I'm Featured on Muses Gallery

I was invited to sell on Muses Gallery a little while ago. The pages are up and look great! I fell honored to be included with a group of very talented artist. I've given Muses and exclusive on my Fairy sculpture.

Check it out:
http://www.musesgallery.com/jewelry_lunar_skies.html

Dragonfly Sculpture Sold Before It Was Finsihed

Dragonfly Sculpture Sold Before It Was Finished

 

I  managed to sell this piece before I even finished it. I had a visitor who saw the unfinished piece and wanted it as soon as I could finish it, how cool is that! Its not usually that easy but I'm not complaining.

I also had my butterfly sculpture "The Gathering" featured in a very cool recent artfire collection.
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=collections&op=details&cid=9257

Meanwhile, my 25% Off Sale continues on artfire and etsy

http://www.artfire.com/users/lunarskies

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

How I make what I make

A visitor to my booth at a recent art show looked at my jewelry and asked if I cut the stones as well as forming the metal. When I responded in the afirmative he said he was totally amazed that I could make these items from raw materials and asked, "But how?"

The following is the condensed version:

I start with a piece of rough stone.
This is a Turritella rough. Turritella is a fossil, a type of shell

First I cut through the stone, the next cut will be a thin slab

After I've cut the slabs I mark the material to cut on the trim saw, These pieces will end up being cabochons

Cutting out the cabochons

I wet the little trim slabs with water to get an idea how the finished cabs will look

I grind the cabochons on a disk grinder using a finer grit disk at each of several stages

Here are the finished cabochons

Next I start preparing the silver

Stamping my jewelrs mark and .925 Sterling stamp

Soldering bezel to the backing plate

 Some parts, it's starting to look like jewelry, a little bit anyway

I file and pre-polish areas where parts wil be soldered together

Soldering the pieces together

After final soldering, the silver is pickled in acid, then I set the stones

Polishing the silver, It's very nearly done

Some finished pieces. I hope you were looking at the jewelry insted of the mess  :0)
You can see more of my jewelry and sculpture too at my web site: http://www.lunarksies.com 

And also at my etsy shop (where I'm currently having a 25% OFF Sale): http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

The Dancers Giclee Print

This is a digital collage I created and coned my brother into printing a giclee print for me.

I wanted to find out if the image quality was good enough to make a fairly large print. He's made the print at 17" x 22" and said it looks really good. He's sent it to me, I can't wait to see the actual print.


I'm not sure if I'll try to market this as a limited edition print. I'd love to get some reaction to the image.

Fairy & Flower Sculpture

Fairy & Flower Sculpture

Handcrafted Copper and Cholla Cactus Wood Butterfly Sculpture on Oak Base; approximately 9-1/2" high, x 2-1/2" x 7". Fairy and flower are hand forged from top quality copper stock. My art is usually inspired by nature but sometimes it takes a flight into fantasy. I visualized the size and movements of fairies, then let my imagination take over. I left the flower unpolished as I did with Paisley Butterfly. 



I just finished this latest piece. It provided new challenges, but I welcome that. I'm pretty pleased with the result. Each sculpture I create is a unique work which allows me to grow as an artist.



To view larger pictures of this work follow the link below
http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html




My 25% OFF Jewelry Sale continues on my Etsy and Artfire shops: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry
http://www.artfire.com/users/lunarskies
These pieces are real bargains considering how much silver has gone up in price. 

 

I haven't made a decision about my next sculpture but I feel compelled to do one of these with a hummingbird at some point. I'm sure that I will encounter a new set of challenges with that project.

Dragonflies Sculpture

 Dragonflies Sculpture

I just finished this piece yesterday. The dragonflies were a challenge, but I'm pleased with the way they turned out.

Handcrafted Copper and Cholla Cactus Wood Dragonfly Sculpture on Maple Base; approximately 9-1/2" high, x 7-1/2" x 7-1/2". Each Dragonfly is hand forged from top quality copper, bottom figure has textured wings. Next to butterflies I like dragonflies best of all flying insects. Their flight pattern reminds me of heliocopters. Any preditor that eats mosquitos can't be all bad.

To see a couple more views, previous pieces,  and larger pictures visit my web site: http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html 

My next sculpture will have fairies. I've started work on it but it is very much in the infant stage.


My Jewelry sale at 25% Off continues on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

Moody Rings

Moody Rings

 

I'm still working on my dragonfly sculpture. It should be finished in a day or two. In the meantime, just for fun, I made these rings. I can't call them Mood Rings™ since that is trademarked, so I am thinking of calling them Moody Rings. I think that's OK but I'll have to check. They don't change color with your mood like the rings from the '70s. They just have a mood of their own.

In other news, I have a Petrified Palm Wood pendant currently featured in an Artfire collection: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=collections&op=details&cid=6351

My 25% Off  Jewelry Sale continues on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

And I set up a Mini Site at Handmade Spark: http://www.handmadespark.com/myspark/LunarSkiesJewelry

Handmade Spark - Lunar Skies Jewelry and Fine Art - silver and cabochon jewelry and butterfly sculpture

Handmade Spark - Lunar Skies Jewelry and Fine Art - silver and cabochon jewelry and butterfly sculpture

Jumbo the Petoskey Stone Elephant

Jumbo the Petoskey Stone Elephant

 In between my latest sculptures I found some time to finish this huge pendant I started a while ago (2.4" wide x 2.6" high x .2" thick).


The body is Petoskey Stone which is fossil coral found on the shores of Lake Michigan. She is standing in a mossy pool of water (actually Amethyst Sage Moss Agate) and her eye is Black Onyx.


This must be my whimsical animal period or something. I haven't put this on my web site yet but I'll leave the link anyway: http://www.lunarskies.com

And my 25% Off Jewelry Sale continues on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

Paisley Butterfly Sculpture

Paisley Butterfly Sculpture

Handcrafted Copper and Cholla Cactus Wood Butterfly Sculpture on Maple Base; approximately 21-3/4" high, base is approximately 4" x 7-1/4". Butterfly is hand cut with paisley wings, forged from top quality copper stock. Being a child of the Sixties, I never outgrew some of the fashions. The flower is unpolished, the heat from soldering accelerated the oxidation process crating a very nice patina.  The flower is a bit fanciful, it looks like a poppy with a rose stem to me. But then, I never really saw a paisley butterfly either.


I am having a great time creating these sculptures. New ideas are coming faster than I can make them; dragonflies, bees, hummingbirds, and more.


Meanwhile my 25% Off Jewelry continues on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry


To see more picture of this sculpture go to http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html

Butterfly Duet Sculpture

This is the latest in my Butterfly Sculpture Series. This piece is called "Butterfly Duet".

Handcrafted Copper and Cholla Cactus Wood Butterfly Sculpture on Birch Base; approximately 8" high, x 2-1/2" wide x 2-3/8" deep. Both butterflies are hand cut and forged from top quality copper stock. Inspired by butterfly movement and a desire to create a wall piece in a price range that is affordable for almost any collector.

Visit my web site to see more pictures
http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html

Meanwhile my jewelry sale (25% Off) continues on etsy
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

As usual I've got more pieces in the works including a Paisley Butterfly sculpture and an Elephant Pendant. I'm trying to focus on creating more unique pieces, if not as contemporary as most of the jewelry I've made lately.


I want to thank everyone who has commented on my posts for their invaluable feedback.


Quentin

Butterfly Sculpture from Lunar Skies

My jewelry sales haven't been burning up the web so I decided on a two pronged program; Market & Diversify. I'm having a Jewelry Sale in my Etsy store (25% off). These are great prices considering that silver is now more than $23.00 an ounce. Here's the link to my store http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

And now for the exciting news, at least it's exciting for me. I've started creating a sculpture line. I just finished the first piece two days ago. It's called "The Gathering" and I feel like a new Papa. Included are thumbnail pics and here is a link to my fine art site http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html


Here's a little info about the piece: Handcrafted Copper and Cholla Cactus Wood Butterfly Sculpture on Oak Base; approximately 28-1/2" high, base is approximately 5-1/4" x 9-1/2". Each butterfly is hand cut and forged from top quality copper stock. I was inspired to create this work from watching butterflies gather at the eucalyptus groves on the Central Coast of California and also at Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona. I believe I have captured the feeling of freedom butterflies inspire.

I'm working an two other sculptures in the meantime, and will post them soon.

Artfire Special Offer

Why do I care if you save $10.00 a month? Because it can save $10.00 a month for me too!

Artfire.com is offering Pro upgrades and new Pro stores at 4.95 per month during a switch over from beta. That's a 10.00 per month savings for a rate that locks in as long as you continue the Pro account. This sounds like an ad but I am actually just passing this info along to other artist because it's such a good deal. They want at least 20,000 members to sign up or upgrade and they will discontinue the offer when they reach 50,000 members. Check it out at http://www.artfire.com/groupdeal.

While you're at it check out my Artfire Store at http://www.artfire.com/users/lunarskies or my web site at http://www.lunarskies.com

Lunar Skies First Blog

I'm Quentin Eckman and this is my first attempt at blogging. I create hand crafted silver and cabochon jewelry which can be seen at http://www.lunarskies.com
I've been cutting most of the cabochons I use in my jewelry and have recently added a link to sell cabochons to other jewelers. There are several reasons for this: cutting my own stones provides an economical resource for unique materials and at the same time provides artistic freedom since I decide the cut of the stone for the piece I will design, If I cut stones to tumble (my tumbler holds 4-1/2 lbs. of stones) I end up with more stones than I can use. The image shown here is some of my jewelry using Picture Jasper gemstones (one of my favorites). I cut and use a variety of stones, I like so many different types. I like to keep the silver work simple and elegant, and let the gemstones tell the story.