Turquoise and Cultured Opal Photography, Jewelry Portraits

Sterling Products came to us for assistance in marketing their beautiful turquoise and cultured opal products. Capturing the iridescence of the opals presented quite the challenge! Our finished images are being used for their website, printed marketing materials, and banners for their Tucson show booth display.

All jewelry designs are copyright ©Sterling Products.

International Society of Glass Beadmakers Journey Publication

We were excited to photograph glass art jewelry and beads for a number of members of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, for publication in the new book Journey , including Judy Carlson, Michele Coletti, Kathryn Guler, Sheila Olason, Kristen Frantzen Orr, Diane Sepanski, Toni Tracy, Gail Hapner, and the So Cal Flame Surfers society. The book is a snapshot of the growth and evolution of these amazing glass artists. 

Diane Sepanski

Gail Hapner

Judy Carlson

Kathryn Guler

Kristen Frantzen Orr and Gail Rappa

Michele Coletti

Toni Tracy

San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Murrini Cane by Kevin O'Grady

Here is an amazing murrini cane project I photographed for glass artist Kevin O'Grady. His borosilicate glass cane depicts the historic mission, San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, in Carmel, California.

Kevin put together the finished cane from his various original cane components, handmixing the color of each component himself. The completed murrini measures 2.25" across, and Kevin then pulls this cane down to a usable size to create one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces. He has logged several hundred hours into creating this particular mission cane, and has made it his goal to depict all 21 historic Spanish Missions along the coast of California.

Jewelry by Kristen Frantzen Orr and Gail Rappa

Here is a beautiful glass, metal and stone pendant, a collaboration between Kristen Frantzen Orr (mom!) and Gail Rappa. I photographed this piece for their submission to the Wild Women Artists' annual postcard.

Catalog Photography for Arlee Kasselman Jewelry Design

We had a lot of projects this past spring that didn't make it to the blog. Now that summer's here and I'm feeling a bit caught up, I wanted to share a few of our new images. One of these projects was catalog photography for Arlee Kasselman Jewelry Design. 

Each collection features a necklace, pendant, bracelet and earrings designed around a positive theme (eternal peace, powerful energy). In addition to using exotic gemstones--such as rutillated and honey quartz, golden citrine, kyanite and lapis--Arlee hand designs the silver and gold vermeil components, as well as the chains, of each piece.

Jewelry Designs by Karen Sugarman

Scottsdale jewelry designer Karen Sugarman's necklaces look like glittering treasures plucked from a crystal-encrusted cavern or washed up on a tropical beach.


The first piece, entitled "Shell of an Idea III," features pink and white shell beads, pink rhodochrosite, baroque pearls, and an antique, angel skin coral cameo with a 10K gold bezel. To give the image a natural, sunlit look, I used a diffused backlight at a low angle to emphasize the contours of the cameo and glittering texture of the black sand. The second piece, entitled "Melodie Necklace," features an 88-carat Swiss-blue topaz briolette, accented by multicolored tourmaline briolettes. The challenge here was to capture the glow of the faceted briolettes without washing out the tones of the graduated background.

Handcrafted Metal Jewelry by Bonnie Beyer

I recently had the opportunity to photograph some of Bonnie Beyer's unique, handcrafted jewelry. Bonnie has been designing pieces for 33 years using a variety of materials such as Swedish horseshoe nails, hand-hammered brass and copper, sterling silver and wire. If you happen to be in Chautauqua, NY, you can check out Bonnie's one-of-a-kind, seasonal art gallery/gift shop, the Art Loft. The spacious gallery has 40-foot ceilings, 5 rooms, and represents the work of over 100 artists in all mediums.

Jewelry Photography for Suzanna DiMarco

Suzanna did a run of art shows here in Arizona while visiting from England, and brought some of her beautiful, contemporary jewelry for me to photograph. Her work is truly one-of-a-kind! See more on her website: SuzannaDiMarco.com 
All designs are Copyright©Suzanna DiMarco.

Jewelry Photography at the Tucson Best Bead Show

It's been a month already since the Best Bead Show, but I wanted to share some of the beautiful work we got to photograph while we were there. We met a lot of new, incredibly talented artists and also saw some old favorites! Here is a sampling of their work. I've linked some of the artists' names to their websites.

Candice Wakumoto

Kimberley Osibin



Pam Chott



Vilma Dallas


Angi Graham


Karen Nan Varela


Christi Anderson

Dan Neff

Kristen Orr Featured in New Book, Masters: Glass Beads

Okay, so I have to brag. My mom, Kristen Frantzen Orr, is one of 40 artists featured in the new Lark Books publication, Masters: Glass Beads, Major Works by Leading Artists. There is a beautiful 8-page spread inside the book showcasing several of her lampworked glass beads from throughout her career (she also has a bead on the cover of the book, second from the left).

She got into beadmaking when it was still a fairly new art form in the US, and she has persevered and thrived during the explosion in popularity that glass beadmaking has seen in the past few years. I am very proud of her! Definitely check out the book if you are at all interested in glass beadmaking. And to see more of my mom's work, visit her site at: http://www.kristenfrantzenorr.com/