ShadowDogDesigns' Blog

Catherine's Blog About Jewelry, Gemstones and Other Artists
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A Short History of Beautiful Pewter

Published: 06-14-2013 03:09pm
Posted In: History of . . .
Lately, I have missed working with  large sterling silver pendants.  Now, if you are a jewelry designer, you know that the price of sterling silver skyrocketed through the roof several years ago and has not come back down much.  Large pieces I used to buy for $10-$20 I have seen go for $65-$90 now!!!  Yow!  What is a person to do?  Well, what I decided to do was take a hard look at pewter.  I had always associated pewter with the health hazards of lead that a lot of it contained and  generally not good quality, cheap looking work.  However, when taking this close, hard look at pewter pieces being produced today, I was amazed at the qualit... » Read More

Bodaciously Beautiful Bracelets!

Published: 06-10-2013 03:48pm
Posted In: Collections
Bracelets, along with earrings, are my favorite pieces of jewelry.  I especially love sterling and gemstone cuffs and will often wear them stacked on my left arm (I live in the Southwest, after all!).  Bracelets come in so many different styles and materials.  While browsing through the artist's studios of the Jewelry Creators Unite in Numbers guild, I decided to curate a collection and named it "Bodaciously Beautiful Bracelets".  What a fun collection it was to put together - and hard, too, since there were so many beauties to choose from!  I decided to blog about the bracelets and also share a short history of this ancient type of adornment... » Read More

Some of My Newest Handmade Jewelry

Published: 06-01-2013 12:00pm
Posted In: Some of My Jewels
Carol Alt, supermodel, actress and jewelry designer once said, "I hope that women everywhere will wear this jewelry and and feel the passion and love, that is, to me, the real spirit of true harmony".  I like that quote and hope that women who wear my jewelry feel the same way (:I have been so busy lately filling out applications for juried arts festivals, preparing for shows and doing collaborative work with a dichroic artist friend, that I'm not sure which of my pieces of jewelry have been shared and which have not.  Even though I don't normally write blog posts like this (I would much rather promote other artists), I decided to share seven of... » Read More

The Trees in My Forest

Published: 05-29-2013 08:30pm
Posted In: Collections
John Muir, in the "Mountains of California", once said, "We travel the Milky Way together, trees and men".  Maybe because of this spiritual quote, I decided to re-read a favorite book called "The Trees in My Forest" by Bernd Heinrich.  Mr. Henrich describes the trees in his Maine forest through a fascinating blend of science, philosophy and personal story.  But what I really love is that the first several sentences of the description on the dust jacket states, "Each of us has a forest. For the fortunate few, this forest is real and can be visited.  Most of us return to our trees only in memory or imagination".  Now living in a desert, I have ... » Read More

Circles of Our Lives

Published: 05-20-2013 02:22pm
Posted In: History of . . .
Sometimes the most mundane of things in life suddenly captures my imagination.  The other day, when I was outside with Seamus, the very handsome Shadow Dog, I started thinking about circles (yes, my brain does shoot off on a tangents sometimes!)  You see circles everywhere:  most door knobs, most coins, the sun and moon, the pupil of most animal's eyes and the wheel, just to name a few.  Most people don't give them a second thought unless you're a mathematician, an architect or an artist.  As a gardener and an avid observer of nature, I daily feel the circle of life all around me on a more cosmological scale: day/night, phases of the moon, se... » Read More

Deep Purple

Published: 05-18-2013 05:50pm
Posted In: Collections
I am of the age  . . . ahem . . . where the music I grew up with is now called "Classic Rock".  And while my musical interests are very eclectic - from Ladysmith Black Mombazo to Coldplay; from the Moody Blues to Blackmore's Night; from Madame Butterfly to Eddie Vedder; from Jeff Buckley to Johann Sebastian Bach; from John McDermott to Kate Wolf; from Matt Kearney to Thea Gilmore to Willie Nelson, and all sorts of music in between - when I NEED to hear music, my Pandora station is opened to my classic rock station.  Nothing better to get me in the mood to create a new jewelry piece, promote other artists or to blog (BTW, Crosby Stills and Nas... » Read More

Natural Turquoise vs. All Others

Published: 05-13-2013 09:03pm
I love using turquoise in my designs since, even as a small child, it has always been a favorite gemstone.  Unfortunately there is quite a bit of misconceptions out there about turquoise.  And, due to unscrupulous dealers, there are stones (even plastic!!!) being passed off as genuine turquoise.  Good quality turquoise, especially American, is getting harder to find and more expensive since many mines have closed.  The turquoise that is still coming out of open mines is often of a lower quality than what was once produced.  I was dismayed when visiting the Turquoise Museum in Albuquerque to learn that a majority of silversmithing Native Ameri... » Read More

New ArtFire Bloggers Guild

Published: 05-10-2013 05:31pm
Posted In: Artists' Work
A new ArtFire guild has just formed to help promote members' blogs, whether the blog is on ArtFire or on another platform.  Share a new post in the ArtFire Bloggers Guild thread and then comment on the other posts that have been left since your last check in.  Since Google loves blogs, the purpose is to drive more traffic to your blog with more views leading to your studio and, ultimately, more sales.  I want to share a favorite item from each of the ArtFire Bloggers guild.  Such wonderful creative works, as you will see:Red and blue thin line survival paracord bracelet by Jennifer of DesertCreationsElegant wedding cake handmade congratulation... » Read More

Countdown to Mother's Day - Week 12

Published: 05-06-2013 03:07pm
Posted In: Countdown to Mother's Day
It is with somewhat of a heavy heart that this is week 12 of the Mother's Day Countdown hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions!  Week 12 - the last week of shared handmade and vintage items - where, oh where, did the time go?  Many, many thanks to Julie and Blu for hosting such a successful Countdown!  I'm sure everyone will agree that the Countdown was great fun with so many wonderfully creative items that are perfect for even the hardest-to-please Mom! Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12 - almost here now.  If you haven't done your shopping, there is still time.  A perfect place to shop is at Julie and Blu's Mother's Day Gift Ideas ... » Read More

Countdown to Mother's Day - Week 11

Published: 04-29-2013 01:46pm
Posted In: Countdown to Mother's Day
Oh my gosh, can you believe we are on week 11 of the Mother's Day Countdown hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions!?!  Eleven weeks of handmade and vintage items - where did the time go?  Oh, I know - some of it was spent promoting all the wonderful items that have been shared these past weeks (:  I'm sure everyone will agree with me that the Countdown has been LOTS of fun with many, many of spectacularly creative items perfect for even the hard-to-please Mom! Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12 - almost here now.  Have you done your shopping yet?  There's still time!  A perfect place to shop is at Julie and Blu's Mother's Day Gift I... » Read More

Countdown to Mother's Day Gift Ideas - Week 10

Published: 04-22-2013 02:28pm
Posted In: Countdown to Mother's Day
It's week 10 of the Mother's Day Countdown, hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions!  Remember when we started and Mother's Day seemed such a loooong way off?!?  LOL!  Only two more weeks left.  I'm sure all will agree that the Countdown has been loads of fun with lots of spectacularly creative items shared and promoted.  Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12 - not too far in the distance now.  Now is definitely the time to start shopping for Mom if you haven't already done that.  A perfect place to do your shopping is at Julie and Blu's Mother's Day Gift Ideas Countdown, a collection of handmade and vintage items any Mother will love t... » Read More

Countdown to Mother's Day Gift Ideas - Week 9

Published: 04-15-2013 01:50pm
Posted In: Countdown to Mother's Day
The Countdown gift collection for week 9 is closed.  Week 9 - Wow!  Can you believe that there are only 3 weeks left of the Mother's Day Countdown?  I'm sure you will agree with me that the Countdown has been LOTS of fun with LOTS of wonderfully creative items shared and promoted!Mother's Day, Sunday, May 12, is fast approaching!  If you haven't already started shopping for your Mum, now is definitely the time!  A perfect place to do your shopping is at Julie and Blu's Mother's Day Gift Ideas Countdown, a collection of handmade and vintage items any Mother will love and cherish.  The Countdown will run for another 3 weeks, which, when it ... » Read More

Welcome to ArtFire!

Published: 04-12-2013 03:54pm
ArtFire has great forums - you can learn so many new things and make such good friends!  Every couple of weeks, I check the the threads where artists of newly opened ArtFire studios introduce themselves and also the studios that have had their (exciting!) first sales.  In this post, I thought I would share a few of these studios with you as a "Welcome to ArtFire"!The first studio is called SpiritArt and is owned by Janeane.  I have to say, I am so totally taken with her mystical, ethereal art.  Trees figure greatly in many of her art pieces, and being a tree hugger from way back, I especially love those.  Here are two pieces of Janeane's art:... » Read More

Girls Gotta Have Pearls!

Published: 04-10-2013 02:01pm
Posted In: Collections
Before Mikimoto in the early 1900's perfected the process of culturing pearls, natural pearls were so rare and expensive that only the nobility and the very wealthy could afford to wear them.  According to Victoria Finlay, in her book "Jewels, A Secret History", Julius Caesar, who was obsessed with pearls, might have invaded the British Isles in 55 B.BC. to guarantee a constant supply of his favorite jewel.  Roman historian Suetonius recorded that General Vitellius financed an entire military campaign by selling just one of his mother's pearls (who he later was said to have starved to fulfill a prophecy).  Richard Burton paid $37,000 for a perf... » Read More

Countdown to Mother's Day Gift Ideas - Week 8

Published: 04-08-2013 09:33am
Wow!  Can you believe that as of this week, we are 2/3 of the way through the Mother's Day Countdown?  Am sure you will agree with me that the Countdown has been fun, with LOTS of wonderful items shared and promoted!Mother's Day is going to be here before we know it, Sunday, May 12!  Now is the time to start your Mother's Day gift list.  A perfect place to do your browsing/shopping is at Julie and Blu's Mother's Day Gift Ideas Countdown, a collection of handmade and vintage items any Mum will love  The Countdown will run for another 4 weeks, which, when it ends, will make 12 weeks total.  Last week 83 beautiful handmade and vintage items we... » Read More

Countdown to Mother's Day Gift Ideas - Week 7

Published: 04-01-2013 02:18pm
Posted In: Countdown to Mother's Day
Wow!  Can you believe that we are a bit over 1/2 way through the Mother's Day Countdown?  It's April 1st today!  Where does the days go?  Hmmmm . . . a good part of the day is sent right here in front of the computer - LOL!    With Mother's Day is fast approaching, Sunday, May 12, now is the time to start your Mother's Day shopping.  A perfect place to do your shopping is at Julie and Blu's Mother's Day Gift Ideas Countdown, a collection of handmade and vintage items any Mum will love  The Countdown will run for another 5 weeks, which will make 12 weeks total.  Last week 96 wonderful handmade and vintage items were shared.  This week we... » Read More
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