Secret

If you are my husband, stop reading! If you know my husband and can't keep a secret...stop reading! Unless you want to ruin Christmas.

OK, now that they are all gone, I can tell you about a couple of my husband's gifts. I usually stay away from handmade gifts for the hubby - not really his thing. But, this year is a little different. I decided to make him some cufflinks and a money clip - he has recently ditched the wallet and just carries cards. I think he's going to really like them!! So, here we go...

For the cufflinks, I texturized thick silver sheet and cut out squares. I polished up my squares and soldered them on to sterling silver cufflink components. Cool, huh? And, totally manly... :)

The money clip was lotsa, lotsa fun to make. I cut a 7/8" x 4" piece of 20 ga silver, rounded the edges, sanded and polished up the edges and then the fun part...I drug the piece of silver perfectly straight across a piece of super coarse sandpaper (a few times - with lots of pressure), then drug it the other way to give it a cross hatch pattern. I bent it around a mandral, gave it a good hammering with a plastic mallet and...voila!

After Christmas, I definitely plan on adding these to my Etsy shop - plus work on a few new designs. I think they are pretty cool. And, I think guys will think they are pretty cool too...

You might have noticed my initials on the corner of the last photo...A few weeks ago I ordered this fancy stamp with my initials so I can stamp my pieces. I just got it in the mail a week or 2 ago. The stamp comes out beautifully! I still feel a little shy about adding my initials to my jewelry. I'm not sure why, but I AM sure I will get over it :) I mean, look how pretty it looks!

Oh! And new items to share...

Here are a few new things going up in my Etsy shop. I hope to get them all posted tonight. I really want a packed shop in anticipation for the holidays coming up. I will also post my holiday code for discounts and let you know the scoop on that in the coming days...

New Goodies!!

I've spent the last couple days making bezels, setting stones, filing, sawing, polishing...Whee! So, here they are....Look for these new goodies in my Etsy Shop in the next couple days. I will hopefully have time to post them super soon. More jewelry tomorrow and a super fun weekend coming up. My mom will be here and it's my sister's birthday, so lots of good stuff coming up!

Oh, and check out the pink Opal ring in the middle...remember that stone?? Oh my gosh, I am in love with it...

Launching my Holiday Collection '09

It's here! I am so excited to release and announce my Erin Jane Designs Holiday '09 Collection! It's only about 20 new pieces, but they are all FANTASTIC and so perfect for dressing up for the holidays, gift giving plus lots of basics for day or evening. Something for everyone! It's such a great feeling to have been able to include items that have soldered elements. For so long I've had design ideas that I've thought I can't do because I don't solder...well, not anymore! Yippee! I've been working so hard learning these new techniques and having even more fun. I'd love to hear from you on what you think of the new designs. Leave comments or email me at erin at erinjanedesigns.com.

Here's a little peek at what you'll see...

Metalsmithing and other new endeavors...

Wow, I've been so busy! A couple months or so ago, I decided to give metalsmithing a try. I've taken a couple classes before, but never really applied the things I learned in my own studio - thinking I couldn't have all that fancy equipment in my house, plus I wasn't ready or willing to spend the money. But, in fact, you can do a whole lot with some pretty basic tools...and a whole lot of patience. To refresh my memory, I bought a few books for reference and gave it a go. Oh! And YouTube! Good god there is a ton of cool stuff on there. Tutorials galore. I started with just some basics - soldering posts on to earrings, soldering circles and hoops closed, etc...I loved it! It was so satisfying. Since then I've set a few stones and even made a few rings! I can't even tell you how much fun I've been having. The items I've been making have been taking forever though. I'm used to pumping out tons of pieces of jewelry a day, but with some of these new techniques that I'm still a novice at, I can only get a few done a day - at the most :).

I'm also getting ready to release a small holiday collection for Erin Jane Designs. I'm hoping to get my photos finished, pricing done and launched on the website in the next couple weeks. I haven't released a new line since last spring, so I'm pretty excited. You'll see a lot of examples of my soldering...I couldn't really get enough. I'll keep you updated and also post some teaser photos :). Some seriously cool stuff.

One of my favorite (and most time consuming!) items I did recently, is this ring. I'll be putting it in my Etsy shop SOON! Here is a photo after I made the band, bezel and backplate and pulled it out of the pickle - plus the crystal quartz stone I would soon set. Then, the after...bling!!

I'm also working on a necklace setting - it's still a work in progress. Ugh, and it might be for a while. I'm having such a hard time polishing these little guys. I'm learning that there are still so many tools that I still need to make the job easier.

More to come soon...!

TONS of new jewelry for Asher Anson

I'm so excited about this order I just finished up. Below is just a tiny sampling of all the new Erin Jane Designs jewelry delivered to Asher Anson today. But, there are so many great designs just in time for fall! Go and check them out!

I, of course, couldn't leave without snagging a new ADORABLE dress they just got in. I got this little number in navy blue. So cute!

New Tools = New Techniques

I LOVE tools.  I love researching new ones, getting new ones, and of course, practicing new techniques with them.  I just got a few extra toys, so, I finally am set up to do some basic soldering.  I fuse with fine silver all the time, which takes less steps and less heat, but there is so much more you can do with soldering.  I'm really excited!  

I also have my pickling solution all set up - which I have actually used.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about - a quick explanation...a picking solution is something you put your metal in after you've soldered or just applied a ton of heat to.  The metal gets awfully dirty and the pickling solution - which is acid based - cleans the metal off beautifully.  

Here are a pair of earrings made of fine silver and gold-filled wire.  The gold filled piece was actually a large oval jump ring that I just reshaped and hammered.  Then, I fused (still not confident enough to try soldering :)) a larger fine silver ring and hammered it.  At that point the gold was filthy from the heat of fusing the silver - like an uneven, dirty rusty color.  So, I dropped it in the pickle solution for just a minute (you have to be really careful with gold-filled material not to leave it in too long) and VOILA!  You can find them in my Etsy Shop!