This past week I was featured in Voyage Phoenix Magazine!! I was thrilled to see it!! You can follow the link article to read it. (Hit the word article 🙂
I’ve recently moved and have been renovating a new home so I was out of commission for over a month. I will post new studio pics soon. This past month I started working again and here is a pic of a few sterling and fine silver earrings I made. These were nature inspired.
Hope to see you soon!!
You can follow my on Instagram ———-> HERE
Fill your heart with art.
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
The last few months I’ve been using a technique call Keum-boo on many of my pieces. *Keum-boo (also Kum-Boo or Kum-bu—Korean “attached gold”) is an ancient Korean gilding technique used to apply thin sheets of gold to silver, to make silver-gilt. Traditionally, this technique is accomplished by first depleting a surface of sterling silver to bring up a thin layer of fine silver. Then 24 carat gold foil is applied with heat and pressure—mechanical gilding—to produce a permanent diffusion bond.* Basically I’m using fine silver and heating it up on my small kiln and then gilding 24 carat gold to the places I’d like it. (this isn’t the kind of gold you buy at a craft store…btw..lol)
It’s nice to add a pop of gold to some of my work. I’ve quite enjoy the process of making Keum-boo jewelry.
On another note ..I will be doing Hidden in the Hills Studio Tour and Sale again this year. It’s a studio tour in the Cave Creek, Carefree and North Scottsdale, Arizona area. The dates are Nove. 17-19 and Nov 24-26. I will be guest artist of Carole Perry at Laughing Glass Studio. If you’re on the area and need more info you can contact me at manon@sistersofthesun.com
You can follow my on Instagram ———-> HERE
Fill your heart with art and Keum-boo jewelry.
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
I’ve been working with deerskin leather cord in quite a few of my recent pieces. I make sterling beads for them. Two attach to the ends and one in the middle that allows you to adjust the cord to go up and down therefore the owner can wear the necklace long or short.
I love the way these look. They’re also a breeze to put on and take off.
This one features two Arizona Kingman turquoise gemstones. The saddle colored deerskin leather cord lends itself well to this turquoise.
The arrowheads are pretty cool. This is a great necklace that you can wear long or almost to the neck like a choker.
Of course this necklace which features a naturally shed deer antler is perfect with the deerskin leather cord. This one is very striking on.
I will have more of these pendants with the deerskin leather in upcoming weeks. They’ve been very popular for me and I love making them.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
I am a maker of handmade jewelry. All of my pieces are 100% made by me. I run my business by myself as many of my jewelry friends and small business owners do. That means I am my own social media, artist, inventory specialist, shipper, fabricator and so on. There are some days that are definitely overwhelming so I’ll take a step back occasionally….lol…..but I love it.
The piece above features a Nevada Seven Dwarfs Mine gemstone. It is a small mine that yields small amounts at the moment. Very pretty stones are coming out of there and they’re quite pricey.
This cuff has a beautiful Arizona Kingman turquoise. Because it’s cut in a heart shape the turquoise is more expensive due to the fact that the lapidary artist has to waste more turquoise to get this shape.
I’ve always had an affinity for crosses. I’m interested in making more types of these. This one features a Nevada Royston turquoise.
I’ve recently made some solid sterling silver moons and Buddhas with an inspirational message on the back. The moons are in the Balinese carver tradition. The Balinese are terrific carvers of bone pieces so I’m thrilled that I can honor them in sterling silver.
Handmade jewelry is my passion. Every morning I’m excited to get up and see what the new day will bring.
You can find some of my pieces online at my shop
fill your heart with art
~manon
My work can be found here at Echo of the Dreamer gallery and at Enter the Earth gallery.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
Excited for this new year and new techniques. I bought the necessary tools to start chasing and repousse. It’s an ancient technique of metalworking where chasing is essentially embossing and repousse is hammering the reverse side to create a low relief. (Read more here about this technique.) There’s definitely a learning curve but I love a challenge. Above is a pic of the copper in pitch. Pitch holds the piece so you can work on it.
This is the back side of the leaf shape I made. As you can see the form is pushed out.
This is the front side of my first piece. Definitely not so perfect but it was fun to work on. I didn’t think about the gauge of the copper and I jumped right into 18 gauge which was definitely a workout the first time round. It looks like a leaf on steroids…lol!!!!
I’ve made a few pieces now. This sterling piece was made using chasing and repousse techniques with sterling silver. I also added a Mexican Campitos turquoise.
I chose not to cover up the back with another piece of sterling. I love the raw, organic feel it has this way.
It looks amazing on!!
Chasing and repousse will open up a range of new ideas for me this year. Yes….. it’s time consuming but the payoff is awesome. Stay tuned for new work!!
Happy New Year!!!
fill your heart with art
~manon
My work can be found here at Echo of the Dreamer gallery and at Enter the Earth gallery.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
It’s been a long hot summer. It’s just flat out sizzling around here. We’ve had a bit of monsoon but some of it has missed us. Regardless of this heat I’ve been starting to get pieces for the studio tour Hidden in the Hills in late November early December. I’ll post more about it the closer it comes.
While dealing with this hot summer I’ve also been making all sorts of new pieces. These are a few of the earrings that I’ve worked on for Hidden in the Hills.
While I love working on larger necklaces I often throw some smaller pieces in.
Bisbee bracelet and ring. Oooh la la on Bisbee turquoise. I have that some of that turquoise tucked away in a safe place….lol.
Just acquired Nevada Seven Dwarfs mine gemstones. Hard to find, pricey to buy but oh so worth it!!!!! You can read about it HERE.
Hopefully this hot summer will morph into beautiful weather in the next few weeks!!! See you soon!!!
fill your heart with art
~manon
My work can be found here at Echo of the Dreamer gallery and at Enter the Earth gallery.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
I work with lots of genuine turquoise and I love each one of them. They’re all beautiful with their own unique characteristics. There are those stones that come around, however, that take your breathe away. This beauty is one of the stones. It’s a Royston turquoise from Nevada. This turquoise is 59 carats. When I decided to work with it I took it and kept in my eyesight for two weeks until I knew what I wanted to do. No fluff needed around this one. It stands alone and speaks for itself. It found a home quickly and I’m thrilled it will be going to someone who appreciates these stones as much as I do. 🙂
When I find genuine turquoise from any mine that has some orange in the matrix I usually nab it. I just adore the orange against the blue/green of the stone. It’s a perfect compliment.
Oooh….. a little Damele custom order for a client. It’s so pretty. I just bought of huge amount of Damele in raw form. It will be cut and polished soon by a lapidary artist. The mine has been closed so we wanted some of it before it gets really hard to find.
If your looking for turquoise go for genuine turquoise. Ask lots of questions. There’s no comparison to the real deal.
fill your heart with art
~manon
My work can be found here at Echo of the Dreamer gallery and at Enter the Earth gallery.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ with my man, Rob. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
Sorry I’ve been so absent on my blog but I’ve been hard at work with a ton of turquoise jewelry. Lots of pieces have been heading to new homes and still have many more on my bench.
I haven’t made a piece in a while with naturally shed antler so last week I thought it was time. This Arizona Kingman lends well to this piece.
I really thought hard about keeping this one but Rob reminded me that each piece of turquoise jewelry is my baby and I might as send it into the world and share the beautiful stones 🙂
As soon as this Arizona Kingman turquoise necklace was listed it found it’s new home. It’s really striking on because of it’s color.
Love this Nevada Royston. Truly an incredible stone.
Ha…this post was about turquoise jewelry and now I’m throwing in a labradorite. Just wanted to mix it up…… lol.
Short post but I’ll be back soon with some more goodies!!
You can find me on Instagram @sistersofthesun.
fill your heart with art
~manon
My work can be found here at Echo of the Dreamer gallery, at Enter the Earth gallery and at the Sonoran Arts League Gallery.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
My favorite part of my work is I get to make one of a kind jewelry. Ok…. let’s face it. There’s so much past and present jewelry out there that everything has kind of been done but…..when you add your own gemstones and your own style it becomes your one of a kind jewelry. I think in jewelry as in every other art form it takes practice and patience for your style to emerge and even as our work grows you can still see someones style.
The piece above was a gorgeous Damele turquoise. I added a peridot to the flower. I just adore this one and am thankful it’s gone to a good home.
Recently, I sawed and pierced more shapes. This is a pic when they were not finished or sanded. You can see the result of the fish in the picture below.
I love the quote on the back of the fish. I thought the Kingman turquoise reminded me of the sea and was a perfect pairing the fish.
I’m a sucker for a druzy stone. This deep color pink is eye-catching for sure.
I sawed some little flowers to add to some rings. A touch of gold makes them pop. These rings are great for gifts.
So you see……one of a kind jewelry is so personal. It might be the stone, the design or the words that mean something to the owner. It is a pleasure for me to create these.
See you soon
fill your heart with art
~manon
My work can be found here at Echo of the Dreamer gallery, at Enter the Earth gallery and at the Sonoran Arts League Gallery.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!
After a pretty nasty bout with the flu I was finally able to get back into the studio….yay!! Charming and whimsical pieces were on tap for last week. The piece above is a Nevada Boulder turquoise with a sterling silver butterfly. (I’ve been enjoying sawing and piercing lately and will have more pieces coming like this.) I wore this out after it was finished to see how it felt and it was a hit with people that saw it.
This piece can be found in my online shop here
Other views of this piece.
This was a pretty rhodochrosite heart. Definitely charming and whimsical. It sold right away to a gentleman who bought it for his wife.
The Mexican Fire opals are so beautiful. This piece sold but I’m definitely going to work more pieces similar to this one.
This Nevada Blue turquoise has such a pretty color. It looks great against sterling. Actually all turquoise looks great in silver that’s why it’s popular to see it that way.
Creating charming and whimsical pieces that are eye-catching is so much fun for me. There’s never a dull moment. Hope to see you back soon!!
My work can be found here at Echo of the Dreamer gallery, at Enter the Earth gallery and at the Sonoran Arts League Gallery.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
My name is Manon. (pronounced Man + O) Yes….my mom cursed me with my name. In her defense I guess she never though I’d leave Quebec. I’m a jewelry artist and painter. I’ve been creative as long as I can remember and things haven’t changed. I now live in Scottsdale, AZ. I spend most days in my studio making pieces that speak to my heart. Thanks for stopping by!!