BEYOND Surfing Silver is an extension of the Etsy shop Surfing Silver. With high demand and new ideas, a new shop was born to accommodate new customers.

ABOUT RITA
Rita is a wife and mother of 4.
She was born in So California and lived here all her life except for a brief stint in Hawaii. As a child and adolescent in So Cal she lived in a house where she could see the ocean all day, everyday. Having a houseboat at Lake Powell allows her to live on the water for a time each year. Being an artist she has always been fascinated with water and especially moving water. "I have studied the movement of water for years. When I first started working with PMC all of my other art immediately went on hold and my paints have been put aside for now. I never thought I would get into 3D sculpture, but I have found that carving has become my favorite thing now, and my pieces are taking on a sculptural quality. I am constantly evolving so I'll just have to see where this takes me" . Rita was trained by the world famous metal smith and international author Tim McCreight and is guild certified in PMC techniques by RioGrande. She belonged to the PMC Guild until it disbanded in 2012. She also teaches PMC classes.

In 2012, Surfingsilver expanded with the popularity of my "Memorial" items. In 2009 she was the first to put "your own handwriting" silver items on the market and when she added "Memorial Jewelry from the actual writing of your lost loved ones" her shop went crazy and exploded with more orders than she could handle on her own. There was no way for her to provide for the 100's of requests she was getting each day so she hired an assistant named Annie.

ABOUT ANNIE
Annie is also a wife and mother. She was raised in Southern California and as a young adult began her travels across the globe. She grew up Surfing, Wake boarding, Snow boarding and Hiking. These recreational passions drew her to live in Hawaii, Lake Powell, Lake Tahoe and throughout Southern California. She utilized these inspiring locations to fill her art portfolio with drawings, sketches and paintings.

Annie has been studying as Rita's apprentice for nearly 3 years. Annie became fascinated with the process and was inspired to bring another element to Surfing Silver. With Annies Fine Art background and passion, she has been able to adapt a new style and technique.


About PMC; To explain what PMC Fine Silver is lets first learn a little bit about sterling silver. Sterling silver is 92.5 silver with the 7.5 content being made up of copper and tin. Fine Silver is 99.999 silver with the .001 content accounting for trace metals, which may possibly be present but not surely present. Fine silver will eventually tarnish, but not as harshly as sterling because of the lack of added copper and tin, because of this its color is closer to the color of Tiffany's silver; but it can easily and safely be given a patina to match sterling, pewter or other metals. Oxidizing with rock sulphur has become very popular and fun for the artist because of it being uncontrollable, there is the surpise element when the silver becomes the color it wants to be. So, now you know why sterling silver is stamped .925 and fine silver is stamped .999 to show their content in compliance to the standards set by the ISO which stands for the International Standardization Organization. PMC stands for Precious Metal Clay it comes in gold, silver, copper or bronze. It starts out in a clay like form, after it is fired the small amount of water and binder is burned out leaving it pure metal. The clay like material has 3 ingredients, the silver pmc has silver in its purest form, binder and water. The silver is in microscopic particles until the firing where they sinter and become joined. Think of wheat that is ground into flour. The flour is tiny particles of wheat, wheat powder. PMC is like silver powder held together with a tiny bit of water and binder until it is fired into pure metal.

He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.
-St.Francis of Assisi

I begin with an idea
and then it becomes something else,
~Pablo Picasso

Thanks to all the blogs, magazines, TV feature and and other features. These are the ones I'm aware of:

April 5, 2016
http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/10-ways-turn-kid-drawings-jewelry/

Feb 2016: www.indulgy.com

Jan. 31, 2016 at the very end of the article
Mommyobsessed.blogspot:
http://mommyobsessed.blogspot.com
http://mommyobsessed.blogspot.com/search?q=jewelry

Dec 29, 2015 -Skinny Ninja Mom:
http://skinnyninjamom.com/20-products-you-should-already-have-in-your-wishlist/

Unknown date
Pagingfunmums.com
http://pagingfunmums.com/2015/02/27/turn-your-childrens-art-into-precious-keepsakes/

May 2015-The Organized Life at:
www.the-organized-life.com/personalized-mothers-day-gift-ideas/

April. 2015 - TheDatingDivas.com
scroll to #61 on the list here:
http:/