Maryland Cufflinks and hindged shell box

Maryland Cufflinks and hinged shell box.  Silver, turquoise, found shell, silk fabric.  2013

Hinged shell box.  2.75"x2.5"x1.5".  found shell (Cape Cod), silver tubing and wire.  2013

Hinged shell box.  back view

Maryland cufflinks:
blue crab & striped bass links (1"x0.75").  Silver.
Set turquoise links.  (0.75"x0.5").  Turquoise and silver.

I wanted to make Chris something special as a wedding gift.  After many failed attempts at a special ring (not a wedding ring), I decided on cufflinks.  Chris is from Maryland and is where we currently live.  Some of the most special experiences I've shared with him here involve adventures on the Chesapeake Bay: crabbing and fishing for striped bass.  Exploits of the water, whether lake or bay, have always been a part of our life together and so I thought the two creatures fitting for a special pair of cufflinks.
Turquoise is a stone that I associate with Chris, as he wears a lot of turquoise-laden item, so it seemed only fitting to include turquoise somehow.  I joined a lapidary guild in order to learn to cut and shape the turquoise.  (Of course I would want to start out learning lapidary skills with an incredibly soft and hard to work with stone!).  

I decided to make a plethora of special items in time for my wedding, including my wedding dress, wedding shoes, gifts for my sister and brother (who stood up with me), and a late birthday gift for my mom.  I near went insane trying to finish all these projects.  I finished these cufflinks the day of the wedding; while my sister drove me to my hair appointment, I was busy trying to set the turquoise stones in their settings.  I was in such a rush that my burnishing tool slipped and I chipped a piece of turquoise off one of the stones.  Ah!
I gifted the cufflinks to Chris before the wedding in hopes that he would wear them.  Unfortunately my design was flawed; the original cufflinks consisted of a single post with the creature one side and the turquoise on the other.  They were too big and wouldn't go through his buttons holes!  I later cut the post in half and fashioned a hook system that has, so far, worked.  I also used epoxy to glue the chip of turquoise back to its mother stone.

St. John beach pendent

St. John beach pendant.  1.5"x 3/8" ish.  Found shell/sand and silver.  2013

front

back

side

My parents travel to St. John in the US Virgin Island every winter when they just can't stand the bitter cold anymore.  Last year they invited Chris and I to join them, which we did!  While I was there I found this very cool shell.  Some sand and small rocks had formed a conglomerate onto the shell, which you can see on the front.  I turned this shell into a pendant as a gift for my mom.

Queen guitar pick reliquary

Queen guitar pick reliquary.  4"x1.5". Nickel silver, silver solder, thread.  2007

back of guitar

the back opens on hinges

the pick (if I had one.... <sigh>) would sit inside--on the left in this photo

guitar stand/ throne

This piece was done for metals class.  The project was to make a reliquary.  I chose Queen, my all-time favorite band.  I decided the reliquary would house a guitar pick, though I do not actually own a Queen guitar pick (a girl can dream, right?).

I tried to incorporate a lot of different Queen-related elements into the piece.  The tablature ("tabs") around the edge of the guitar are the tabs for my favorite part in Bohemian Rhapsody.  The back is, obviously, Queen's symbol.  Inside, the crown is another of Queen's symbols.  I also wanted to include images of each member of Queen. For the three live band members, I decided to use the faces from the "Hot Space" album cover--purely for aesthetic reasons, not for any reason related to the music on that album.  Freddie, may he rest in peace, has a special place in the heart of the guitar.  (though, unfortunately I made a design error when deciding to drill holes in the front in order to peg the threads when stringing the guitar--you can see the thread and pegs sticking out of Freddie inside the guitar.  DAMN!)

This tiny guitar is not functional, though I toyed with the idea of trying to make it so.  There's only so much I could do with a piece this small, however, and the time limit I had. 

Decorative cube box

Decorative cube box.  Nickel silver.  1" x 1" x 1".  2007

This is a piece I did while taking a metals class.  The project was originally to make a complete cube (no holes).  Then we were supposed to practice hinges using the box.  That is how this little box came about.