Turning over a new leaf in 2012

I haven't been making jewelry for the longest time. And when I would try to, I would end up leaving projects incomplete. I have a whole graveyard full of stuff that need to be completed. So I decided to turn over a new leaf this year...and decided to get back to making jewelry again, and completing all my past projects. So I joined YOJ to motivate me. I had made this leaf with PMC, and then did nothing with it. It was made from a leaf from a tree just outside my home. So I fished out the leaf, and added a Ruby brio, and several Peridots to it. Added a chain, and made a clasp for my first piece for YOJ 2012.

Click on the picture to see it enlarged and clearer.

Fine silver leaf

Oh if I could make and post flowers, then I think its time to make and post a leaf as well. :-) This leaf is made with PMC...which is 99.9% silver. The stone is a Blue Zircon. The little blossom on the leaf is the one Jennifer (my PMC teacher) made when she was showing me how to sculpt flowers like the ones she made in one of her famous necklaces. The leaf is from one of the trees near my house. I had always been wanting to make a leaf with PMC...ever since I first heard of it years back. Finally gott he nerve to try it out. I have 2 more leaves I need to finish.

My first PMC pendant: "Compassion & Gratitude".

I am SO excited! I finally got to try my hand at PMC as well. PMC is 99.9% silver in clay form. When it is fired, the clay part is gone, and 99.9% silver is left.

My teacher Jennifer was REALLY sweet. We had been trying to get together since forever. But I have lots of limitations on my time because I have 2 little kids, and then I have to wait till hubby has enough time to drive me to wherever I want to go. I do very limited driving because I have absolutely no sense of direction. Not even a bad one :-P. So Jennifer said she will come to my place and teach me! Wow!! People really do such things for others? That was so absolutely AWESOME of her! I was overjoyed, and very very grateful. She didn't even really know me. She had "met" me online at a jewelry forum, and I was always in awe of her work. Her work is not very typical PMC work. The "typical" PMC work is lovely too...I have nothing against it. But what I am saying is, her work is VERY different from most other PMC work I have seen. Anyway...so she didn't really know me. I was practically a stranger to her. But because she understood how much I had wanted this class, and yet could not make it to her house for some reason or another, she said (so easily) that she will bring everything over to my place and teach me. And she reassured me that she understands what it is to have little kids...she has raised 7.

So to me, this pendant symbolizes kindness, compassion, generosity...the qualities that Jennifer displayed with such ease. And it also symbolizes gratitude....what I feel for her. She had no need to do what she did. But she did it anyway.

She is an awesome teacher! I highly recommend her to anyone! I think this is a fabulous piece...and its just the first project I did with her! Do go through her website:

http://wearablebydesign.com/Wearable_by_Design/Welcome.html

You'll see amazingly beautiful pieces. And do contact her if you want to learn to work with PMC.

This pendant is 3/4" in diameter. A 4mm lab created Ruby is set in it. I have antiqued this pendant using silver black, and then polished it, so that its beautiful design can be seen. The back has a pattern too.