Kudos to Frances Alvarino and her great group of helpers for completing yet another successful Larkspur Party. The weather was wonderful, sunny and mild, and everyone had a terrific weekend in her beautiful garden. It takes a lot of work to put this show on, a fact that we all appreciate.
Thanks also to the customers who came to browse and to buy my jewelry. I hope you enjoy your new treasures and I hope to see you again soon!
My next public show will be on June 6th & 7th at the Larkspur Party in Raleigh, NC. This annual event is hosted by Frances Alvarino at her home on Litchford Road in northeast Raleigh. Frances is a talented potter, as well as a professional landscaper, who opens her beautiful gardens to the public from 10 AM til 6 PM on Saturday and 4 PM on Sunday. She invites a diverse group of artists and craftspeople to display and sell their works. You can choose from yard sculpture, pottery, blown glass, jewelry, paintings and more. There are also potted garden plants offered for sale. Check out her website at www.larkspurparty.com for details. I will have a new collection of jewelry, including many designs inspired by plants and flowers. I hope to see you there!!
This pendant is sold but I wanted to describe how I designed this piece.
I had the Crysacola stone first and the color made me think of blue/green Caribbean water. The curve of the fish tail and of the waves in the foreground of the piece suggests movement through the water.
The back is sculpted to show the fish's eye and scales.
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Step 1: I trace the petal shape on 20 gauge .999 fine silver and then saw with a 2/0 blade in my jewelry saw. |
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Step 2: I arrange the two heart shaped petals and two elongated petals to check for accuracy and size. I like to have an actual blossom in a bud-vase on my workbench to check the details. This also helps me to get the correct curves of each petal as I hammer and shape them. |
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Step 3: Using a cross-peen hammer and a leather covered cedar stump, I hammer a striated texture on the backside of each petal. This leaves a more realistic veined appearance to the face of the petals. I also further indent the notch on each petal by hammering into one of the cedar stump's natural intentions. |
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Step 4: I make the center from a melted "button" of sterling silver wire and smaller .999 fine silver beads. I solder the beads to the button with #75 hard silver solder, totally covering the surface to mimic the florettes of the dogwood. |
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Step 5: I solder each of the two pairs of petals together with #75 solder, then solder them together with the heart shaped pair on top. Next, with #70 solder, I solder on the beaded button and attach a stem of sterling wire to the back. To this wire stem, I solder stems for leaves and then sterling leaves that I have sawn and textured in a similar manner. A hinged pin and lock are then soldered on the back and the whole piece is hand polished with a course and then a fine polishing compound. |
I will be demonstrating my craft at a special event on December 6th at the Stagville Plantation Historic Site in northern Durham County. The hours are from 10AM until 4PM. Stagville is located off the Old Oxford Road, 7 miles from Roxboro Road. You can get more details by visiting their website at: www.historicstagville.googlepages.com . A variety of activities are planned for the day and should be fun and interesting for the whole family!
I'm back from a successful NC State Fair and will be feverishly working on new inventory to show at Dan Finch's annual show on Sunday, November 9th. It runs from 10 AM until 5 PM. Close to 100 talented potters will be displaying their works, in addition to a variety of other craftsmen. The event takes place at Dan Finch's farm, located just north of Bailey, NC on Hwy 581. Bailey is about 10 miles west of Wilson on Hwy 264 (about 35 miles east of Raleigh). For further details, check out www.danfinch.com. I hope to see you there!
This is one of the last details for me to handle prior to packing my display, tools, jewelry and ornaments for this year's State Fair. This is my 23rd year in the Village of Yesteryear and I have a larger and more diverse inventory than ever before!
You will find the Village on the West end of the fairgrounds, just up the hill from Gate 8. The building is officially called the Holshouser Building on the State Fair map. We open for a preview night on October 16th at 4 PM (until 9:45). Then on the 17th through the 26th, we are open from 10AM until 9:45PM.
Please stop by for a visit! - Dan
Since my last post for early June, you may think that I haven't been busy this summer. On the contrary, I spent a week in the Tennessee mountains with my church youth group, fixing up homes up there with the Appalachian Service Project. I have also been helping a refuge family from Nepal getting established in a new home in Raleigh, NC. And I have been working on new jewelry inventory for the State Fair (which opens on October 16th). I always tell people that I am good with a hammer, whether a silversmith hammer or a carpenter's hammer. I have found that hammers have the right number of moving parts for me! I am building the best inventory for the Fair that I have had in years!!
