This past weekend we were in Colonial Williamsburg for Art on the Square.  I got the dates of the show mixed up and ended up booking a non-refundable hotel room for an extra night, so we ended up tacking on a mini-vaction which allowed us to spend some time exploring The Revolutionary City.  In addition to historic buildings and reenactments there are tons of artisans working with colonial tools and materials to visit.  Obviously I didn't want to miss the silversmith.  I was most blown away by how little the tools have changed in the last 250 years.  With the exception of the pewter cup, the jewelers bench looked much the same as mine does.  And, as I was pleased to discover, equally messy.  The main difference between colonial era and modern silversmithing lies in the soldering process, which was either done in a furnace or with a lung powered blow pipe as opposed to a gas powered torch.  While they were not demonstrating that technique at the time the jeweler was nice enough to show me the pipe and lamp and to explain the technique to me.  I have a whole new appreciation for my beloved torch!

Spring has finally arrived!  The sun is out, scarves and gloves packed away, birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, and the studio looks like a supply bomb exploded.  We have a busy two months ahead with 9 shows over 7 consecutive weeks spanning 6 different cities and 3 states.  Whoa! The madness starts this weekend as we participate in one of our favorite local shows, the Rock & Shop Market.  Rock & Shop is always the perfect combination of amazingly talented artisans, local bands and tasty food trucks.  This year should be even better than ever thanks to the spacious new venue, The Durham Armory.  Hours are 11-7 on Saturday and it is running concurrently with The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.  It should be a great weekend for Indie in Durham, NC.

Hand cut animal silhouette rings making their debut.  I'm really loving these guys!

Spring show season is just around the corner and so far it is shaping up to be a busy one.  I just updated the show schedule and it is packed!  I'm so excited to get back on the road and to have added some new locations and shows to this years schedule.  We've been busy in the studio working on new designs and can't wait to share them with you.  First up, is the Rock & Shop at the Durham Armory on April 6th.  If you can't wait until then, most of the new pieces are available on Etsy and as always at the studio.

I recently received a request for a set of wedding bands.  The customers had a basic idea of what they wanted the rings too look like but gave me the freedom to incorporate some of my own ideas.  After a few emails back and forth we settled on a design and I set to work.  People are always asking about the fabrication process of the pieces we make so I took a few progress shots to help illustrate it.

1. I started with flat sterling silver strip.  The wider strip was only available in either too thick or too thin of a gauge, so I took two thin pieces and sweat soldered them together, and filed the edges down to hide the seam.

2. I stamped the couples initials on the wire, formed the bands and slightly rounded the edges of the overlap.

3. I liked the look of the rivets but wanted a more solid connection as well as a smooth underside for comfort, so I soldered the overlap seam, drilled through it, inserted the rivet wire and soldered everything together.  This allowed me to trim the excess and sand the inside completely smooth while flattening the top with the hammer.

4. The rivets and overlap details didn't pop as much as I envisioned so oxidized the rings and sanded most of the patina off which looks great with the brushed finish the customers requested.

I'm really excited about how these turned out and hope the customers love them as much as I do.  If you're interested in your own custom bands, please contact us.  We would love to bring your vision to life!

Its been a crazy late spring/ early summer.  Lots of shows, from Maryland to Georgia, inside warehouses, churches, old market buildings, outside during insane thunderstorms, flood watches as well as lovely sunny and unseasonably cool days.   I've had the opportunity to participate in several new shows this year and got to do a bit of traveling, Atlanta, Baltimore (twice! once by train, once by car with a mini detour to Washington DC) and to Asheville, NC where we stayed in a lovely mountain cabin (complete with an outdoor hot tub!).  You can find photos from my adventures below and more on Tumblr.

In addition to all the shows, Metamorphosis underwent some structural changes when my husband, Jackey, officially came on board back in May.  He has been handling packing and shipping since January, but is now a full time part of the company.  He's been experimenting with some new techniques (etching & leather work) and we have been brainstorming on some men's designs that we hope to debut in the fall.  We also updated our booth display and gave the outside of the studio a facelift with a fresh coat of paint, chalkboard wall and display cases.

You can now find Metamorposis on the west coast at the lovely Doe Bay Resort in Washington state and at our newest locations in the Triangle, Zola Craft Gallery in Durham and Blue Sky Pilates in Cary.  New pieces recently arrived in several other retailers, Stitch and Design Box in Raleigh and Foundry in Asheville.

after a long weekend of back to back shows and driving i stopped in petersburg, va on the way home to walk around and wake up.  i'm glad i did because the light was amazing and there were so many interesting old buildings to photograph.