Jesse Danger

Packing Up

2012-01-31T12:56:00.002-05:00

I picked up the keys to the new space last night! It looks like I'm going to start moving some stuff over tomorrow, whatever I can transport without a truck/van. I'm eager to move in and get all setup (if you can't tell!) but I kind of want to paint and finish the space too. So many choices! I'll be sure to update with pics of the building and the space. More later.

Movin' Time

2012-01-25T20:33:00.001-05:00

It's studio moving time! After keeping my eye out for studio space on the North Shore for the last few years I've finally found something. Studios at Porter Mill in Beverly, they've recently finished building out the second floor of this great old mill building. The space I've chosen is about 200 sqft with big south facing windows, I'm a sucker for natural sunlight.

Bricks and beams and wood floors!

It's kind of a funky space, 8' x 24', but the building has a great vibe and it's only a 7 min drive to my apartment. I could even bike there as well, without having to bike down four lane highways...

Focus. Re-Focus. Focus.

2011-12-07T16:29:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I might have gone a little over the top with my reaction to some of the relevancy issues. The most important aspect that I've taken away from the whole change in Etsy's search function is exactly that:

Change.
It's changed before.
It'll change again.

I've never been one for multitasking. I like to take one thing and do it right, instead of spreading my effort around a few tasks at once and mess them all up... which has happened. From simple tasks; Sometimes I'll spend a day just answering emails and doing internet work, or maybe just spend the day welding ring blanks. To larger elements; Narrowing my jewelry line from many styles to primarily one wedding band style, selling through a very limited set of websites/vendors, or maybe keeping my hobbies and personal art projects very specific (trust me, this can get out of hand real fast). Even in regards to physical items; One coffee mug that I've used everyday for years (in my left hand as I type!... (oh yeah, I still tend to type with just my right hand *cue screeching from my grade school typing teacher here* (Two sets of parentheses in (now three and four!), I feel like I'm in Inception or something (Maybe I'm just horrible at grammar??)))), and another one for tea.

While this focus has it's benefits, and is my natural work flow, sometimes I'll be too focused on one thing for too long and not paying attention to another. In this case I became so focused on just filling orders over the past year that I really didn't put enough effort into the media, promotion, and advertising side of things. As a small one man business, I do need to be all things all the time, but as an artist and craftsman I need to leave suitable time to create, be inspired and not burn the fire completely out. My art is my job and my job is my art, and to do it properly I need to periodically focus on one thing, and re-focus on something else and so on.

Listings will change.

Searching will change.

Etsy will change.

The internet will change.

Styles will change.

Traditions will change.

Everything will change.

How will you stay relevant?

None of this is really ground breaking stuff, I'm just always trying to find better ways to be a business and an artist at the same time. So far this post is just a bunch of text, let's break it up with a picture of vegetables.

In respect to Etsy's search changes, I made a solid effort to switch up the titles and tags on my items. While originally I had them more as names, they are now closer to a physical description, with a name after a hyphen:

"Men's Gold Band - Love is on the Inside White & Rose"

"Wedding Ring Set - Silver Minimalist"

Each listing has a slightly different title, to help add diversity to the shop (for the robots) even if some of the rings are very similar. With slightly different names there's a higher likelihood that one listing will turn up in most any search for rings. I've tested this throughout the week, watched the stats, and for the most part all the listings are getting higher quality views. I've also geared the terms toward popular search phrases, and tried to keep in mind the way most people search. Some of my previous titles, tags were just to technical (descriptions too, but that's the next overhaul).

Relevancy Robots

2011-12-02T13:58:00.001-05:00

So the basics of the new relevancy search on Etsy is that the first 3 or so words of your title are the most important when it comes to searches. Then tags and recency and a few other small factors.

I get it, really, I do. Etsy's just trying to make things easier for buyers, and this is a commonly adopted SEO. But at what cost? In a site full of handmade and one of a kind items, what happens when all of the titles we give to our work end up the same? When the first few pages of searches are filled with the same title, "Black Hoodie - Screenprinted" "Men's Gold Ring", where does the individuality come in, doesn't that creep further away from art and closer to Amazon and Ebay, have the robots already won? Just some thoughts for now, I'll post more later with actual constructive ideas. For now let me know which listing appeals to you more as a consumer? (click the links for more details)

Those not immediately fluent in Binary may find this useful, http://www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_To_Text.asp

Staying Relevant

2011-12-02T11:45:00.001-05:00

In the last few months I've had a little more down time (aka slower sales) to focus on the website side of things. There's always work to be done even if it doesn't involve building and shipping rings. With this time I was able to launch my new site, yay!

With that under control I moved on to cleaning up some of the social networks I have photos and links on, and then with a little extra time (aka even slower sales) I worked on rearranging/cleaning the shop and office, new pricing structures, and some more web updating.

After that was taken care of, I decided that since the year is coming to an end, I should go through some figures and accounting for the year, since I still have some down time (Hello? Sales?)... Wait, this is a little too much down time... even for this time of year. Something must be off that I'm missing...

Ok, so it's not cat related, but sometimes you just need a cat macro. Digging through the new Etsy stats function I started to notice that views and searches were way down, and most of the traffic was coming from off Etsy, through a link to my Wing Ring on Pintrest. (I should note here that 95% of my sales still come directly through my Jesse Danger Etsy page. I'll cover that aspect in another post.) This seemed to really kick in mid August, about the same time sales slowed down and custom order inquiries, as well as treasury emails, were few and far between.

Odd...

I hopped on a different computer (one without all my saved web data) and did a search on Etsy for wedding bands under a few common search terms, knowing I had just relisted a dozen or so the day before, to see which of my listing showed up, each search was more and more specific to my rings: Wedding bands, gold wedding bands, mens' gold wedding bands, silver and gold wedding rings, modern silver wedding rings, women's rose gold wedding ring, etc.

Search 1: 15-20 pages in, no listings
Search 2: 15-20 pages in, no listings
Search 3: 15-20 pages in, no listings
Search 4: 15-20 pages in, no listings
Search 5: 15-20 pages in, no listings
Search 6: 15-20 pages in, no listings

At this point I had been digging around for at least 15 minutes, just scrolling searches. A little panicked I hunted through the Etsy forums and blogs to see if was missing something, if maybe others we're seeing this too. And nope, I wasn't alone.

Etsy Blog, Aug 9th:

Default Search is Now “Sort by Relevancy”

Hmm, guess I missed that... I'm sure they sent an email, and I probably glanced over the blog at some point between answering a flurry of emails and building like crazy from two of my busiest months ever (80 rings shipped between mid June - mid August). I didn't fully understand the ramifications of what RELEVANCY meant until my shop started drifting into the sea of irrelevancy, and I had time to sit down and read about it.

Around The Shop

2011-12-01T14:09:00.001-05:00

Hi blog world! I've been busy overhauling all of my webpages this week. I'm working on few blog posts about navigating SEO and the recent changes with Etsy, and also about my plans for the coming year. That's not ready yet so I thought I'd post some recent stuff from around the shop.

The open house the other weekend was surprisingly busy, I must have had a few hundred people filter though the shop over the course of the day. It was nice getting to meet other local artists, and I took a few minutes to explore some of other shops in the building. Everyone who stopped in was great and seemed to enjoy the space, though I secretly wish I had hardwood floors every time I try to clean that carpet (carpet is evil). Here are a few early morning shots when the sun was nice and bright (see, clean as promised!). I hardly ever turn the lights on in here, I usually just let the daylight flood in.

Gotta keep a little space for the guitars, and my flee market balalaika!

A stunning wedding set I just finished. These are done in 14kt white gold and rose gold, probably still my favorite combination of metals, the colors just blend so naturally. With the all gold (opposed to silver & gold) versions I can also make the metal ratio about 50/50, so you can see more of the rose from the profile.

Late night shipping party, about a dozen bands ready for their new homes. It was a two coffee kind of day.

Open Studio Day

2011-11-15T20:04:00.005-05:00

The Lydia Pinkham Building is having an open studio day this weekend, and I've decided to participate. There should be a lot of other cool spaces open, and a ton of great pottery. Stop in and check out some designs, I promise I'll try to clean it up a bit :)

Saturday November 19th, 10-4

Lydia Pinkham Building

New Pages

2011-10-28T14:39:00.003-04:00

After some time I finally have some new pages coming together! I've set up a new stand alone web store via Big Cartel, this site will focus almost exclusively on my Wedding & Engagement ring lines.

I'm gradually putting more of my effort into the wedding bands in particular, narrowing my focus to just one or two styles is allowing me to perfect the craft and process of each band. In the last two years since I began making wedding bands I've made nearly 400, and I feel like I'm always improving on the design. All this experience with the "Love is on the Inside" style has really let me branch out and try different variations of metals and forms without being too concerned about melting the metals together. Unfortunately total destruction still happens on occasion if some aspect isn't quite right, but each catastrophe is just a lesson in what not to do next time.

Check out the pages!

Website

Facebook page

Holiday Market!!

2009-11-18T10:22:00.001-05:00

Stop By the SoWa Holiday Market in Boston December 12th and 13th. I'll be there both days will all sorts of jewelry, including new pieces only available at the show. http://www.sowaholidaymarket.com

Wood you marry me?

2009-10-08T18:02:00.002-04:00

Ok that was bad... but the rings are super cool! A custom set in palladium for some good friends who are getting married this weekend. Celebrate by buying stuff from their Etsy shop, NewDuds. The inlay is Vermont walnut, with a hefty furniture wax on it, and a Vermont Red Jasper stone mined from just down the road where I live, and not far from where he grew up.

Love is on the inside - 14kt/SS Band

2009-10-05T11:29:00.004-04:00

Here's the first of a new style of pieces I'm doing with Rose Gold and Silver, I'm really excited about this one. Quoted from the Etsy listing;

"This is part of a new series of rings based on my own wedding band. A .5mm polished 14kt Rose Gold sleeve lines the inside of this brushed finish, slightly domed, Silver ring.

The Silver on the outside has a clean and modern look that will take on its own unique finish as it wears over time, while the inside remains true to the day it was first made, perfect for a meaningful engraving (contact me for engraving quotes, usually $25-35).

Each ring is handmade to order and takes about 3-4 weeks, please let me know the ring size when you order.

The ring pictured is 8mm wide by about 2mm thick, a very comfortable size. It can also be made in widths of 6mm, 5mm, 4mm, matching sets can be made as well."

Custom Projects

2009-10-03T11:58:00.004-04:00

I have a bunch of Custom Projects in the works, the set below is a variation of my Igloo Stacking Set with a moonstone and custom cut White Quartz. There are few wedding bands I'm working on that I hope to have images of by the end of the weekend. Enjoy the pictures for now!

Clean again.

2009-09-28T07:56:00.004-04:00

After a few long days of some serious cleaning it's time to get back to work. Truth be told, my shop space is very very small, less than 100 square feet. On top of that there is no ventilation, or was no ventilation. I set up a very nice air filtration system with a HEPA filter, I can already tell the difference in air quality, as I don't have to wear a mask just to be in there... the air can get thick with chemicals, fumes and dust really fast.

It's easy to overlook creating a healthy work environment when you're working by yourself or in a very small business, but it is critical. Here (Gnoksin) is a great in depth article that really concerns the safety of anyone working with precious metals. It's a long read, but very informative.

Here are a few pictures from SoWa, cause I know everyone loves pictures!

Spring cleaning... a little late.

2009-09-23T10:55:00.003-04:00

4 months of a whirlwind mess have consumed my shop and office, I'm ashamed to even post pictures. Today is going to be a long long cleaning day, maybe I'll post pictures once it's all clean.

It's going faster thanks to Pandora's Bon Iver channel.

Where in the world is Jesse Danger?

2009-09-22T07:41:00.002-04:00

Yikes, it's been about three months since I've put anything on here. A lot has gone down in three months though. I've done numerous shows at Boston's SoWa Open Market, which has been a fantastic experience in general. I'll be back down again in October on the 11th and 25th and in December for the SoWa Holiday Market. Vermont shows and experiences haven't been anywhere near as grand, perhaps my expectations for said events were too high.

Etsy has been fantastic as well, and a great big thanks to everyone who has supported me by purchasing my creations, or blogging about my work or just simply taking the time to look!

With all this hard work I've opted to step away from my day job. Something I've been trying to do for far too long, but finally the opportunity has presented itself. This is truly what I long to do, and just the start to many things to come. This means for now;

-new work
-faster shipping
-faster emails
-more craft/art shows
-more updates/blog entries
and all sorts of possibilities

Thanks and more to come!

New Camera

2009-06-25T14:54:00.003-04:00

I'm already in love with my new camera, what a difference it's going to make! Head over to my Flickr page to see even more, http://www.flickr.com/photos/27777961@N04/

What Designers

2009-06-15T10:54:00.003-04:00

Click on the image to check out the Summer Design guide by WhatDesigners.com featuring my 18kt Wing Ring, and vote for me here (please) as well!

Buds

2009-06-01T09:11:00.003-04:00

Lots of little buds! I spent the last few days getting a whole bunch ready, about 100 of them, destined to become rings or earrings. I'll keep posting progress shots this week as I get ready for the show on Sunday.

SoWa update

2009-05-26T22:46:00.002-04:00

I'll be at SOWA in Boston this summer, make sure to stop by and say hi if you are in the area on these days.

June 7
June 21
July 19
August 2
August 16
August 30

I'm excited to be part of these shows and have been building and planning like crazy for them.

Stackables!

2009-05-21T09:01:00.004-04:00

Stackables with stones and multi-metal buds. All these are up on my Etsy page now.

Lemongrass Sale

2009-05-21T08:57:00.003-04:00

To make way for new pieces I've decide to have a sale on my Lemongrass series, check it out here, http://tinyurl.com/q8rpek

New Website!

2009-05-06T09:48:00.002-04:00

Check out the start to JesseDanger.com. I'm working on new images over the next month so it will be a little flashier come June.

Modern Jewelry Designs

2009-04-23T08:20:00.003-04:00

Check out this great new blog.

http://modernjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/

They ran a feature on my work a few days ago. They've also featured a few other Estymetal members.

Queen City Craft

2009-04-08T20:44:00.003-04:00

I'm very excited to be part of this Craft Show, Please come and check it out if you are in the area.

The Shape of Rings to come

2009-02-08T21:56:00.003-05:00

...and earrings too. All of these will be in my shop this week, but here's a preview for now. the Metals are silver, copper, 18kt yellow gold and Mokume.

More Progress!

2009-02-01T22:24:00.004-05:00

I'm working a few new series of pieces. As you can see in the images they are coming along nicely. I'll keep updating as they get finished, but they should be up on the Etsy page this month, about a dozen new pieces in this batch, and the next is about a dozen more!

Bench Explosion!!! Actually in this picture it doesn't look too bad.

Progress

2009-01-26T22:55:00.008-05:00

Just a few photos around shop of new pieces in various stages of completion. This first is welding an 18ky disc to a sheet of argentium. The solder is on the outer ridges, I heat the piece from the middle and it all flows under the disc, forming a solid bond.

Once a disc is soldered to the sheet I cut off the excess and file it smooth around the edges. Below is a Mokume disc being filed.

A collection of discs, gold, copper, mokume, and argentium.

Using a dapping block and wooden dapping tools to form the domes.

All finished!! Ready to become earrings and rings.

Making a Dragonfly Wing Ring

2009-01-26T22:50:00.013-05:00

My wing rings have been quite popular, so I'm putting up a little tutorial on how I make them! I'm also including links to the tools I use, available at Ottofrei.com, where I get most of my supplies.

I start with a wing casting, which I can use to make either a ring, a pendant or earrings out of. These are made of recycled Argentium Silver, from an original model. The first step is to clean up the sprues and the casting finish.

Once the wing is cleaned up, I anneal it with the torch. Heating it until it's a medium brightish red, this annealing process softens the metal so it is malleable.

As soon as the whole piece is annealed, I drop it in the pickle pot. I use a mild Citric Acid, it's safer and cleaner then traditional jewelers pickle, this cleans off the oxidation from heating it.

Once the wing is annealed I can bend it by hand around my ring mandrel. This first bend is only a part of the way, typically I will need to anneal the piece two or three times to get it fully rounded to the appropriate size. Finishing the shaping with a rubber mallet, as to not mar the finish.

It's quite tricky to get it to bend without all the little wire twisting together. It took a few duds when I first started making them to get the feel down.

Here are a pair of rings fully rounded. The next step is to bake them in the oven, this process hardens the Argentium Silver so that it is very rigid. The baking process I use is 495 Degrees for 1 hour 45 minutes, for the strongest heat treatment I anneal it one last time before it goes into the oven. To read more on Argentium Silver head over to this site, argentiumsilver.com.

After baking the ring, the last step is the final finish, first done using basic sandpaper to get a nice flat finish. I do this by hand, old fashioned, but it does the trick.

I then use a Flex Shaft and bristle wheels to smooth the final finish and give it nice even brushed look. The rings form their own patina/finish over time, depending on how hard you wear them.

Check out the Wing Ring listing on Etsy for the final images!! Thanks for reading!

Light

2009-01-26T21:56:00.004-05:00

I've set my shop up with daylight energy saving bulbs, since there are no windows. Lately I find the lighting too clinical though, but I found a bag of old tea candles, and my bench just does not feel the same without three of them lit. I'm overly particular with my shop environment I guess, it's only temporary until we move again in another year, but it's my work space none the less!

Sidetracked

2009-01-04T23:35:00.006-05:00

So my brother is in town for a little while, and the three of us went out ghost hunting. This was brought on by watching a Ghost Hunters marathon on cable while visiting family last week. The haunted spot we chose was an old covered bridge, where a women hanged herself years and years ago, called Emily's Bridge... She's been known to scream and damage cars apparently. While we're not sure if we saw anything convincing, I did end up with creepy pictures.

I did manage to get my shop all cleaned today, it severely needed it. Tomorrow I place a very large order for all the metal and stones for my new creations, I can't wait!

GreenEarthJourney

2009-01-02T12:37:00.002-05:00

There's a nice writeup/interview about my work on GreenEarthJourney, along with a lot of other great information as well!

So this is the New Year...

2008-12-30T07:41:00.004-05:00

So my first Christmas season has come and gone. Well my first season selling online at least. I was thrilled with all the attention my work received during that one quick month. With a boatload of sales and a full time job, I really saw where I needed to improve my work method.

Shipping was the first big one, it takes me far too long to package things, sometimes longer than it takes to build them! I will be switching to domestic priority shipping, and first class international shortly after the new year, this will save on materials and time. On top of that it'll be very easy to know when a package will get somewhere.

Having 3-8 orders to build and ship at a given time also helped me realize how inefficient my system was. I'll go into detail at a later date about this, because I think I've learned some critical lessons that will likely help others. I'll try and put together some tutorials this year on productivity.

Expect to see a whole bunch of new designs and pieces flooding through my shop in the next few months. Thursdays will be the official new release days, but not starting this week though. I'll have all new packaging and cards as well!

New Release Thursday

2008-12-11T12:49:00.004-05:00

New Release Thursday is a new Etsymetal series, where everyone puts out their new work on Thursdays. It's meant to be a Group effort to get everyone noticed together, the real success of it will be in the consistency of doing it every week. Check out the Etsymetal blog for more details.

In other news I received a ton of new tools today and some much needed tools to finish some pending orders. If you're reading this and you have an order that hasn't shipped yet, know that it will be on it's way very soon!

Below is my new piece for today.

News

2008-12-02T08:24:00.005-05:00

So I chose to go with different photos after all, you can see them in my shop as of now. The clean white background seems to do everything more justice. On top of that it's easier to get them all to look the same.

Lot's of people are having ultra-mega sales right now, online and in stores, although I don't have sales myself, I am upgrading all my domestic shipping to priority for the holidays for free, just so people can have a better piece of mind. Around this time of year 1st class mail is more like 3rd class mail, and might make it to where it needs to be by next Christmas!

Photos

2008-11-17T07:10:00.003-05:00

I'm still working on a good format to change my pictures too. I've yet to find anything I'm totally satisfied with, but so far these are the closest.

Books galore!

2008-11-16T18:00:00.003-05:00

I've been a trying to get all the dragonfly books finished in one batch, they have proven to be more time consuming then I had anticipated, but it feels good getting them finished up finally. I had been just making them a few at a time, but as time goes on I'm learning the value of consolidating time and getting things done in large batches.

Innovation, Part 1

2008-10-31T06:55:00.003-04:00

I'm a huge fan of innovation in any form, and always appreciate people who rethink their medium in a whole new way. This is never any easy thing to do, and many good intentions fall short of their expectations, but that's the nature of trying to reinvent the wheel. Although every now and then some people cut through the odds and end up on the other side with something exceptional. One individual I stumbled upon is luthier Rick Toone.

I've been a guitarist for a long time and have a pretty big obsession with the instrument itself. Having probably searched the internet for every guitar image one could imagine, Rick's strike me as completely unique, I definitely recommend taking a look at his work. These are a few of his own photos from his website.

Drawings and Sketches

2008-10-28T22:41:00.004-04:00

Here are some pages of designs I'm working out. I usually like to have a solid visual of some variety before i start working in metal or wax. This will give anyone curious a little taste of designs to come.

.com

2008-10-17T23:05:00.002-04:00

I'm in the process of building a real website... among building real physical things as well. Honestly I have no idea how to build a website, but I'll download some programs and buy some programs and swear a the computer until I figure it all out. If you haven't been yet, go to the Art Jewelry Magazine website and check out some full shots of the dragonfly in motion.

Dolichovespula arenaria

2008-10-06T23:11:00.001-04:00

Dolichovespula arenaria, aka what has invaded my shop area, aka giant yellow jackets, aka LOTS of giant yellow jackets, aka the reason I haven't gotten anything done this week...

So we have a massive nest of them that has worked it's way into the basement, and until today I couldn't get into my shop to work cause there were just soooo many of them. The good news is they are finally gone, the bad news is I swear I hear them anywhere and everywhere I go. they have destroyed my sanity!!

In all truth though the are pretty docile, I can practically pick them up in my hand (I prefer not too though and use a container instead.) We did get stung though trying to take care of them on our own. But thanks to some professional help I can get back into my shop and crank out some new waxes.

Saving the planet, one piece of jewelry at a time.

2008-10-03T06:58:00.002-04:00

It's been about 9 months since I put up my first piece of jewelry of Etsy, and I'm thrilled to say that I've raised $52 so far to donate to Earthworks. The way I have planned to donate is on a yearly basis, as it doesn't make too much sense to do it $1 at a time. In the grand scale of things $52 may not seem like a lot, but every little bit helps and it's a step in the right direction. If every jewelry artist gave to the cause just that little bit, it would make a huge impact on the lives of the families that supply the raw materials we depend on.

Custom Road Ring

2008-09-24T06:57:00.004-04:00

I just finished the custom road ring I had posted last week, and I must say, it looks much cooler in silver then in wax! It's one beast of a ring too, size 12 and 2/3 of an oz of silver, it was way too big for even my thumb! Here is the map it is stylized after, along with the finished ring.

I made a brick gold and silver ring a few years ago that I really liked, which reminded me of this road ring project. I'm thinking of continuing this theme into my next batch of designs. This way I'll have all the nature/bug/plant pieces and then a urban/industrial look as well, which fits with my overall goal of mixing machinery and nature.

Tools at last!

2008-09-16T14:37:00.003-04:00

Well the tools are here and the very first thing I made with them was a Kitty Fortress! (with a little help from Kaitlin!) The pictures pretty much explain themselves.

Tools!

2008-09-16T07:46:00.005-04:00

Well they were supposed to be here Saturday, but I'm actually home today working on things so I'll forgive FedEx. But I'll have a pretty solid little machine shop to set up...and shelves; I need more shelving big-time. It usually takes time and experience with it to really understand how your space functions. Here are some tool pictures and, yes, the handpiece is sold separately...

Projects

2008-09-14T06:41:00.003-04:00

Just a couple of projects in the works. The first is a batch of jewelry straight out of the oven! The type of silver I use can be heat treated to make it stronger. I like to make batches and cook them altogether, it saves the amount of times I have to heat up and turn on the oven. It usually takes 485 degrees for about 1:45 hours.

This next project is a custom men's ring, using a road map image. I'm very excited to see how it comes out, the wax images never do it justice, but this is for people who enjoy seeing how things start off. I'll make sure to put up images of all the finishing stages.

And speaking of finishing things and waxes, I just ordered a ton of new tools! I'm super excited as I have had to use other peoples shops lately to do certain tasks. There is something to be said for having your own creative workspace. Pictures will most definitely follow, they were suppose to be here yesterday, but as long as they get here I'm thrilled!

Office Space

2008-08-14T08:16:00.003-04:00

Most of this month has consisted of renovating a few room in our house. We're redoing a room that use to be a little den and making it into Kaitlin's office/library area. This space was previously used as my office and place to draw and package shipment. The downfall was it's on the 2nd floor and my shop is in the basement... This translated into a lot of running up and down the stairs. So now I have a office/music room that's right next door to my shop, and I'm already feeling the benefits of not having to run to every corner of the house. Everything in the name of productivity!

It's a very yellow space, but your eyes adjust to it quickly. We were going to repaint it, but it's more work then we have time for right now. A lot of music equipment doubles as photography stands and furniture as well.

See if you can find the dragonfly in the pictures!

2008-08-01T07:23:00.002-04:00

It's a new month, and time to start fresh again. So I have some exciting things coming up, a new wholesale order headed to Alaska soon and keep an eye out this month for a feature of the dragonfly in Craft magazine. On top of that I have been working on new designs again, the process from drawing to wax to metal can be slow sometimes, but I'm aiming to have another collection of pieces finished in the coming months.

News

2008-07-26T07:38:00.004-04:00

So I kinda let this blog slip a little since I returned from vacation... but I will in fact have some news and things to post in the next few days, so check back for sure. For now I'm off to work!

Home Again

2008-07-14T06:31:00.003-04:00

Well we've made it back from our much need vacation to Prince Edward Island. It was truly a fantastic trip, and we had perhaps the best weather we could have asked for. 15 hours car rides are pretty painful though, that's the farthest I've ever driven in one shot. So now it's back to pumping tons of energy in to my work and my online shop!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip.

Breathe

2008-06-26T07:41:00.003-04:00

On a side note today, I know a lot of jewelers, and ones who have been at it for many years, who don't wear face masks. I find that if I don't use one, even for simple sanding and filing tasks, I can feel the little particles getting into my lungs. So I highly recommend to use a face mask if you are making anything that requires filing or sanding. Any simple one from the hardware store will help, as long as it's rated for sanding.

Bucket-o-wings!

2008-06-23T07:00:00.003-04:00

Right now I'm working on making a large batch of wings. I'm finding it best to do these sorts of projects in batches, it saves a lot of time down the road. plus they all need to be heat treated before they are finished so doing them all at once cuts down the amount of times I have to heat the oven. Here's a picture of all the wings ready to be made into jewelry (no dragonflies were harmed in making all these wings!).

Etsy Metal

2008-06-19T06:33:00.004-04:00

Etsy
Buy Handmade
JesseDanger

I'm very excited to say that I have been accepted into the Etsymetal, a juried guild of Etsy metalsmiths. The links above are just a handful of the amazing artist that are part of it. All of the members are very talented and some are huge sellers on Etsy, it's nice to know that we are all together in this revolutionary new way to sell jewelry directly to the person who will be wearing it.

Go to the website and take time to checkout all the cool metalwork on Etsy.

New photos

2008-06-15T21:48:00.003-04:00

My latest project has been redoing all my photos, it's been a challenge to get them to a state I'm happy with. There are some sellers on Etsy, particularly jewelry sellers, whose shops I really admire. They are very inspiring, but at the same time heavily copied, and the last thing I want to do is mimic someone else's shop.

So my challenge is to create a unique but not overly complicated photo setup for my designs... and to figure out why the white balance is so far off on my camera as well!

Today I took a couple of paper sample booklets that were going to be thrown out at work and made them into little cards to include with my packages. I was able to make about 4 dozen out of the cover pages alone! These were paper samples for recycled stationary and card stock, it seemed like such a waste to throw these out.

Custom Ring, Finished

2008-06-10T22:30:00.005-04:00

So I have a few steps missing from this tutorial. The nature of hopping between two shops and doing small bits at a time did not translate well for photographs to use here. But the great news is the are finished and look stunning! I had to practically pry them away from a few people though and send them to their rightful owner, hehe.

To blacken the silver I use liver of sulphur, available at most tool suppliers, including ottofrei.com and riogrande.com. First I mix the dry chunks, just a few, in very very hot water, and then submerge to piece until it coats in an even black. This will not color the 14k for the most part, but will oxidize all the mokume. Once the piece dries, I sand down the mokume again to remove all the black. The next step is to lightly rub some Baldwin's Patina with a Q-tip over the mokume sections. This patina is formulated based on ancient Japanese Rokusho patinas. The fantastic part about this patina is it will darken the shakudo in the mokume but not the silver, creating a deep coppery contrast.

Enough with the technical babble! Here are the rings!

Outside Adventure

2008-06-06T07:21:00.003-04:00

So these are a few pictures from a little hike we took about a week ago. We live close to Lake Champlain and in a nearby town there is an old old railroad causeway that has been turned into a bike path. It's about 3.5 miles long and use to connect to some of the island in the lake, but now there is a small bike ferry that takes you across where the rotating bridge use to be. Here's more info for you. we managed to go on an amazingly beautiful week day, it was gorgeous and we had the place to ourselves!

Custom Ring, part 8

2008-06-02T07:44:00.008-04:00

There weren't too many process shots this time around as I was very focused on soldering the pieces and forgot to grab the camera! But I have a great shot of both the pieces constructed and ready to have the stones set. Soldering the top parts on was pretty tricky business but everything worked out perfect in the end.

Once the stones are set I will move on to the final polish and sanding to give each of them their finished shape. The very last step will be coloring the silver and the mokume--I can't wait!

Wings and Things!!

2008-06-02T07:32:00.007-04:00

The Dragonfly wing as finally here and ready! I made some funky little pieces from mokume as well, this material is pretty cool stuff!

Tons of news.

2008-05-31T07:20:00.002-04:00

There is a lot going on behind the curtains right now. The custom rings are almost finished with lots of pictures to show. The dragonfly wing castings just arrived and looks awesome, and a handful of mokume pieces are almost finished as well... I also have some nice pictures of a recent hike we took too. All in due time.

On top of all that, the Dragonfly was on the front page the other day and in a featured buyer Storque article on Etsy as well, written by none other the John F from They Might Be Giants. How cool is that??

I did have a major setback the other day, and I have a very helpful tip for any jewelers who run into this same issue. While drilling out the connection holes for the two bezels on one of the custom rings, the tiny (.5 mm) bit head snapped off inside the bezel. This is not cool. In a good situation you can do one of the following,

1.) grab the chunk that is sticking out with pliers and twist it out.

2.) drill out the bit from the other side of the hole.

3.) remake the piece it's stuck in.

In this situation none of those were a feasible option, but I did remember something my jeweler friend Neil had mentioned before about corroding the bit out. His recommendation was using regular a household alum, mix it with water and keep it warm, and let the culprit soak for 24-48 hours. If you have an ultrasonic, put a lid on the container with the alum and piece and rest it in the ultrasonic solution, the vibrations will help loosen the bit.

Essentially the alum solution eats away and disintegrates the steel alloy. This saved me from having to do a ton of extra work. So I find this is by far the second best way to cure broken drill bits, the first being not breaking them to start with!!

The Booklets are here!

2008-05-28T09:30:00.004-04:00

I'm ultra excited with how these came out, plus the accordion style makes them fun to play around with! Click on the little picture on the side to see the listing---------------->>>>

Not so ugly ducklings

2008-05-23T07:47:00.002-04:00

When we got home yesterday there was a happy family of Canadian geese hanging out in the pond by our house! Looks like seven little ones altogether, and one super overprotective father, right after this picture he attacked a passing Mallard Duck family... back yard drama.

Custom Ring, part 7

2008-05-22T07:41:00.002-04:00

Today was clean up day, smoothing down most the rough edges and getting the initial shapes together. The first step is to saw off all the mokume edges that overhang on the shank, getting close enough to the inner frame to make clean up easy, but not too close as to nick it with the saw.

Once the edges are trimmed down I aggressively sand the flat profile on 220 grit sandpaper. This ensures that the flatness stays crisp and with the finish it leaves, it's easy to tell if there are spots that still need sanding.

I then do the same thing with the bezel, cutting off the extra silver on the bottom of the bezel. I then sand the bottom flat as well. Now that the shank and bezel are fully formed, the next part will be making the 14kt top plate and connecting it to the the ring

Here are all the ring parts ready for assembly. These are going to be wild once they are done!!

New Designs

2008-05-21T11:23:00.004-04:00

I just listed a new set of copper and silver pieces. I have another set, with two contrasting textures that'll be up in a week or so as well!

Custom Ring, part 6

2008-05-20T07:35:00.003-04:00

Today's task was building the bezels, three in total. The first image shows just the strips of metal for the outer bezel and the seat. I am using the .5mm mokume on the outside and 1mm Argentium stock on the inside.

Using a mix of round and oval bezel mandrels, I form the outer sleeve, constantly checking it against the stone to make sure the shape and size are correct. I then form the inner sleeve and trim it until it just barely sneaks inside the mokume sleeve.

Here are the two pieces formed and soldered, the next step is using the stone to gauge the height. I want to make sure I leave enough, but not too much, room because the stone will sit lower once I scoop out a rounded seat for the stone.

Once I have measured where I want the stone to sit, I prepare the two sleeves to be soldered together. I drip a tiny bit of soldering flux between the two, where I want to solder to flow, and paint the yellow ochre on the outside, where I definitely don't want the solder to go, or the previous seems from opening. If you are really careful and mindful of how you are heating the piece, you probably don't need the yellow orche, but I err on the side of caution most the time... "Jesse Danger, man of caution"... oh the irony!

Time to melt things! I hold the little bits of solder right to the seem where the two sleeves meet, once the piece is heated enough that little solder bit will flow and seal the seam. I repeat this bunch of times until the solder has filled all the way around.

In a land far far away...

2008-05-17T08:15:00.006-04:00

...Well actually not that far away, about a 15 hour car ride to be exact. Kaitlin and I have finally managed to take a vacation, something we have been trying to do for years. We wanted to go last year after we got married but the timing just didn't work. So this summer, on our one year anniversary, this will be our home from July 3rd-July 10th.

We've rented a nice little cottage right on the ocean in Prince Edward Island Canada. It's going to be more fun than I think I can handle, with a grill and canoes and seal watching and dunes and ocean and more! Here is the view off our front porch...

The thing is we have never taken a trip together, besides a quick drive to upstate New York and down to Mass to visit her family. It'll be a fantastic adventure, and hopefully give us a chance to unwind before the fall and winter madness begins. In the meantime we'll leave the shop assistant Olive in charge of everything...

New shop assistant needed

2008-05-16T08:04:00.003-04:00

The shop assistant trying to open the door to my studio to inform me that our Ocean Whitefish supplies are running low... She does NOT like the door being shut so she can't come in, but alas it's too dangerous for a cat to be in here. It's for your own good kitty!

Custom Ring, part 5

2008-05-16T07:40:00.009-04:00

This step is a big one, adding the mokume to the outside. I cut and shape these pieces the same way as the main sections of the frame. The mokume I'm using is only .5mm thick, so it's more of a laminate than a structural element; there are two advantages to this, though.

The first advantage is that thick mokume is very, very hard to make and shape properly, and having thick corners would distort the pattern at the seams on the bottom. By building the frame and overlaying the mokume it creates an almost seamless look; I'll be able to portray this better with the finished piece.

The second big factor is I can heat treat the Argentium to be many times stronger than Sterling, copper or mokume could ever be--this has been a huge factor in me using this metal. It has changed the way I design things as well.

I make the panels about .75mm wider than the ring frame itself, you can see the overhang in the image below. This gives me a good edge to feed the solder into, and minimizes the risk of solder getting on the mokume finish...which I also cover in yellow ochre, to prevent any chance of unwanted solder flow. Cleaning solder off the mokume could straight out ruin it, tricky tricky.

I was too into soldering to stop and try and get pictures, it's a very tricky process with the panels, but here is the piece with all the panels soldered on. The heat has colored the outside to look close to the finished patina, it's looking sharp! But it's still in its "ugly phase" as I say, with rough edges and yellow ochre stains on the inside.

Here's an image with the bezel resting in place (the stone isn't set into the bezel yet though). It's starting to look like a finished ring!

Custom Ring, part 4

2008-05-16T07:26:00.003-04:00

Now that the frame is solid, I'm going to add the connecting bracket across the top, this will also serve as the anchor for the bezel and top plate. It's a little tricky get this piece to sit just right, usually takes a lot of filing and checking and filing and checking. It is mainly sitting in their with tension, as I have not devised an easy way to hold it in place.

Again, a little blurry... Notice the orange brown spots in the corners, this is yellow ochre painted over the previously soldered joints. This keeps previously soldered areas from melting again and having everything fall apart!! Due to the heat conductivity of Argentium silver, this is not too big of an issue on this piece, but with traditional sterling silver it is a must. The yellow ochre acts as controlled dirt, and solder will not flow if the metal is not perfectly clean, regardless of temperature.

Custom Ring, part 3

2008-05-16T07:11:00.006-04:00

The next step once the frame parts were finished is to solder them together. The bottom section will be soldered to the longer side pieces, this will make things easier to clean up, not having to get into the concave section. the solder should be applied to the outside of the shank, again making clean up easier. The soldering photo is a little blurry, it's a little tricky to take a good picture and solder at the same time!

Once the sides are connected the extensions need to be removed, using a fine I blade cut right next to the base out, trying to keep the same angle that the bottom has.
The last step in the this section is to file down the part that has just been removed for a smooth transition.

Milestone!

2008-05-11T19:05:00.002-04:00

The Dragonfly hit 20,000 views on Etsy today! Actually it had 5200 before the counter was reset, so it's really had about 25,000, but seeing that 20,000 in the view counter is pretty cool!

Thanks to anyone and everyone who checked it out.

Nimli and Amazon

2008-05-09T21:09:00.002-04:00

Recently I was invited to list some pieces on Nimli.com, a website that sells Eco-Friendly items and rates and lists each item's Eco-factors. I had not heard of them until I was contacted, so I was a little unsure of what kind of traffic and sales I could expect. None the less, I had my first sale off their site yesterday! They are a much different online retailer then Etsy, but I'm excited about the possiblities... I am even more thrilled that they list everything on Amazon.com!

So if you search for Jesse Danger on Amazon you get my Eco-Silver Satin and Lemongrass pieces!!! How wild is that? (Right now Amazon is being a little glitchy, so it says you can't buy them directly off Amazon, but you could earlier today!)

Industrial Decay

2008-05-07T18:58:00.002-04:00

Here's another little teaser of more copper/silver pieces in the works, rings this time around. I love all the gritty finishes copper has.

Custom Ring, part 2

2008-05-07T18:05:00.006-04:00

Today I started to get the shanks of the rings together and formed. Neil, who works in the shop as well, had an amazing new tool that made making these so much easier than the last version I built. He was nice enough to let me borrow it for the night to photograph...and drool over.

Here are the pieces for the funky shaped ring, all shaped and ready to be soldered, this one formed very nicely. The top piece is the support bracket that will be soldered in after the three main sections are soldered and sized properly.

This is the two stone ring. This one is super fun to make! The curves are all hand formed and there are two separate pieces, one that slides into the other, then they are both soldered and fused together. The long pieces on the top are just there to ease the bending process, they will be trimmed back to fit the stone bezels once the two sleeves are soldered together. To create this ring a used just a ring mandrel and a mallet.

Jesse vs. Photography, 1-1

2008-05-07T07:04:00.005-04:00

Photography and I are 1 to 1 now, it kicked my ass Sunday, but I kicked it back last night! All the photos came out awesome, here's another page of the booklet with a new close up.

I also managed to get some great video clips as well, these are slated to go online at Artjewelrymag.com in the not too distant future. For anyone who wanted to know how the mechanisms work, here is a glimpse of the tiny little "engine" doing it's thing.

So Wednesdays are my days to crank through projects in the shop, so expect to see a lot of progress photos for the end of the week. Today is also the day for printing up the booklets, then It's on to making a ton of book, I've recruited Kaitlin to help out with them, actually she kinda volunteered.

Alright! Time to build stuff!

Lights, camera... darkness?

2008-05-04T22:36:00.002-04:00

So I spent most of today working of new photos for the dragonfly, as well as a video to show it's gears in motion for possible inclusion in an upcoming magazine . The pictures just weren't coming out the way I wanted, I was trying to get too fancy and by the time I started to get somewhere, all my photo-bulbs blew out. So tomorrow I'll restock my blown bulbs and give it another shot, if all else fails I'll just call up a local studio photographer!

Because nothing really came out, I don't have anything to show tonight.

Custom Ring, part 1

2008-05-02T08:09:00.004-04:00

Here is an image of the very awesome metal to be used in a custom ring I am creating. The metals are Argentium Silver (the long bar), 14k Rose Gold (the shorter bar), and Silver/Shakudo mokume (the swirly sheet). The mokume is truly stunning, yet hard to capture with an image. It's has a random pattern woodgrain look that is rosy and silver, but will finish to a silver and almost black pattern. (I added some images below of the other metals and the gems!)

For those who are not familiar with mokume, it is an old asian metalsmithing practice where many layers of fine metal, in this case about 27, are fused into a single sheet. Holes and patterns are then cut into this thick sheet, and then it is rolled very thin, creating this unique pattern. The Shakudo used is a mix of 4% pure gold and 96% pure copper.

This first drawing is the design that all this metal will

soon become. I forgot to include an image of the Malaia garnet that is going into the ring, but I will eventually.

This is another custom ring, with some of the same metals, that I will be building at the same time, also using Malaia garnets.

Dragonfly Book

2008-05-02T08:01:00.007-04:00

As promised here are a few images for the inner pages of the dragonfly book. Still in the beginning stages, but these look 1000 times better rough than the first draft. I'm trying to make it more artsy than just informative.

It's May!

2008-05-01T07:33:00.002-04:00

So today is the first official day of this blog, and I will try to keep a post going at least every other day. All the silver and gold I ordered is slated to arrive today, then I can take pictures and show everyone what I'm building.

The page layouts for the dragonfly books are headed to the printing press next week so expect to see images from those by this weekend!

More tonight!

2008-04-28T17:03:00.004-04:00

About this time last year I completed my mechanical dragonfly, the "Anax Imperator Machina". I've decided to make a collection of jewelry based on the dragonfly its self, primarily the wings.

The little wings I made are just like the ones on the dragonfly but slightly smaller, they'll be earrings and necklace, and hopefully a ring and bracelet as well, but we'll see once I have them. The castings are supposed to be headed my way May 12th, later then I hoped but still in time for May!

I'm also making a limited run of handmade books about the dragonfly. This will include the sketches and drawings I used to create it and photographs as well. I'm really excited about making these! Like most of my packaging they'll be made of sustainable Lokta paper and recycled paper, and I've been working diligently working on the inner page layout to get it finished this week.

Here are some images of the paper and bookmaking supplies to keep you intrigued.

New bag

2008-04-28T12:51:00.005-04:00

So I don't treat myself to many new things. I'm one to wear something out until it's rendered useless, but I've been eyeing this messenger bag for months now and finally gave in.

My old one lasted a solid 5 years, which was pretty impressive for such a cheap army surplus bag. But alas the holes are getting to big and the fabric too worn and tattered to salvage... I could literally tear it in half if I wanted to.

Photos are by Moop, check them out on Etsy here and at Supermarket.

Neglected

2008-04-27T12:27:00.002-04:00

I've neglected this poor blog for almost 4 months now, but that's about to change. I'm revamping this and a few of my other pages because I have lots of projects coming up to build and I'm going to be posting all the progress here. Check back soon, all the changes will take place in the next few days.

For Sale at Last!

2008-01-11T07:49:00.000-05:00

I have the new pieces up for sale on my Etsy page. Check it out for all sorts of fun and excitement! I'm working a new batch of designs now, but it's great to start getting pieces out there.

Pieces on the way!

2007-11-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

So after many hours of carving my first few waxes, I have sent them off to be cast. I plan to have them by the end of the week. I have some nice satin cords for the pendants and crafty little boxes for them to be presented in.

I've also been setting up my storefront, which is really just an Etsy account. When this becomes more fluid I might make the move to my own online store, but Etsy has a pretty good thing going so far.

More news when the pieces arrive!

Do the right thing

2007-10-14T13:23:00.001-04:00

I've had many conflicted thoughts regarding the environmental impact of jewelry and my desire to make it. I urge anyone concerned about the future of our planet and the jewelry industries reaction toward it to check out this article by Modern Jeweler and the online blog Fairjewelry.org.

There are companies inside this archaic jewelry empire that are starting to make the change, but despite the best efforts of some, the industry as a whole has a long long way to go. I, for one, intend to start off on the right foot. A considerable amount of research will be done on my part before I drop money on materials of any kind; metal, gems, packaging, etc.

Wax on, wax off

2007-10-03T06:40:00.001-04:00

After some attempts working in metal, it appears these new designs are better suited to being carved in wax. I haven't worked in wax in awhile, so it might be a trial at first, but overall it will make for cleaner designs.

New designs, good ones

2007-09-25T07:16:00.001-04:00

So I seem to have come up with a design I'm very happy with. I've discovered that while my bench is a great place to work and build pieces, it is not inspirational when it comes to designing. The one spot that always works for me is the sun-room off our house, with tons of light, fresh air, plants and of course a feline companion. These designs are based off of the shadow of lemongrass plants.

2007-09-25T07:08:00.000-04:00

New Designs

2007-09-05T22:56:00.001-04:00

A couple of designs I'm working out. Pretty different from pieces I've done before.

The Art of Fire

2007-08-14T07:08:00.002-04:00

On another note, my soldering pad makes for some killer Abstract Expressionism. I should sell prints of these on the side.

Toasted knuckes and monster spiders.

2007-08-06T13:24:00.003-04:00

So I had a chance to turn everything on and melt some stuff, first on the list was my knuckle hair, I need to be a little more careful. Today I just tried a couple of small soldering jobs, this new torch is going to be amazing, it will make a huge difference in how I solder tiny pieces. The pin vises I ordered are fantastic as well, allowing me to grip small pieces without having to shape my finger nails into vises... which never worked the way I thought it might.

I took a few pictures of my bench, it's pretty basic, just an old counter top I found for free on the side of the road and a few 2x4's. It seems like it'll be enough space, I will need to build some shelves though.

This probably is the cleanest it will ever look. I do try to keep things relatively organized, it makes life a lot easier when looking for tools and parts, and anything for that matter.

Oh yeah, my makeshift ventilation/escape route/light source is also home to hundreds of filthy spiders. There can't possibly be enough bugs for all of them to live off of, so I'm sure they are eating each other, and carefully eyeing me from behind as I work. You can't see them in the picture, but trust me... they are there...

In The Beginning

2007-08-05T22:17:00.001-04:00

Today I set up the gas, bolted the bench to the wall and arranged all the tools. After a few months of scrounging for tools and gadgets, my shop is ready for me to begin creating. My first step is to get acquainted with the setup and tools I'll be using. I have a Smith little torch, a great torch, but a style that I haven't used before. Along with that, I'm using different chemicals, specifically biodegradable and less toxic ones.

The first month in my shop will consist of familiarizing myself with my setup and drawing designs. By September I should have all my concepts finished and ready to build.