Weekend Eye Candy, Rings

1. BEETLE MECHANIQUE Vintage Watch Ring by 19 Moons Adjustable STEAMPUNK CLOCKWORK BEAUTY, 2. Ring 70.6 (2008, IT) Public Treasure Poison Ring, 3. cup ring stack, 4. WORDY GIRASOLE RING, 5. art jewelry money silver aggressive growth ring ooley, 6. Anillo plata, acrilico y 3 circones Xperimenta Fran Duarte, 7. TALLY LACMA ring, 8. black ring, 9. Kawaii Cute Japanese Ring-Coffee With Cream 1

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.Weekend Eye Candy, Rings, originally uploaded by Michelle Ross.

Since I just posted my first successful ring, I thought it would be fun to take a peek at some rings other people have made. Grab a little inspiration or just enjoy the eye candy! I'd love to hear which is your favorite.

Be sure and check out Lora, Paige and Christine's Weekend Eye Candy

What to do when you are not making money?

The answer is simple: spend money! The truth is that while on forced hiatus from teaching, I've decided to take a couple of what I call "Smithy" classes.

I wanted to learn something new, so I signed up to take some simple metal smithing classes. Pictured here is my first ring. I really love it. I learned "jump soldering" (not sure if that is a technical term, or the term my friend Paige coined) but I like it, sweat soldering, and using hard, medium and easy solder. Also, this is the first time I bezel set a stone.

And in case you're wondering, yes, it is off center, on purpose. In fact, I would have liked it to be more asymmetrical, but it jumped when the solder flowed, and being a beginner, I felt best left alone.

That brings me to one of my "art philosophies"(TG for spell checker). You can't draw a straight line, so why try..... go crazy with bendy lines, and if you can't get something exactly in the middle, go way off center.

I think it is much more interesting when things aren't perfectly centered, so my next ring will be even more asymmetrical.

I hope you enjoy seeing this one!

ps: if I could just figure out how to get the photos below the post I'd be happy!:-}

Who Doesn't Love Flowers?

My creation, originally uploaded by Michelle Ross.

Whether you work in metals, fibers, or polymer clay, many artists say that they get their inspiration from nature.

Here are a few examples of work that depict flowers, and one is actually a flower found in nature.

I really like all of these, and I hope you do too.

Weekend Eye Candy, Circles

1. Planet Rock Earrings - SOLD, 2. Rolling Hills - Side 1, 3. Where do circles begin?, 4.Polymer clay Disc earing Detail, 5. Polymer Clay Tumbling Circles Bracelet, 6. Outside Circles, Inside Dots., 7. The Holes in my Argument –Circles in the square!, 8. The Circles, 9. Squircle Set of Favorites from Squared Circle

My friend Lora Hart invited me to join in her Weekend Eye Candy weekly ritual. This is my very first one. Lora recently did one on circles (she read my mind) and it’s really good. Go see hers at Such and Such.
Whether you’re a jewelry maker, knitter, polymer clayer, crafter of any sort, they are always inspirational photos of other peoples work.
Have fun looking and get inspired!