RAD Week #4

1. RAD #22/365 01222010, 3. RAD #23/365 01232010, 4. RAD #24/365 01242010, 5.RAD #25/365 01252010, 6. RAD #26/365 01262010, 7. RAD #27/365 01272010, 8. RAD #28/365 01282010

I can't believe I only made one metal ring last week. I really like the mini-series of take out dinner order trash rings. The Salt & Pepper, Chop Sticks, Fork, and Straw Wrappers were fun to do. The fork (stabby) ring got over 125 views and over 20 comments! That was fun. My knit and felted wool finger cuff was a challenge - I wasn't sure how much larger than I needed to knit it. I put it through the hot wash and dryer about 4 times (I got a lot of laundry done that day). The spaghetti was after a long day and just trying to get the dinner leftovers put away. My metal ring is of coarse my favorite. The petal shaped hollow form with a garnet on top, which goes with my Project Runway Challenge entry, Petal Keeper. This was a busy week without much time at the bench, so hopefully I'll be able to make more in metal this week! The RAD group on flickr has over 200 members now! Here are some of my favorites from others last week:

1. RAD 21 Mother and child ring, 2. * {25} defenders of the rose, 3. day twenty four, 4.Kyanite ring RAD #17 1/20/10, 5. Chrysocolla RAD #15 1/18/10, 6. Ring a Day 25/365, 01.28.10, 7. Ring a Day, 24/365, 01.24.10, 8. RAD 24/365, 9. ring a day # 24

Project Runway Jewelry Challenge: Season 7.1

Project Runway, season seven has begun and the EtsyMetal Jewelry Challenge is on again, following their assignments for fashion and translating them to metalworking jewelry. The first episode of the new season started out with contestants choosing five fabrics to make a garment that represented them as designers. Our missive was to create a piece that incorporated the number five in some way. My submission is the Loves Me Keepsake Box Necklace, a hand fabricated sterling silver box, a keepsake for love notes or flower petals. It has five copper flower petals on the front of the "loves me" box and five garnet beads incorporated into the chain. It's my new favorite design and I hope it will sell for Valentine's Day. This piece goes with a group of pieces I make that I think of as, 'things I said when I was a child' - like the See a Penny Necklace, and a few others. Here are a few of the other Project Runway Jewelry Challenge 7.1 submissions:

Sara Westermark, Shannon Conrad, Kathryn Riechert, Victoria Takahashi, Mark Kaplan, Mike Stromberg, Rachael Stromberg, Kira Ferrer, Nina Dinoff, Alisa Miller, Stacey Hansen, Inbar Bareket, Jo Hollingsworth, Kathryn Cole

RAD Week #3

Another seven days, another seven rings. This has sort of taken over my life. I have a milk pull tab and cake sprinkles (adhered with honey). Bubble wrap and the fruit stripe zebra tattoo were fun ones. I made my first attempt at torch fired enamel with the little heart ring. The ruffle ring is my favorite, though. I see that coming to the shop very soon. Finally, #21 was a fiasco. That little butterfly cabochon was a pain. Thanks to photoshop, I can use the picture, but the ring is a mess - to the scrap pile with it! It's a really great project, and I love to look at other people's submissions. Here are some favorites from this week:

1. R-A-D, #11, 01/16/2010 "Silver Spool", 2. ring a day 16...spread ring, 3. RAD 18/365 011810 , 4. RAD #8 01.20.10, 5. rad 20 "wing nut" (unscrewed), 6. Mike-012010-3, 7. * {19} lucky in love, 8. RAD 20.365 Turquoise ring, 9. Ring a Day 2010 1.21.10

Rad Week #2

Another fun week of rings in the Ring A Day Challenge. This week, I did three metal rings, one found item unchanged ring, two found item manipulated rings, and one that was handcrafted, but not metal. They don't go together in any kind of theme. The process is that I don't know what I'm going to do until the day that I am working on that ring. Sometimes I leave it until the last thing I do before bedtime, and sometimes I work on it for several hours. Its amazing how this project has transformed the way I look at everyday objects. In the back of my mind (and sometimes the front) I am thinking, "Can it be a ring?" about everything. I hope I don't get tired of it over the coarse of the year! Above are my rings this week. See my flickr for more photos. Here are some of my favorites from other artists last week:

1. orbit {RAD 11/365} 1/11/10, 2. Prehnite ring RAD #9 1/12/10, 3. Ring A Day- 9/365, 4.RAD | 13/365, 5. rad 12 "meow", 6. R A D #9 01-09-2010 "The Bunny", 7. RAD 14/365 011410 Bad Mood Ring, 8. RAD 13/365 01.13.10, 9. Rachelle-011210

RAD Week #1

This first week of RAD has been seriously fun. If you haven't done so, please check out the flickr group to see what everyone has been up to. We at EtsyMetal have been thrilled to have so many participants and such interest in the project. I confess that every time I type "RAD" as a tag and title into my flickr upload descriptions, I say "Radical!". What I dork I am, but I love making a ring everyday. It's only been a week, and if you read my last post, I was unsure I'd be able to come up with a new ring every single day and was only committing to the 31 days of January. I'm now up for the entire year! 2010 will be the year of the ring.

Here are some of my favorites from the past week!

1. RAD5 5/365 "slider", 2. R A D #7 01-07-2010 "Ahoy Matey!" (with water ring), 3. Mike-010610, 4. RAD 1/365, 5. RIng a Day | Day Five, 6. RAD 4/365.2, 7. 1.4.2010, 8. Ring a Day, 4/365, 01.04.10, 9. * {2} wee peanut snack box, 10. Green Blade (RAD #3 1/3/10), 11. Ring A Day- Jan 2nd, 2010, 12. RAD 1/365 010110

Ring A Ding Ding!

I have accepted a challenge from Nina Dinoff along with several others to make a Ring a Day. She's hoping we'll make it for a whole year, but we're starting with the 31 days of January. I'm not sure I'll make it every day, but I love the idea. Not all of the rings will be saleable - some may be made out of unconventional materials, it should be fun to do and fun to see what others come up with. You can keep up with the challenge by looking at the flickr group - Ring a Day, and anyone is welcome to join, so please do and post your photos!

New Year's Eve was a quiet one for me, so I took a few moments and made a ring for day 1. It's just a simple stamped band and it's available in the shop! So happy 2010!