| Subcribe via RSS
I’m happy to be teaching at Haliburton School of the Arts again this summer!
Two courses are offered this year: Wire Jewellery (July 13-17, 2009) and Wire Jewellery II (July 20-24, 2009). Course descriptions and registration links are available on my Classes page. Check out the Student Work from last year’s class as well!
I joined Etsy.com last year as part of my research for an article. Since then I’ve joined two “Street Teams” – groups of people who work collectively to promote each others shops. One of the ways to promote a shop is through the “Treasury” – an exhibition of work curated by Etsy members. At any given time there are 333-500+ treasuries on display, with a wide range of “themes”.
Many of my fellow street team members have been kind enough to include my work in their treasuries, so I’ll take the time now to say “thank you” collectively to them, and to post a gallery of the recent ones.
Effervescence Pendant (2009)
Sterling silver, fine silver, blue topaz
L 5.4 cm x W 2.5 cm
Constructed, flame-worked
Having made the decision to make more production pieces, I’m picking out stones from my stash and setting to work. This week’s piece reminds me of the “Use it Up” pendants I made back in YOJ 2005-06. I fished a piece of 15 ga. square wire out of the scrap bin and balled up the ends, then bent it into shape and added this 8.96 carat blue topaz brio. It looked too plain, so I embellished it with 2 and 3 mm sterling beads.
Even since my friend Anna did the flower arrangements for my wedding, I’ve been mindful of the principle of using odd numbers for groupings. She explained that it’s more pleasing to the eye to see 1, 3, or 5 things together, rather than 2, 4, or 6. To some extent that principle is at work here with the three larger beads, and groups of 5 beads.
After I got it out the tumbler this morning, I tried it on. The beads looked like fizzing over top of the brio, and made me think of what my kids refer to as “bubble water” – soda water. So, it has the name “Effervescence”. *grin*
My husband likes the pendant, but then again, he prefers any pieces to which I’ve take a torch. The pendant wears well, but I’m not completely happy with the result – decorative beading is really not my forté – so I may it try again.
More photos:
|
|
|
|
Double-Sided Citrine Pendant (2009)
Sterling silver, fine silver, citrine
L 3.0 cm x W 1.3 cm
Constructed, woven
I bought this wonderful citrine at the Toronto Gem & Mineral Show many years ago. I think I bought it when Thumper was still a baby. Part of the reason I’ve never used it is that despite how beautifully cut it is – double sided cushion cut – I didn’t really know how I wanted to set it.
This week, while giving myself a break from the never ending viking knit project, I decided to go digging in my stash and found this beauty again. I decided to try setting it to show off both sides of the stone. I’ve discovered that I’ve developed a serious dislike of wrapping with half round wire. At least, I dislike the 21 ga half round I have. It’s just too thick for what I want to do. So, to make a thinner setting, I use 28 ga fine silver. It’s fiddly to work with, but it allows the stone to take centre stage instead of being overwhelmed by the wire. Both sides are worked almost identical. The bezel is basically two pieces of square wire woven with 28 ga wire. The channel created in the centre of the weaving holds the girdle of the stone. The 2 mm beads act like prongs to hold the stone in the setting. It’s visually similar to the pendant I made in Week 4. I like the way it turned out.
I’m making progress on the viking knit piece – it’s now 3 1/2″ long, but I’m starting to doubt that I will have it finished in time for entry to the competition. *sigh* I’ll keep plugging away at it, because it’s really starting to take shape. At the same time though I need to work on production pieces, hence the citrine pendant.
More photos:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Viking Knit Pendant (2009)
Sterling silver, fine silver, glass
Constructed, liver of sulphur patination
L 2.9 cm x W 1.9 cm
I’ve got Viking knitting on the brain this week, because I’m working on a competition piece that uses that technique. It’s a slow, tedious process, but at the same time, strangely rhythmic and meditative. So far on the competition piece I’ve used about 15 ft of wire, and have oh… 1 1/2″ (just under 4 cm) of knitting completed.
Needless to say, it’s not the piece I’m posting for this week.
Since I have my fingers suitably warmed up, I figured I’d try using the technique on a pendant, and add a woven bail. This result is slightly different than the netted pendant I made for myself about a year ago.
I also decided to add liver of sulphur patina to it because silver and clear glass is just plain boring. The thing I love about LOS is the range of colours that can be produced, from straw yellow to deep dark black. My LOS is very old – so old in fact that it doesn’t dissolve properly anymore. I mixed up a weak solution and swirled the pendant around in it. Initially it went gold/brass coloured, but I decided I wanted to go deeper, so I popped it back in. I like the coppery brown colour I have now.
More photos, both with and without LOS:
|
|
|
|
|
|
