, how nice . I finally finished up a scarf I have been knitting for a couple of weeks its a dark grey and staying within the rules of my creations of art only with supplies that I have on hard forever it's finally done who its owner will be who knows probaly my Frank who is always cold in the winter umm now remember I do live in Florida but in Jacksonville where it does get a bit nippy. Picture to be included later. I also have a wonderful surprise for you but I won't share until later in the week but I was so shocked and suprised when I returned from Atlanta and found it. Pictures of the surprise also to come later. Pictures of my trip to Atlanta also to come later. Yeah I know I am lazy lately dealing with way to much drama yuck you ever notice how energy sucking it does to you. I am having a root canal done this week on this terribly infected tooth that is the result of trying to take care of myself and get old fillings replaced with new ones because my dentist said I needed to umm well two filling done on the tooth now a root canal has to be done I am none to happy about this would you be? Of course not. My plan of action is to finish up the second part of the prong setting go over two new books I just purchased with you , show you all my pics of everything and catch up everything . Now I need a favor from you, I want some darn comments okay come on folks I see you in the the tracker following me and my lil blog I share with you how about some return here okay? I would love to hear from you what you think any input would be great so come one leave a little comment or at least tell me what to do to interest you enough to leave a comment. Those of you who do leave comments I read everyone of them faithfullly. I am so excited when one of you leaves them , please join my blog what is it going to take folks just let me know so we can all get on the same page here huh?

Part One of the Prong Settings Cab Style

This is the style we will be using today, the style can be made for a pendant or a ring pin really anything. This setting is using a cabochon of any size or shape , I will be using 14 ga sterling silver wire. I chose this larger gauge of wire because the pendant I am making is quite large and I wanted the size of wire to compliment the size of the finished piece which is a consideration I think of importance. Thats my opion not a definite thing you have to do , do your own thing make it cool with your own art attitude on it. Anyhow this is the stone set we will be using for the pendant set. These are my own cabochons I cut and cabbed.

This set is huge of course I love big jewelry  and just for info one of my bestfriends in the world is probaly 5 ft tall  and she wears huge jewelry and it doesn't look odd on her at all so go big . As I said sterling silver wire , now I use a jewelry to saw it with and file it down so the cut ends are nice and smooth, and I use plastic coated pliers that I actully got a Michaels a hundred years ago this is the pic of what type of pliers you will want to  use so long as they are plastic coated they should be alright.

Now you will want to anneal your wire first because this is a sorta heavy gauge to be working with, just anneal it like you would any silver just till it becomes dull not red hot. Take your first stone measure around it , you will want the wire to be just a teeny little bit inside the diameter of the stone.

Measure and cut the piece of wire. Now onto the second piece of wire shaping

and cuttings . Now you are ready to solder . On each piece make sure the wire ends butt up against each other with no gaps showing if you can see light through the gap , go file them up nice and straight and check them again. Go ahead and do both pieces like this. Now place both pieces on the soldering block and apply flux and solder with hard solder.

This is the time where you must bow down to the solder gods to let it flow and melt or fry your wire. Just kidding but I always do a little solder dance afterwards that is really important to do. Now get out your clean up gadgets and get started making all smooth with no bumps this is a good time to straighten up any wommpies on your wire using the coated pliers, you can look at old jewelry zines, reference books look at online jewelry artists to see where the placements of prong should be used, this however is just for interest because your piece is your original piece , your cab may be irregular in shape , a fossil, anything so you will have to figure out what will work for you and your design , this is also a good time to figure out if it's a pendant like mine how to attach a bail , what kind of bail to use . For our next part if you can get a charcoal block or a soft fire brick , you can order them from Jff in Atlanta I will be happy to give you their number 770-455-1871 They are a jewelry supplier and just mention that you want a soft soldering brick and they will know what you want, they are very inexpensive and I love them for this technique.

I hope you have enjoyed part one of the technique of prong settings part two is being created as we speak so its coming up soon, If you should have question please email me Nancy4133@gmail .com. I do not pretend to be an instructor just a girlie who shares what she learns with others hopefully this will help you I hope you enjoy .