It’s here at last! The online catalog for the Society of Midwest Metalsmiths’ Metal Inclinations exhibition is up and running.

Fifty amazing metal sculptures and jewelry works were selected from hundreds of entriEs for this juried exhibition. The exhibition will be available online until the end of 2009.

“Turkey Walker” (shown above), by Miel-Margarita Paredes, is one piece from this exhibition that I found most intriguing. At first glance it looks like one of Sid’s mutant toys from Pixar’s film, “Toy Story”. But after visiting this artist’s website and reading more about her work, I discovered that the piece was not just a random act of metal meets juxtaposed assembly, but rather, entirely intentional in its meaning and exectution.

If you are at all interested in the arts of metalsmithing and jewelry-making, I’m sure you will throughly enjoy the Society of Midwest Metalsmiths’ Metal Inclinations catalog. Don’t be a turkey, check it out!

The annual Cash and Carry Holiday Show takes place at the Lynchburg Academy of Fine Arts located at 600 Main St, Lynchburg, VA 24504. The show runs from November 7 until December 29.

I have been selected to submit new jewelry work for this event, and will have about 20 pieces in the show. This is a great opportunity to support the arts and buy unique, handmade treasures this holiday season for yourself, your friends, and your family.

To see a wide selection of jewelry and take advantage of my speical November discount of 10% off all jewelry purchases, please visit my ETSY shop!

Help me reach my goal of 100 internet sales on my ETSY SITE by December 31! Get 10% off all jewelry purchases from now until November 30. After you purchase your items (or CONTACT ME to let me know which items you would like to purchase), I will email you a revised invoice via PayPal (minus the 10%). Please CONTACT ME with any questions!

I often see the words carat and karat missused, so I did some research on the two terms. Looking into the etymology, or history of the two words, helps to shed some light on these similar-sounding terms.

Both carat and karat trace their ancestry to the word ‘carob’, which is a common substitute for chocolate. Carob trees grow prolifically in the Mediterranean region and they produce small, edible seed pods that contain carob beans. These beans are uncannily consistent in size, meaning that carob beans usually weigh the same amount, no matter where or when they are harvested.

As a result of this characteristic of consistent weight, carob beans became a unit of weight in early times. The Greeks were the first documented users of carob beans for weight. By 1500, Latin alchemists, who were still using carob beans as a basic unit to measure weight, measured things by the carratus. Carat and karat are the modern derivitives of carratus.

Although their origin and pronounciation are the same, carat and karat have very different meanings. Carat is a unit of weight for gemstones; and karat is a unit for measuring the purity of gold.

It is important to remember that a carat is a unit of weight and not a unit of size. One carat of a dense stone will be smaller in appearance than one carat of a light-weight stone. For example, one carat of a blue sapphire will be smaller than one carat of a diamond, since sapphire is more dense than diamond.

On the otherhand, a karat has nothing to do with weight, but instead refers to the quantity of pure gold contained in an object, out of a 24-unit whole. Hence, 24 k gold, is 100% gold, and is 24/24ths gold.

Because gold is a soft metal, other metals are often added to it, or alloyed with it, to make it harder. The most common metals used in gold alloys are silver, copper, zinc, and nickel. Gold that is 14 k is 14/24ths gold and 10 k is 10/24ths gold (and 14/24ths other metals).

So when purchasing gold jewelry, remember that the higher the number of karats, the higher the quantity of pure gold. And the larger the number of carats, the more a gemstone will weigh.

My parents came for their annual visit just before we put in the garden. While they were with us, we enjoyed many of my mom’s wonderful home-cooked dishes. One of our favorite recipes was my mom’s ratatouille. My parents make it every summer since it is the perfect recipe to utilize an abundant harvest of veggies.

I cooked a batch of it last week and it was delicious! All of the veggie ingredients came from our garden, with the exception of the onion and the zuchinni (since the ground hogs managed to wipe ours out entirely, early in the season).

Here’s the recipe:

RATATOUILLE

1 medium eggplant, cubed
2 small or 1 large zuchinni, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
3/4 onion, chopped

Saute the ingredients on med. high in 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste. While the veggies saute, cut up the equivalent of two 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes. Add two packets of spenda or two tablespoons of sugar to the tomatoes. If they are especially juicy, you can add cornstarch or flower to thicken them up. Then toss the diced tomatoes into the pan and stir to heat everything together.

Bon appetit!

I’m gearing up for the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival at the end of this month. This will be the biggest (and longest) art festival that I’ve ever participated in. The show attracts 500,000 patrons each year and lasts three days! The Festival will be held along the Boardwalk in Virginia Beach, VA, from 19th to 31st streets. Please stop by and visit me in booth 2627!

Neptune Festival – 19th through 31st Streets on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk (booth 2627)
Friday, September 26, noon to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 27, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 28, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

No, no, not a ring for me, silly - not just yet, anyway! I’m talking about the fun I had plotting and planning and creating an engagement ring for a good friend of mine here in Richmond.

Back in May, her then boyfriend, now fiance, Jonas, asked me very nonchalantly if I would make a ring for her. He sent me a photograph of a design he had in mind. After a little prodding and nosing around, I ascertained that yes, indeed, this was going to be a very special ring, as he was planning to ask Karen to marry him! So happy to have a part in the wonderful news, my heart skipped a beat, and I replied a resounding YES!

While on vacation in Portland, OR, a couple of weeks ago, he popped the question and presented the token of his intention. Now the happy couple is engaged! I can’t wait to see them both together tonight at dinner, ring on her diminuitive finger (a size 3.5, by the way), my part in the wonderful plot that is their engagement, complete.

The ring has both 14 karat yellow and white gold, a textured surface on the white gold, and it is flush set with eight 2.5 mm rubies. Eight is Karen’s favorite number.

After being discovered at a local art event, I was interviewed by an exceptionally sweet Style Editor/Writer. Excerpts from my interview, along with photographs of my newest collections will receive a full-page publication in October’s Style section.

For a sneak peak at my latest collections, I hope you will stop by my booth at one of these upcoming shows:

Richmond, VA
Arts Around the Lake – on the campus of the University of Richmond (booth #8)
Sunday, September 21, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Virginia Beach, VA
Neptune Festival – 17th through 31st Streets on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk (booth #2627)
Friday, September 26, noon to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 27, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 28, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Bethesda, MD
Bethesda Artist Market - in Bethesda Place Plaza
Saturday, October 11
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.