This month's installation of EtsyMetal's Blog Carnival is: My First Piece of Metalsmithed Jewelry.

I am pretty sure this is not my first piece, but it is probably the first piece that was in the slightest bit complicated or that I designed. Its a very tight fitting choker. Funny to look back at it after all this time.




Make sure to check out my other EtsyMetal friends that are participating in this month's blog carnival:

1. Sara Westermark http://sarawestermark.blogspot.com/
2. Nina Gibson http://ninagibsondesigns.blogspot.com/
3. Danielle Miller-Gilliam http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
4. Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
5. duckduckGoose http://duckduckgoosestuff.co.uk/duckduckBLOG
6. Caitlyn Davey http://discomedusa.typepad.com
7. Laura Crawford http://tangerinetreehouse.blogspot.com
8. Tamra Gentry http://gentrydesignco.typepad.com/
9. andes cruz - http://andescruz.wordpress.com/
10. Cynthia Del Giudice: http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com/
11. libby Rosas http://elizabethrosasjewelry.blogspot.com
12. Nina Dinoff http://ninadinoff.blogspot.com - thats me!
13. Clare Stoker http://clarestoker.blogspot.com
14. kerin rose http://kerinrose.blogspot.com
15.Quercus SIlver http://quercussilver.blogspot.com
16. Delias Thompson http://deliasstudioinc.blogspot.com

Etsy Metal Project Runway Challenge

I am part of a group of metalsmiths who all sell their work on Etsy and several of us have decided to play a little game. Every week we are going to reinterpret the challenge that the designers on the show Project Runway do, but in jewelry. The idea is to free us up to do work that is outside of our comfort zone and many of the results are amazing. You can stay tuned to the EtsyMetal blog to check it out.

Here are my pieces from the last two weeks.




This week's challenge was to design a chic look for a pregnant woman. The first thing that came to mind for me was that women's fingers expand and they can no longer wear their rings. so this is a ring that expands from a size 5 to a size 6. it still needs a bit of clean up, i was in a rush to get it done last night.




Last week's challenge was to design something for the red carpet. I wanted to create something that was very dramatic and sparkly, so I used swarovski crystals. Originally, I wanted to use clear ones and oxidize it like the little one I am also showing, but I didn't have time to get them and had these blue ones. I felt that with the blue crystals it seemed a little more bright and fun in the silver. What do you think?