Devine Designs Jewelry

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.

Here are some more offerings in my new cuff bracelets. I love how this heat treated copper cuff turned out. These are not yet available in my Etsy shop , but if you see something that you want, just contact me, or leave a comment with you email information. Enjoy! More to come....

Have you noticed? I made this discovery during a grocery shopping trip. Well, really upon getting home, opening a package and cooking something. Maybe you've noticed it too. Companies are making their products smaller. Take for instance, the local newspaper. They have cut the size down so the paper is smaller. Now this is a good thing for the environment; I'm not complaining about that. For a long time now, I have loved DiGiorno pizza. I don't know if you have noticed that they have cut the size down a bit. And what about the pizza/combo? Do you think you're getting more with your pizza that includes, bread sticks, wings, or cookies? Well from personal experience, I can tell you the cookies are good, but the company has cut back on the quality and ingredients of the pizza, so you are not really getting a deal here. I've noticed this in bottled beverages as well. Some companies have gone metric, leading the consumer to think that they are getting more product, when...

In this edition, Linda, of Pruitthandcrafts asks: "As Summer begins to wind down, write about what you are thinking about for Fall. We would like to hear how you arrived at or how you were inspired to make these plans." First of all, I'm thinking about when this humidity will go away! No wait, I think she means what we are thinking about for our businesses! I have been preparing for fall art shows. Now is the time to get the applications in. So, I have been saving a little, pay check at a time, for the deposits, or fees for entering these shows. My goal for this fall is to do at least one show a month from September until January, February, or March. I figure this is the most opportunistic time of the year for selling, so I might as well, try to do as many shows as I can handle to maximize sales. This also means that right now I need to produce, produce, and produce. I will need a lot of inventory in order to do all the shows I have applied for; and of course that is if ...

I've been away for a few days taking a much needed breather. But, as promised, I'm here to show off more of my new cuff bracelet designs. The technique I used is called " fold forming ". Which takes lots of bending metal, and heating and cooling metal. Here's a few samples using this technique. line fold with hammering techniques another copper cuff with a line fold a T-fold cuff with texture a Reuger fold using brass a line fold in brass; heated to a pink hue As I stated before, these are available to purchase, but not in my Etsy shop as of yet. If there is something that you would like, you can purchase it now off my blog for 10% off retail price. Just let me know! And, there will be more to follow....

Riveted cuff bracelets. I'm working more with sheet metal, mainly copper and some brass; as the price of sterling silver continues to be on the rise. Here's a few bracelets you may not have seen yet from me. These are not yet available in my Etsy shop , but if there is something you would like to purchase, please let me know. (I will take 10% off full price). The first bracelet just sold, but I can make a similar one, and more to follow. I've got a busy rest of the week. Be sure to stop back, my next installment of cuffs will be fold forming techniques.