Shining the Light on Brain Injuries
The Shining the Light on Brain Injuries event is the major fundraiser for the Brain Injury Recovery Foundation. This non-profit organization helps provide support to those that have suffered brain or spinal cord injuries as well as their family, friends, and caregivers by providing programs for awareness, care, financial support and more. I am honored to be donating a necklace to be presented to their caregiver of the year.
The Shining the Light on Brain Injuries Event will be held on August 20, 2022 at the Cains Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event runs from 7p.m.-11 p.m. If you are interested in attending this event or would just like to donate to the Brain Injury Recovery Foundation, please visit their website at www.braininjuryrecoveryfoundation.org.
TSHA "A Night Among the Stars" Event
We are excited to donate this beautiful deep purple amethyst necklace to the TSHA, which is a local non-profit serving the deaf and hard of hearing community in the state of Oklahoma. The necklace will be part of their gala on March 4, 2022. Tickets are still available, and if you are in the Tulsa area, this is a fun event!
Bixby Holiday Market-December 4th, 2021
Please join us on December 4, 2021 at the Bixby Community Center for the annual Bixby Holiday Market. We will be set up and have some new designs to share! There should be lots of vendors and the perfect chance to finish up your Holiday shopping (or, if you are like me…start your Holiday shopping).
Upcoming Fall Events
Fall is here, and we are gearing up for 2 exciting events that are just around the corner! The first is the 44th Annual Brush Creek Bazaar! As you all know, this is our favorite show of the year! Not only does it support a great cause, but the venue is one of my favorites, and this year is going to be better than ever!
The music line-up is looking great, and our jewelry is some of the best I’ve ever made! I have some exciting new gemstones this year, and very elegant and chic designs! Also…for the first time ever, we will be doing a giveaway both days for anyone that stops by our booth and signs up for our email list!
Our second big event is going to be a new one for us. We will be set-up at the Bixby Holiday Show on December 4th from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. This show will take place at the Bixby Community Center and should be a great show as well! It will be our first time for this event, so I’m very excited to see what the show has to offer!
***Please note…this is the flyer from last year’s event. The date this year is December 4th, 2021.
In addition to our big shows, I have been adding a lot of new items to the website. I have been working with a fantastic grouping of Red Creek Jasper stones, along with some gorgeous rhodochrosite slices, and some beautiful mini-geodes. Since my class in Tennessee, I have been experimenting with some new techniques and designs and I can’t wait to get those out and available to all of you! So, check back often to see the latest offerings!
We are excited for the Fall season! It’s my absolute favorite time of year, and I’m glad the weather is cooling off and I’m looking forward all the fun events that happen this time of year!
I wish you all well and good health!
All the best!
Chrissi
British Elle and Harper's Bazaar
The past two months, I’ve been honored to have my work featured in both British Elle and British Harper’s Bazaar! I still pinch myself that the jewelry I make has made it’s way into such world class publications!!!
The edition of British Elle is now appearing on US newsstands, while the Harper’s Bazaar issues will be in US newsstands beginning in August. You should be able to find them at most retailers that sell these issues.
I want to thank everyone for all of your love and support of my jewelry! It means the world!! I can’t wait to see where we will be “seen” next!!
B Golden Jewelry School
View from my hotel in Austin, TX
This past Friday, I attended a Flush Setting Course at the B Golden Jewelry School in Austin, Texas. The course was amazing, and our instructor, Donnie Jarvis, was a fantastic instructor!
This was a one-day course designed to work on just one-skill. Flush setting is a skill I’ve done on several designs in the past, but not without a lot of difficulty. My goal for the course was to learn how to properly do the setting, but to also learn where I was making critical mistakes! I learned all of that and so much more!!!
Our tool kit
We were given a kit of 10 2.5mm cubic zirconia stones to set into a copper plate and then later, a brass ring as practice.
Along with lots of information on the mechanics of flush setting and why we take the steps we take to insure a proper stone fit. So much care needs to be taken in properly measuring not only your stones, but also your burs to ensure everything matches up. So many of my past mistakes have come from not having the proper size bur for the stone…along with also not getting my hole the correct size.
Our first step was to measure the stones. Both the height and width. it’s important to measure the height of the stone, so you are sure you have enough metal for the stone, and measuring the width, helps you know what the maximum sized hole you need to drill for the setting.
Once you have your stones measured, you need to drill a pilot hole. This hole allows the point of the faceted stone to have a place to sit. Next, you use incremental sizes of burs, to drill the hole out larger and larger until you get to just under the size of your stone.
It’s important to continually check your stone with the size of the hole, and this takes much longer than you would think! A hole that is too big, will allow the stone to wobble when you go to set. A hole that is too small, will not allow enough metal to be there to secure the stone in place.
As I wanted to really learn the technique, I practiced with half of my stones, and came up with this beautiful piece below. I think I may frame this one and hang it up in the shop! What do you think?
The course was so much fun, with so much knowledge shared! It was great to have a day filled with conversation from other metalsmiths, and to see everyone’s progress and work! I loved it! I am looking forward to really practicing this setting some more, and really perfecting the skill.
