Making Connections (And I Don’t Mean Jewelry)

Sarjeant & Co. opened in July of this year.  It is my third shop on Etsy in 3 years.  It fascinates my how over the years, jewelry has connected me to so many people–literally.   With my current shop I make  pendants, reliquary cases, tube lockets, things the etsy designer can connect to other pieces, which connects them to others, and it goes on and on.

Reliquary Case by Sarjeant & Co on Etsy.

Anyway,  these etsy artists started as customers and quickly became my etsy friends.  Many I will never meet or ever hear their voices, regardless I consider them my friends.  I wanted to ‘share the love’ again and show you a few of the more of my designer/customers and their shops.

Let’s start with the funny and very prolific jewelry designer Betty of LilyoftheVally.  I call her Moosie and she calls me Elkie.   Why?  Well, when you hear the names “Betty” and “Donna” do you think of 2 young people or 2 old people?

"His and Hers" Betty of Lily of the Vally

Exactly!  I don’t think it makes you think of  2 kids in diapers–at least not pampers. Probably the other ‘DIAPERS’. So-o-o-o we thought we would change our names to ‘younger names’ We had names from ALL walks of life—if you get my drift.

But, somehow Moose and Elk stuck plus it’s very tiring to try and think up a new young person type name every time you email someone.

"Polly" by Betty of Lily of the Vally

Of course, Moosie and Elkie definitely make us sound like teens.  ‘What-evs’  nod and agree.    Anyway, she is quickly approaching 1,000 sales. Something I can only dream of……  Check out the rest of her shop Lily of the Vally–no that is not a typo.  Maybe she will have a 1,000 th customer appreciation sale or something–I made that up–you better check with Betty.  Well, that’s what I would do if I had 1,000 sales!!!   I only have about 810-ish more to go!

Then of course there is my long time friend Mariam of  The Hand of Fatima.  Mariam has hung in there with me for 3 shops since the beginning of time for me.   She is another one of those ‘almost 1,000 sales’  friends-o-mine.

"Birdsong of a Nomad" by Mariam of The Hand of Fatima

Her jewelry comes with these  wonderfully scripted stories she writes for each and every listing.  They are fabulous like her jewelry!  I don’t know how she does it, I can barely get out, “brass tube” on my listings and I am exhausted!

"Time Lost in Las Vegas" by Mariam of The Hand of Fatima

"The Dead Railroad" by Mariam of The Hand of Fatima

I had huge plans to ‘share more love-but I am BEAT.  Instead I will leave you with probably one of the funniest listings? designs? (I am not even sure what to call it) I have ever seen!  It is so clever, and I LOVE clever.

If I had one ounce of guts (that was not actually the word I was going to use)  I would buy one of these and wear it.   This is by Detroit Knitter on Etsy.  She will even add a nipple ring for free!

"Boob Scarf" by The Detroit Knitter on Etsy

New Odd Fellows Pinbacks

For some reason I am hugely attracted to all stuff masonic–I think it’s the same reason I am attracted to Sacred Heart medals–the imagery and art is fabulous.   I try to  get away from it but it seems to always draw me back in.  I am always on the search for pinbacks at a reasonable price with great art.  Here are a few:

Odd Fellows Pinback "Sarjeant & Co"

Odd Fellows Pinback "Sarjeant & Co"

Odd Fellows Pin from "Sarjeant & Co"

 

Odd Fellows Pinback by "Sarjeant & Co."

 

Don’t forget I listed some reliquary cases today in my store Sarjeant & Co.  You can look in the upper left and click any of the pictures to my store to see all the cases.

 

Reliquary Cases, Reliquary Cases, Reliquary Cases…..

Here’s a peek into today’s studio adventures.   I am making more cases  with vintage masonic medals and finger rosaries. They have been a popular item in my store Sarjeant & Co lately.   So I thought I would make as many as I can today.

I have a feeling this may be the last batch.   We will see, that’s the beauty of being the proprietor  you can do what you want– when you want.

Reliquary Cases

I am probably going to list starting Friday….

Reliquary Tutorial Part II and Why I am Sharing..

So my husband says to me yesterday, “Why the heck are you showing everybody how to make your cases?”  “It’s your wealth!’.  So before we get started– let’s straighten a few things out.

Number 1:  It’s not my wealth.  We all know as Etsy artisans that $22/$24 cases will not be  your wealth, nor was it ever meant to be.   The wealth is in the enjoyment of making them (hokey I know but 100% true!), owning my own shop, keeping my brain occupied, seeing designers use them as their own and meeting so many cool people.  Truly.

Number 2: If you think about it by the time you buy the $200 disc cutter,  tools and a myriad of other supplies, it’s just way easier and cheaper to buy it from me!

Number 3: I have CADD (Crafters Attention Deficit Disorder).   Like everything I make, I will get tired of it and move on to something new.  I love the challenge and I love to try new techniques, use new tools, buy more stuff!  So if for some reason everyone goes out tomorrow and makes these exact cases and sells them, then I will move on to something else.

So now that that’s out-of-the-way, let’s move on to the tutorial–ish (ha! I had to do it)

Watch tin lid and Medal

It’s time to drill the holes in the lid and the medal.  The best thing, (sorry forgot to take pics) is to drill one hole, put your rivet in  then drill the others.  Otherwise everything moves around and you will never get it centered again.  But, of course, I am impatient and pre-drilled the top holes.  So this pic is actually with 2 rivets already in, but we can pretend we just have one hole.  You are an artist–you pretend all the time!

Marking the rivet

Now, make sure your tubing and your hole are a tight fit.  No wiggle room, or it just won’t work.  Once you get your rivet holes the right size, stick the tube in and use the skinny sharpie and mark.  The width of the sharpie is the perfect ‘extra space’ you need for your rivet!

Cutting the tubing

Cut the tube at the line.  This handy-dandy tube cutting tool from Rio is the best!

 

 

Next pop an acrylic circle in the top.  I epoxy it in, I could rivet it.  But for the price I am selling them for, it is just too much work and the epoxy holds nicely.  The disc has the paper still on it.

 

Reliquary Case from vintage watch tin and masonic medal

 

Here ya go!  Sealed with renaissance wax and ready for sale.  I think this one is already spoken for , it not you will see it in my store Sarjeant & Co.  I hope it wasn’t too confusing.   Until next time!

 

 

Reliquary ‘Tute’ (Tutorial) PART I

Well– I am going to send my favorite reliquary off to its new home today along with another.   Goodbye favorite case!

Reliquary Case (masonic medal and old watch tin)

They were popular –so I am going to make more.   Since, I have had few questions on how they are made–I thought I would give you a little ‘tute’ (that’s crafter slang for tutorial) on how I make them.

So here’s where it starts:

finger rosary, masonic medal, old watch tin

Don’t forget the really gross work area or it just won’t be right.  So depending what you are using for your ornamental top–be it the rosary or medal (if it’s a medal you may need to cut out a hole in the middle of that piece).  So for this case I am going to use the medal.

Next you need a hole in the top of the watch tin—you could do what I did forever and saw each one out.    Silly me.

Disc Cutter (Rio Grande)

Don’t go through all that work use your handy-dandy disc cutter.  It is a bit tricky because you have to center it with one eye closed since you have to punch the inside of the top lid.  So if it’s a bit off-center, no problem–“Embrace the imperfections” as a wise teacher (Sally Jean)once told me .

CAUTION: If you punch the outside after you draw a beautifully measured circle, because you don’t believe me–you will get a SMASHED lid.  I have a whole drawer full of smashed lids to prove it!

BEAUTIFUL! Watch tin with center hole

Yes, you are asking yourself why is there a drawn circle in the top AFTER she just said don’t do it!   Because,  you could draw a perfectly centered circle in the top and center it from underneath, turn it over and punch out the inside.  But–it’s a real pain in the ‘arse’ because everything moves around every time you turn it over.  You’ll figure it out…you’re smart.

That’s it for my tute-ish today.  Sorry, I have a birthday party to attend to so you will need to come back for PART II tomorrow-ish.

Sorry about all the ‘ishes’ for some reason in my mind–it  is a great excuse for everything!

Sharing The Love–“The French Circus”

As a jewelry ‘fabricator/re-Fabricator’– I know my pieces will be used in fabulous jewelry designs. As I said in my profile for my store Sarjeant & Co I enjoy making the jewelry, using my tools, using my torch, but I didn’t really enjoy putting the pieces together.

Although, I can design jewelry and have done it in the past, I spent more time taking it apart then putting it together. Analysis paralysis was my biggest nemesis. So I closed up Gabriella Lucretia Jewelry Shop a few years back and reopened with this new shop and concept Sarjeant & Co.

I think I found my niche–I make the parts and the Etsy designers put them together with their own pieces and make their own unique jewelry.

It’s like a great marriage.

Like this reliquary case made from an old finger rosary and watch tin. The lid and the rosary riveted together (FYI–already sold) but the back comes off.   The designer will fill it with their collage bits, epoxy it all back together and then sell it as his/her own.

Here’s a before and after picture of a brass etched corset I made. I sold about 20 of these.  But one made it into a design.

Sarjeant & Co.

Robyn of The French Circus was nice enough to send me her sold listing with a necklace she designed with the corset. I think it is fabulous.

The French Circus

I love seeing what the designers make with my ‘wares’. I will feature other great collaborations here soon. But a special ‘shout out’ to Robyn of The French Circus for sharing her necklace here. Please visit her shop for more beautiful designs!

Poor Man’s Silver–White Brass

Sarjeant & Co (prices $13-$15)

I just got my sacred heart medals back from the caster– yeah! I have been collecting sacred heart medals for years originally for my jewelry designs in my old Etsy store “Gabriella Lucretia”. Back then the original antique medals were plentiful and cheap– relatively. So you could use the originals without worry. Years later, they are harder to find and way more expensive.

I decided to have all my originals casted in sterling silver and sell those back when sterling silver was in the $20/oz and still a decent price point. Now with silver prices hovering in the $30-40/oz it’s almost double the cost now.

So I needed to find a cheaper alternative that still looked good enough for jewelry design so white brass is it. You can’t beat the price and the quality considering these are exact castings of antique medals.

($13)

Listings, Listings and More Listings….

I decided to start a blog.  Why you say?  Well,  it just gives me one more reason to sit at my computer and my new Ipad (thank you family) for hours and procrastinate even more than I already do.  In fact, I think I will write a post one day called, “Why I Can’t Walk A Straight Line”.

I have loads and loads of masonic medals to list but I can’t seem to get to it because I have jack hammering in my yard so I can’t take pics and more importantly a child that needs help with all her homework–AP Euro History anyone?  So for now, how about a teeny weeny preview of what I have.