My Studio Tour

Tags

art jewelry, Bethesda, chokers, contemporary jewelry, converted sunroom, havanese, jewelry display, jewelry show, music, necklace, Pleiades Art Jewelry, soldering, studio, table, words to live by, workbench, WTMD

I was recently asked to submit some photos of my studio for a blog about a show I am doing this fall called Pleiades Art Jewelry on November 15-16th at the Woman’s Club of Bethesda, 5500 Sonoma Rd, Bethesda, Maryland. So, I figured I may as well share them on my blog as well so you can see some behind the scenes at Robin Bass Jewelry.

Let me first set the stage for you. I always have music playing, usually I listen to WTMD radio which plays great music all day long. I have one coworker at the present time… here’s a picture of Kirby, my fat little chocolate Havanese, who likes his treats way too much. But who doesn’t?

I feel lucky enough to work in a bright sunroom on an old kitchen table with Kirby at my feet. Sometimes he helps me find things that drop on the floor. Not really, I wish he could. It works out great since I like to have a lot of my tools and materials right in front of me and I have a sink with an exhaust fan behind me where there used to be an indoor grill… that I now use as my counter for soldering.

Here are some of my most used tools and equipment that sit on my desk in old clay pots.. some of which my kids made in lower school.

Here are some raw castings and some finishing tools sitting on my workbench ready to be worked on.

This is a poster I have in the studio that I truly live by…

Finally here are some finished pieces in their display case…

Signature Transformations- Changes within.

Tags

abstract, bangles, best treadmill exercise, bird, bud, change, chokers, cuff, cut outs, diet, fish, flower, gold, hand carved, Handmade, jewelry, metabolism, silver, stylized, transform your look, turquoise, weight loss

It’s taken months for me to write a new post to this blog. I am not sure if it’s because I have been so busy working on my new collection or if I didn’t want to share what brought on all these new designs. But I am ready now to share.

Last July my husband and I decided we were going to go to a nutritionist and start living a more healthy existence. It is now May and I have lost 27 lbs and have gone from a size 8 dress to a size 4. I never thought I was heavy but I was not happy with the way I looked even though I went to the gym and attended spinning classes and yoga regularly. But I was slowly gaining weight. It was time for a change.

Now I have changed my diet. I eat low fat, low sugar, low carb, and I still go to yoga, but now I do weight training and an exercise on the treadmill on a daily basis. The exercise is the best fat burner you can do… elevation 15, speed 2.5, for 45 minutes. The best part is I also eat 5 meals a day.

It is for this reason I have named this new collection… Signature Transformations. Not only because of the transformation that has happened to my body but the transformative designs of the pieces. Each piece in the collection looks different from different angles and it may take a minute or two to really see the different stylized forms and shapes hidden in the pieces.

Look at these earrings. Are they just a pretty shape or is that a beak on the end and wings tucked in?

How about these? Is that a stylized tulip or is that a fish?

And how about this shape… could have been just plain circular orbs stacked on top one another but with cutouts it makes such a much more interesting three dimensional shape…

Or this one of my favorites.. look closely.. is it a flower bud or are there hearts carved into the side?

I spent weeks designing and redesigning and while I was working I didn’t even realize I was changing myself as well.

Check out the entire collection… on robinbassjewelry.com  I hope you find something that transforms your look and will be your everyday statement piece for a very long time. Enjoy.

 

Kidney Heart now for sale at robinbassjewelry.com

Tags

abstract, gifts for friend, hand carved, kidney cancer, kidney cancer jewelry, Kidney Heart, kidney research, magnetic clasp, orange, relative, silver, sterling, swarovski

It’s finished and ready to go. The back of the “kidney heart” can be engraved with a message of your choice. A portion of the proceeds are going towards kidney cancer research.

Kidney Heart Evolved

Tags

cancer research, custom design, gift for friend, heart, jewelry, kidney, kidney cancer, kidney jewelry, orange swarovski, robin bass jewelry

It’s completed and ready for gift giving. I actually changed it up a bit by flush setting the bright orange Swarovski crystal into the heart whereas the original design called for a tube setting in the negative space. When I tried that I thought it took away too much of the nice shape and looked much better set on the inside of the silver. I am going to have these for sale on etsy and robinbassjewelry.com and give away a portion of the proceeds to a charity that will help with research for a cure for kidney cancer.

Evolution of a kidney heart

Tags

commissioned jewelry, custom jewelry, heart, jewelry, kidney, kidney foundation, kidneyheart, orange, sterling silver

I was recently commissioned to design and produce a necklace for a gift for someone who’s family member recently had kidney cancer. Since the kidney foundation’s color is orange I will flush set an orange stone in the larger size of the “kidney heart”.

In the following pictures you can see my thought process and the final carving that will be cast in sterling silver this week.

How they wore it..

Tags

contemporary, elegant, goldfilled, jewelry, minimalist, modern, robin bass jewelry, simple, statement, sterling

 

This necklace is so versatile, looks just as great with a sweater as it does a LBD… available at robinbassjewelry.com

Sneak a peek…

Tags

black diamond, contemporary, kinetic jewelry, minimalist, modern, silver, sterling

Here’s a small sampling of what is going out to my new exciting wholesale account this week. Details to come.

Happy Birthday Adele

Tags

bangles, gifts, jewelry, robin bass jewelry, sisters birthday, stones

Tonight we are celebrating my sister’s birthday and she’s getting this set of bangles from us.

robinbassjewelry.com is now live

Tags

bimetal, contemporary, gold, Handmade, jewelry, one of a kind, robin bass, shopify, sterling, website

Finally, the new website is up and running. It took some time but I feel it was worth it. I will be posting new items just about everyday and if you would like updates sign up for my monthly newsletter.

I would appreciate any feedback you may have regarding navigation, content, ease of use, etc. please let me know what you think.

robinbassjewelry.com<

Shopbevel Contest

Tags

contest, druzy, druzy ring, etsy, jewelry, ring, robin bass jewelry, sales, Shopbevel, voting

I’m super excited to say that one of my designs has been entered into a competition to be produced and sold on ShopBevel (www.shopbevel.com) After submitting my design, the community votes on their favorite designs and can then preorder the winners at special early pricing. I will receive royalties for each piece sold, so I would be grateful if you would take a minute to look at this great site and vote for my piece! Below is the link that will take you to my product.