I've been trying a few different pin finding styles lately.  I so like pins - and always get comments when I wear them - but unfortunately, they aren't big sellers.

Anyhow - in my trying different styles, I tried a stem pin - not sure if that is really the correct name....  I made a simple silver bird, riveted his wing on and then attached the pin.  Idea for jackets and coats. The bird looks like he is on a mission - thus I've called him the "messenger bird".

Here's a brooch that I worked on at the mixed media class last week using nuts and bolts.  Not my usual style but good for techniques. 


Gosh, I really don't enjoy soldering on those fiddly little brooch/pin findings.  Definitely not my number one task!


I love the colors in this - and the blackened copper sets it off nicely.

No, it's not the chimney sweep......Look who's coming down the chimney!!!

The chimney is silver with patina on the bricks and the snowy top polished.... and then Santa is half way down!


The chimney is three dimensional as you can see from these photos but to be honest, the whole piece didn't turn out quite I had hoped. I wanted this to be a pop-up scene so all you saw at the beginning was the chimney, then you pull on a cord at the bottom and up came the Santa.....But I could quite get the tracking right to keep the legs in line....so it turned into a "stuck" in the chimney scene instead!

Yes, one of those experiments that wasn't completely successful but maybe moved me in the direction and next time I'll crack it! Keep looking for pop-ups...maybe there'll be one in the future. Have any of you made one before?

I've recently been asked to expand my little house range from earrings, to a pendant, to a pin....and I'm also adding cufflinks too - but haven't finished those yet.


The first set of earrings I domed slightly as you can see above, but I've left the new pieces un-domed until I hear back from the customers on what they want.

It's funny. I've had these earrings for sale quite a while, and then on the same day, two people ask about them and want something to go with them. Maybe that was what was needed all along. Two houses should have been three....or four...or more?


More on cufflinks later.....

Here's a new brooch that I finished this week entitled "There's a place".

The title may make you think of "there's a place for us"...the song from West Side Story, but that song actually inspired another song with these starting lyrics:

There's a place
Where I can go
When I feel low
When I feel blue.....

This brooch shows a little person tucked safely inside a silver purse. Just his head peaks out and his hands hold on. For me, it makes me think of how you sometimes want to just hide away in a cozy safe place....maybe that is underneath your favourite blanket in the corner of your favourite chair, or in someone's arms, or..... Anyhow - I think this little guy has found his place. He looks quite content, safe, and protected.

I love wearing brooches - and do frequently, but I think they are an underused item of jewelry. So many people I know don't have any and have never worn them. I just love them on a jacket or coat - and this one has a lot of silver in it - so it needs a coat or jacket (- not for a delicate blouse.) Maybe we should make 2009 the year of the brooch and lariat!!! I wonder how we could rally together and get these lovely items of jewelry back in adorning people. They have so much to offer..... So all you jewelry makers out there - ideas on how to promote lariats and brooches please!

So, you know how I like a little play on words....and birds...... Well this is my latest. A little Latin phrase with a twist.....and a crow!

Maybe it'll be especially popular with the lawyers out there who spend their time thinking about "quid pro quo".

I made the text by choosing a Latin-styled font on the computer and then making a photopolymer plate of it. The pin part is fashioned in the style of a fibula pin, where the pin part is part of the design. As fibulas were Roman brooches, I thought it fitted in well with the Latin! There is quite a spring on the clasp too - so it's very secure.

Hope you like it!