Raw Aquamarine Bronze Lost Treasure Ring

Rough aquamarine cast bronze ring.  Ancient lost treasure is the look I was after for this bronze collection.  Blue and gold is a fab combo.  Silver would have given the aquamarine a washed out look instead of this rich look.  The bottom of the ring band sits comfortably in the crease between the base of the finger and beginning of the palm.

medieval jewelry

New Collection - Bronze Age

Here is a peek at some new pieces of my bronze collection.  This collection is full of gorgeous raw and rough minerals and gemstone.  I guess they all are but I'm always very excited with the latest designs.  Lots of crystal pyramids.  Crystal and bronze in lost wax jewelry is beautiful.

I have a new Instagram account to visually document the lost wax process and the newest work that has not been posted yet.  Some of these new work will be in my Etsy store before being on my website AnneMaaDesigns just because I can't wait to make them official.

This an ad I put together for the Sawdust Winter Fantasy I'll be doing in November to December.

Follow me on Instagram for the latest work. instagram.com/annemaadesigns#
Click on the image for a larger view.

Cobalto Calcite - Pink!

I'm not a pink person.  Never was.  I was, however, completely sucked in by pink minerals like these Cobalto Calcite (Cobaltian Calcite) from Morocco that I bought the flat without knowing anything about them.  I always follow my gut and while that may feel scary or ridiculous at times I have never regretted anything from it. 

So I'm researching this mineral and playing with them, loving all colors cobalto comes in.  The pinks range from soft bubble gum pink to lavender pink to salmony pink to grey lavender purple.  The translucency of a mineral is something I love.  Just look last picture and feast your eyes on the pink jellies and salmon roes.  The whites with metallic blue,  purple and bronze on some of these are amazing.  I would have thought they were enhanced if I saw only pictures of them.

Click on the images for a larger view.

Used by healers for emotional healing. Effective for emotional blocks, loneliness, releases old fears and grief, mends broken hearts. Symbolizes unconditional love, forgiveness and compassion. Helps in self worth, self judgement. Also a stone for manifesting abundance and relieving stress and worry. Connects the crown chakra and heart chakra.  

Pink Tourmaline 18k Petal Earrings

I came across a photo of these 18k Pink Tourmaline Petal Earrings from a 2006 collection and missed them immensely.  I sold many pairs of this style and even sold the pair reserved for myself out of dread of making yet another set.  I just found the supplies and made myself a pair.  I probably don't really even need to wear them.  Just having them and looking at them is good enough.

Rough Pink Tourmaline, Prehnite, 18k Gold

Gem and Mineral Buying Trip

The annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show will be here soon and I am extra excited this time.  I want to be going through the vast amounts of incredible minerals from all over the world right now!  I get to meet people from all parts of the world, many of them remote areas, and get their expert insights on the gems and minerals I'm interested in.  In the back of my mind I know if I discovered a place worth going to for a buying/learning trip then I would.  

This is also the only place where I come across more things I desire then I can walk away with.  Really, this is my Candy Store, my Chocolate Craving, if you will, since in real life I feel nothing for candy or chocolate.  In my twenties this was reserved for boutiques that sold designer clothing and shoes and accessories (although not the same designers that most people coveted).  Now I no longer care for those either.  I enjoy my evolution.  I realized in my late teens that I will always morph and grow in a more drastic way than most people.  I jump with both feet into an idea purely by feeling instead of reason and live fully then up and walk away the moment I feel done.  This was usually a 2 year process.  Knowing this about myself meant I didn't take how I felt about something as the absolute or permanent way I would always feel about it.  This was important in helping me go through something as a passion, a phase, instead of making decisions that would make it permanent, which I then would have pains in extricating it from my life or my life from it.  I feel I have lived many different lives if I think back on the things I've done.  I feel full, in a good way.  Now I will invent the next phase according to the passion I have now.

I see that this posted started with something entirely different with what it ended up with.  Typical of me.  Here is a visual.  I always like to have a visual.  

I like this set with rough rock crystal quartz and pyramids:

Personal Collection of Healing Stones

Here is my personal collection of healing and protective stones.  It's amazing that I already owned these stones.  I just had to go through my mineral stash and pick out the ones I wanted to see and touch and display them.  These are very visually pleasing to gaze upon.  Click on photo to enlarge.

From left to right:

Clear crystal quartz - I love it in it's raw, uncut and unpolished form.  This one is full or super clear, clean and transparent spears.  Amplify energy and healing.  Opens crown chakra for meditaion.

Thomsonite - Enables a connections between the emotional and intellectual bodies and clears the mind to allow for greater clarity.

Aragonite Star Cluster - Grounding stone.  Strengthens lower chakras and connection with the earth.  Helpful with stress, anxiety and negative feelings.

Purple Fluorite - Highly protective physically and psychically. Increases spiritual balance and mystic visions as well as furthering spiritual development.

Green Aprophyllite - Spiritually up lifting vibration and relieves stress.  Third eye chakra, intensify inner vision and clearing blockages as well as stimulate intuition and psychic vision.

Yellow- Barite/Baryte from Peru - Powerful stone that activates and clears blockages of the third eye chakra and crown chakra.  Helps in stronger connection with your higher self.  Aids healers and is  used in dream work. 

Blue Kyanite - Aligns and opens all chakras.  Healing and aid in spiritual and psychic gifts.

White Stilbite -  Removes toxins.  Associated with heart, crown and throat chakras.

Azurite - Activates third eye and crown chakra, enhancing spiritual connection and mystical experiences.

Amethyst tip spirit quartz - Very high vibration stone.  Aligns lower and higher selves.  Cleansing to the aura and powerful psychic protection.

New Banner for Anne Maa Designs

I've not done shows for a long time and I'm starting to get back into it a tiny bit.  At the past Malibu Art festival I had this brand new banner courtesy of Banners on the Cheap.  They contacted me and provided me with a great deal to try out their product.  I happened to be thinking about a banner so I tried them out.  The result is a gorgeous banner done fast and cheap.  Below was my artwork and my banner came out exactly like it.  Mallory was my contact and she was courteous and very helpful.

The Power of the Beauty

Of the hundreds of thousands of minerals on display and available to me at the Tucson gem show I ended up with a few dozens of them.  How did I choose these out of all the ones I saw?  Purely by instinct, intuition and visuals.  Aside from looking the way I want them to look, the minerals I ended up with all have the properties I need, as I found out recently when I looked them up.  I have to say that if you are indecisive and aren't good at scanning large expanses of table tops at a fast walking pace you would be at these shows forever, thus  only cover a small fraction of the shows available.   Here is a stilbite, as used in this Frosty Stilbite Pendant necklace, a stone I repeated bought in different forms from different suppliers.  Out of seas of stones I always spotted them.  

 

Here is the one I play with.

 
This is what ThunderHealing.com says about stilbite:

Stilbite is a powerful mineral.
It helps with psychic knowing and intuition.
It is also used for psychic direction and guidance from guides, guardian angels, and totem animals.
Stilbite is also a powerful stone of creativity that enhances creative energy.
It heightens many physical senses, particularly taste.
Stilbite can also help with acceptance and letting go.
It is also used for manifestation.
Physically, stilbite is used to remove toxins, and for laryngitis.
Stilbite is associated with the heart, crown, and throat chakras. 

I know most people do amethysts, citrines and crystals but don't you think stilbite is much more interesting looking in form and texture?

Cyber Monday Modern Organic Primitve Jewelry Sale

While everyone sees Christmas as a time to buy gifts for others I see it also as a time to encourage and reward oneself for all the efforts one has made during the past year and the trek one still has to fight struggle through during this madhouse season.


Reward thyself!!  
SALE

11/28-12/4

 

Sale

Up Coming Shows - Sample Sale

After not doing shows for more then 3 years I'm starting to do some again.  These shows will determine if I will get back to doing shows as a regular part of my business.  I've never liked the stress of doing shows or the long set up time due to my large inventory but I need to do them to move samples.  I'll have samples going back many years at these shows and everything will be at sample prices (substantial discounts).  So if there are items you've got your eye on I'll probably have samples of them.  Come say hi.

Los Feliz Village Street Fair
Sunday July 24, 2011

Malibu Arts Festival
July 30 and 31, 2011

Abbot Kinney Festival 
Sunday September 25, 2011

Extra Special

Of course I love all my babies. I wouldn't have created anything I didn't love...but you know there is always one or two that is extra special to me in each collection.  Ones that if they never left home I'd be fine with it.  I like knowing that they nestle close to me in the drawer while I work.  Ones that if they ever left home I'd pretend I barely knew them and didn't love them any extra.  Here is one of those.  Below is one of those from this Seascape collection.  There is something special about this little rock with a perfect white rosette perched on it.  Can you imagine happening upon this specimen in nature?  The matte silver pronged setting is soft and undemanding too but not lacking in interest and intelligence.
Stellerite Seascape Ring

Hmm, maybe I should do an Extra Special Don't Leave Home series from now on...

Collection Archives 2004 and 2005 part II

These are the last of the contact sheets I made.  I didn't make one of these with most collections.  Here are 2004 and 2005.  Click to enlarge.

2004 Spring

2005 Fall

Collection Archives 2004 and 2005

I was just organizing and deleting files in the large and unwieldy ads/graphics folder because I realize I was afraid to open it due to the frustration and confusion of past attempts.  I came across many contact sheets and other ads/graphics pages of designs I had forgotten I made.  I remember how much I was into each one of these groups and collections.  I see how ideas had naturally worked through their courses over the years and collections.  I will be posting some of these past work.  Click to enlarge.

2004

2005

A Tumbler Page For Me

I started a Tumblr page to display the collages I put together for Anne Maa Designs banners, business cards, postcards and the like.  I make these because I need to but it's good that I enjoy making them now.  Ray's photos of my work are amazing and magazine quality to say the least.  Go look and you'll know what I mean.
AnneMaaDesigns.tumblr.com/

Spring Collection - Which One?

The site is pretty much done with the Seascape Collection.  I am not decided on the home page picture.  Here are some options. What do you think?

SeaScape Spring Collection

This is a pendant from the upcoming new collection. The beautiful zeolite specimen is backed with a cratered sterling back and threaded with a dot and line sterling chain.  I love this piece.  I can see this  growing somewhere in the ocean or forest.

First Peek at New Collection

This collection has a theme like all my other collections.  I don't usually know the theme until the collection is well underway and the common thread is obvious.  This collection is called Sea Scape.  Here is one ring from SeaScape.  This is a vibrant yellow orange fan shaped Stilbite set in a cast sterling two finger ring.  It's a fun piece.  Primitive + organic growth.  Make sure you are on our mailing list to be notified of it's release.

Sample Sale 50% Off

Our first ever sample sale will start tomorrow for newsletter subscribers and will be open to the public starting 3/24.  The entire site will be half off the regular price.   There will be one of each item (samples) available in most styles except a few styles will have more then one.  The samples are what we used in the photo shoot and to base the production on so likely it will be the exact one you see in the photo.  Sizes are limited.  Our new collection is scheduled for a shoot and I'd like to clear the store for it's debut.  This is a super deal.

The coupon code is 'SampleSale' at checkout.  Sale runs from March 22 to April 1. 

Geode Ring

Raw Citrine Chunk Necklace

Blue Topaz Decay Ring

Raw Amethyst Chunk Cocktail Ring

Anne Maa Designs Sample Sale

Work In Progress

Deep in the middle of this collection. The possessed obsessed process of designing and making a collection has always been something I've loved and feared. Love the intensity and drive of it and fear the exact same. Not comforting to not have a say in your own life. Only comforting part of this is knowing it ends when it's exhausted.

Here are 2 shots of part of the collection. These were taken so I can match the wax sculptures to the stones once they are cast in sterling if I forget. I also had to refrain from using all the rock specimens in this collection and mentally group the stones into different cohesive collections for future seasons. Editing is a discipline I'm constantly aware I have to keep a handle on. I so admire a tight and well curated collection

With the coming of a new collection there will be a sale of the present collection first. Sign up for our rarely seen NEWSLETTER to be notified of the sale and release of the new collection.

Back

Back. From the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show and in other ways too, I think. Got lots of raw gems and rough chunky rocks. This is my first time at the Tucson show looking at this category of goods. The previous years there I always hunted semi-precious gemstones and beads and findings. This is like a whole different world. No less in size and completely extensive. Below is a picture of one flat of Cactus Quartz, or Amethyst Cactus, or Amethyst Drusy.

Custom Sculpted Sterling Rings

Here are two custom sterling rings made first in wax then cast in sterling.  They are in sizes 2.5 and 3 for an eleven and thirteen year old.  These designs allow for play without worrying about damaging the ring and also allow for future size adjustment for the growing finger.  To make a simple design interesting I made the continuous band thick and thin, round and flat.

Simple, Modern and Primitive Quartz Rings

I have a thing with quartz.  I love them clear, embedded, raw or with things protruding from them.  I have a love affair with anything clear and see through like ice or glass.  Here are some of the many quartz I have collected and set in simple, modern, sculptural and primitive designs.

DENDRITIC QUARTZ RING

 

Lost Treasure Primitive Rutilated Quartz Ring

Bronze Sculpture II

It's been a while since I've updated. Many things have happened and changed in the mean time. Looking at my last entry, I feel like picking up right on the same topic so I took a few more pictures of the same collection of bronze and would like to post more of them here.

This is a difficult piece to photograph due to the fact that it is hard to understand what this looks like in two dimensional photos unless you see it in a series of shots or in a video. It looks very different from angle to angle. This is conceived as a piece of sculpture to go in the garden to be discovered if you pay attention to rocks and stones. It is easily blended in with dirt, rocks, plants and other organic matters. To be used in this way it would be displayed convexed side up with the ridges and spikes facing up. It's other use is as a planter or pot with the concaved side up. Drainage holes are built in with the cracks at the bottom. It can also be a display bowl to hold items on a table or shelve.

I was interested in exploring the medium of metal, bronze in this case, but not using it in the traditional way it is used in which it looks like bronze. I wanted the metal to look and behave as clay, ceramic, or wax. I wanted this piece to look like it could be make out of one of those materials. It looks dry and cracked on the bottom and you can see where chunks of material are piled on and pressed but not smoothed or blended in which one doesn't usually see in a bronze sculpture. I don't believe a material should or can only be used as the way it's commonly used. It seems pointless and an useless exercise to continue to produce what a factory can easily produce.

This organic and almost alive piece measures approximately 5" long and 4" wide with a height of 3". I can only guess that the weight is 5 lbs since the only scales I have are for grams and oz.