ParksAndOlive Gets OutAndAbout!

Hi folks, this holiday season get up close and personal with ParksAndOlive jewelry!! In Portland, check it out at the awesome VintageVintage PDX! And starting Nov 17th, see my work at Handcrafted for the Holidays @Studios on the Park in Paso Robles, CA. Enjoy!

New Pieces Afoot!!

Just starting to upload a bunch of new pieces to my parksandolive.com and my etsy site (yes, still!) at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ParksAndOlive. I'll be spreading out the uploads over the next couple of weeks.

I'm particularly fond of this silver, 18k gold and chrysoberyl ring. What the heck is chrysoberyl, you ask?! Well, it's a particularly hard stone, 8.5 on the Mohs Hardness scale, from the family of alexandrite and cat's eye. Almost as hard as ruby and sapphire (9 on the Mohs scale) or diamond at 10.

Chrysoberyl is also supposed to mean good fortune, if you believe in that sort of thing. Gosh, I guess every little bit helps!

Hey, if you get a chance, check out my ParksAndOlive Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ParksAndOlive/ and my tiny, tiny Insta site at https://www.instagram.com/parksandolive/

Thanks and bonne chance!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Hi everyone. I'm channeling Martha Stewart today, photographing the new Medium Button Ring (81.00) with Martha's favorite peonies. Heck, they're my favorite too.

This month, I'm creating a line of Button Rings for a little shop in downtown Portland. So excited to see how they all turn out!!

But in the meantime, I want to wish all the moms out there a VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! Have a great one : )

Check out the new Temp Website

*New!* *Improved!*

Ok folks, I'm giving Etsy and their ilk one last chance. I've created a new temp site using Pattern by Etsy. The site is here - http://parksandolive.patternbyetsy.com/. The website is clean and simple, and connects directly to the Etsy site. The thinking is that I'll now have a much better way to present my work to prospective retailers.

The site will have a new logo soon, as well as additional pieces and categories. In the meantime, I'm taking feedback if you've got it!!

Eventually, within the next week or two, I'll point my real domain, parksandolive.com at the site if I get a pretty good response. If not, it's hello Squarespace!

Water Cast Bubble Ring

How do I love thee, bubble ring? Let me count the ways.

I love how the water cast "bubbles" are completely random and organic.

I love that the 18k gold is recycled from old gold chains.

I love that the forget-me-not flowers are blooming in my garden.

I love creating beautiful objects that are completely unique.

Happy spring, people!!!

Hand Textured Copper Tiny Dish

This was a fun one. I have a ton of heavy copper sheeting just loitering around, and today I decided to do something with it. Novel thought!

This tiny dish-to-put-things-into is about 2.75" by 2.20" and is textured in multiple ways. Hand hammered... check. Push holed... check. Hammered on top of the push holes... check. Dapping blocked... check.

I'll get it up on my site soon, along with a TON of other pieces that have been patiently waiting to be posted. I clearly don't have much time right now, but I clearly, CLEARLY, love working with metals every which way : )

Emerald, baby...

Still knee deep in the organic water cast aesthetic. And now taking it a step further! In addition to some light texturing/metal graffiti on this 18k yellow gold pendant, I've added a natural emerald to create some deep, dramatic color. Art-y!!

For the full deets, check out my Etsy page at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ParksAndOlive

(And no, I still haven't had time to set up my Handmade at Amazon page. Truly do need an assistant, stat)!

Just a note about my first little Black Friday Sale! Enjoy 20% off everything on the Parks & Olive site with code THANKS20 - https://www.etsy.com/shop/ParksAndOlive


Thank you!!!

Alison's Adventures in Wonderland

Having so much fun putting together some organic water cast pendants. Water casting entails literally melting the metal (silver and gold) and carefully dripping it into a big water bucket where it instantly solidifies. I love that you can slightly influence how they'll turn out, but you can't ultimately have much say. A small glimpse of chaos theory in action.

So... about the Etsy situation. I've decided to pull all my traditionally cast pieces so I don't have to deal with their bureaucracy. I've left up my fabricated pieces and some of my quick cast (water, cuttlebone, charcoal) will be up there as well. I should have these guys (above) up within the next few days.

I've been accepted into Amazon Handmade, and I hope, hope, hope to find the time to get all my pieces (traditionally cast or otherwise) up there on the site within the next two weeks. Boy, do I need an assistant!!

Desperately Seeking An Etsy Alternative

Wow, turns out Etsy is getting harder and harder to deal with. Case in point - I have some of my pieces cast by my friend on the central coast of CA. In his backyard. Now Etsy is requiring me to fill out an excessive multipage manufacturing relationship form, including photos, process and diagrams. Not even kidding.

And so, I am hereby looking for an alternate handmade marketplace.  If anyone has a suggestion, please throw it my way via comments or an email.

Conversely, it may just be a sign that it's time to do my own site and build up the business a bit more. Yes, it could be that time...

Blue, Blue, My Ring is Blue...

So this ring has taken a while to complete.

While I carved the beast out of wax and had it cast months ago, I took my time to mull about adding a little something extra. 

I wanted to do something special, so I ultimately decided to flush mount a stone on the underside of the ring. A little pop of color. A little secret something. I rather liked the idea of a hidden surprise.

I drilled the initial setting and tried out an amethyst, a tanzanite, an orange-y garnet, but nothing looked quite right.

Then, joy of joys, I found the right stone! I found a clear blue aquamarine at my go-to stone guy's place downtown in the jewelry building. (Yes, there's a jewelry building here in Portland. Building is from the 20's. You get buzzed in and everything. Coolest thing ever).

Anyway, though the stone looked wonderful, the damn thing wouldn't fit. I tried every which way to get it to seat correctly. After many attempts, I finally got jiggy with the setting bur and tried a little expansion in the width. Bingo! It snapped in last night and I spent several hours burnishing it into place.

So, yeah, smiling about this one! Just put it up on the Etsy site - https://www.etsy.com/shop/ParksAndOlive with a couple other new pieces. Have about 40 more completed pieces that just need to get photographed and uploaded, ack! So, stay tuned! More good stuff coming soon!!

The Silver Scrunchie

I made this little bit of wonderful as a request from my daughter. It's a sterling silver ponytail barrette (there will be a covered elastic attached to the underside). The barrette is kind of a rif on what we used to wear in the 1970s. But a touch more aerodynamic : ) I've field tested the beast and it fits and works just perfectly. Looks smashing too!!

After my move I'll make a few more and post them on my Parks&Olive etsy site. Maybe I'll make some with different textures, maybe some with a touch of 18k gold. Excited about the possibilities!!!

Bands of Gold

Created for a special order that came in from Australia, my first wedding bands!! Happy little project... ok big project! But very fulfilling.

When it Rains...

Good gravy. How is it that my jewelry business decides to blow up just when my life is getting busy with SO many other things? Custom orders, brick and mortar stores, even a few Etsy sales. Well, I guess it's a good problem to have. Going to be a lively year!!

Creating the Oeuf!

Having a great time in my metal surfaces class at the Multnomah Arts Center! Today I sawed an egg shaped mold out of a slab of solid acrylic. A good hour's worth of sawing. Then I used a hydraulic press and mass quantities of torque to suck the textured copper into the mold. Nifty! Puffy! This will eventually be the core of a pendant to go with a massive turquoise necklace.

I usually create small pieces, but heck, this time I'm going large.

Never stop learning!!

Flush Setting Tanzanites

Happy Holidays everyone!!

I'm having a marvelous time working with drill bits today. In all honesty, it is mighty challenging flush setting stones on an uneven surface like this hand-cast ring. For me, at least. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's, well, 462.

I'll finish up this ring in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I'm going to work on something a little more standard, a little more flat, even and thin. Now where the hell is my 12 gauge square wire!!

One is Silver and the Other's Gold

A couple of good updates. The last week or so I've been diving in and finishing up some lingering pieces before starting on some new work. Actually treating Parks & Olive as the side business it is turning into!

Finished the 18k gold band and I'm SO happy with it. Ended up adding a soft texture to the metal. It was just what the piece needed.

Unabashedly swiped the idea of styling a jewelry piece on a flower stem from my dear, artistic daughter. She had recently designed a similar shoot for The Dreslyn.

Been really pushing to get my photography better for the pieces. I had heard from several folks that natural light was the way to go for jewelry. But man, oh man, my lighting was all over the place!!! I was getting almost frustrated, then, as a last resort I dragged out my lights. My smallest little lightbox lights worked perfectly and really did the trick.

At last, I've got silver looking like silver, and gold looking like gold. Oh happy day!!

My First...

So, so happy to make my first little sale last week!! I love this necklace. I carved a curvy, sloping egg out of the hard blue wax, then had it cast in silver by my great casting guy in Arroyo Grande. I used three different drills to set the garnet, then burnished the hell out of it to move the silver over and lock the stone in place. Really pleased with how this turned out.

Lots more pieces being photographed this week! They should post shortly (next week) to my little Etsy site - https://www.etsy.com/shop/ParksAndOlive : )

Babysteps

I've realized I need a jewelry blog in addition to my other bloggy endeavors. I need a place to share my exciting new pieces in progress, my work process, my finished bits and beyond... so here we go!!!