Welcome to Autumn and my September-October newsletter!

Hello fall, and welcome back, beautiful sunrises. As much as I will miss summer, I do love these gorgeous fall mornings!

Barbara Kay Jewelry News

September really slipped away from me - and now it's well into October. I've taken the last couple of months off from making much jewelry - in particular metal-smithed jewelry.

I have been trying to add things to my shop, as I said I would, but I've been slow with that as well. If you've checked my shop you may not have seen many new items which is partly due to all of the earrings I've listed selling right away... to the same person.

Which brings me to a topic I've been thinking about lately: the emotional aspect of selling hand made products and a little bit of personal conflict around that.

The person who has bought all of my newly listed earrings has bought probably hundreds of pairs of earrings from me over the years. As far as I know, they are currently all being stored, waiting for... I'm not quite sure what, although I imagine he hopes to re-sell them at some point. I struggle a bit with this - not so much that he'll likely re-sell, but at the thought that none of these earrings are being worn or enjoyed.

From a business perspective, I am very happy to sell my jewelry. It allows me to continue making it. I also appreciate the fact that this person admires and values my jewelry enough to buy so much of it.

From an emotional perspective, I want people to enjoy and to wear my jewelry. It makes me a little sad to think of it languishing in little bags in a bin. This probably shouldn't matter, but that's the thing about emotions - you can't always control how you feel about things. And maybe a creative business is not quite the same as some other types of businesses. Maybe it's okay to have more of an emotional response to selling. What do you think?

While I've taken a bit of a break from metal-smithing - other than to fill orders - I have spent some time playing with beads. In particular, I've been making herringbone weave bracelets, something I haven't done for quite a few years. I love this weave; it lets me have fun with colors, the process is soothing and "zen" like, and I like the final product as well. I found some really neat German buttons in a local shop and decided to make button and loop clasps which I haven't done before. Here's a picture of a few I've been working on.

The blue and green ones are finished; the others are waiting for buttons and loops to be complete. The top one features Czech glass in the middle and faceted Apatite beads along the outside of the seed beads. The blue one has Sodalite in the middle, seed beads and little faceted Lapis Lazuli accents. The green one features faceted Nephrite Jade in the middle and black onyx accents. The next one has vintage faceted Garnets in the middle and small faceted Garnet accents with white seed beads. Finally, the pink one features Rhodonite beads in the middle and faceted Smoky Quartz beads along the outside with, of course, a heart shaped button (hard to see in the picture).

What do you think? Should I continue making beaded jewelry along with my other things? Or should I stop that and get back to only metal-smithing?

Finally, I found out a few days ago that I was accepted into the Laurelhurst Winter Bazaar in early December, and was also asked to participate in a bazaar at a retirement community on the following weekend. This is giving me a strong incentive to get back into the studio and create! I am also feeling a lot more creative energy which makes me happy. I was beginning to wonder if it had left me completely. No, it hasn't!

Here are a few pendant projects I'll be starting. I likely won't finish them all before December as I want to also work on some faster, less expensive (think gift) pieces. If you plan to come to one of my shows in December and would really like to see one of these completed, let me know! I will prioritize it.

Barbara Kay Jewelry Live Events

Laurelhurst Winter Bazaar: Sunday, December 6, 10AM to 4PM. Laurelhurst School at 840 NE 41st Ave, Portland, OR.

Frosty's Bazaar: Saturday, December 12, 10AM to 3PM. Vancouver Pointe at 4555 NE 66 Ave, Vancouver, WA

Stone of the Month: Silver!

Yes, silver isn't exactly a stone, but I thought I'd switch things up a bit this month. Since I use silver in most of my jewelry, it seemed like a good metal to explore in a little more depth.

Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag. This symbol comes from the Latin word 'argentum', which means 'shining', probably given because silver is an extremely shiny metal that stays untarnished for a long time. The word silver comes from the Old English word 'soelfer'.

Silver is an extremely versatile metal, with properties that allow it to be used for many different applications. It is malleable, which means it can be hammered into extremely thin sheets. It is also ductile, which allows it to be drawn into very fine wires without breaking. Although it is soft, it is also strong. It is durable and doesn't rust. It keeps its shine for long periods of time, although even pure silver will tarnish at some point, especially when exposed to sulphur compounds in the air (which, sadly, is becoming more common as pollution in our air increases).

Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals; it also conducts heat and cold better than other metals. It reflects more visible light than any other metal; for that reason it has widely been used in mirrors. This is also why photographing silver, especially polished silver, is so difficult!

All this is to say that silver is used for a lot more than just jewelry and coins, which makes it a valuable material. So, where did it come from? How did it form?

Silver was originally formed when dying stars became supernovas and exploded. During this violent process, heavy elements including silver and gold were created and scattered out into space and across the universe. Something interesting that scientists have discovered is that silver and gold are created through different types of supernova explosions; in other words, they were (and are) not created together in the same star.

Some of these heavy metals found their way to earth, millions of years ago, and over time became part of the Earth's crust. At that point, silver developed in very similar ways to many of the stones we've explored.

Deep in the earth's crust, water and gases were heated to an extreme temperature by magma. Dissolved metals and minerals were absorbed into these fluids and then forced through cracks and crevasses in the surrounding rock. As these liquids rose closer to the surface, they cooled and the silver bearing minerals solidified, forming silver veins.

Underground, silver mixes very easily with other more common metals and minerals. Because of this, silver in a pure form is rare, and when it does, it often grows (or "crystalizes") into hairlike structures, which are called silver wires, or in interesting geometric shapes such as in the picture at the top of this article.

Most silver, however, is found mixed in with other metals, minerals and ores. Because of this very little silver is mined in actual silver mines; in fact only about 30% of the world's silver comes from mines where silver is the main product being extracted. It is usually a secondary material - often even considered a byproduct - found in other mines, usually copper, lead or zinc and sometimes gold.

Interestingly, this "byproduct" can often exceed the value of the primary metal being mined.

Silver is also sourced through recycling old silver items and scrap. The silver I buy comes from a supply store that sells mainly recycled silver.

Silver was first discovered around 5000 BC along the Euphrates River and in Egypt. It soon became a status symbol; around 4000 BC, wealthy Egyptians were wearing beautifully crafted silver jewelry.

Between 4000 and 3500 BC, a new method was discovered that allowed for silver to be extracted from base metals for the first time. The ore or metal alloy (combination of metals that included silver) was placed in a porous absorbent container called a cupel. Extreme heat and a controlled flow of air or oxygen caused the base metals like lead to oxidize completely and become absorbed into the cupels. Pure silver was left behind. This process, called cupellation, really revolutionized silver extraction.

The Greeks and Romans extracted silver and used it not only to create beautiful things like jewelry, but also as coins. Silver extraction helped Athens grow into the powerful city-state it was, in particular through financing a massive war fleet.

After the Roman Empire fell, silver extraction slowed way down for a long time. It reappeared in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, beginning with a single mine in Germany and expanding to numerous countries. It continued to be used as coins as well as decorative items.

When the "New World" was discovered in the 16th century, large quantities of silver ore were also discovered, especially in Mexico. This created a huge growth in silver, largely at the expense of the local indigenous population who were forced into labor in the mines.

In the 18th century, new large silver sources were discovered in North America as well. During this same time period, silver lost its place as the standard for most national monetary systems, with gold taking its place. But rising technology found other uses for silver, which has continued to this day.

Throughout these centuries, silver has continued to be used for jewelry and other decorative things. If you take a look at my shop, you can see many pieces of silver jewelry, including a few that have brought silver back together with copper. Most of my silver jewelry is made with sterling silver. This is silver that is 92.5% silver, and about 7.5% copper. The added copper makes the silver much harder than pure silver. I've tried using pure silver (also known as "Fine Silver") for pendants but it tends to warp very easily so I've gone back to sterling.

I do use fine silver for most of the decorative elements I add on top of the sterling, as well as for bezels around the stones. The fine silver takes much longer to tarnish than sterling silver, which keeps those decorative elements bright longer. As it is softer, it's a bit easier to push bezels up against the stones than sterling would be. Although it is softer, fine silver is just as strong and durable as sterling.

Because the copper in sterling silver helps it to tarnish more quickly, you may need to polish your sterling silver jewelry on occasion. I strongly recommend against using any metal polishing creams, as they remove layers of silver. Instead, use a polishing cloth and be sure to wash carefully with mild soap and warm water to remove any polish residue.

Avoid wearing your silver when showering or swimming, and as with all jewelry, avoid contact with chemicals, such as cleaning chemicals and even perfumes. You can help prolong silver's shine by storing your pieces individually in small air tight containers (such as a Ziploc bag), with anti-tarnish strips as an added tarnish preventative.

We have just scratched the surface of this amazing metal we love. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about it and that it possibly piqued your interest enough to do a little further research on your own.

Here are just a few pieces in my shop currently that are made with sterling silver and fine silver decorative elements.

I always love hearing from you. Let me know what you think, and what you’d like to see in future newsletters.

Sources for silver article:

~Geology.com: Silver - https://geology.com/minerals/silver.shtml​

~Geology Science: Silver - https://geologyscience.com/minerals/silver/?utm​

~Sci News: New Insight into Deep Space Origin of Silver and Gold - https://www.sci.news/astronomy/article00574.html​

~StoneX Bullion: Where Does Silver Come From? - https://stonexbullion.com/en/blog/where-does-silver-come-from/​

~The Silver Mountain: The history of silver and silver mines - https://www.thesilvermountain.nl/en/silver/the-history-of-silver​