a happy sale

I feel bad for making you wait so darn long 

for a shop update so I decided to brighten your day!

A little sale in my Etsy shop starts now...

and ends on Sunday!

Have a spectacular day!

love ~tess

swoon

I swear I only left the studio for a quick 

coffee refill or bathroom break this weekend :o)

But I almost finished it!

Thought it could be fun for you to follow along my studio

weekend so I tried to take lots of photos along the way.

The gnarly soldering block...

I started with soldering all the little embellishments 

to the silver triangles I had cut earlier.

I found this gallery bezel wire I thought would

look pretty at the bottom of the crown.

Did I tell you I love binding wire?

It adds a little something extra don't you think?

Phew... I didn't melt any filigree wire when I soldered them.

I didn't want super modern straight lines on my crown 

so I shaped all around the edges.

 

Added these cute little guys to hold bobby pins.

Don't want the crown to fall off my head!

More binding wire :o)

Taadaaa!

Some polishing, tumbling and just a little bit of

oxidization I think will do the trick!

And then I have to flush set all them little stones.

Diamonds? Uhum.. no but I wish!

Small clear and champagne colored 

cubic zirconia stones will add some sparkle.

Total of 40 stones...  So I'll be busy this week too!

54 days to go....

Enough daydreaming... now I have to get to work!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

love ~tess 

setting the scene

Lucky for me I am marrying the most talented man on the planet...

and he's super cute with a hat and a shovel...

You think this looks cool?

Just wait. It is far from finished. :o)

But you'll have to wait another 56 days before 

I'll show you what it will look like when it's done.

I know, I know.. so mean... but... David didn't want me to show 

this photo at all so you're lucky to get this close of a sneak peak. 

Hopefully he won't be dropping by my blog today he he

He showed me how to stain :o)

We picked the colors together the other day.

And yesterday we painted until the sun set.

And this morning the sun peaked out 

and the blue looked exactly how I dreamed it would.

All I can say that after every detail has been added and finished,

this is going to be one awesome backdrop for our special day.

oh and it's friday today... 

Doesn't get much better than that!

Have a wonderful weekend my lovely friends!

~tess

wedding wednesday's

 

 

So I got off work early yesterday and I was just about 

to start working on the new pieces for my upcoming shop update 

when I decided to focus on myself instead..

Yes I do feel a little bit guilty... 

But I realized that I have my next dress fitting April first.

No joke!

And I need my bridal crown by then so I can see it all together.

In case I look ridiculous I will have time to come up with a back up plan 

ha ha

So I sat down at the bench and stared at the little triangles I had cut.

At the little filigree swirls...

...and then I started working.

Bending wires, making little silver balls 

for flush set stones and filigree roses.

Slowly it started to come together.

And before I knew it I had landed on a design!

 Taaadaaa!

But you never know with me. I might still tweak it or change it.

At least I felt like I got somewhere. 

I have been slightly terrified of working on it for some reason.

I am really hoping I'll get some time to start soldering it together tonight.

Please cross your fingers that I won't mess up!

love ~tess

I spent most of the weekend in the studio. 

David was outside building the backdrop for the wedding.

And then the screen door litterally fell off when I opened it.

So then he had to re-attach it again...

I think he muttered something about whoever used

finishing nails to attach it in the first place wasn't very sharp...

and no it wasn't me!

I "only" finished two Lycka rings.. 

I wanted to get so much more done. 

I am dying to set a date for the next shop update. 

I think I am starting to come to terms with that 

I am not very fast when I work in the studio. 

I am careful and my process takes a long time. 

But I enjoy every bit of it. 

Hopefully it will all be worth it...

in my studio:

I am a fluttering butterfly moving from piece to piece

My brain moves so much faster than my hands

I'll celebrate a small victory by singing to myself ... oh yeah I did it!

I'll mutter some Swedish curse words when things fail....   skit också!

I feel so free in my own little world of filigree and stones...

Can someone please tell me where the weekend went?

Surely that was not two full days? 

Someone must have stolen Sunday... 

Can I please have it back!

love ~tess

across the ocean

It's scary what is happening in the world today.

I watch the news as my heart is breaking.

I wonder if there will even be a world for my unborn children to live in...

I look around me and feel so grateful for what I have.

My health.

My loved ones.

A home to live in.

My thoughts goes out to the people of Japan.

I can't stop thinking of them.

Wondering what they are going through.

I won't pretend I can even imagine.

In a way we live such sheltered lives.

Safe and so incredible lucky.

I send my love across the ocean.

Hoping that they know we are all thinking of them,

praying for a happy ending.

love ~tess

its gonna be a big one

 The bench is in disaster shape right now.

I have been working like crazy to complete 

some new work for my next shop update.

I have kept you all waiting for so long that I feel like

I need to make up for it.

So the next update 

(date to be announced later)

is gonna be a big one.

I am not going to Reserve any of these pieces.

I feel that it's most fair for everyone to list them

at a first come first served basis.

I'll blog previews of all of them in advance and I will

let you know when the final goodies will be in the shop

so that you can plan to skip work and camp out in front

of the computer. ha ha just kidding!

Yes you are correct. There will be two sugar skulls in this batch. 

One with a golden flower for eye. It's going to be divine.

And a collection of my new designs LYCKA rings. 

They're precious little gems. Well they are "little" for being me.

I'll explain in a future blogpost what exactly LYCKA means for all of you non swedes.

The raven who stole the sun. 

He is in dire need of tail feathers. 

He's looking a little naked don't you think?

And here's the birdie I showed you earlier. 

He got reworked a bit and found a gorgeous heart of stone.

My favorite color.

 Mr Owl. He's not soldered together yet. 

I haven't decided if I love Mr Owl yet.

He kind of reminds me of a crab. With an owl head. 

Not sure that's a good thing.

 A soaring high ring. I LOVE this one! Yum yum yum

And finally another birdie..

I know... lots of birds this time. 

What can I say. My imagination has been flying high lately.

There are also two other scrumptious rings in the works. 

I simple cannot work on one thing at a time.

But I will show you pics of them later. 

I hope this was enough to peak your interest!

and now back to work!

love ~tess

my other self

My friends over at chatty metalsmith on 

Etsy try to blog on a topic each month. 

I was late with this one (sorry!). Life got in the way (as usual).

This month topic was to try to shed some light on 

who you are besides an artist.

So who is Tess?

Well I am 32 going on 33.

very quickly it feels like

I was born and raised in Sweden. 

In a relative small town called Sundsvall.

It's about 4.5 hour drive up north from Stockholm.

It's by the coast. 

Thus my love and need for the ocean.

I grew up in a very artistic invironment.

you can read more about my mother Eva here

When I was little I wanted to be a dancer.

I attended ballet classes.

I could even do a split!

Don't think I will attempt one now though.

I wanted to be an actor.

Didn't have much talent for it.

I wanted to be famous.

But I hated people talking about me and preferred to be left alone.

I have always been creating things.

With my mother being an artist there was an  

abundance of materials at my finger tips.

Lots of textiles and acrylic paints.

For a long time I wanted to be a fashion designer.

I made sketches of elaborate dresses and "borrowed"

fabrics from my mothers stash to make my own gowns.

Some successful and others I now wonder how I dared

to walk outside wearing them.

I often changed my mind in what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I still do. Not even sure I want to grow up...

But I eventually landed on graphic design and that's what I studied.

And that is what I have been doing for full time for the past 11 years.

As for my journey as a metalsmith I have talked about that before

so I wont bore you with that again. 

but you can read about it here

~tess

check out my other friends blogs for the same topic

 http://bellabijoujewellery.blogspot.com/
 http://aherondesign.blogspot.com

a heart of stone

Running Salmon, Richardson Ranch Thunderegg Agate  

Oregon Jasper

Porcelain Jasper

War Paint Jasper

Mexican Crazy Lace

Australian Rainforest Jasper

Ocean Jasper

are you drooling yet?

A few of my favorites stones.

I love the shapes. The colors and patterns.

They make me smile.

Amazed what mother nature can create.

Blessed to have them in my collection...

and slightly terrified that my designs wouldn't make them justice.

So for now I just hold them close to my heart.

Waiting for the right moment.

The right design.

They deserve a beautiful silver home

don't you think?

And now to my current task.

A stone heart for my bird.

I might need your help for this one.

As you can see I tried a gazillion stones.

Some work better than others.

Skinny bird or fat bird?

Weird shaped bird or streamlined bird?

So many choices.

We need to pick the right one..

Let me know what you think.

I do have more potential hearts for my 

feathered friend if none of these seem right...

oh and it's friday...

I LOVE Fridays!

I look forward to two days of uninterrupted studio time.

What are you up to this weekend?

love ~tess