Stone Soup, Stone Diets, Stone Porn – It is all about the STONES!

There are so many stones, and as the old adage goes, so little time. For those of us crazy enough to make metalsmithing our lives, there are few things that make us drool, swoon, tear up,  gasp, and need a self-help group more than stones.  I belong to a great group of metal artists – The Aspiring Metalsmiths. We all love stones. We covet stones. We buy stones all the time, sometimes we even buy stones favorited by others in our team (always without malice). We just can’t help ourselves.

Because the only thing we love more than buying and collecting stones, it is looking at stones – gawking at stones – drooling over stones – pure stone porn I tell you!  It is an addiction. While we all still love our coffee, chocolate, and shoes – I think most of us love stones more. Our Team Blog Challenge for February is to show you, our readers/friends/teamies/buyers – our stone collections. I can’t wait to see all the beauties my teamie’s are hoarding in their studios. It is an addiction I tell you! Here are pics of some of my collection:

The Jaspers

The Agates

The “Ites” – all stones with names ending in “ite”

Koroit Boulder Opals

Misc. Stones – too many different stones to name

Labradorites – these get their own photo as they are one of my most favorite stones.

Faceted Gemstones – love all of these – maybe I should try setting one some day!

And a quick pick of some of my Favorite stones – well, for today anyway…

So, as you can see, I am quickly spending my kid’s inheritance on a big box o’rocks. Poor kids.

You can see some of my Aspiring Metalsmith’s teamie’s collections at their blogs, here is a list:

Autumn Bradley – http://www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com/
Clarity @ Scrollwork Designs – http://thesquarepegnation.blogspot.com/
Stacy Low – http://www.formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com
Chrissi Lynn Designs – http://www.chrissilynn.blogspot.com
Sylvia Anderson – http://www.sylviaanderson.blogspot.com/
Jessica @ Abella Blue – http://www.abellablue.com/blog
Contemporary Jewelry by Beatriz Fortes – http://cjbf.blogspot.com/
Esmeralda – http://jewelry-by-silverblueberry.blogspot.com/
Steph Stargell – http://www.stephstargell.com
Pennee – http://allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Silver Pearl Jewelry and Metalworks – http://silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/show-us-your-stones/#more-4
ArtistiKat – http://artistikat-scratchingpost.blogspot.com/
Claire – brightstar109.blogspot.com/

And always check http://aspiringmetalsmiths.blogspot.com/ for what is going on in and around our small world of stone loving metalsmiths.

You may see some of my stones in finished pieces by visiting my etsy shop, I listed 3 new pieces on Sunday at http://sstargell.etsy.com .

Thanks for visiting 🙂

Steph

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The Good, The Bad, and the Really Ugly!

I am a member of a great team on Etsy called “The Aspiring Metalsmith’s”.  I have no idea how many members there are now, but I do know that they are all extremely inspiring, caring, generous and talented. I have learned so much being a part of this team. We chat on the Etsy forums, and learn from each other every day. The Aspiring Metalsmith’s  have a blog at http://aspiringmetalsmiths.blogspot.com/   . One of members decided it would be fun to start a monthly blog challenge. I was all in for the challenge, as I am a wannabe frequent blogger and am trying to kick-start this new blog.

November’s blog challenge was to blog and show pics of our workbench. OUCH! Obviously, they didn’t know I create in utter chaos. Really I do. I like it that way. I feel more creative in clutter. I see things on the bench all mingled together and they talk to me, they show me how they want to be combined in new and interesting ways.  I cringed just thinking about letting photos of my bench out into universe.  I just knew that all my teammates would have magazine worthy organized benches and workspaces. So over the last week I have taken photo’s of my workbench (really just a big table) in various states of chaos.  Directly behind me is my corner desk with computer/printers/paperwork and my polishing table. I can’t show you that now, as it is covered in many of the 427 drawings my 5-year-old has made for me in the past week. 🙂

THE REALLY UGLY:

This is the left hand side last Thursday 11/4/10

This is the center of by bench last Thursday….

and the right hand side last Thursday…..

THE BAD:

Left side Sunday 11/7/10

Right side on Sunday 11/7/10…..

NOW, for the GOOD – a nice picked up, swept up, and moderately organized bench as seen around noon today (11/9/10)

left hand side……

right hand side……

The bench only stayed this way for about an hour until I started  5 or 6 new pieces. I am happy that I did get it picked up, if only for a little while 🙂

Iwill be listing new items in my Etsy shop http://sstargell.etsy.com   by the weekend. Listed below are other team member’s blog posts about the challenge of showing off our benches!

• All Wired Up Jewelry Designs – http://allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
• Brandy, The Frogs Pond – http://thefrogspond.wordpress.com/
• Carole Axium – http://www.caroleaxiumdesigns.com/journal/
• Clarity, Scrollwork Designs – http://www.thesquarepegnation.blogspot.com
• Esmeralda, SilverBlueberry – http://jewelry-by-silverblueberry.blogspot.com/
• Golden Water Creations – http://www.goldenwatercreations.blogspot.com
• Heather, Misty Ridge Designs – http://mistyridgedesigns.blogspot.com/
• Jessica Lopour – http://www.abellablue.com/blog
• Joy – http://joypeckjoy.blogspot.com/
• Nancy Creations – http://nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
• Stacy (Form and Funktion) – http://formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com/
• Sylvia Anderson – http://www.SylviaAnderson.blogspot.com 

Thanks so much for checking out our workspaces!

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