Silver Beehive Studio Blog RSS
The First Photo Shoot and More!
Holy cow things moving quickly right now! The web site is taking shape and moving closer to presenting a unified & functional image of the business. I have been testing the new tumbler finishing/polishing set up in the studio, and it is exceeding expectations. It has eliminated some time-consuming parts of the finishing process allowing me to zero in on the most important finishing steps. I contracted the services of a freelance product description writer (yes there is such a thing!) on Fiverr. She lives in Italy and collaborates well with us, which has been a big help. Finally, I...
From Master to Finished Ring, the First Collection Takes Shape
Over the past 2.5 years, through many experiments failures and occasional successes, I have created 16 (very) different ring collections. Close to 200 rings, grouped by collection, chosen with the help of focus groups, line the walls of my studio. These will be developed, refined and ultimately released as quarterly (spring, summer, fall, and winter) collections over the next few years. Although these collections represent creative ideas, none of these first drafts are actually finished and ready to sell. The family budget now requires that this creative venture begin generating some income! Beginning in January, I switched gears to creating and...
Recharging Trip to NYC, Feb 2019
We took a short trip to the city to buy new fabric textures and other materials for ring designs. We hit the very last week this amazing show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The collection in this museum is so inspiring... It was great spending time with Mimmy and Pop Pop as we rounded out the trip with a stop in Hartford.
Freaking Out!
OK had a little panic attack last night, “These rings aren’t good enough yet, the craftsmanship sucks! I’m not going to have anything to open the store with, I’M NOWHERE NEAR READY!!!” As an art teacher, I have (a version of) this poster on my classroom wall. The creative process is not a smooth comfortable ride but one that has crazy ups and downs. Christi talked me off the ledge, I bucked up and went back into the studio and got to work. I think that insecure moments of freaking out are just part of the process. The solution is...
Casting Sterling Texture Rings
TIme to cast the newest batch of designs! Each individual ring model is mounted on a central wax stem (sprew) like branches on a tree. The trees are weighed before investing to help determine how much metal will be required in the process. Investment is the plaster-like material that will be poured around the trees to create that actual mold. The flasks are allowed to cure for a few hours before the burnout process begins. After a 20-hour burnout cycle, the flasks are ready to be cast. After casting in the J2R casting machine... The trees are pressure washed to...
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