Not For Sale

Not For Sale

My two latest sculptures were given as gifts but I can't resist showing them off because I'm so pleased with the way they turned out. The first is called Butterfly Duo & Poppy this is a wall hanging piece.

 

The second is called Six Butterflies and a Poppy, this is a free-standing piece.

 

Both pieces are made with Copper, Cholla Cactus Wood, and Oak.

You can see some sculptures I do have for sale at http://www.lunarskies.com/pages1/fineart.html

or visit my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/LunarSkiesJewelry

or my ArtFire Shop at http://www.artfire.com/users/lunarskies

I'm also working on some new sculptures and jewelry pieces I'll be posting soon.

Crazy Lace in the Virgin Islands

I cut most of the cabochons I use in my jewelry. I also sell cabochons on my gemstone web site, Lunar Skies Cabochons. I've made an offer to cabochons buyers, if they send me pictures of jewelry they create with my stones and I will feature them on my site. I haven't been selling stones for too long but I got my first feature posted last week. The stone I sold is a crazy lace agate, pictured here.


Liz Tylecki-Kuniej from FantaSea Jewelry STX  created this beautiful
pendant from this crazy lace agate cabochon. It is paired with a garnet  and citrine, in hand forged Sterling silver. I think she did an incredible job on this piece. I visited her web site, and I have to say, her work is stunning.

Artist, Liz Tylecki, once a fashion designer whose travels took her from Chicago to New York City, is now a full-time resident of the Virgin Islands. Her inspiration flows from her love of the ocean and her passion for sea turtles.

In her free time, she volunteers during sea turtle nesting season, working with the various leatherback, hawksbill and green turtles who visit the island’s shores.

Visit FantaSea Jewelry STX http://www.fantaseajewelrystx.com/

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.