Another year older

by rasmussengems on January 15, 2012

Another year of life has gone by and now I am officially 66. I continue to expand my thoughts and styles. I have been twisting several strands of wire to make a single wire for making metal pieces. This process lends itself to make unique curved designs with the wire. Using square wire produces very interesting patterns in the twisted wire. I was quite surprised at the pattern generated when I twisted round wire. Here are some similar pieces that show the twisted wire.

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Shop Creativity

by rasmussengems on November 20, 2011

As with many places, Debora and I tend to work in spurts of creativity.  She will look at her beads and wire over and over.  Then she will see a way to put together a piece.  In the past week, she has made several beautiful pieces of wearable art.  Here are two of her creations (as thumbnails), the first features a seahorse pendant “under the sea.”  The second I called a “Gypsy” necklace due to the pattern on the beads. I had a clasp that would go with the beads.

Necklace,Beads,Seahorse,Artisan
Seahorse Necklace
Necklace,Beads,Artisan
Gypsy Necklace

Every time that she produces, I have the honor of adding the clasps and chain to her creations trying to maintain her vision.  In between, I try to do a little creating of my own.  My last pieces have been made with copper.  I had cut some cabochons and was trying to think of some special way of making something with them other that wire wrapping or bezel setting.  I saw a piece that Laura Bracken (in California) had made using resin in a frame of wire wrapping.  Applying that simple idea, I made a copper piece (textured, dapped and patinated) then set the cabochons in the bowl that I had made (30 by 40 mm oval) and filled up part of the bowl with clear resin.  The second piece shown here is a copper and turquoise chip “Tree of Life.”  The ring is 12 gauge soft round wire, the solder join is hidden in the base of the tree.  We will be continuing our creation of wearable art.

Copper,Pendant,Emerald,Cabochon,Lapidary,Metalsmithing,Artisan
Emerald on Copper




Copper,Pendabnt,Turquoise,Tree of Life,Artisan
Turquoise and Copper Tree of Life

 


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November Items

November 2, 2011

Actually the end of October for the making of these two necklaces.  The first was a small piece of opal and matrix rough.  As can be seen the opal is the bottom edge and is a gray-blue color.  The gray matrix is obvious in this free form cabochon.  I cut the cabochon two weeks ago, [...]

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Celebrate the Equinox

September 29, 2011

The Autumnal Equinox has just occurred and the fall season has officially begun.  With the advent of this season my creative muse has taken on a new vigor. Starting with the original form of silver smithing — wire wrapping, I made a pendant with a cobalt colored druzy agate in the center of the wire [...]

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Artwork for September

September 8, 2011

As the first day of autumn approaches, we realize that September has come and in the Upstate of South Carolina it is by definition no longer hot.  August is hot, September is cooler.  We will notice Autumn about mid October when the leaves change to their fall beauty.  During this time, we continue to work [...]

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Cabochons and Ring

August 22, 2011

On a visit last week at my local little rock shop, I was given an offer that I could not refuse.  They would give me a slab of Larimar and I could keep the rest after I cut them 3 oval cabochons.  I cut five cabochons, two of which fell into multiple pieces.  I salvaged [...]

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As we near the Dog Days

August 21, 2011

As the end of August approaches, I have been doing yard work in the very early morning (0600) before the heat that causes the dogs to just lie in the dust comes to fruition. That does leave time during the day to create and fabricate. Debora has been very productive and has been making necklaces. [...]

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Advancing My Art

August 8, 2011

The shop continues, Debora is doing the bead work, she keeps very busy and her work is fantastic.  She labors over each bracelet, anklet, pair of earrings and necklace.  She has great ability to create and design this work.  She loves creating pieces that have a great combination of colors.  While she continues her work, [...]

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New Designer at Rasmussen Gems and Jewelry LLC

July 24, 2011

Debora Lee Rasmussen, my wife, has been a driving force for my art and shop since I began at her initiation of my study of gemology.  She is disabled and one of her causes of depression has been the feeling that she is not contributing for our family.  She is very creative and last week [...]

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Saga of Life

July 8, 2011

In the continuing saga of making jewelry for my wife (she does get first chance at anything done), she chose two stones to be turned into cabochons the then jewelry.  The smaller tourmilated quartz was to be a ring, and the Peruvian blue opal to make a necklace.  After the lapidary work, the opal was [...]

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