If you’re receiving this, it’s because you signed up for my seldom-published mailing list, which is automatically sent to subscribers when I update my site. For the next few months I’m going to try to update weekly. Wish me luck!
Silver Prices
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that the price of silver pretty much put me out of work for a while. I simply could not buy silver at market prices and then sell my work for enough money to cover my costs.
Silver prices are down a lot — $52.80/ounce today compared to a high of $121.30/ounce last January. I’ve been stocking up at the lower prices so if silver goes high again, it won’t put me out of work.
Year-to-date silver prices per Yahoo! Finance.
New Jewelry
Fused fine silver triangle earrings with sterling silver ear wires.
Because a lot of folks are struggling with the economy, I’m mostly selling earrings and bracelets so that’s what I’ve been busy making. This includes new sizes of my popular spiral hoop earrings (in fine silver and copper), new fused fine silver triangle earrings, new fused silver oval rings earrings, and a new style of beaded bracelet that has less silver and is priced accordingly.
A genuine white buffalo cabochon framed in sterling silver wire.
I’ve also made a bunch of new wire framed pendants. Most of these are made with smaller stones, but a few are larger. Because these have less silver — no back plate! — I can make and sell them for less money than the more complex bezel set pendants I’ve been making.
Hubei Turquoise bezel set in sterling silver.
Way back in December of last year, I began making rings in a Navajo-influenced style. Although I sold a bunch of them at art shows, I have six turquoise rings and one fire agate ring still available. I’ll likely start making new rings in December.
Classes
I’ve made some major changes to my studio, opening up a lot of space for classes. I can accommodate up to four students for project-based classes that last 2 to 3 hours and up to two students for a two-day silversmithing class. Although I have a video online that shows my studio setup, it’s now out of date; I need to make a new one to share here. Look for a link in a future newsletter. If you must look at the old video, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/WAC2lM8fefg
One of the biggest changes? I’ve update my torch setup to a Smith Little Torch with propane and oxygen.
Upcoming Art Shows
I’ll be appearing at Pybus Public Market on select weekends over the next two months. That’s where you can see much (but not all) of my work and talk to me about my processes and custom work. Here’s a Calendar of Upcoming Events.
Online Shop
I’ve nearly finished updating my online shop with new photos and descriptions of almost everything I have available for sale. The only thing you won’t find there are some of my beaded earring styles because of the nature of the beads, which don’t always look exactly the same. Due to an unfortunate incident with an online shopper, I’ve had to introduce new security measures to ensure that each purchase is legitimate and made by the cardholder. I don’t think this will slow down the processing time, however. I invite you to take a look at the shop and it’s different categories of jewelry — this is the best place to see images of everything that’s new, back in stock, and available for sale.
Bonus for Subscribers
Did you read this far! Thank you! And here’s a bonus for you: take 20% off any order of $100 or more between now and December 31. Use the promo code NEWS-THANKS at checkout.