Spencer Opal Pendant

This is a sterling silver pendant with a opal from Spencer Idaho. The area is about an hour north of Idaho Falls near the Montana border. It's a commercial mine where they allow the public in a few times a year to go through their mining tailing's. Last time I was there it was a little disappointing at how little opal I found. But I guess that's why they call it mining. I cut the opal and made a triplet out of the stone. A triplet is a layer of opal sandwiched between some black obsidian and then topped with a clear quartz dome cap. The black backing and the quartz cap magnify the beauty of the opal. The piece of opal is too thin to thin to dome and that's why it made into a tripet.

Hapa

The music of Hapa is a great way to get past these cold, snowy days of winter. For you who haven't had the pleasure of hearing Hapa, YouTube has videos of some of their music. Barry Flanagan orginally from New York and Nathan Kawai Aweau from Hawaii are Hapa and perform their Hawaiiam /Pan-Polynesian music . Barry who moved to Maui in 1980, has mastered the art of Kiho Alu, or slack-key guitar and Nathan has an amazing voice. Give them a listen. Pretend you are sitting with your laptop on a beach in Hawaii. Aloha

Mary & Emmett's Wedding Photos

My sister Mary was married to Emmett Londo November 2, 2008. To the right of the Blog you'll see a link to the wedding photos. The wedding took place in their new home in Seattle. My parents and other family members were there along with Emmett's family who came from Texas and California to attend the ceremony and the party that followed. The party was what you'd expect from Mary, it was a lot of fun.

Three Pendants

It's been a while since I've posted any of my latest jewelry creations. Here are three pendants that I've just finished - A Paua Shell, Bruneau Jasper , and Carnelian Agate. They are all very different from each other. The Bruneau Jasper is a very hard material that takes a wonderful polish. I wanted to do a simple design with that because the stone is beautiful by itself. The Carnelian Agate is so nice once it's cut and polished and looks great in a silver backed setting.

Hampton Butte Pendant

I've made a pendant from some Hampton Butte wood replacement jasper. Jeff Guild and I took a rock hounding trip in August to Oregon and California. It was a great fun and we found some nice stuff. This cabochon is from a slab that Jeff cut from a piece he dug. (He always seems to find the best stuff. Why is that?) Anyway I've been wanting to get back to the jeweler's bench and making more jewelry. So here is my latest creation. I can't wait to get back to Hampton Butte and do some more digging. I figure Jeff couldn't have taken all the good jasper.

Halibut Fishing

Last week I went out on a charter boat and did a little halibut fishing with my Friends Steve and John. We left from Neah Bay on the tip of the NW Washington coast and headed out into the ocean at 5:00AM. After a three hour trip into Canadian waters we fished on a shelf 300 feet down. The weather was very good and the water was calm. After an hour of fishing, everyone on the boat had their limit of two halibut each. It was a great day of fishing and a great way to spend my birthday.



Apparently there are Orcas somewhere out in the ocean, but I didn't happen to see any. But I think this is what they might look like if they were to swim by.

Mary Beth & Ethan's photo link

Here is the link to view Mary Beth and Ethan's wedding photos. Click on the link on the left side of this page Labeled "Mary Beth's Wedding Photos". I also have put the photos on the Costco Photo Center web site. Let me know if you want that link and I'll email it to you. Then you can order prints from Costco at a very reasonable price.

This link take a little time to load, so be patient. There a lot of photos. The images are small, so they are not large enough to print on your home computer. That is why I also have them on the Costco web site.

Erica & Adam's Wedding

Erica and Adam's wedding in Sammamish was wonderful and the weather was just perfect. We all got a chance to meet Nicole's boyfriend, Campbell Cooper. I will post a link to Erics'a wedding when the photos are processed.

Mary Beth & Ethan's Wedding

Mary Beth and Ethan's wedding in Sun Valley, Idaho on the 19th of July was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful place to have a wedding. Thanks to Sherry and Dick for thier hospitality. I will have a link on my Blog for the photos once they get processed.

4th of July Fireworks

These are photos from the Seattle 4th of July firewoks display on Elliott Bay. The fireworks are sponsored by Ivar's.

Marien & Marien

Marien and Marien were together at the lake cabin last Sunday, where Grandma Marien celebrated her 93rd Birthday! She hardly looks like someone in her 90's. It was a beautiful weekend on Coeur d'Alene Lake and it's nice to have the Grandparents back at the lake for another summer. The flooding in May didn't cause much damage and the place cleaned up rather nicely. There was a great sunset to end the evening.

Flooding in Idaho

Coeur d' Alene lake and the rivers feeding into the lake were flooding a week ago on Memorial Day weekend. On Friday when I arrived at the cabin, the water was about 3" from the floor in the basement. With all the snow that has accumulated in the mountains and a few warm days was all it took to raise the level of the lake about 6 feet. There are lots of logs and debris floating around and there were very few boats on the lake because people couldn't launch or get out to there boat docks. By Sunday the lake had dropped 5" and has been dropping slowly since then. It may take to the end of June for the lake to drop to the normal summer level.

Four Paua Shell Pendants

These are four Paua Shell pendants set in sterling silver which I've made over the past couple of months. They are a little smaller than the other Paua pendant and earrings that I posted earlier. I was looking to create a design that was simple and a little easier to make. I wish I had a better setup for photographing jewelry. What I really need is a macro lens and better lighting.

Willow Creek Pendants

These are some pendants I made with Willow Creek Jasper from Eagle, Idaho. If you saw the first post I did, it's the same material, but more pastel colors instead of the brown and tans. This jasper is very hard and takes a great polish. They are set in sterling silver from designs I created. In three of the pieces, I've incorporated reticulated silver as part of the setting. The soft patterns and orbs in the jasper reminds me of rolling hills or clouds or as someone commented, sensual curves. Hmmm. What do you think?

Paua Shell Jewelry

This is a Paua Shell Pendant and Earrings that I have just finished. The paua shell comes from New Zealand where my cousin Carolyn collected them and was nice enough share them with me. Paua is an abalone, but they are more brilliant in color than the ones we find here in the Pacific Northwest. I cut and shaped the shell and the reticulated silver to fit in the settings which I created with square wire soldered to a sterling silver sheet. The dust from the shell is toxic and a dust mask should be worn by anyone thinking of working with the shell. These pieces of jewelry took some time and effort to make, but I'm happy with the way they turned out.

Photography

I've added a link on the left with some photography I've done over the years. There are a few photos from Hawaii where I went for a story about a Kona fish farm off the coast of the Big Island. Seeing the photos makes me long for those warm waters.
Also, there are some black & white photos from my days when I worked in Sun Valley, Idaho for a newspaper there. And there are others that I tossed in there just because I liked them. The one of the Octopus was a lucky shot that I took up in the San Juan Islands. I was doing a story about Scuba diving and at about 85 feet I came across an Octopus that wanted to get up close and personal. Anyway the story and photos ran in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I'll add a link to that in the near future, for those that might want to read it. Thanks for stopping by...

Jewelry Art

Here are some pieces of jewelry that I've created over the past few years. The one of the anchor was one I decided to make from a broken navy plate that I found while Scuba diving here in Puget Sound. Also the sea shell pendant was cast in silver from a actual shell found while diving. The Sapphire pendant at the bottom/middle of the page was made from three faceted stones from Montana where I mined them. It was a present for my mom's birthday. A lot of the jewelry I create is made with jasper or agate that I've collected rockhounding and then I cut and polish the stones into cabochons. Some of the rock comes from private claims (like willow creek jasper from Idaho) which is the only way to get the material.

If you click on the photo page it will get larger for viewing.

Obsidian Wind Chimes

Listen to the sounds of the obsidian wind chimes. The obsidian "needles" occur naturally as volcanic glass in Northern California where I mine them. In the first video, the wind chime on the left is made with driftwood and the one on the right is made with copper that I hand forged in the shape of a leaf. It was very windy here today so you can really hear their glassy sound.

Pottery

Pottery has been something I've done for many years and clay is such a wonderful medium to work in. There's nothing like the feel of mud and I love the whole process. When I finish a glaze firing and I open up the kiln, it's a lot like Christmas. You never quite know what to expect, and the colors can be amazing.

New Artwork

I thought I'd start blogging by posting a photo of one of my most recent jewelry designs. This is a willow creek jasper pendant. I cut and polished the stone and then I set in sterling silver. The round dome is reticulated silver. I've really enjoyed creating jewelry this winter. When the weather becomes a little warmer, I'll get back into making pottery out in my studio/garage.

This is my first attempt at blogging. Come back again and see what I've been doing. I'll be adding a bunch of artwork.

Thanks, James