Finch Metal

Oh, to be a kid again…whipping paper airplanes into shape, exploring the wind with a flying kite, getting colored chalk under your fingernails as you draw hopscotch patterns on the sidewalk.

Metalsmith Jill Antonishak’s designs are sweet emblems of treasured playthings, from tire swings to the helix-shaped slinky. Necklace pendants take form as three-dimensional pinwheels, flat paper dolls, dainty toy boats and intricate ferris wheels. Perfect, perfect little reminders that childhood pleasures need not reside in the past as a closed chapter. Rejoice, wear rompers, live like a kid again, and make sure to get your feet dirty.

To view styles and shop, visit the designer’s Web site.

Concrete Fruit Jewelry

Fruit and concrete probably sit at opposite ends of the contextual spectrum, which is why pairing them together makes so much sense. Take the sweet, soft and colorful and marry it with something durable, creating a vibrant new form filled with depth and longevity, rather than spoiling under the weight of time. If only all perishable goods could be rid of their pesky expiration dates, staying fresh and tasty forever and ever.

Designer Sue Urquhart’s fruit collection flaunts brushed silver pendants inlaid with tinted concrete, and dangled from 16” inch sterling drawn chains. Red strawberries, green pears, orange slices, lemon wedges, a pair of dangling cherries…no matter what your taste buds crave, each selection is juicy good and perfect for summer picnic days.

Visit the designer’s blog for recent work and purchasing information.

Digby & Iona

Sequels, if done right, generally happen because a continuum was necessary to unfurl the remainder of an idea. More to the story, a layered vision, or just simply additional ideas sprouted from the same plane of thought.

Designer Aaron Ruff wasn't done with his Wanderer in a Sea of Fog theme, paving the way for a Volume 2 collection. The recently introduced pieces build on the maritime theme, adding captain’s signet rings to the mix of spyglasses, compasses, and old-world weaponry. We love the antique feel of this black spot ring, with intricate scrolling and fashioned for a two-finger fit.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s newly launched Web site.

Best of Etsy: Painted Metal

This series highlights noteworthy jewelry selections available on Etsy, the mammoth online marketplace for handmade goods.

To some, texture is the soul of every jewelry piece, separating the artistic from the mass-produced, the inspired from those that have nothing new to communicate, the layered from the mundane. And for Tammy Antoinette, texture is everything, dictating the design and color process.

Utilizing a multi-layered patina course that produces a watercolor finish, the designer creates pieces that are both rustic and beautiful. Stacked brass rings, colored mocha and turquoise, have a weather-beaten appearance, as does her shackle earrings (above). Leaf-shaped cuffs are treated with an external terra cotta patina, with a red tone gracing the interior. New color palettes are introduced frequently, but the prevalence of texture remains…gritty grooves, hammered pockmarks and meandering ripples.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Etsy store.

Melanie Bilenker Jewelry

Just like the popular children’s book Everyone Poops correctly preaches, we are indeed all creatures of commonplace routines and activities. But there is something extraordinary that resides in the mundane, and it is the clear connection that these everyday rituals bring…each and every one of us eating dinner, opening our mail, fixing our hair, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

It is this premise that Melanie Bilenker explores with her work, sketching ordinary moments with wispy hair (her own) and preserving them within resin. The illustrated blocks are framed with gold and ebony wood, and presented as brooches, rings and pendants. We love the lockets, with a wood slipcover, allowing the image to be revealed at the wearer’s discretion (shown above is Sunday Night, a dip into the bath).

To view designs and browse gallery links, visit the Melanie Bilenker’s Web site.

Reverie Jewelry by Alison Woodward

If the arts and crafts movement is indeed in revivalist mode as many predict, putting vintage Koos van den Akker jackets, mixed print and quilted, front and center along with Mary McFadden braided belts, then surely chunky jewelry is going to stick around for a while. Good news for Alison Woodward, who skillfully crafts large-scale pieces that are highly ornate and rich in tone.

Woodward’s forte is re-thinking the contextual nature of vintage elements, changing their lifeline through reconfiguration. Shells, color-drenched with paint, are arranged in a flower formation and dressed up with vintage ribbon…a brass mechanic’s shop plaque is given new life with 1950s rhinestone adornments. Some of the pieces are more straightforward, but all will have you daydreaming, just as the designer predicts with the jewelry line’s chosen name – Reverie.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Blue Bayer

Long time East Village resident Blue Bayer spent many, many years crafting smoking pipes and selling them to locals until he meet a young kid entranced with Steam Punk and everything kind of fell in to place. As if destiny itself was calling, the encounter lead Bayer to become re-inspired with his youthful obsessions like turn-of-the-century science fiction, and he started translating the gruesome design aesthetic he used in his pipe-crafting into wearable jewelry assembled from found objects.

Bayer’s line, called Assemblagio, flaunts pieces that marry clock parts with hand-blown glass eyes, and dangle hummingbird skulls cast in 18k gold. Many designs have been enhanced with modeling clays and aging solvents to impart an antique appearance. But here’s the best part – Blue writes like Bukowski, on full display in his Etsy store listings. From Pat (a battle scarred old guy from Queens) to Stone Gnome (a lady who sells him gemstones and adopts a lot cats) Bayer has stories, lots of them, and he tells them in such a real-deal manner that you can become distracted and forget how frickin’ amazing his jewelry is…almost, but not quite.

To browse styles visit the designer’s Web site. It’s connected to his Etsy store.