Masking Mud for Anti-Solder Flow
Sometimes when you’re soldering your work, you’ll have a portion of your piece that you don’t want solder to flow. For example an already soldered bezel or link of chain. Enter Ronda Coryell’s Masking Mud! I purchased my first jar earlier in the year (from RioGrande), and have found it to be a life saver…
Invest in an Annealing Pan
OK I’m in love with my new annealing pan with pumice! I love the rush of new tools and supplies and riding the wave of the new inspiration they bring! And it’s also possible this momma has witnessed waaay too much Moana lately. I cannot stress how much this tool has upped my jewelry game!…
Silicone Polishers for Rotary Tool
I’m really enjoying these silicone polishers! I’ve had them for a little while, but I’m just getting into using them. This is a prong setting for a free form statement stone. In this pic, I’ve just sawn around the shape of the stone and prongs and now I’m sanding down/polishing the edges to make it…
Brass Bristle Brush Burnishing
When you’re working with sterling silver (92.5% silver) or fine silver (99.9% silver), including silver precious metal clay (pmc), you’ll need to burnish your silver in order to finish your piece. Whenever you heat your piece, it will turn colors. If heated in a kiln, it will turn white. After soldering, you’ll need to pickle…
A Helping Hand – 360 Bench Vise
I just ran across this marvelous bench vice option today, and I’m seriously considering ordering it for my bench. I have a hard time with my hands falling asleep or going numb. It can happen at any time, but mostly when I’m really trying to get some work done. Not the easiest thing to deal…
Save a Lung – Get a Fume Extractor
If you’re just starting out soldering, please pay attention to your own safety and keep it at the utmost importance. The world needs you and your special talents! So please keep your body safe. Soldering your jewelry – or anything really – can release toxins and/or fumes into the air that are not good for…
Guitar Pick Shape Template
One of the most popular designs in my shop is my guitar pick shaped fingerprint piece. It’s been a great gift for many gentlemen, as well as ladies, who are music lovers! The pull to music runs very deep in my family, so this piece- this shape brings up beautiful memories for me, which make…
Mini Vice Tool
What stops many new jewelers from becoming full-time jewelers is the cost of tools! Let’s face it, it can get expensive fast! BUT when you’re just beginning, it doesn’t have to be so expensive, if you’re willing to try to hunt up some good deals, and wait until your skills have developed to purchase the…
Ring Shank Template
Working in PMC and dying to create some substantial rings? This is little ditty is the fix you’ve been looking for! I have a few that I keep handy, but this one is a really nice template – a core tool. It’s super simple to use! 1. Simply roll out your clay, make it a…
How to Create an Arrow Ring – Preview
While I’m working on the newest tutorial for members, I wanted share a peek with you! You can watch a few of the steps that I use to create this Rustic Arrow Ring in Sterling Silver in the video below. I’m putting the finishing touches on the full tutorial, with full instructions and lists and…
The One Reason I Looked Back
I used to dream about one day creating my own unique jewelry line. I used to bead with plastic Walmart beads and dream about soldering “the real stuff”. But I didn’t know how. So I sat and I dreamt. I wanted to play with fire. I wanted to melt things. I wanted to create unique…
How to Create Dangle Earring Backs
With just a few inexpensive tools you can create your own artisan-style dangle earring backs with silver wire! Forget the store-bought look, your work can (and should be) unique to you! Try it with me… you’ll love how your new pieces look! Don’t forget, now is the time to join us in the Apprenticeship Program.…
Dark and Dingy
Things are changing again around here! Again. With little hands that reach absolutely everything I lay out, we had originally decided to build or buy a little hut outside that I could make my studio. In fact I had purchased a little trailer, that I used at a few fairs to sell my pieces out…
Too Paralyzed to Start
Have you been dreaming about creating your own jewelry, but you’re not sure where to start? Maybe even a little afraid to start? I understand the feeling! For years I really struggled trying to figure out exactly how to make what I wanted to make. And I was so afraid to start. And it paralyzed me! I…
February Goals
Welcome February! Do you have a goal yet to complete for February? Maybe learn a new jewelry technique, save for a new tool for your bench, get 20 new followers on your FB page, or maybe even (Finally!) start up that Etsy shop to sell all your beautiful works? Something about the beginning of each…
New Apprenticeship Members Only Area
If you’ve been wondering what the deal is with this new Apprenticeship thing I’ve been talking about lately… I’ve put together a quick sneak peek of the members only area just for you! As of this moment, you can join and learn the basics of soldering silver, including a list of all of the tools…
Something New Comes… and why…
Ok, the question everyone’s already sick of hearing and answering… what was your New Year’s resolution this year?! Are you going to take better care of yourself, eat cleaner, train meaner? Lose something, gain something, learn something? Become a new person, become the old you? Be nicer, be stronger, be tougher, be softer? Me? I’m…
Stolen Pics to Business Relationships
In this video let’s chat about the importance of coming together as artists. I’ll go over some recent crazy things that have happened regarding my work. And how it is affecting how I work and what I recommend for you. Click play to watch and then let me know what you think and if this…
Dot Post Earrings
You can create a beautiful pair of post earrings with a little silver and a little soldering skill! Here’s a quick look at a little pair of dot post earrings I just finished: For the full tutorial, check out the Apprenticeship Program! One of the needed supplies for this tutorial is bead wire. Become and…
30 Seconds to Artisan Earrings
Here’s a quick 30 seconds to creating artisan earring backs. If you really want your jewelry to stand out, you should be creating your own earring backs. Call me crazy, call me weird, but I love the look of handcrafted earrings SO much more than factory made earrings. I love being able to choose the…
How to Become the Artist You Stalk
We all have them. Heroes, movers, shakers in our field of study (or love) that inspire us. Inspire us to create. To do. To become them! I have mine, I know you have yours. People, artists, geniuses that we look up to, like every post on their facebook page, instagram, follow all their Pinterest boards,…
Thank you – Free Printables
While working on some new packaging ideas (and spending waaaay too much time combing Pinterest boards) last night I came up with the amazing decision to create some new “thank you” tags to print out on card stock and attach (in a gorgeous mega-creative way of course) to my jewelry boxes that I send out…
Tumble Polish Your Silver
When you’d like to give your precious metal clay charms and pieces a beautiful shine, but you may not have a lot of time, use a tumbler! In this video I show you how I tumble polish my silver charms with steel shot, and with just a few quick swishes, you can already start to…
How to Scuff Matte Finish Silver PMC
Have you seen some cool jewelry with that scuffed matte finish, but you’re not quite sure how to do it? Check out my latest video here: You can find the polish pads I use here. If you want to know more about how to give that deep dark patina, see this video here. Blessings and…
Antiquing Sterling Silver Chains with Patina Gel
Love that oxidized silver look? You can do that to your own sterling and fine silver chains and jewelry components! See my latest tutorial in the video below… Tools + supplies used in this tutorial: Patina gel cool + warm water latex/rubber gloves plastic tongs baking soda glass bowls – for jewelry only, do not…
Etsy Shop Coaching Sessions
I’m coming out with something a little bit different! And I’m so excited to share it with you! I’m putting together a program, totally automated, as soon as you sign up, you can begin to change your business. And I mean this with all of my heart, it will change the way you do business…
The Mobile Jeweler: My 2 Easy Tips
Just starting out making jewelry? Don’t have a dedicated “spot” in your home to label your studio only? You’re not alone! I started out with a “mobile” station, setting up and taking down where ever I could in the house. And now that I am able to have a whole room specifically for my studio…
Top 5 Jewelry Bench Tools
What are your favorite jewelry making tools?? Looking at my bench now I have many scattered about, but there really are 5 tools that I use all. the. time. 1. torch-butane While you can spend hundreds on some really awesome torch systems (like the smith little torch) created specifically for jewelers, just starting out, if…
Art Show Psych Out
Has this ever happened to you? Have a beautiful idea to enter a ‘dream’ art show, then do a little recon to see the artists who showed the previous year, only to find yourself staring in disbelief and disappointment as you sink into some sort of jeweler’s depression? Whelp… I just did that. And it…
Hobbyist vs Artist
What is the different between a hobbyist and an artist? It’s important to know what you are, in order to know how to get where you want to go. If you’re planning to make a living with your craft, you need to hear yourself talk about what you do. If you consistently degrade your work…
Download “Silver Soldering: Tools + Supplies for the Beginner”
JOIN The Apprenticeship
