Bach's "St. John's Passion"

Bach's "St. John's Passion"
Originally uploaded by sarawestermark

Its called "St. John's Passion". I used an old score from Bach's "St. John's Passion" for the paper. It killed me to use a score, but this was a modern adaption by a former choir director who basically edited it and then printed out the scores at a copy shop. It was a score in progress, so there were still edits being made, so it was okay to destroy it. I used the beginning chorale and the first aria.

A "passion" is a gospel story about the crucifixion of Jesus. There are four all together written by different authors in the New testament and typically used during Lent leading up to Easter. This particular passage comes from the book of John, hence the name, St. John's Passion. Passions were very popular in Bach's time and later because during lent people refrained from going to the opera house and this was a "blblical dramatiztion", so it was acceptable. Bach wrote hundreds of church cantatas and has a little over three years of church cantatas written--one for every week.

These passions are still being performed and they are like sung mini plays. They are not acted out, but there are parts for someone to sing the Narrator often referred to as the Evangelist, Jesus, Judas, and other characters in the story. The piece is largely choral set for a typical church choir interspersed with recitatives and arias. Recitatives are the "spoken-like" sung solo passages with lots of text and the Arias are the solos for characters reflecting on their particular mood. The arias are more melodic.

This piece is a made to complete the Etsy Metal Project Runway Challenge, season 6, episode 5. To read more about out challenges coinciding with the hit show on Lifetime (formerly on Bravo), read the etsymetal team blog.

Update on Etsymetal Charm Swap 3

I've been working very hard with Nina Gibson, the etsymetal shop manager, to get all 18 of the 20 charms listed for sale in the Etsy Metal shop. We have already sold two members charms! Congratulations to Kathryn Riechert for selling her seascape charm and to Laurie Brown from Aubergine228 for selling her one of a kind cast seahorse! If you have been following this progress, I just want to remind you that these are limited edition charms and only one is for sale in the etsymetal store--these are rare and true collectors charms. The last charms will be listed this weekend. I'm still waiting for 2 more members' charms to arrive and hopefully they will be here soon. Check out the Etsymetal Store Charm Section!

This photo shows all the charms currently for sale in the Etsy Metal shop. (Note: the doggie charm and the heart charm are being listed this weekend, so be on the look out for them!)

This weekend I'm going to begin to assemble the Etsymetal Charm Swap 3 charm bracelet. When completed it will be offered for sale in the etsymetal store. You can still purchase the charm bracelet from the very first charm swap by etsymetal. We owe all this fun of the charm swap to our member Vic from Experimetal, because this was her brilliant brainchild.

I've already begun to take names for the Etsymetal Charm Swap 4. The due date for that is August 31. Since we just juried in some new members this spring, we've managed to get some of them to sign up too!

Etsymetal Charm Swap 3 Finished Charms

Deadline for the Etsymetal Charm Swap 3 was this past Saturday. I've already received 9 sets of charms in the mail and I love it! Its a bit like Christmas being the curator. I have all these interesting small boxes and envelopes arriving and I am thrilled to get a first peek. Here is your first peek of the finished charms. Limited edition individual charms make great pendants and will be for sale in the Etsymetal store. There will only be two for sale in the store, one for sale as an individual charm and one in a complete charm bracelet. Be the first to get yours!


Experimetal sterling shielded rock charm.


TreAnelli sterling concentric circle charm.


nyhedy with her unique castings.


erosas 14k gold foil and sterling charms


deliasthompson's cobblestone collection


Tuizui's enameled copper and sterling charms


Maggiejs petal and gemstone charm.


NinaGibsonDesigns brass and sterling teacup


KathrynRiechert hand stamped sterling disks with brass rivets.



IstanbulDesigns etched bronze owls.


Ashleyjewelry's charms use copper and polymer clay


rubygirl has filigree and enamel charms


sarawestermark copper and sterling leaves

Charm Swap 3: works in progress continued

Here are the latest photos of our progress in the Etsymetal Charm Swap 3:

At the last minute, with only 4 days to spare, Experimetal had a "change of heart" and decided to do these shielded rock charms.


Maggiejs did a charm version of her petal series.



DeliasThompson made a cobblestone series charm!



Erosasjewelry jumped in with only two weeks left and did this incredible charm using keum bo--a technique that fuses gold leaf to sterling.


Ashleyjewelry has added polymer clay to the copper pierced disks for color and texture!



Treanelli joined at the last two weeks and has been working constantly to get her charms done. These concentric rings will get soldered onto a sterling disk.

Etsy Metal Charm Swap 3 Progress

Just one week away and everyone is working so hard to make the post deadline by Saturday, February 28th! I'm excited to see everyone's design take shape and get closer to the finished charm. Most of all I want to thank everyone for their hard work on this project. If you are getting excited too and want to join in, we will have two sets of charms for sale in the etsymetal store. One set will be assembled into a complete charm bracelet and the other set will be sold per charm. All proceeds benefit etsymetal.


tuizui charm's has the water cast sterling cups each carefully enameled.



rubygirl used antique filigree to make this piece.



ninagibsondesigns is serving up some coffee (or tea!).



aubergine228 made one of a kind castings from natural artifacts.



Kathryn Riechert is making a sun rivet on her scenic charm.



ashleyjewelry made these copper forms to be encased with colorful polymer clay.



stamp has punched over 100 disks to create this charm.



Istanbuldesigns etched her owl design on bronze.

Etsymetal Charm Swap 3 *in progress*

Nina Gibson's charm design from NinaGibsonDesigns. Her charm is going to be a teacup!

Etsymetal's Charm Swap is now in its third generation and I'm very excited to be the curator of this generation. I am very grateful to have the collected wisdom from experimetal and stamp (former currators) to guide me along the process. Here's how it works. Twenty of our team members sign-up to take part in this project. We all donate 22 charms and ship them to the curator. As the curator, I get to sort through all the lovelies and send them out to each participant. The two extra charms from each of the twenty participants will be available for sale at our etsymetal store. One set of charms will be put together as a charm bracelet and the other set will be for sale as individual charms. All sale proceeds go towards the cost of maintaining Etsymetal.

The deadline is fast approaching (Feb 28th) and everyone is keeping me updated with their own works in progress. As a member myself, I wanted to be sure that my charms were done before any of the packages arrived on my doorstep!

Here are some of the other team members and their "works in progress":

experimetal with hand-formed and enameled heart charms.



rubygirl experimenting with colors creating a filigree patterned charm.



IstanbulDesigns hand sketched this Klimt inspired owl to be etched onto brass charms.



aubergine228 has taken orders to make each member's charm from her nature castings. I've requested a fox claw and a seahorse for the EtsyMetal Store.



KathrynReichert is stamping intricate nature scenes on sterling hand cut disks.

tuizui is water casting sterling cups that will be enameled and riveted on to a textured copper square.

sarawestermark is using leaf textured copper ornamented with sterling barbells.

Sara Westermark, Etsymetal member and Etsymetal Charm Swap 3 curator.

C'est fini!

EMCS 3 finished charms 004
Originally uploaded by sarawestermark

I am finally finished with my charms! I am pleased with how they turned out and I think they will work well with the other charms in the works for the etsymetal charm swap bracelet 3. Here's a list of my fellow team members etsy stores and when they send me pictures I'm going to post them on my blog. Let's make this the best Etsymetal Charm Swap ever!
1. howlindoggie
2. TreAnelli
3. tuizui
4. duckduckgoose
5. nyhedy
6. stamp
7. aubergine228
8. experimetal
9. budgie
10. ashhilton
11. rubygirl
12. ninagibsondesigns
13. sarawestermark
14. ashleyjewelry
15. maggiejs
16. deliathomson
17. ninadinoff
18. IstanbulDesigns
19. KathrynRiechert
20.eRosas

ETSY Weekend Deals!

I was doing my morning work, getting orders made and ready to ship when I noticed this picture in the etsy Storque Weekend Specials. I was thrilled to say the least and I feel very blessed for all the recent good fortune. I am grateful to my family, friends, etsy, etsymetal and to God. I really feel that there is some divine force steering my life for me. So I will continue what I'm doing and remember always to "pay it forward" and to "do the next right thing".

Etsy Front Page

Thanks to Sophie at duckduckgoose, I have a wonderful screen shot of my five minutes of etsy fame. Enjoy. I need to blog on my new favorite shop on etsy: pocomedio.

Chocolate Festival Donation!

chocolate diamond 010
Originally uploaded by sarawestermark

Friday is the Opening Gala for the Wilmington Chocolate Festival for Liberty Hospice. I was invited to participate as a gift vendor as opposed to all the yummy chocolate vendors! I donated this ring for the silent auction fundraiser for the event. It is a 2.5 mm champagne diamond (sometimes called a chocolate diamond) in 18k yellow gold. The retail price is $325. I will have 5 other champagne diamond stacking rings in 18 karat gold as well as my gemstone stackers in 18k and sterling for sale there as well.

Tickets can be pre-purchased at Harris Teeter for $5, or they are $8 at the door. I hope to see you there!
for more info visit the Chocolate Festival Website

champagne diamond stacker

champagne diamond stacker
Originally uploaded by sarawestermark

I just finished this today and I'm really excited! I already listed it in my etsy store and I hope to have more ready soon. I want to do a series of gemstone 18k and sterling stacker rings in round and square ring shanks. My next project is to begin on the 18k chocolate diamond ring for the 7th Annual Chocolate Festival here in Wilmington!

small black hearts

small black hearts
Originally uploaded by sarawestermark

I just listed these itty, bitty blackened sterling hearts today. I cut the hearts, drilled them and added a black patina. Earwires are gold fill. I was probably in a dark mood because this is the listing description on etsy:
"These are for the girl your mother warned you about. She is a bad, bad girl. She loves to go out for Thai food then kick back her heels and dance. Your friends complain that you haven't spent much time with them. You can't seem to help it, she's all you think about."
You can check them out on etsy.

Etsymetal team charms CS2

I got my Etsymetal Team charms yesterday and immediately made a charm bracelet with them. I love the way they jingle around my wrist! Thanks for all the charms and to Clare at Stamp for all her hard work on coordinating it.

Ashley Akers Jewelry

Blue Topaz Starburst Ring
Originally uploaded by ashleyjewelry

Great Sale at My Friends Store!
Ashley Akers makes gorgeous jewelry and I've just bought 4 of her rings--2 for me and one for my mom and one for my sister. I'm currently wearing the ring pictured. You need to go and check out her shop, but don't forget her sale section! I have a serious ring problem! I always seem to need a new ring!

Last week I made a few rings that I hoped would give me practice for a gold and diamond series I want to premiere at Wilmington's 7th Annual Chocolate festival. My supplies finally arrived, now I just need to find time and right mental space to create. I need to work quickly, but I'm still not rested from the Christmas rush.

Branch necklace

I love to make these copper leaves! I have had this necklace in my brain for a while and I finally had time to fabricate it. I just listed it today on etsy, in time for holiday shopping.

Now introducing! Largest Simple Plain Hoops!

Here is the largest hoop that I feel comfortable doing. It measures 1 and 1/4 of an inch across. It is completely hand fabricated by forming and hammering.

Free shipping through Cyber Monday!

LEAF gets an update

Well lately I've had so much fun with my rolling mill and dried leaves that it has changed how I'm doing my copper leaves. My first version had a punch in the middle with the forged edges of the leaf. I used a high polish to make this leaf really shine.
Now, I cut the leaf shapes, roll them through the mill and then score them down the middle. Of course that is all the easy part! Then there is plenty of filing the edges and then sanding.

All the sanding has made my carpel tunnel begin to act up. So now I'm wearing some wrist guards. I suppose that I should quit typing too!

See my before and after pictures