new work

I have a new series over at the meredith dewald design Etsy shop!

been a while . . .

I just got back from Nashville with a slew of new ideas. it helps to get away sometimes and shake off the day-to-day. right now I'm watching a vintage set of letter stamps on ebay. I love the look of the old typeface stamps on silver.

there are pendants up now at the meredithddesign shop. I want to set up one of the dress forms to do some examples of how the pendants hang, but I also need to set up the shoot space. hopefully that will get done this evening.

I've been getting into bidding on Alchemy requests lately. it's really pretty wonderful what they've done with it. buyers can set up requests for items and then artists bid to get the job. I've done several now, and if nothing else it helps get the wheels turning.

well, off to go create . . .

new shop

it's open! I posted some new items in my second Etsy store. here are a couple of the new things for sale:
what's really great is how well the workbench is working out. it's this huge monster of a bench, but what makes it great is that it was built by my great-grandfather ages ago. there's one vise bolted to the front, and another that can be bolted to the top (it's just sitting to the side for now). I've added a bench pin to the front, and extended the shelf underneath. if I can get everything straigtened up downstairs I might even post a picture at some point! :-)

banner concepts

new shop

I've decided to open a second shop in Etsy. This one will focus more on high-end, one of a kind pieces and collections. It's going to be the main design studio label, with coffeeshopchic the more whimsical and less expensive shop. we'll see how all of it goes, but it's really for me to experiment with my brand and product lines.

quiet for a while

I've been working on an overhaul for the shop, and possibly an additional shop for higher-end metalwork. we'll see . . .

one thing for sure though, I've been ordering new equipment for metalsmithing. right now I'm waiting on the arrival of a two-barrel polishing tumbler. one barrel is going to have polished steel shot, and the other with a fine river rock. the steel gives you a nice high polish, and the river rock gives you more of a luster polish. I had been avoiding making a lot of things (especially chain) because polishing with a wheel is not only much messier and time-involved, but dangerous if you're polishing chain. I'm also trying out a non-toxic pickle (acid) solution for cleaning the metal. in a few weeks there should be some great new things up in the shop!