Archive

A Quick Mass-Finishing Experiment

I did some casting recently, and finally remembered to chase a little experiment. Lost wax casting is a bit labor- and material- intensive. It quickly becomes worthwhile to prep and cast many pieces in one go, rather than individually. But as a result you now have many pieces that need

October Newsletter

Hi friends! Happy Autumn and Happy Spooky Season! In November of 2024 I quit my day job to make jewelry full time. It's been so much fun, and such a gift to have a few years of setting my own pace and chasing my own projects. However, running

Rings and Things

I don't like wearing rings on my fingers. I even chose to get my ears pierced a second time and get wedding earrings instead of a wedding ring. So, I don't make too many finger rings to sell, as the format just doesn't usually

August Newsletter

Hello! How is it Back To School season already? 😵 We've just finished up Summer Camp at The Crucible. I spent most of July teaching, recovering from a summer cold (the two are related), and doing three shows! I also got to help a couple create custom wedding rings,

July Newsletter

Hello dear friends! Summer is fully and officially here, and that means Summer Camp for many kids. I've been teaching teens at The Crucible, where our unofficial slogan this year is "put down your phone, pick up a new skill". You don't have to

June Newsletter

Hello friends! It's finally summer, and time to go play outside. If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, please mark your calendars for June 6th (that is this Saturday) and come to visit San Leandro for the Cherry Festival! We've got fruit stands where

May Newsletter

Things Completed Last month was an Admin Month for me, and despite being out sick for a week 🤧 I really got so much done. Partially because I will do any number of tasks before I will get around to doing product photography. But I did also do product photography! * Two

Soap Bubble

Do you know anyone having a fantasy wedding this summer? Maybe a friend who vibes like a mermaid princess in disguise, fierce and fun and flashy; or a mentor with the grace of elves, always centered, always curated. I would like to introduce you (and your friends) to the Soap

April Newsletter

Hello! The past month has been a personal roller coaster. I taught some classes and took a class as a student, I reconnected with a friend who's been absent and enjoyed an entire chocolate festival with my husband. One of my cats seems to be finally improving from

Plique-a-journey

This weekend past I took a class at The Crucible (as a student!) to brush up on my plique-a-jour. Plique-a-jour is an enameling technique that feels like a miniature stained glass window. A frame is made first, either by piercing a sheet of metal or by

March Newsletter

Greetings! Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we are beginning to feel the touches of spring! 🌸🌺🌈 I hope my friends and family in the snowier parts of the country thaw out soon and can begin to grab some sunshine. Its also the season for applying to art fairs and

February Newsletter

January was a busy month! I had more classroom time at The Crucible, plus put in several hours doing research and prep work for future classes (coming soon!). I made chainmail in both silver and anodized aluminum, and watch the price per ounce of silver rise and rise and RISE

January Newsletter

Hello! Welcome to 2026 🥂 Here in northern California it is the rainy season, which is good encouragement to stay indoors and make ✨shiny things✨ I did some thinking while at the last few shows of 2025, and I've decided that this year I'm going weird. I&

365 Days

November 22nd, 2024 was my last day at my old job. I quit my day job to make jewelry full time one year ago! 🤯 Instead of waiting for New Years Eve, I thought it made sense to look back now on what I've done with all this free

November Newsletter

Hello! Where I live, its starting to be grey and raining more often, which means its the season for soup, warm comfy pants, and staying inside to make things! 🔨 The holidays are right around the corner, and I have a busy November with in-person shows in Redwood City and

Flashy Feldspars

In late July, I got to visit the very first Pay-to-Dig mine in the state of Wisconsin, called Wisconsin Moonstone LLC, in company of my mom! We joked that our rocks have terroir (a term usually used for wine, implying a unique taste imparted by the exact location

October Newsletter

Hello friends! First of all THANK YOU to the people who are still shopping small artists despite The Way The World Is Right Now. In the past month I got a few Etsy sales and a few Gallery sales, and they've helped to keep my spirits up. I

September Newsletter

Hello! The big news of the month is that I'm moving! Not far - staying in the same town actually, but we still have to pack everything up, move it, and unpack it all, plus some cleaning and home maintenance on both ends. Plus I get to build some

Book Review: The Cartiers

I recently finished reading a book called "The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire" by Francesca Cartier Brickell

July Newsletter

Hello friends! First, because these items are timely: If you are in the San Francisco or East Bay area, there is a brand new summer art fair July 6th at the Crucible in Oakland, where I will be selling brand new chainmail and pendants. And "The Gray Area"

HooDooHex

I love chainmail. I think I enjoy it because it's a process-oriented art. The goal (usually) isn't a figure, a picture, an allegory; the glory of chainmail is someone going "wait you put how many rings together?" and marveling at the pattern you

June Newsletter

Hello friends! Happy summer! Time is flying, I've been doing this full time for over 6 months now and I haven't remotely caught up on all the projects and ideas I have! (Or the baking, or the house cleaning...) In May I did a bunch of

Fragile Lily

This is a further chapter in my quest for a Red SeaDragon. For more background, start with Red Enamels. Red enamel reacts with silver, usually by turning yellow and opaque. During some experimental enameling (while creating 40 Earrings in 40 Hours) I discovered that sometimes the reaction happened even when

Making a SeaDragon Trio

I made one of those process videos you see all over Instagram! These things are a ton of work! 😫 But it is super cool. I didn't have footage of the wax molding / spruing/ casting / cleanup parts, so you'll have to image that until I get back

Blue Dragon

The original SeaDragon designs were developed somewhere around 2008 or 2009, while I was in college. And by "developed" I mean I did one round of sketches for class and then used the first set of shapes I liked and could successfully model in the 3D program. The

Green Wyrm

Here's a major accomplishment for the month! This SeaDragon 4-piece necklace (now being called a Wyrm necklace) is the second I've ever made with riveted construction, and the first one where I've done the riveting after the enameling 😬 That means smacking the thing

40 Earrings in 40 Hours

I decided I needed more SeaDragon stud earrings. Many more. I also decided I would find out how many I could make in just one week! (because reasons) Day 1 (Monday): Luckily for this crazy idea, I already have a mold for the Mini SeaDragons. Each mold makes 4 pieces,

Black and White

ACCI Gallery put out a call for art on the theme "The Gray Area": The boundaries between light and dark, certainty and ambiguity—where do we find meaning in the in-between? "The Gray Area" is an upcoming art exhibition exploring the depth, nuance, and complexity

Soft Clock

If you are exploring different art styles and movements through history, you basically have to make a melty clock. Salvador Dali's soft clocks are among the most famous examples of surrealism. So famous that, apparently, I'd never paid sufficient attention, because before this project I didn&

Le Chat Noir

If you do a google search for "vintage art nouveau cat" your image results will be peppered with this poster by Theophile Steinlen, in a wide range of colors and saturations. (If you search for "le chat noir" you will find the image available printed on

Red Enamels

An update on the trials and tribulations of temperamental techniques.

Year in Review: 2024

A quick look at the changes and accomplishments of this year.

SeaDragon

Greetings! Today I'm telling the story about my silver SeaDragon jewelry. It started as a college project, and is still evolving and growing. This sets the stage for the exciting plans I have for next year!

Ammonoids

I made a set of 3 pendants based on Ammonite fossils!

Hello World

Welcome! I'm Kat. I make jewelry, and I've decided to write a blog. Perhaps one day it will get beamed directly to your inbox. Why? We all say we need to spend less time on social media, including me. I want to break out of the