Kalaya Steede

For the past few months I found myself without my muse. Where did all the creativity go? Here is a typical day for me. 10am-6pm in the studio no matter if I have an idea or not.  When my friends would call and say, "hey come out and play" or my mom, "I'll take you to lunch". A free lunch people!!! I would be like, no I can't.  I really gotta focus and make things for the upcoming holiday season.  I'm so behind.  Blah, blah, blah. But, then I would just sit in the studio and stare off into space without a single clue. It then dawned on me that I was not living. I was not in the show or even watching the show. I was cut off! So I finished my brooch. 'Nut' - brooch, Arizona turquoise, handmade rivets, broken tail light And met mi amor and mi amigos for supper and then went to a Nick Cave concert. I did not have a clue who Nick Cave was and was not really in the mood for it but I went. And then Cave took the stage and I was...

What a mess! After a one month hiatus from the studio I do not think soldering was the best thing to start with but nonetheless this is what I did. Native American legend says that this stone fell from the sky. It also says that if there is a crack in the stone then the stone took the blow for the owner. The history behind this stone is unknown but what a blow it must have taken for its owner because that is a HUGE crack! Anyways... My mission this month is to make a brooch using this beautiful Arizona Turquoise.  And just how big is it? 1.75"L x 1"W x 5/16"D to be exact. The depth varies around the stone which means a Custom Bezel has to be made. Ugh! After sketching up many designs for this stone (none of which was chosen), and coming to a paralyzing part in the creativity process, I decided to go ahead and just make the bezel.   I start off with some fine silver, cut the correct height, length, anneal it, roll it down (rolling mill), a...