Category Archives: Talisman Studios

New for Talisman Studios! Artisan Jewelry in Sterling Silver

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Sterling Silver Pendant with Hand Stamped Detail, and Deschutes Jasper Cabochon

Though I’ve been practicing the art of silversmithing only since January, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to make a progress report on my blog – nearly a year after starting!

In fact, the very last post I made was just after I’d finished my first piece, shown below. This was the “class project” inn the only workshop I’ve yet taken, but it actually turned out very well, considering I really had little idea as to what I was doing. The stone is an Owyhee Jasper cabochon which I personally cut and polished.

As you may remember, I’ve spent the last few winters in Quartzsite, Arizona, working my lapidary skills in the local Quartzsite Roadrunners Gem & Mineral Club. That was where I took the step to take an introductory class in silversmithing, where I learned to foundational basics.

Then I headed to Tucson for the gem shows, and when it was time to return to Quartzsite and further practice silversmithing in their well-equipped metalsmithing shop, I found myself flummoxed…. I wanted to delve into metalsmithing, but the thought of going back to the town of Quartzsite for two month filled me with dread. If only the town had a decent bagel shop, I’d have been able to do it…… Oh, and public wifi and places to charge electronics, among a few other things. The two things, for me, that Quartzsite has going for it is the easy camping on BM land, and the gem club. Everything else….. it’s fine for a few weeks, but month after month is depressing. Especially after having done the winter seasons there for the five years I’d already done.

Instead, I stayed in Tucson, hoping to find some metalsmithing classes there. Unfortunately, I have a beer budget…cheap swill beer. I did locate the Old Pueblo Lapidary Club, which was within my ability to do, but unfortunately there were no classes to be offered while I was there.

I tried not to be hard on myself for not returning to Quartzsite, and have to admit I had a fear that I was subconsciously sabotaging myself. I believed that I truly wanted to develop my skills as a metalsmith, yet there I was – passing up the opportunity I knew was available.

“Self-teaching it is,” I told myself, and off I went to Kent’s Tools to purchase the basic tools….

Let me just interrupt this story to say this: If you are considering metalsmithing, and someone tells you that you “really only need,”…. do.not.believe.them. You will quickly realize you may not need anything beyond a few things like solder, a small torch, pliers and metal stock, but you will need them if you want to employ any creativity in your pieces.

But, back to my journey(which included several return trips to Kents, and an investment of easily a thousand dollars in materials and supplies over the last eight months.

Sterling Silver Pendant with a Succor Creek Jasper Stone

Working with a cold pickle pot, and what I came to find out was a defective torch, on my folding desk table out in open air was….a challenge. A frustrating effort that nearly did me in as I ruined silver every time I tried to make something. At $23 an ounce(price on day of this post), it hurt to waste like this, and though I know it can be remelted and recylced, that’s not the point.

Once I got back to my home base here in New York, I quickly set up my studio space to include a section for smithing, and got to work. It has been so much fun, at least since I crossed the line from frustration into understanding on the basic fabrication concepts.

Nonetheless, there is a LOT to learn, and I’m old enough that I will never become a master metalsmith, at least in this life.

Accepting that fact, I’m developing well enough that I am(or should be) happy with my progress. In less than a month, I’ll be doing my winter travels, and the plan is to base myself out of Tucson, so I can utilize the metal shop this winter. If I get lucky and they offer the silversmithing class while I’m there, I hope I can afford to take it, as I would love to have a better mentor than myself…..

Dead Ringer Jasper Sterling Silver Pendant

My style is simple, as I want my stones to be the focal point. That doesn’t mean the work is easy. Silversmithing is a precision craft, and jewelry is very small. The use of magnification is essential, especially with my aging eyesight. Cutting and filing also requires diligence, as one pull of the saw, or one misplaced file sweep, can mean I have an error that I’ll need to make up for somehow. Better to pay attention and not cause the problem in the first place!

I’m still struggling with being able to stay focused and intentional as I go, and I don’t yet have the optical magnification tools that would be optimal. I use reader glasses, and I have one desk lamp that has a magnifier lens I can look through, but I really need a higher magnification level. I’m wishing for Craftoptics glasses, but may need to make do with the less costly Optivisor, but up til now I’ve just made do. This goes back to not believing anyone who tells you that you can do silversmithing with just a few items……

One of the techniques I’m currently struggling with is stamping. I do like the idea of incorporating the motifs and patterns into my work, and have purchased a few stamps so far from House of Stamps and K2Stamps. These are artisan made stamps, crafted by hand and not factory-produced. They are not inexpensive…. and once you own a few stamps, you realize you’ve now opened Pandora’s Box and want more, more, more!

Sterling Silver Pendant Featuring Owyhee Jasper Stone

Stamping is not as simple as one might think. I’m sure it will become easier with practice, but getting the stamped properly positioned before striking it with a two pound brass mallet is a delicate maneuver. To properly produce the effect, repeated blows to the stamp are needed, and the stamp angle often needs reorienting(while maintaining the exact position of the stamp head where it meets the metal) to create the full impression. When creating a pattern of stamps, which is nearly always the case, things become more complex.

I’ve gotten a fairly good amount of pendants finished by now, and would appreciate you’re taking the time to browse the current selection, at Talisman Studios. Each of the images in this post also takes you directly to the listing when you click on the picture.

Deschutes Jasper Cabochon in an Artisan Crafted Sterling Silver Setting

Etsy vs Amazon in the Battle of the Handmade Market

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Why I’m Sticking with Etsy, the Reigning Champion

There’s not an online seller of indie craft who isn’t intrigued by the announcement that Amazon.com will be entering the market for handmade items, particular those that frequent the forums at Etsy, who’ve been discussing the lurking competitor daily.

For the most part, sellers are excited at the prospect; many feel Etsy betrayed them when the company relaxed it’s definition of handmade to include factory made products. Like myself, they are distraught, if not disgusted, at having to now compete head to head with factory-produced items which always undercut on price and can often be found at malls and street fairs across the country. Personally, I don’t think the person who chooses a brightly colored plastic bubble necklace

Selection from Etsy Search on "Bubble Necklaces"

Selection from Etsy Search on “Bubble Necklaces”

is the same customer who would want one of my beaded pieces

A necklace from the Talisman Too Collection

A necklace from the Talisman Too Collection

but I can see how this affects many others. My beaded jewelry shop would probably suffer more at the hands of these imported goods if my goods could be found in searches, but I am not fooling myself to believe that even the massive influx of these cheap goods is the reason my items don’t rank highly. There are thousands of “blue beaded earrings” on the venue, and a large percentage of them are genuinely designed and constructed in the minds and by the hands of people in their home studios, just like me.

Nonetheless, I’m under no delusion that a move to Amazon will solve my dilemma. In fact, I may be helped by the behemoth, once the disgruntled and starry-eyed Etsyians make their move to the newly launched platform.

A small seller like myself simply won’t be able to jump through the hoops that will be required at Amazon, once they have populated their community with hopeful selling residents. Right now, the vague outlines of their program seem almost comforting to the casual observer. Sellers must have less than twenty employees or be part of a collective with under one hundred members, but many people don’t seem to realize that China abounds with factories employing numbers that are well within the “collective” range, particularly when the products being produced rely on hand work, such as intricately embroidered or crocheted goods.

Amazon promises handmade sellers a respite on fees that can bite deeply into one’s overhead, but I wonder if most sellers aren’t employing their reading comprehension skills. Specifically, the lowered fee structure is only temporary, and this has been stated outright. Suggestions of a more “small-seller friendly” fee structure have been hinted at, but certainly not promised, an important distinction. The statement’s been nicely framed, lulling the gullible into believing that this beastly creature(the definition of an amazon, after all) will nurture their growth like a kind motherly type, saving them from  the cruel feudal hardships they feel they’ve suffered under the reign of Etsy.

The issue, as I see it, is that once a person puts the amount of time needed to build out their shop, develop linkbacks and all the other efforts that go into online selling, they will be heavily invested in the venue, and the idea that they might have to abandon the project will certainly bring on feelings nausea. They will hold on, struggling to work harder, and many will fail, while hungry-for-revenue Amazon swallows and burps. I’ve experienced something like this with my ClimbAddict shop, part of which is housed on the print-on-demand venue CafePress, where the Terms of Use I accepted upon arrival in 2006 have been changed nearly as frequently as one changes their bedsheets. I won’t go into those details, but suffice it to say that many, many sellers who once cheered and supported the company now write venomously about the cut-throat tactics they’ve endured. Why will Amazon, with it’s voracious appetite, behave differently?

I like the idea for Handmade at Amazon, but I believe they are counting on naive entrepreneurs to flock en mass to the cozy nest they have created, partly out of some vindictive desire to claw at Etsy’s foundation. Perhaps it is because some of the factories and importers which have been part of Amazon’s selling base found it lucrative to move to Etsy during the relaxed-guidelines transition?. When the harsh winds of reality blow the loose straws away from the nest, I feel many a former Etsyian will have been devoured and excreted like a compressed owl pellets

September 2015 New In Shop for Talisman Studios

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I went on a bit of a buying binge recently.  The stars were aligned and gorgeous antique buttons seemed to show up wherever I looked, from my cache of “buttons in waiting”(pieces I have not gotten around to stringing and photographing) to online shopping venues and a pure “Wow!” moment at a local antiques store.

Here are a few of the new designs, but it’s only a selection! Pop over to Talisman Studios to see everything available.  Hopefully you’ll find just the right ponytail holder to wrap up your hair when you do.

Vintage Black Bakelite Buttons

Gorgeous Chunky Black Bakelite Buttons with Scalloped Edges

Metal Ponytail Holder Tulips Vintage Button Jewelry

Shaped Metal Button from the 1940’s, now an elastic band for your ponytail! Hand-Crafted with Quality Work.

Gunmetal Glass Vintage Button Ponytail Holder

Gunmetal Gray Vintage Glass Czech Buttons, Paired as a Ponytail Wrap

When My Etsy and Real Life Universes Collide

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The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 274

These are galaxies, and not universes, but you get the idea, right? Photo Credit: “The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 274” from NASA.gov

People often see their online life as an insular experience. They usually don’t know the people whose comments they read in discussion forums, and they don’t expect to ever meet the bloggers behind the stories that appear on their social media feeds. When by chance they find themselves face to face, in real life, with someone they share a common online denominator with, the experience can be accompanied by unexpected feelings. Usually it’s one of pleasant surprise, but on occasion embarrassment, and even shame(if the participants had engaged in acerbic debate online). Almost always there is at least a small element of having made contact with a sentient being from somewhere beyond our world, as if we were a crew member on the starship Enterprise having an interaction with a holographic version of someone via the teleport.

As a rock climber, I have contacted, or been contacted by, other climbers seeking a partner for a day on the rocks. In fact, over the years I have met hundreds of people that way. One climbing friend I have made, Sonya with StoneMetal Designs, also happens to have a shop on Etsy. but I knew her before she opened her shop. So, that’s not the same as when one is going about their day and serendipitously finds themselves talking with someone with whom they tangentially inhabit an online community.

This happened to me recently, while I was talking with a visitor at my place of work(no, not my studio where I work on my jewelry – that would be pretty strange, since I don’t have a studio, and do most of the work in the passenger seat of my van!). Somewhere in the conversation, entrepreneurship came up, and I mentioned that I make beaded jewelry. The visitor, Amy from Amy Kohn Designs, exclaimed “Me too! Do you sell on Etsy?”

Viking Knit Bracelet Amy Kohn Designs

Bracelet by Amy Kohn, with Tutorial to make available – just click the image for information!

Of course we went on for several minutes, discussing the commonalities of doing beadwork and selling via the Etsy platform. Once Amy and her friend were on their way, I shook my head at the sense on incredulity I felt at crossing paths with a woman who happened to be visiting with a friend while on vacation from her home Israel and making the “Etsy Connection.”

Rainbow Beaded Ankle Bracelet

Rainbow Beaded Bracelet, from Shimmer Shimmer

It’s almost a no-brainer to assume that people working in bead shops might also sell on Etsy, but the energy one receives at making the connection is still unique. While I was in Flastaff, Arizona, a few years ago, I walked into a local bead shop and met Carrie Ann from “Shimmer Shimmer” and Sarah from “Patience Sister.” We had fun sharing stories of how our work has evolved, what inspires us, and how we market our wares on Etsy.

Robins Egg Blue Earrings

This pair of earrings was purchased from another Etsy seller who I met while visiting the bead shop she worked in.

At another bead store, this one in Colorado Springs, I met the very cool June Indigo from “Rainbow Unicorn.” June was so kind – she asked me to bring in my samples to look at, and not only did she make a purchase, right there in the shop, but so did one another store visitor who just happened to come in while I had my earrings laid out on display! The purchased put nearly a full tank of gas in my gas-drinking van, which was quite helpful on the 3,000 mile cross country trek.I am sure that most folks who sell their handmade goods through online selling platforms share similar stories. Please comment and tell about yours!

 

 

Vintage Carved Mother of Pearl Button Ponytail Holders

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Oriental Fan Pearl Button Ponytail Holder

Detailed Dye Cut Shape and Carving on MOP button circa 1940’s

In my love for antiques, there are sections and subsections. When I discovered the artistry behind vintage sewing buttons, they quickly became a prominent category in my list of “Antiques I Adore.” Discovering the history and techniques used to create the miniature pieces of art was enthralling; learning about the transition from made by hand to that of using modern(for the late 19th century era in which this occurred) machinery to create the buttons provided me with a feeling of both sadness and awed wonder.

I mourned, for the button-maker, their loss of the exclusive use of non-electric hand tools to make the bone and shell buttons which had been the staple of American button industry since it’s inception. But the use of technology allowed for much more than enormous leaps in productivity. Makers of buttons used the new tools (electric motors powering drills, files and other forming machines) to elevate their artistry to a higher level.

Because shell was one of the most widely used button materials at the time, the switch from “made by hand” to “made by hand with machined support” is most easy to see. Before power tools were in use, a button maker made each decorative mark on a button by use of a hand tool, usually a metal file. As can be imagined, the range of embellishments which could be accomplished was fairly limited. Below are a few examples of the type of work a button-maker could produce with such hand-powered tools.

Vintage Pearl Button Earrings

Vintage Mother of Pearl Buttons, Restyled as Earrings. Note the simplicity of etched design, which was created using hand-powered tools.

Antique Mother of Pearl Button as Ponytail Holder

Notice the variation in markings – depth and shape. This work was all done by hand.

Once machine power came into play, workers could create more embellished pieces in a shorter amount of time than they had previously spent with a more simple design.

Creamy White Antique Mother of Pearl Button

Notice the greater amount af cutwork details which were made in this piece. With the use of machine-power, button artisans were able to dedicate more time to embellishment.

Dye-cut machinery later allowed for decorative shapes to be reproduced quickly, and buttons could take on fanciful shapes. Once the basic design had been cut from the shell, an artisan could use engraving and drilling tools to carve away details, adding more dimension to the designs, as seen in the Asian Fan piece at top and also here:

Dye-Cutting machinery allowed for the creation if intricate shaping as shown on the perimeter of this Hibiscus Flower button from the 1940's

Dye-Cutting machinery allowed for the creation if intricate shaping as shown on the perimeter of this Hibiscus Flower button from the 1940’s

My appreciation for this evolution has made Mother of Pearl and other shell buttons one of those subsections within my Adored Antiques classifications, and I hope that you, too, will come to love the beautiful work button artists from the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries have created. It brings me great pleasure to come across such examples in my never-ending quest for antique buttons. That I have been able to restyle them as ponytail holders, in a way which does not damage the button’s integrity, makes me happy. Buttons which may have stayed cached away in boxes and bins are able to again find purpose – to adorn and pique the interest of admirers – as they were originally intended to do.