Adventures at Lill Street

I'm a beader, a chainmailler, and occasionally I like to pretend that I'm a metalsmith. I'm currently taking Intermediate Metalsmithing with Sarah Chapman at Lill Street Gallery. She is one of the most excellent instructors I've ever encountered, and I highly recommend taking classes with her.

I've posted photos of two rings I put together during the class. One was totally indulgent and made for instant gratification purposes. I purchased a prong setting from Rio Grande and soldered it to a band I had put together ages ago and never found a use for. The only catch was that I had to saw the band to remove the silver under the prong setting, because the stone was cut so deep that it wouldn't fit otherwise. The stone is a "Mystic Green Topaz" that I purchased from Jewelry Television.



The next photo is of a ring I had put together the first time I took intermediate metalsmithing. The band popped off on one side, and after carefully prying the stone from its bezel, I re-soldered the band and voila: I can wear my big ring again! Big rings make me happy, as you can tell from my French Beaded Flower Rings and my Bat Ring.



I have no idea what the stone is. I bought it because I had a store credit at Caravan Beads and thought it looked neat.

I've also made a minor change to the bottom navigation of the Gianessa Designs site, making the Blog link open in a new window.

Vanessa Walilko

Unique Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry, Beaded Dragon Sculpture and Chainmaille