Taming the Tangle

Do you own these earrings?

My hammered leaf hook earring design is so simple. It's one of those earrings that is a nice complement to a more complex necklace. They are still interesting because of the dramatic line, and the pearl dangle adds a nice detail. These earrings are some people's grab and go earrings because they are so easy to wear. Well, if you own these earrings you should know that I'm starting to offer different types of dangles for them. These earrings are not soldered, so they can be worn without the pearl for a simple, sculptural statement, and now you can switch out dangles to work with different outfits. The dangles are available on my kathyfrey etsy shop.

If you don't own these earrings, you should know that they are available in 2 sizes. Shown above is the large size; the small size is above half that size. They also come in oxidized (shown) or shiny sterling silver finishes. The earrings are available on my kathyfrey etsy shop, and I try to always have some with me at shows.

Pure 24k gold for "May is gold" month + The golden rule of customer service

As many of you know, I’ve started working in gold more. I love 18k, but due to rising costs I’ve been working mostly in 14k. In December I got a request from a client to create a necklace and earring set in pure 24k gold. I love this type of custom challenge, particularly when given the timeline of “you take as much time as you need to complete the project to the best of your ability.” Whoa… the (self-inflicted) pressure!

Being comfortable with the idea of self-education, my first step was to call my favorite wire supplier, Hoover and Strong. I love working with them because their wire is all recycled content (harmony metals), meaning it’s not freshly mined, making it more eco-friendly. They have 24k gold – this is gold in its pure form – but they explained to me that the gold would be too soft for my wire work. I also needed to buy or make 24k gold ear nuts, which they considered impossible since 24k gold would not work harden so the ear nuts would not have enough tension to hold an earring. I knew I could substitute 18k ear nuts if needed, but I didn’t want to resort to that unless absolutely necessary.

Hmmm… a major stumbling block. Whenever I reach a major technical stumbling block, I call my friend and jeweler Janice Ho. She is amazing! Her education and work experiences are so thorough, and she can boil something down in such a way that I can understand it. She knew of a product called PureGold, which she had worked with, that is 24k with a tiny amount of titanium alloy to add structure… but it can still be hallmarked as pure 24k gold.

What a breakthrough! Needless to say, this is the product that I worked with. If you love gold, you have not experienced the warmth and beauty, and sheer heft, of the metal until you’ve seen it in its pure form. I cannot wait until I can afford to do all of my gold wire work with this product! In my mind, gold represents optimism, and the beauty of this product captured the light and delicate beauty I’m always striving to capture in my designs.


For all you jewelers out there, I will warn you, though. This product is fabulous, but the company and customer service are not. From what I can tell, this is a one-man operation. He deals in gold, but does not accept credit cards! I mean, come on!, I’ve accepted credit cards for 4 or 5 years now. He – John Bernardin – is very well-versed in the product and comfortable talking about it and its qualities. But he is not comfortable with the business side of things. He hadn’t realized that I had actually placed an order when I called because we didn’t have the formality of me giving payment over the phone. I kept wondering why my product hadn’t arrived. He also had numerous manufacturing issues, which he didn’t call me about. It all boiled down to… I placed an order in December and got my product in April. That is ridiculous! And, as you might know, gold prices had radically changed in that time period. This was a MAJOR flaw in PureGold’s ordering system. With all of my other suppliers the market price is captured at the time of order, which is also when I’m paying. This was not true with PureGold… the market price was at the time of SHIPPING, which meant the price I quoted for a custom piece 4 months earlier was way off compared to the actual market value of gold at that time.

I always strive to give good customer service. Sometimes I fail due to my travel schedule, but I always get back to a customer as soon as I can to explain the situation. This is an area I am working on for myself. Especially after this experience. It was so odd to receive a product that I was thrilled with but be so horrified by the service that I wasn’t sure how I felt in the end (especially since the service waylaid my product delivery by months). That’s why I waited to post this information – I wanted to cool off a bit and get back in touch with the excitement of the gold itself… which is beautiful. If you work with PureGold, and you should consider it if it sounds right for a project, be as clear as possible with your expectations and timeline so you don’t suffer from the same issues I had.

And, if you are looking for a special piece of contemporary heirloom-quality jewelry, contact me to discuss a design in pure 24k gold. You won’t be disappointed!

Learning Something New

This past weekend was one of my few weekends at home, but, despite that, I couldn't resist taking a class with Arline Fisch. What an opportunity! The Chicago Metal Arts Guild brought her here (from San Diego) for a 2-day workshop held at Northeastern Illinois University, which has great jewelry facilities run by Jane Weintraub (the classes are auditable as well!). It was tough to forgo sleeping in, spending time outside on a beautiful spring weekend, or even just lazing around reading a good book. But I saw an opportunity to expand my skills in the exact area that I work in, and fate made the timing work out so how could I deny that?

For those of you who aren't familiar with Arline Fisch, she's one of the artists who have worked hard to develop textile techniques in metals over the time of her career. She has written several books, which was one of the reasons I decided to write my own book as well. She's really looked to as an expert in her field.

I do not know Arline, so it was a real treat to meet her and learn directly from her. The workshop was really about working, and due to other plans I wasn't able to join the group for dinner out, so I didn't get to know her very well. She alluded to retirement, which I think means she retired from full-time teaching. I was excited to see slides that she brought of her designs over the years, which includes work that she is doing now. Currently she is creating a large installation (a new challenge for her as she is a jewelry artist) for the Racine Art Museum, which will go up in August. I was to plan a visit there like my friend Anne Leuck Feldhaus describes doing on her Adventures & Art blog (she went on a jaunt to Kohler)... sounds fabulous for a fall weekend.

Here's what I worked on in class:

I threw myself into just trying all of the techniques rather than wanting to make finished products... there never would have been time for that. The samples will be great reference points for me when what I've learned has sunk into my design consciousness. We learned various weaving techniques as well as braiding. No shocker, I liked the weaving more because it came more naturally to me, although the braiding in a zig-zag was super cool! You might see some experiments where I try incorporating these techniques into a few designs to see how they look and feel... I'll keep you posted for any studio shows where this would come into play.

Grip Tip for pliers

Today I found a new use for a tool that I don't use very much: gator skin. It's a lightly sticky bandage wrap that only sticks to itself. I figured it would be good to have in the studio, especially in the winter with dry skin... lotion is the bane of a wire-wrappers existence because it makes your skin too slick to grip the wire. Apparently I've gotten used to dry skin... I don't wear lotion while working so have never gotten into the habit of putting on the gator skin.

I've been tackling the seemingly impossible task of making several sizes of comfort-fit jewelry bands from half-round wire (shown on the right). The bands curve on the inside for comfortable wearing, and there's a flat edge on the outside as a quiet backdrop to my charm rings. I start the bands in typical forming fashion by hammering the wire around the ring mandrel. The problem is that the wire distorts, making it difficult to get a perfectly even join for soldering. I often resort to wrestling with the wire with my pliers (still a more natural forming tool for me rather than a hammer), which leaves all sorts of nicks to clean up and file away. I'm persnickety about wrapping masking tape around my pliers because I have an aversion to sticky residue and hate cleaning them off... well, that's where gator skin comes in! A few tight wraps around each side of my pliers gave a perfect grip without marring the rings, and the gator stuff slides right off the tips when done.

Give it a try and let me know what you think, or let me know your suggestions.

And if you haven't seen me at a show lately, here are some of my charm/bundle rings. I've had two custom orders for rings with only 3 dangles, making them more wearable and practical for everyday but still fun. When I figure out my band production, you'll see more of those cropping up at shows and stores.

Customizing a piece of jewelry: nest earrings

In December at the One of a Kind Show here in Chicago, Ellyn Robinson walked into my booth with her mom. They had fun walking around and holding up earrings in the mirror, but Ellyn had a specific necklace she wanted to find earrings to match and wasn't having any luck because she needed a brushed finish to the piece, which is not part of my regular repertoire.

Yes, we all love it when we can walk into a store or booth and find exactly what we are looking for, but isn't it great to also have something made especially for you? Many people cringe at the idea of custom design, fearing that it is very expensive. At times it is; it all depends on what's involved in the process. But in Ellyn's case — luckily she didn't cringe at the idea and had plenty of time in her schedule so we could work together in January after my holiday rush — we decided that what she needed was not so much truly custom as a modified design that she already liked in my collection.

That's the way to save money on getting what you want; in my case I was happy to modify a design to suit Ellyn's needs because it didn't compromise my artistic integrity, and she didn't have to invest a lot of money is design time, meetings, and concept generation. Customizing often allows me to see my own work in different ways, or practice a technique that I don't use much.

What did Ellyn want? She had a necklace from another artist and didn't buy earrings at the time of purchase and now can't find the artist's work anymore. She loved my nest earrings but wanted a brushed finish on the wire to match the finish of the necklace; she also wanted to larger pearls in the middle so that the earrings would stand out more against her hair and complement the larger pearls on the necklace. The final modification? Dangle the nests from simple posts to work with her lobe shape.

We were both thrilled with the end result, although, as I mentioned to Ellyn and her husband Don, I probably won't be introducing brushed finishes to my nests anytime soon because it was a detailed process to get that finish on such a complex form.

If you are ever interested in a custom piece, whether truly custom and designed for you or simply a "custom modification" as some of my customers like to call it, feel free to email me, give me a call, or talk to me at a show. Time is usually the biggest factor... if you are not in a rush, I will usually be  able to handle your request.