Michelle Verbeeck jewelry artist, designer

This is my xmas present!!! I am so excited to have a kiln now so I can play and experiment. I have been itching to play with more vibrant color and metal. There are so many inspiring artists out there who are creating such amazing things with enamels.
I will have to start off simple and try things out. There are a few good books out there on enamel but most of it is basic knowledge and a few projects the rest you have to figure out for yourself. My favorite book on enameling is The Art  of Enameling by Linda Darty. This book has lots of detailed info and some great projects. If you are looking to get into enameling I highly recommend this book as a starting place.

So I will be charting this journey and making notes and trying lots of new things. So stay tuned and check back to see my enameling adventures

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I am happy to post my newest work. This sterling silver necklace with inlay of oxidized silver and howlite turquoise stones was a fun piece to make. It has a center pendant, connected to 4 smaller inlay pieces, then connected to a beaded necklace of turquoise beads and sterling silver beads to make a 15 inch necklace.

There is even a matching set of earrings

If you are ever interested in purchasing any of the items you see on my blog many are listed in my etsy shop and if you dont see them there you can alwasy contact me.

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This time of year if often a time for reflection, for making new plans, resolutions and trying to make some part of yourself and your life better and stronger.

I hadnt really given much thought yet as to how I want to start my new year. Today I was browsing blogs and Christine Kane is a blog I like to read because I often find it inspiring. This month she is featuring a word of the month and having guest authors talk about intention setting based on the word of the day.

Todays word is RELEASE and this word really harmonized with me and my life this past year. So I wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts with you as 2008 comes to an end.

I find release a useful an interesting word and practicing it can and has made my life better. I turned 50 this past year. That was a big one for me. Now it wasnt that turning half a century ( boy that sounds old) that bothered me, I enjoy my life, it was more where have I been in the last 50 years and where and how do I want to spend the next 50. I began to think, evaluate where my energy should go. I spent the first 50 raising a family, staying home, passing up my needs and desires to give to those around me, as I thought I should. I enjoyed it! I did my best.

But now they are mostly all grown, some relationships in my life have not turned out as I might have liked and they too needed evaluation as well. My conclusion for my next 5o was to release!

So I have made some  notes  of things I have released in my life this past year…

I have released my need to

•  please everyone
• tiptoe on eggshells
• let things from the past steal the present
• be angry over things I cant control
• worry about things ( I do what I can and I let it go)
• volunteer at the local school, been doing that for 10 years the kids are all grown now.
• my need to keep old supplies from arts I no longer do, I have sold them all off and used that money to juice up my new jewelry studio.
• clean the house of excess I no longer need. (you’d be surprised what a hold old projects, supplies and things we save can have on us, especially creatively)
• get rid of old clothes that are clogging up my small closet (they too seem to just pile up)
• release old emotions that no longer serve me today (some of those can go all the way back to childhood.)
• feel guilty for doing things for myself
• nurturing my needs and desires ( fulfilling my dreams)
• to push relationships that just arent working ( I let them be what they are as well)
• not to accept stress from others that isnt mine 
• being afraid to try new things, (I love Christines blog motto Be creative, Be conscious, Be Courageous……)

I have found that consciously releasing myself from these things has brought a calm, reduced my daily stresses and made room in my life for me to finally make it what I want it to be rather than what others think I should be. I am not usually one to let others determine my choices, but I have learned this  year that some of those things just happen quietly and subtly in the background and we dont even notice it. Kind of like gaining weight, it just creeps up on you one pound at a time. It was looking at what I wanted that made me look deeper.

I will continue releasing in my year to come, some things I would like to release more of is weight, more clutter from storage ( why do we store  clutter anyway) old not working very well cars, excess bills, guilt of any kind and outdated thoughts that just dont work for me anymore.

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Do you know what happens just when you are ready to experiment? You run out of something you need right at that moment.

That happened to me today. I had decieded to put today aside and start experimenting with enamels. I had recently ordered myself all the supplies I need to begin enameling. I love color and am looking forward to experimenting incorporating metal and color together.

So I sat down in the studio, cleaned up some copper strips to do some color tests on, got the enamels out, fired up the torch and got a few little pieces done when I ran out of gas. I had no car to run out and get more either, had to wait for hubby to come home. That was just a little disappointing.

But in that short period of time I did learn one thing. I need a kiln. While torch firing might work, it would definately use up lots more gas, take longer to fire the piece and limit the enameling techniques I could explore.  And I want to play with cloisionne, and champleve and pique la jour to mention a few.

So guess what santa is buying me for xmas this year? Yup a Kiln. I decieded to buy a paragon sc2 kiln with beading door and window. I definately want to try beads and well I could also do glass…thats another whole thing I want to play with someday. RIght now I will be happy to explore enameling.

And if you are looking for a great book on enameling you have to check out The Art of Enameling by Linda Darty this is a fantastic book on enameling, not only is it full of great eye candy buy has lots of detailed information and some fantastic projects. Its my number one enamel book!

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scotch brite radial discs

I recently ordered a few of these scotch brite radial discs to give them a try. Still exploring what works for me and always looking to add new tools to my studio, I thought I would give these a try.

I was very happy with the results. These little babies made short work of polishin up my silver from taking off some unwanted marks, adding some nice soft texture and giving them a nice polish. And I was just using one on my flex shaft, you are suppose to stack them 3 to 6 on your flexshaft.  But I invest small to try things out. I just placed an order for more in several sizes. Any way I can save some time and get such good results is a plus for me.

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well the holiday is over, the kids are back to school and I have some time to play in the studio. I am going to work on something with a bit of inlay, time to challenge my skills further.

Yesterday I played a bit with resin for the first time, not sure if I like that process, a bit messy, or should I say I was a bit all thumbs. I will have to think on that process more before I rule it out.

I was without the internet for a couple of days, had a power outage that knocked out my cable modem when it finally came back on. Had to wait for the cable guy to come get me back online.

You dont realize how many things you do online, until you cant get to it!

So I spent my holiday days knitting. I knitted this great tam hat. It came out pretty good for a first hat, considering I am sort of a novice knitter. I like to have something to do rather than watch tv. So I sit and knit and hubby watches tv and we spend some time together. He likes that, and I like being busy.

It’s also good for my brain to have a break and just do some other kind of creating while it works in the background on some designs.

I will try to post my hat tomorrow. I also have one of those long stocking caps in the works.

Do you remember those?

I use to have this cool colorful one when I was a kid, it was always my favorite fun hat. And this year I have just decided to have fun with whatever I do, so I will be sporting my stocking cap as soon as its done. My daughter says its cute but she wouldnt wear it, WE”LL SEE!

off to work

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a bit un-ordinary and funky sometimes describes my approach to creating!

Sometimes we do things just because!

All seeing EYE pendant

Well this fun piece was just that. I was cleaning out some supplies from other creative endeavors in my life and came across these eyes I had purchased and never used. I thought what could I do with that???

Yea its a bit funky! Maybe even strange to some, but you have to admit it’s also a bit fun! 

I showed it to a few fellow jewelers who were at the house the day I was working on this, they sort of gave me a look like OK….but just a few hours later they were very surprised to see what I had done with this EYE! It really came out great, even they agreed. So if being a bit funky is your style you should check this pendant out.

My teenage daughter thought is was so cool! It’s always nice when you can impress a teenager and they want to wear something you have created. You know it’s the parent kid cool factor! Well I was cool that day!

She wore it to school the next day and got lots of attention from wearing it! I have other eyes, different sizes, this happens to be a larger sized eye around 22 mm. I will have to see what I can conjure up with other eyes!!!!!

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I created this set for a birthday present for a friend of mine. She just loves purple and like the way this piece came together. It seems to me to have a bit of a vintage renaissance feel to is. I put a brushed satin finish on it. I seem to like that so much better than bright shiny silver. It adds more character to the piece

Once I got the pendant together I thought it needs earrings. So I whipped up a pair of earrings. It was a big hit and of course looks so much better in person than in photos. Photos just dont capture the soft beauty of this set.

I call this my Royal Lady Pendant set. It seems to have a slight bit of a regal feel, perhaps its the purple.

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Welcome to my new blog! I am so happy to be here. Let me tall you a little about me first. I am an artist, the only thing I ever wanted to do since 3rd grade is make art. And I have tried and succeeded at many things over the years.

I was a fiber artist and some of you many know me for my art quilts, my figure series and my funky fun bags that I designed and sold the workshops for my cat sack and my lizzy the lizzard bag, just to name a few. Those workshops are still available in my shop to those who are looking for them.

But there comes a time in life when you feel the need for more. The drive to take on new challenges and invigorate your creative life. Well for me that meant a total change of careers. That can be a bit scary when you sit down and think about it. But once you find the right thing there is no looking back.

I had been looking for something new and feeling a bit frustrated. With a bit of coaxing from my daughter who was taking a jewelry class in college, I signed up for the next one at the art center. This was last summer. And I have to say that I found myself in that class. I had never considered jewelry making as an art I would be interested in making. I am not sure why, it just never crossed my mind. Did I mention I was not the jewelry type. I didnt ask for it for christmas or birthdays, I would rather have a tool or an art supply. So who would have thought that is where I would end up in my artistic endeavors.

I finished up that class and my first attempt at jewelry making is the paisley pendant below.

Paisley pendant

I never start small, that would be to easy! And for a first attempt I was pretty darn happy. I was also hungry for more. So I went home and sold off my fiberarts studio and used the money from that to supply my jewelry making studio.

There was a bit of hesitation, I’ll admit, but I knew what I wanted and didnt want to hold onto things just because, so off it all went. And I was thrilled at each new package of supplies that came in the mail. I now have a fully working jewelry studio in my home and I am excited to wake up every day and work on something new. Each day a new challenge, new things to learn and I love every minute of it.

It’s never to late to change careers. I did and I never look back. I draw on my previous skills and knowledge but forge on ahead as there are so many things I want to learn and develop higher skills at. 

This blog will be where I can share with you this new journey, my jewelry as I finish it and offer it up in my Etsy shop, challenges as I take them on and basic creative stuff and even the jewelry of others whose work I admire. So I hope you will subscribe to this blog and come back and visit me often.

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