4/23/2015 - I love sterling silver. I love the color, I love how it saws (like butter!) and how cleanly it solders. But most of all, I love to hammer and form silver. In making this piece, I am celebrating silver being a little lower in cost (under $16 an ounce last I checked) and indulging my love of the whitest metal. I'm also fabricating this goblet as part of an advanced metals class I'm teaching at WCCPL, a great continuing education facility just a mile from my studio.

4/23/2015 - I remember back before I was a jewelry/metals student, hearing about rare rose and white gold  from the Black Hills. So confusing, because I knew gold was yellow, so how did some of it get to be rose colored? And of course I knew gold was soft, because on TV everyone was always biting a gold coin to see if it was real! So why isn't gold jewelry that soft? And what is all this business with 14 karats and 18 karats? I've puzzled out the answers to those and many more questions about gold over the years, so I thought it would be fun to share a bit about what I've learned.

2/26/2015 - I can't even begin to describe how much I enjoyed attending the workshop "Mokume Gane with the Masters" at Rio Grande in Albuquerque, with James Binnion and Chris Ploof. (Held February 8-13, 2015.) Turns out the big names of mokume are down-to-earth cool guys who just want to share their knowledge and experience with fellow mokume gane enthusiasts. I was one of 12 students eager to delve deep into the geeky world of mokume - science and numbers blending perfectly with big dangerous tools and hot metal.

2/25/2015 - Next month I'll be taking my hammers and files on the road and heading to the University of Central Oklahoma. Professor and Assistant Dean Charleen Weidell has invited me to share my love of mokume gane with her jewelry and metalworking students. We'll spend three days exploring the world of mokume gane - history, current trends, and practical demos of stamp and twist patterning. Students will receive their own blank mokume to try their hand at patterning too. As part of the workshop I'll be giving a public lecture on my work and how I transitioned from art student to successful small business owner.

2/4/2015 - After about 5 months of planning, measuring, hefting boxes, organizing tools and purchasing equipment, I'm happily settling into my newly re-designed studio space here at Anneville. I had four furniture pieces custom-built for the space by Craig Thibodeau ~ a local and incredibly talented woodworker.

11/12/2014 - My most recent custom piece was a joy to make. A fellow came in to my studio wanting a memory ring to honor his recently departed wife. We worked from the starting point of the rings that they wore during 37 years of marriage. At right is the design we came up with. The 14k yellow gold edging is those actual three rings, which I melted down together then rolled and fabricated into two bands. The center stone is the diamond he most wanted to incorporate - from the smaller ring, the one he had bought for her when they first married. The central mokume gane band and diamond represent their connection - separated by planes of existence for now, but always connected. I was honored to help him remember his wife in this way.