Mark and I just returned from an overnight trip to an awesome Wisconsin rock shop called The Gem Shop~ [link] Mark took me there rock & gem shopping as a surprise birthday gift We'll be posting some of the amazing rough gem material we came home with over the next week.

Mark also surprised me with a beautiful drawing of our beloved Tokay gecko Helga sitting on Mark's hand looking happy and peaceful. Mark commissioned the piece from the multi-talented Elly Pieper.




Elly has a series of reptile drawings titled "Enter the Dragon" that I have been in love with since discovering her gallery. I am thrilled to own one of her drawings! Her work is even more impressive in person... the detail she achieved in Helga's drawing is incredible!! Elly captured the peaceful and content expression Helga gets when sitting on Mark's hand perfectly.



Other examples of Elly's "Enter the Dragon" series~


I send a HUGE thank-you to Elly for one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever received and to Mark for one of the best birthdays I've ever had

** More photos of our beautiful Tokay gecko Helga~



I'm happy to announce that Mark and I will now be the new co-administrators to the Rockhounds club! We're looking forward to helping Cynthia and Henry with the club

Our Blue Velvet Pendant was chosen as a full length step-by-step project for Art Jewelry magazine's September,2008 issue




The article will be a three section step-by-step project and the second section will be the magazine's first feature on the art of hand engraving! The fabrication process for Mark's V-Setting bail design will also be featured in the article's third section The September issue hits the stands about a month to 5 weeks early... so you'll be seeing this article available late July through early August.





~ A close-up of Mark's V-Setting sapphire bail~

Mark and I have a pretty large studio... these shots show a few of the most used areas of our shop. I didn't even get into the lapidary areas... maybe I'll feature a series of lapidary shop photos in the future if people are interested. ?


I got inspired to take a series of studio shots after seeing a few of
Hyllyn's bench/studio photos~


~ OUR BENCH~

" /

~BENCH CLOSE-UP~~



~SOLDERING STATION~



~ WAX CARVING STATION~



~ DRAWING TABLE ~





~ A FEW ROCKS... MARK'S MESS~...




This shot shows some of the cabs and specimens Mark has cut on the top shelf and a bunch of various slabs on the bottom shelves

Our Viridias Pendant~ has been chosen as a gallery feature in the June issue of Art Jewelry Magazine~[link]

These are more photos of our new California Poppies pendant~




The focal fire agate gem in this piece reminded me of the California Poppy's bright orange color













Please check out our original deviation~


We've gotten news that we've been included in DeviantART's Top Artists Directory







Our Featured Artists



A brand new addition to DevaintART... Swanson's work is an awesome combination of wirework and metalwork fabrication.. he calls his recent series "The Hybrids"




David Greene has been a professional master jeweler and gemologist for well over a decade. I highly recommend you take the time to look through his gallery of extraordinary jewelry




Paula Jensen of Earth Eagle Forge is new to DA with less than 1,000 page views. Check out her gallery of exquisite hand forged bronze art objects and furniture.







Maggok's gallery is filled with a combination of gorgeous traditional and digital art. We love her bird paintings






Steven Fitz-Gerald has a gallery filled with a full range of art such as stainless steel sculpture, furniture, jewelry, fountains, gates and photography.

"The magic is not in the material of the piece but in the hand that created it"





Elly Pieper is a multi-talented artist and among our favorites on DA Her gallery is filled with impressive artwork in a wide range of mediums including beadwork and jewelry design in silver clay and art glass, traditional drawing and stained glass. We're big fans of her reptile drawings







Ceramic artist Jerry Rhodes
"Rather than seeking a harmonious balance or simplicity through my work, I try to achieve dynamic and imaginative results by challenging the boundaries of gravity, material science, chemistry, and sometimes, common sense."





Ceramic artist Milo Von Strom's gallery was a great recent addition to DA. We love his pottery accented with a variety of birds, animals and insects.





Ria van der Holst is a very talented painter...we were very impressed with her animal oil paintings. She currently has a small gallery here on DA but her website is filled with amazing work~[link]





Morrighan has a gallery filled with captivating wildlife images~






Check out Hyllyn's Japanese Brush Rest and Weight as well as his photo record of the making of this beautiful piece. I also enjoyed the in-process photos included in his journal~[link] The rest of his gallery is great too

This was the first attempt at making a spider web setting for one of my mother's hand carved opal spiders. I made this in my first year making jewelry. The pierced web was sweat soldered to a solid sterling base and the spider carving was bezel set in 14k gold. The design was topped off by a prong set diamond accent.





Version II~ Pierced sterling silver, hand carved Andamooka matrix opal and 2.9mm diamond accent.

Pendant Design by Jessica and Mark
Spider Carving by Jessa's mom Martha Borzoni








Version III~ Pierced Argentium silver, hand carved Andamooka rainbow opal and chrome pyrope garnet accents.

Pendant Design by Jessica and Mark
Spider Carving by Jessa's mom Martha Borzoni

These are some of the photos from our newest pendant Metamorphosis. I wanted to combine the feeling of an insect with the shape and veining in leaves. We have more in-process photos of some of our other projects posted on our Xanga blog~ [link]

We'd love any comments or critiques of this new piece

*~METAMORPHOSIS~*
By Jessica Dow and Mark Anderson

This Argentium silver pendant has a pierced base, four sections of pierced overlay, hand engraving detail, texturing, bezel set Australian opal cabs and prong set pink spinel gem accents.
*Cabs cut by Mark Anderson*

One of the rough draft sketches for the Metamorphosis pendant~

A photo taken after the five individual sections of piercing were completed and ready for sweat soldering~

The Finished pendant~

This is some of the rough labradorite material Mark has been cutting for the rings we've made recently

~SPECTROLITE~


*~LABRADORITE~*


~*LIGHTNING RIDGE CRYSTAL~


~ANDAMOOKA GEM MATRIX OPAL ROUGH~


~ ANDAMOOKA GEM MATRIX OPAL*~




~GEM QUALITY CHRYSOPRASE~


~CHRYSOCOLLA & GEM SILICA with DRUSY~


~MALACHITE, AZURITE & CHRYSOCOLLA CABS cut by Jessa~


~SUGILITE~*


~FIRE AGATE~


~RASPBERRY CONDOR AGATE~


~AMMOLITE~


~ANDAMOOKA JELLY OPAL LIZARD CARVING by Jessa's mom~


~AFRICAN SUNSTONE CARVING by MARK~**