GS: Small Business Saturday!

Hey! This holiday season why don't you support a small business? Come and join us for Small Business Saturday!

The Green Spot Studio Etsy Shop is having a one day sale! 15% off everything (INCLUDING the pink/champagne diamond earrings!) But this is only for Small Business Saturday, so act quickly!

Happy Thanksgving!

Seeing we all have a crazy holiday week ahead of us, I thought I would wish you an early Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble gobble!

GS: Babies Everywhere, part 2

Okay... so maybe making baby spoons isn't the most glamorous part of my job, and maybe not my favorite type of project, but damn do they look fabulous when they are done!

This one, in particular, is exceptionally cool in my opinion. The designed was to include a giraffe, which is a great design element, but I ran into the issues of working an entire giraffe on the spoon. After playing around a bit I decided the best way was to fit the lower half on the back of the spoon and most the neck and head on the front. I know, it's a little abstract of a design, but I think it's pretty damn cute!

GS: Back from the Brink of Death...

I had a client bring me his great grandmother's ring in hopes to use it as an engagement ring. Unfortunately, it was on the brink of death.

A ring normally should be at least 1.5mm thick to be stable. This ring was under .5mm. A platinum ring could possibly survive in the 1mm+/- ballpark, but this ring was a really low carat gold (either 8 or 10K.) To get you to understand how thin this ring is, I actually cut the ring shank off with a normal pair of scissors.



Needles to say, the ring was not wearable. If the client attempted to wear it as is, snagging it and one good tug would destroy the ring. Oh... and there was 4 solder joints in the shank alone. So, my best plan was to use the most important part (the shoulders, head and bezel) and treat it as if I was inlaying it into a whole new ring...




The best way to fabricate the new ring was out of wax. This way I could sink the metal into the wax to start creating the layout...




And then from there, carve the wax ring around the head and shoulders...



Once the wax was complete, I popped the metal out and was left with the ring to be cast in 14K red gold...




The reason I chose 14K red gold was because the color of the head was odd. It wasn't quite yellow and it wasn't quite copper, so the red complimented the old metal without making it look brassy or tarnished. And it looks lovely with the ruby too

The finished product came out really well. It retains the sentimental value by including the most decorative part of the original ring but is now stable and will last one (or more) generations.

GS: Trying Something New

So I thought I would try something new to promote my work, a holiday vendor fair (basically a craft fair, but with some higher end crafts.) Well, it didn't go quite as planned. No offense to this type of sale, but Green Spot work doesn't quite seem to be a good fit.

I made about 40 pieces, all incredibly affordable for the amount of labor I put into them, and also brought along some of my gold / diamonds pieces and my portfolio to show my normal work. Well, not only did I hardly sell anything (barely enough to cover my table costs) but nobody actually wanted to even talk to me.

What did they want? Well let's see... I'll share a few of situations I found myself in during the evening...

1. One woman saw my German porcelain 'LEMON' ring...





Now, a normal conversation may include things like 'Where did you find the buttons' or 'These are so campy.' But what did I get? 'I just bought an old house that has a porcelain tub, how do I clean it?'

2. I caught more than one person flipping over my tea cup that holds my business cards...




And then exclaiming 'Royal Sealy... I knew it looked cheep.'

3. A woman walked up to my table and mumbled something to her friend in Portuguese when she saw my silver bugs (which I had for a show price of $30.00)...




Funny enough, people don't expect us suburbanites to speaking another language, but my Italian (albeit rusty) helped me understand her say something along the lines of 'Come on. Keep moving. Too expensive, TOO expensive!'

4. As explaining they types of stones (cuts, shapes, precious and semi precious) in my shaker pendants...





I mistakenly used the words 'They are quite fun' when I should have said 'They are quite whimsical.' One woman replied 'I'm sure they are to you' as she walked away.

5. To make my table look nice, I set up a few of my bags and packaging along the side of the table to add a bit of decoration to the table...




More than one woman peeked in the bags and looked disappointed, even annoyed, when they realized they were empty. One woman actually asked (in a rather frustrated tone) 'Why are these empty?!?' I had a feeling she was looking for some kind of a freebie. I said 'When you buy something, then the bag will be full!' The woman didn't find it funny and walked off.

6. I did have a couple women run up and ask 'What kind of jeans are those?'




I looked at the button and replied 'LTB.' Then they said 'What the hell kind of jeans are those? Are they a real brand?' Ugh. So I informed that they are a Turkish brand. It didn't end there... they wanted me to show them my butt, asked where I got them, how much they were... blah blah blah. I wanted to say 'Did you notice I have jewelry for sale' but it just didn't really seem worth it at that point.

7. And finally, as I was packing up, I was wrapping up my jewelry and this woman came by for the 3rd time of the night (running away every time I attempted to say hello to her) and asked it this was for sale...



Ugh. That's my soy sauce dish for when we're eating sushi. No... no my soy sauce dish isn't for sale. I had $2 silver stacking rings in it that are for sale... but apparently my soy sauce dish was way more interesting.

BUT the night wasn't all a wash, one of my favorite women, Susan, came out to support. Susan... you made my night! Also, I got to set up next to two fabulous craftswomen, Sheila and Pauline. Their company was more than delightful. So, overall, it was an entertaining evening!

At least now I have stock for the holidays for my Etsy store!

GS: Ooo! Shakey & Shiny!

So, I'm gearing up for a holiday sale tomorrow (Friday) in Milton. This is something out of the norm for me, seeing I normally do bridal Expos, but I thought it was worth a try. It may be a new way to get my name out there. And worst comes to worst, everything I made will go on my Etsy store for the holidays!

I thought one thing that is somewhat straight forward to make would be a whole army of shaker pendants. They are bright, colorful, whimsical & just simply different. And better yet, affordable!





Each one is made from sterling silver with approximately 5.5 cts of precious and semi precious stones. They can include rubies, sapphires, tourmalines, garnets, chrysoprase, iolite, topaz, aquamarine, citrine, spinel, and much much more. Even a few diamonds tossed in there!

Colorful and shiny... who wouldn't like that?

GS: A Little Something Different

We have all seen the really low-end eco friendly jewelry (bottle cap on wire earring) and the really high end (my usual work)... but I wanted to try to find the middle ground. And have a little fun along the way.

In the spring I came across these fabulous 'cabochons.' They are German made porcelain buttons that were on an old fashioned soda fountain, each button is labeled with the flavor. I wasn't too sure about what to do with them, because they are rather large, but I knew I had to have them!






So I decided that I would use one to make a ring. Seeing that I happen to adore lemon, I thought I would start with a GIANT lemon ring. It is sterling silver bezel surrounded by randomly flush set yellow sapphires.








It's huge, it's quirky and it's eco friendly! Crazy lemon cocktail ring! Woo!