Devine Designs Jewelry

These pendant necklaces come from tutorials from Janice Berkebile and my favorite local instructor, Stacy Perry . They are made by hand cutting strips of metal, then hand stamping with design stamps or texture hammers. You then wrap the strips around a focal bead and embellish. The possible designs are endless. I've made a few so far and will be doing a few more to have available at shows upcoming. Take a look at just a few. This last doesn't have the wrapped strips, but I've hand stamped the design for the bead caps and spiral center. This gorgeous focal was made by lampwork artist, Moon Stumpp . Stop back for more! BTW: I should be adding a few things to my Etsy shop this week.

I'm creating things like a mad woman trying to get ready for fall arts and crafts shows- some of which I am not sure yet that I have gotten into. Besides that, and working many hours at my "day job", I'm getting new items ready to take locally to shops and galleries. I have 3 appointments coming up in the next couple of weeks, and a four that is tentative. So, here's a look at some more new bracelets I've created using fold forming techniques. I'm having much fun with these, although with the heat here in Florida, it is quite hot making these bracelets that use alot of torch time and muscle. Enjoy browsing! I tried some other backgrounds, and just by chance; love the way these photos came out. More new stuff to follow!

Our FEST Blog Giveaway for August is a sensational Lily Inspired Dragonfly Hug Ring by MadScientistsDesigns . Mad uses beautiful antique copper to fashion her whimsical jewelry masterpieces. Her creative and lifelike representations are fanciful and exotic and this wonderful Dragonfly Ring is no exception. It conforms to your finger, is adjustable and comfortable with wings that hug your finger and a tail with a fanciful curl. Mad loves designing jewelry to match steam punk and goth fashion and also is committed to rescuing cats and giving them a good home. She initially started selling on Etsy to help pay for their food and care and this charitable endeavor has blossomed into her wonderful Etsy Shop with so many fabulous offerings such as the Vacuum Tube Necklace pictured below. HOW TO ENTER: Enter to win by visiting Mad at MadScientistDesigns or any of the FEST Team members in the Member Section. Find your favorite item, share it with us and tell us why you love it. R...

As an American citizen, I am completely aware of my rights given from our founding fathers in the Constitution of the United States . So I will use my right to "freedom of speech". I am disgusted with the service, or should I say lack of service from the Artfire venue. Maybe you are some of the sellers who, as I did, opened shops on various sites in order to gain more exposure to your products that you sell. Myself included. I have had a shop on Artfire for well over a year, maybe even two years. I've had 3 sales. In the beginning, I has a pro account and was paying a monthly fee, for what? Not much apparently. They (Artfire) talk about SEO, and claim they have a better service than other sites, and they have better google analytics, and blah, blah, blah. I joined groups, forums and the like. Can you say NO EXPOSURE? I sure can. First thing they did was remove me from a group, so I had no affiliation with them. That group is the SRAJD , started by Laura Bracken . I hav...

Just in time for fall, I've created this completely handmade set of pure copper leaves, pearls, spirals and some silver. The chain is made from little spiral links all formed by hand and connected together. The focal piece is a copper cone; which is hand stamped with designs all the way around, and is "sewn" or wire weaved in front for a closure. The cone is stuffed full of fall colored freshwater pearls and embellished with sterling silver and copper spirals. I made matching earrings with copper leaves that I hand cut from sheet metal and formed to texture. Again, I used mixed metals, adding spiral curls and sterling ear wires. I think the bracelet is my favorite. It's completely handmade; that's everything but the pearls! Hand cut and formed leaves, my own copper hammered toggle clasp, moe pearls, and more spiral charms. Again, working with mixed metals, I made some silver discs in different textures to add more visual interest. It's a ...

I thought I'd share some happy thoughts and news about what's going on with me and my business, "Devine Designs Jewelry". First of all, I got such a great compliment last week. I ran into an art teacher, who has a bachelor's degree in art and has been featured at gallery events with artists, such as Dale Chihuly . She is a recent follower of my Facebook page , and commented on how professional and upscale my work is. And wishing me all the best with my work. What a great compliment; I really appreciated that from such an accomplished person in the field of art. Next good news: my work has been excepted into the Florida Craftsmen Gallery in St. Petersburg. This is a great accomplishment for me. It is, and has been a very difficult gallery to get into. Third exciting bit of news: I will soon have my own website for my jewelry. Look for more on that to come. Have a great day, and think happy thoughts!

I thought it would be fun to show you a few photos of these cuff bracelets as they go through some of the process. Hope you enjoy. I start out with plain sheet metal. This is after the cuff is formed and annealed. You can see all the fire scale. After pickling, to remove the fire scale. It's a pretty salmon color, but does not stay that way. Here are the finished bracelets after oxidizing and polishing.