my savior

i would like to introduce you to trevor, who has become a savior to me. he lives next door; his grandparents are my dear neighbors, mike and jane. he is a high school student who attends a remarkable alternative school nearby.

when i started to feel overwhelmed with preparing for the moab show, i had the idea to ask him if he could help me out a bit. i am friends with the guidance counselor at his school and i inquired with her about getting him school credit for being my "apprentice". so the arrangement is beneficial for both of us.

he is a really cool kid. what i did not expect was for him to turn out to be such a, pardon my french, badass! having him around is like having three assistants. he has totally saved me.

for example, today he buffed almost all of these earrings (on the buffing wheel, which is very tricky)

he cut out all of the circles for my lantern bead caps, punched holes in them, domed them, ground them down with the foredom, and even soldered the posts, so that all i had to do was assemble them

he also cut and ground on the grinding wheel 6 pairs of large spirals, and cut bars from 6 gauge square wire for pendants. all today, while i worked on necklaces. i truly do not know what i would do without him! what's especially cool is that the other day he told me that he thinks he may want to pursue jewelry making as a career. (i was his age when i took my year-long silversmithing class at the local community college and vowed to do it for a living.) thank you, trevor!

the above necklaces are an example of some of the more simple pieces i have been working on for moab. and i made the below necklaces because the stones are so "desert-y", don't you think?

and hello from miss isobel!

a lovely visit to denver

i returned home yesterday from a lovely visit to denver. i wanted to see my parents (and give my mother her "heart of gold" ring for mother's day). it was a VERY short trip, because i needed to get back to work, but i am so glad i went.

the girls with their pops

we went to the denver natural history museum; it was so much fun!

(more on that later)

june and mimi

the girls got to play piano at a friend's house

and hang out with their cousins, cameron and mitchell (yes, that is isobel in the photo. i couldn't leave her behind!)

then i worked all day today and made lots of stuff for moab, plus these three rings for the etsy shop. i will work all day again tomorrow too.

a "resolve" ring, with a fantastic high dome labradorite

this one has a beautiful golden/green flash

the perfect index finger ring!

and another "pink tide" ring

rhodonite and chalcedony, "wood and roses"

and the "forever green" ring, a gorgeous piece of high dome malachite!

"forever green" is the name of a felice brothers song. here's a snip:

grandma was a country singer i'd love to have seen her making some bar room swing i could see you doing that if you had a stetson hat and an electric guitar to sing may you stay forever green like the country between us far after our hands unfold and I bid farewell in that old stairwell leaving to a narrow road.

this is what happened to the "forever green" ring the first time around...

rings and a few bracelets

here is what i have made over the past few days:

6 rings and 4 bracelets for moab, and 2 rings for the etsy shop

from left to right, aquamarine, chalcedony, prehnite with epidote, moonstone, labradorite, and red rutilated quartz

kayanite, aquamarine, solar quartz, and zebra jasper

and remember i was saying i wanted to make a "riverbank" ring?

from the riverbank, you can watch the river. see the current for what it is. watch the waves and the flow, without being caught up in it. the direction and the movement are so much more clear when you are not moving along with it.

crazy lace agate, smoky quartz, and a clear waterdrop of a rutilated quartz, surrounded by silver river stones of all kinds, with a river flowing on the right side

"take a look at your natural river. what are you? stop playing games with yourself. where's your river going? are you riding with it? or are you rowing against it? don't you see that there is no effort if you're riding with your river?" ~ carl frieseke

let it remind you to step outside of what is so for you and view it from a distance. is it working?

and, lastly, i made another "child of the universe" ring. this stone is as fabulous as the other!

happy mother's day!

i hope that all of you wonderful mothers out there had a fabulous day! my dear glenn let me sleep in and also made me breakfast in bed, and helped the girls make cards for me. very sweet. how did you spend your day?

hazel also made me this delicious necklace at school

gold and prehnite and fabulous weather

i've made my first yellow gold ring! i hesitated to show this to you because i made it for a very special someone who may or may not read this blog before i am able to give it to them. but, here it is.

it is fascinating to me what hammering and oxidizing does to gold. it gives it an entirely new look and feel. very rustic. very organic. it seems that, maybe because it is so beautiful when shiny, and such a "precious" metal, and quite expensive, folks are very hesitant to do either to gold. i love the outcome!

the inside says "heart of gold".

what do you think?

i recently shared with you a photo of some custom stones that the lovely terry of lostsierra.etsy.com cut for me. i got several very AMAZING and very LARGE prehnite cabs. as i tend to do, i had been trying to come up with some fabulous design for a ring for myself using my favorite of them. i finally decided that really, the best thing to do with it was to give it a simple setting that would highlight the beauty of the stone. this is it:

you really cannot see the depth and intricacy of the stone in these photos; it is spectacular!

i asked terry to cut the prehnites with the highest dome she could. look at this one!

i out my favorite excerpt from the desiderata on the back, "be gentle with yourself. you are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars."

and, the weather has finally been really warm and nice lately, so the girls and i have been outside as much as possible. we went to the park the other day.

hazel rode her bike.

and june trailed behind with her new baby (that the minky fairy left her).

and the girls made dandelion wishes,

and rode on the tire swing.

and yesterday, for our special "hazel's-at-school-and-it's-just-the-two-of-us" day, june and i went to the river.

juniper loves to throw rocks in the water.

i have always ADORED river rocks, especially when wet. these particular stones yesterday inspired a ring. i can't wait to make it! be on the lookout for the "on the riverbank" ring.

our lovely dolores river is running high right now. it is magnificent!

and, i'd like to say something about "lurkers" or "lurkey turkeys", as one lovely lady called herself. a number of you dear ladies have contacted me, via e-mail, saying you would love a cd but did not wish to leave a comment here. have you seen the movie "julie and julia"? remember the part where she realized how many people were visiting her blog and she said something like for every person who leaves a comment there are hundreds who don't? well, i just want you to know that comments are not required here. although i love them, and i truly appreciate the feedback, they are certainly not expected. you are always welcome to contact me via e-mail, silversparrowdesigns@gmail.com, if you have something you would like to say. but please, do not consider yourself as a "lurker"; that has a negative connotation. how about a "silent visitor"? i know you are there. and i think you are fabulous.