Happy Friday! Hope you had a wonderful week and are looking forward to a fun and relaxing weekend. Here are some things we've been working on at the studio this week. Smash Earrings By Leah. I've been working at the Arab Horse Show at WestWorld this week. It's been a lot of fun! Smash Necklace by Leah. First time tube setting by Melissa Cool necklace by Michelle First tube set project by Alejandra in Jewelry II Earrings made by Jan in Jewelry I for her Daughter ...

One of the unexpected, but very much appreciated perks of Harold Studio, is all of the relationships I have gained. I have found and made so many friends, formed so many positive relationships through the studio, I am extremely blessed. I have come to care about so many special people that have come into my life over the years. Some are snowbirds(people who enjoy the beautiful weather Arizona offers in the winter months, then leave for the hot summer months). They spend a fair amount of time at the studio and we get to know each other, then they are gone for months and I really feel like a friend is gone. But they keep in touch through email, interested in my life and keeping me up to date with theirs. I have met many husbands who tell me they are grateful to me because their wives are so happy to have the studio to go to and get so much out of it. I have been over to their homes for dinner, been through the ups and downs of relationships, of life with them. Given and received comfort....

Happy Sunday! Here are a few things that have been made at the studio the last few days. Hope you had a great weekend! Cuff made by Michelle  Resin Ring made during our Make and Take Workshop I made it out to Country Thunder last weekend. It was my first time and definitely an interesting experience! Eric Church has a song called "Boots". During the song, most people took one off and sang along, including a friend of mine. :) It was a good time. Here's to having a fun weekend! -Johanna...

We were lucky enough to receive a great vlog post by Rosa Linda Kilgore on her design process she did just for Harold Studio! Thanks to Rosa for putting this together for us. If you want to visit her website, it is http://www.rosakilgore.com/  She'll have her new collection up tomorrow!...

I left my full time job last August, not quite 2 years after I opened Harold Studio. The decision was incredibly terrifying for me, a young woman with a mortgage and other things in life to worry about keeping up with financially, to do. It is, still, somewhat of a terrifying idea to me. Being under 30, owning my own home and responsible for my own paycheck(or being self-employed). I have acquaintances who think I've got it all together. That I have a good head on my shoulders, and that I know what I'm doing. I think the only people who really know how terrified I am are my parents and the one or two other people who are closest to me. I seriously have very little clue what I'm doing most of the time. Most of the time, I am asking the advice of many different people. Some, whose opinions I value, others who I know will have a different perspective than one I've considered before. Most of the time I am doing things by trial and error and hopefully learning from where...

Inside the Mind of a Jewelry Designer by Alene Geed. So far I'm really enjoying it but I'll keep you posted! We'll also be hosting the Author Friday, February 1st during a Wine and Design get together. She'll be giving a brief talk on her book at 6:30pm. How exciting! ...

I get asked a lot about gifts to get the new jeweler so here is a brief list that I've compiled.  Every jeweler should have a Ring Clamp They aren't very expensive but are extremely useful. This is a good general purpose Hammer that is the most used at the studio. Every jeweler can use some more 2/0 Sawblades. We all go through them like water. If you're feeling a little more generous, you can go with the Flex Shaft Kit . A flex shaft can help you do anything from drilling holes to setting stones to polishing. Some Silver Sheet Metal to make jewelry with. Bezel Wire to set stones with. Half Round Wire to make rings with. Anything over a foot is great! Let me know if you have any questions or think I should add to the list. You never know, someone may have asked me for this list with you in mind... ...

We're having a sale! Jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else! Anyway, if you've been eying the few items we have up for sale that are made at Harold Studio, now is your chance to buy! Starting Nov 22 at 12:00 AM, use discount code THANKSGIVING to get 10% off your entire order! http://shop.haroldstudio.com...

The Studio now has a store ! I've been working for a little while on having a few things that are affordable, cohesive and a good representation of the studio. The process has been much more fun than I had expected. The other day, the wonderful photographer Tiffany Egbert took some quick and lovely shots of the line on the beautiful model Natalia and they turned out great! Shop.HaroldStudio.com is where you can find our store. You can also get there from our main website! I'm excited to start offering the line and expanding it! What do you think?...

Here is a fun look at a couple making their bands at the studio recently. Thanks to Kristen and Nate for sharing! ...

Make your own wedding ring : A studio in Phoenix lets you make your own rings from melting the metal to the finishing touches. (10/11/2012)...

 Yesterday, I had a wonderful time working with an amazing married couple Kristen and Kevin as they made their wedding bands! Here they are doing some torch work as each is making the others ring.   They mostly came in for Kevin because his previous wedding band was way too big for him and kept falling off. While there, we decided to do a ring for Kristen as well. Looking good! And here's a closeup of the two fabulous rings the lovely couple made for each other. ...

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This is coming more than a little late, but I had the honor of speaking at the 41st annual SNAG conference this year. For those of you who don't know what SNAG is, it stands for the Society of North American Metalsmiths and it's a pretty big freaking deal. It was a huge honor to be asked to participate on the panel and I had a great time at the conference! It's a week long and has all kinds of demos, tools and equipment for sale, as well as notable people in the jewelry industry that come to speak or pimp out their books(Tim McCreight was there!). It was held at the Westin and the them was The Heat is On. ...

This Ring was made by Michelle, probably a year ago. •Clean lines  Michelle has a very Scandinavian aesthetic to her work that I love. At the same time she manages to make a lot of it rustic. •Tube setting She does a lot of her stone setting by tube setting faceted stones. There aren't too many cabochons in her work portfolio.  This piece is enameled a dark color underneath, with a light blue faceted stone that is tube set on top. Love it! I love what she's been doing lately as well! She gave me a pair of earrings that remind me of one of my favorite  Ikea lamps. I'll have to share those soon with you all because they're just about one of my favorite things. Hopefully she'll be making more. ...

Here at the studio, I have a hard time keeping track of solder. Because there are so many people using the studio, sometimes things don't get put back in their designated space. If I didn't have a system for knowing what is hard, medium and easy solder, I would go crazy. Here is my system as well as a handy sign you are more than welcome to print out and use for yourself! • Only use sheet solder • Color code it with a sharpie:     Black for Hard     Red for Medium     Blue for Easy I have a color guide for anyone who doesn't know at the studio • Keep it in a container like this one .  I have the container labeled so I can just flip open the lid and see... My solder, in its right place, ready to be cut and used! Do you have any other ways you use to keep track of your solder? Please share them with us!...

I was interviewed this week by Kendra from the Downtown Devil about DIY culture in Phoenix. There are some really cool businesses I have never heard of in the article. Check out the post here. I think I have some exploring to do. How about you?...

We are in Tucson this week at the JOGS gem show and having a wonderful time! When I knew for sure we would be exhibitors at the show, I made plans to meet up with Kevin Potter of Potter USA . Kevin is a jeweler who makes tools for the jeweler and hobbyist. I first heard about his products through my sister who volunteered for an organization called Seeds for Autism which gives vocational training(like jewelry making) for adults with autism. Seeds for Autism has a hydraulic press that she would rave about. After meeting Kevin at this year's SNAG conference and seeing his press in action, I knew it was only a matter of time before I got one for the studio! Long story short, I picked up our press during a free minute today and can't wait to use it! Along with all the heavy machinery of Kevin's shop, is one of our presses above. We got a blue one. Kevin uses all of this machinery to make amazing tools for jewelers and hobbyists. He definitely makes our lives...

These are a couple of pendants Tomi made after learning tube setting in Jewelry II. She's planning on adding tube set pieces to her Etsy shop where she sells a lot of custom stamped pieces. During class, we hear her phone give off a money sounding ding all of the time to indicate she has made another sale. Below are some custom silver guitar picks she does. Aren't they a great idea? Tomi had her 500th sale just before last weeks class. It's so neat to see people coming through the studio and doing well! I'm sure she'll have a thousand soon! Tomi's shop is called Tomi's Treasures . What are you're favorite pieces from her shop?...

Debbie came into the studio a few weeks ago never having even pierced out a design into metal. Last week she finished our ball ring and set an aqua cab on top to give to her granddaughter. That's pretty quick progress isn't it? She changed up how we normally do the silver ring and at first I wasn't sure how good it would look, but I love it!...

Sara is a vibrant lady from Cuba who spent over 30 years of her life living in Hong Kong. She was very close to the Sham Shui Po district - where there are some amazing finds for jewelry! Sara brought this finished lariat in today. She learned how to do the texture on the cone last week, then figured out how to make the cone on her own and came up with a beautiful design for it! Like her on Facebook to see more of her jewelry. ...

What's your favorite stone? I have a few, a hot one for me right now is fire agate. If I had to guess what most people like I would guess diamonds. Do you think I'm right? The stones in this picture are not diamonds. They're Cubic Zirconia or CZ's. CZ's are probably the top replacement stone for a diamond look without the diamond price. Right now I'm picking through them to see what would be the best fit for some beautiful earrings a client is having me make.  What is your favorite stone? ...

Just saw this video profiling one of my favorite jewelers of all time-Judith Kaufman. Things I took away from the video: •Her inspiration     It's interesting to see how structured her work can be even though it is clear she is inspired by many things coming from nature. •Her design process   I would have thought she sketched everything out! •How she creates   It appears that most(if not all) of her work is fabricated with very few fancy tools. This just goes to show that you don't have to have every tool if you have a good enough idea or design. Visit our Facebook page for more photos of what others are making at the studio. Who is your favorite artist?...

 Hello There! This is a little more than a weeks worth of jewelry, but I didn't want to not put anything up! What's your favorite piece? ...

Follow our blog and comment on this post for a chance to win an adjustable ring from our upcoming resin ring Make & Take. You won't be sorry you did! To follow our blog just look to the right. -----> You will see a link to follow. To comment on the post click on the comments tab below and maybe tell me why you'd like to have the ring! Or what color you'd like yours to be, or who you'd give it to... Have a great day! -Johanna...

Hi everyone! I've been asked recently how I went about starting my business. I thought you should know I definitely had a lot of help. One of the places I went to first is SBDC . The Small Business Development Center can help you from concept to business plan to marketing. They definitely helped me out a lot. http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/print-edition/2011/07/22/social-media-help-being-offered-to.html I already knew what I wanted to achieve with Harold Studio, SBDC just helped guide me along the path. Here is an article about how they helped me with marketing in the Phoenix Business Journal . If you're thinking about starting a business and need some help with marketing, or anything for that matter, SBDC is a great place to start! I was also asked to speak at SNAG about starting Harold Studio and will soon write a post that is a little more in depth about the process. Hope you're all having a wonderful week! -Johanna...

As you may already know, the studio has been offering couples the experience of making their own wedding bands together for a while now. Recently we formed a relationship with A Wedding Ring Experience and through our collaboration with them, will now be offering a similar, if not better experience. I'm very excited to be offering engaged couples this service because it can be so meaningful to have the ring on your finger made by your fiance. It is certainly a very memorable and positive experience. If you'd like to know a little more about me and what the Wedding Ring Workshop is like, please check it out here . ...

Guess the size of this ring (for tomorrow's Make & Take workshop), and you could win it! Just post your guess on our facebook page. It's a silver and turquoise ring that we will be teaching you how to make. You can sign up for the workshop here . Good luck with the contest!...

We're going to be at the JOGS Tucson Gem and Jewelry Show this September teaching workshops as well as showing jewelry. If you'd like to sign up for a workshop or just say hello, check out our schedule here . We're all very excited for the opportunity to teach as well as show our new lines. So drop by and tell us what you think of our jewelry!...

There are a max of 4 people in the workshop but sometimes it's nice to have first dibs on what you'll be making! So just let us know when you sign up for the cabochon ring making workshop , what cabochon you'd like to use and we'll save it for you!...

I had the chance to speak with Jay Whaley on Metalsmith Bench Talk LIVE this weekend at the SNAG conference. Here it is if you're interested in listening! We talk about Harold Studio, where it came from and where it's going. The whole session is great! My interview starts at the 36:35 mark. ...

We have a new and fun Make and Take earring workshop at the studio! Learn how to drill holes, roll out different shapes from the disc cutter and have them enameled with color to create your very own pair of earrings in this 1.5 hour workshop! The best part is that it's only $38. We offer the Make and Takes on Fridays and Saturdays so call or email to setup a time to make them today! Also, if you're interested in an in depth class on enameling, we have one coming up in June with Michelle Startzman! What do you think?...