Happy Halloween!

These are two of the pumpkins on our balcony and also a couple of beautiful leaves from the maple tree in front of our home :)

I wish you all a wonderful day!
Iveth

The Making of Two Very Special Rings

Hello there!

I hope you all are doing really great. Today I want to show you some process photos. I always have a hard time taking process photos as when I'm working, my hands are usually very disgusting with dust and nasty compounds and I feel terrible to touch my camera, and other times, I just simply forget because I'm just too busy making the jewelry!

But today is very special because I wanted to document the making of my little brother and sister-in-law's wedding rings, which I feel so lucky to be making! To be honest, many of the steps to complete these rings are missing from the photos but I documented the most important of them!!

So here we go!

After minding some measures for size sake, I proceeded to cut the band using a hand saw. I used sterling silver sheet to make my model ring.

When the band is cut. I file off the irregularities of the piece of metal and then anneal it: this is a process in which I heat the metal with fire, then dip it in cold water and then gave it a warm acid bath to make it softer and malleable. Then it can be formed to make a ring using special pliers.

When the ends of the band can perfectly touch one another, I'm ready to solder! I skip the solder step because I was very concentrated soldering the ring, but here you can see the ring just after being solder and bathed in warm acid to get rid of the flux and dirtiness. Can you see those markings on the surface on the band? that's where the two ends are soldered together and when the piece is finished you won't be able to tell where the ends were soldered together! 

At this point the ring is out of shape.

We need to form it using a mandrel and a wooden hammer to make it round and pretty.

Ta dah! it's round. But really ugly still!

It needs some major sanding now: inside of it, on the edges and of course the outer surface. 

When the ring is all sanded and neat, I proceeded to add the details and make it special: I wanted to add texture to the piece and at the same time wanted it look neat and clean, so I came out with the idea of using thread to add this texture. I wrapped the thread in the middle of the band. I also used thread because it kind of makes me think of the link that unites things, two people together: so let's say it represents love. 

When the model piece in ready, I took it with a specialist to have a mold done and also a reproduction in silver, so I can see and correct any faults or details that I don't like before committing to gold! When the silver reproduction is made, it comes really rough and need lots of love to make it pretty.

Here you can see both pieces together: the original model with the black thread and my silver trial. Here I had sanded and mildly polished the silver piece to have an idea of how is going to look my final piece.

This is still the silver piece! I haven't finished the final rings and I'll show them to you after I give them to my brother and sister-in-law on their wedding day! But you now have a pretty good idea of how they'll look like :D

I hope you enjoyed this little taste of what I do :) Thanks so much for reading it!

Iveth

Friday Inspiration

Hello dear reader! I hope you are doing really good this fine day. It's super rainy in Montreal today, but anyway, it's such a lovely day! at least outside my window because the maples in front of our home are so yellow and pretty and the street is full of fallen leaves. *Sigh* I love Autumn :)

I've been working on some really cool custom orders lately, I'll try to snap some photos and show you more of that the following week! Also, I'm just editing my next Newsletter! It's going to be full of news and also there's a surprise inside! If you plan to buy something from my shop soon, the surprise might interest you, wink! Also you may like to know that my shop is going to be closed during November, more of that soon!

If you'd like to subscribe to my newsletter, this is the sign form: http://eepurl.com/gtgvL I don't send them often, just one every two to three months or when there are super exciting news to tell :)

OK, then, I think is about time to wrap up the week and start chilling out and have a drink, yay! hehehe.

I hope your Friday is being awesome and that your weekend is lovely!

Hugs,

Iveth

Take me to the Mountains

Tapered bangle

Found at pinterest, unknown source. I'll appreciate if you know who the photographer is!

Anthropologie

Leave bouquet

I agree.

Ethanollie

By Carly Waito

Sara Barner 

Found here

Lots of new things!

I've been listing lots of new things on my Etsy shop lately as I've been incredibly productive since I started working again on my jewelry! 

Most of the new things I've been making lately are still inspired by my existing collections, like the Rocks & Mountains, Buttons & Ribbon and The Angry Weather one. The awesome thing about all the new jewelry is that these are pieces I'm putting a lot more construction and adding special elements and were created with the best of my craftsmanship. I'm very proud of them as you can see! 

I'm specially excited to tell you about my Bow collection (part of the Buttons and Ribbon) that includes a two dimensional, dainty ring; two different models of bow stud earrings that look adorable; a gorgeous, three dimensional, articulated bow necklace and a bracelet. This collection is just pure sweetness! 

Click here to see it.

I've also been making new pieces for my Rocks and Mountain collection that I simply adore! This theme just gives me so much inspiration all the time. I made a pair of tiny, faceted rocks stud earrings, cast in sterling silver from a Herkimer diamond I bought in a remote village in Coahuila, Mexico, extracted directly by the local villagers from nearby mountains. They may be tiny, but they're extra cool! I also made a couple of geometric necklaces, one of them is a mix between sterling silver and bronze and looks amazing on. One of the pieces I love the most is my Mountain Range Stacked rings: it consists in three rings, each with a different mountain silhouette so you can always change the order of your mountain range, it's like wearing a diorama! Also inspired by the beautiful mountains in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, Mexico, where a lived for a long time during my twenties.
Click here to see it.

Then I also made new pretties like a lovely cloud bracelet and ring, they were a big hit at my last craft show. and I made a new version of my seed ring with a little ball of 14k gold for a luxurious touch and contrast.New on the shop is also my Lost Button lapel pin, I made it a long time ago but didn't photograph it until recently; this pin is just perfect for Autumn and Winter to use in your jacket, coat or scarf :)
And lastly, my bubble ring is back! with a new beautiful matte texture that goes perfect with it's shape and style. You can find this ring in sterling silver and bronze.
Click here to see it.

And that's all for today! I hope you like my new little baubbles, I'm so happy with all these new beauties! thanks so much for checking out, it's great to see you here!
Iveth

Autumn

Hello there, it's nice to be here after a long, long absence!

I've been meaning to write in here for so long but have been so busy with life and work and just couldn't, but I miss this space of my a lot and really want to came back here more often to enjoy my blog!

In case you wonder what I've been up to in these last many months, let me tell you I've been: traveling around Canada, moving to a new home, working in a new collection of my jewelry (available now at my shop!), taking good care of my family and enjoying Summer and now Autumn among other many things that would bore you to know!

The thing is that, more and more I realize I'm getting worse with multitasking and I just need to do one thing at a time. Of course it doesn't help that days are too short for the oh, so many things I always want to do! But regardless, I'm here and I hope to keep up with you, dear reader, and to keep you posted about the things around here!

Bellow you'll find some photos I've taken this Autumn, both in Montreal and in a beautiful area of mountains and forests close to Montreal called the Laurentians.

Thanks for reading this, i'm glad you are here!

Iveth