a wrapturous blog

YOJ09-13 Kaleidoscope Pendant

Kaleidoscope Pendant (2009)
Fine Silver, sterling silver, Swarovski crystal
L 5.5 cm x W 4.7 cm x H 1.0 cm
Cold-connected, formed

For the first time this session, my entry is one day late.  It proved to be much more challenging to construct, as I kept changing my mind about what I wanted it to look like.

This piece also doubles as my entry for the Etsy Wire Artisan Guild’s April theme “Kaleidoscope”.  The technique is drawn from a tutorial written by Perri Jackson, a friend and very talented wire artist who makes very intricate pieces from very thin gauge wire.  Ever since Perri asked me to test the tutorial for her, I’ve been mulling over an idea in my head for a piece that adapts the technique.  I’m not ready for that project yet, but “Kaleidoscope” is an intermediate step.

Perri’s blog features more of her spectacular work, and is well worth the visit.

More photos:

Tags: bead, beaded, beads, coiling, cold connections, cold joining, cold worked, dianne karg baron, etsy, fine silver, kaleidoscope, pendant, Perri Jackson, silver, sterling silver, Swarovski, WAG, Wire Artisans Guild, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-12 Viking Knit Chain (and “Merry Meet”)

Viking Knit Chain (2009)
Fine silver, sterling silver
Chain L 68.6 cm x W 0.35 cm
Pendant L 5.8 cm x W 2.5 cm
Nalbinding, constructed, cold-connected, flameworked, cast

Several years ago, my husband and I collaborated on making a Thor’s Hammer.  Malcolm is fascinated by all things Norse, to the point where I’ve joked many times about him being a born-again Viking.  He carved the cross for this pendant, but struggled to model the head properly.  I came up with the idea of forming the head out of stick tack (aka white tack, blue tack etc etc), and then we cold molded the whole piece for casting.  That original was finished, and then remolded and four more pieces were cast.

Malcolm made himself a lovely chain to go with the original.  Unfortunately, our studio gremlins made off with it some time during our move, so all he has now are the copies.  Wanting to wear his Thor’s Hammer, he recently asked me to make a chain for him.

So this week, on the heels of finishing my competition entry, I decided to whip it off.  My hands are not quite recovered from the massive project, so by the time I was half way through working on this chain, I was having to put a bandaid on my pinky.  I was developing a blister from all the pulling.

My beloved husband is very happy with his new chain, and thrilled to be wearing his pendant.

Some more photos:

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Also, as promised, I’m posting the photo of my competition entry to “Connection”, the National Juried Exhibition being held by Zilberschmuck Art Jewellery and hosted at Shao Design. The call for entry asked: “What is your interpretation of the word “CONNECTION”? Is there a connection part, link or bond? Is there an association or relationship between two or more things? Do associates, relations, acquaintances or friends influence the outcome of the piece? Is it a single connection or one of many types and kinds of connections that make up the piece? How can these ideas be formalized into a three-dimensional piece?“  My entry focused on the connection we make with each other, through a handshake. Clasping hands in greeting, in parting, in confirming business arrangements, in offering congratulations, is often the only physical connection we make with each other.

Merry Meet (2009)
Fine silver, sterling silver, glass
L 102 cm x W 7.0 cm
Nalbinding, constructed, cold-joined, liver of sulphur patination

My husband’s comment about this piece:  “It’s odd.”

Yes, but that’s  “art” jewellery for you… LOL

The hands clasp together just over the solar plexus.  If I thought anyone would wear it that way, I would have liked to turn it into a stomacher – I think it would be well suited for that – but it works as a necklace as well.

From start to finish, it took two months of solid work to construct, and is (pardon the pun) hands down, one of the most ambitious pieces I’ve ever attempted.  It’s not exactly what I envisioned – that would have taken another three months of work to complete.

As I mentioned last week, it didn’t make the final cut for the exhibition, but I’m not disappointed about that.  I am satisfied that I got it done in time for judging.

Here are more detail photos, along with shots taken during construction:

Tags: chain, cold connections, cold joining, constructed, fine silver, jewellery, jewelry, liver of sulphur, LOS, nalbinding, patination, pendant, silver, sterling silver, viking knitting, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project, zilberschmuck, zilberschmuck art jewellery

Zilberschmuck Retrospective April 19-May 30, 2009, at Shao Design, Toronto

I’m pleased to announce that two of my pieces will be included as part of a Zilberschmuck Retrospective, being held concurrently with “Connection”, the 5th annual National Juried Exhibition of Canadian Fine Jewellery and Metalwork.

The tiara and necklace were originally shown in 2004 as part of a Toronto Fashion Week event showcasing the bridal and couture designs of Karen Kelly.  That event was hosted by Zilberschmuck Art Jewellery and featured the jewellery of gallery artists.

“Connection” and the Retrospective will exhibit from April 19 to May 30, 2009 at Shao Design, 55 Mill Street, Building 9, Distillery District, Toronto (located at the south parking lot off Parliament Street).

Tags: bridal, briolette, cold connections, cold joining, cold worked, connection, couture, dianne karg baron, distillery district, exhibition, fashion, jewellery, jewelry, juried, Karen Kelly, necklace, opera, presentation, retrospective, shao design, show, silver, sterling silver, tiara, Toronto, Toronto Fashion Week, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, zilberschmuck, zilberschmuck art jewellery

YOJ09-11 Snowflake Obsidian Bangle

This has been such a physically brutal week for me, it’s a wonder I have any energy at all to post anything.  I finally finished and submitted the viking knit piece I’ve been working on for the past two months.  I haven’t been so stressed out about getting a piece done in ages.  I developed a pinch in my shoulder, which made it difficult to turn my head.  Then the pain spread across my upper back.

As I was staring down the finish, wondering whether or not all the stress was worth the effort, I developed an earworm – a song that plays over and over in your head and won’t stop.  I kept hearing a Peter Gabriel lyric:  “Don’t Give Up, Please don’t give up…”  My spirit cheerleaders were encouraging me to keep me going, pushing me to work through the pain and the feelings of exhaustion and futility.  I’m very proud of myself for pulling through.  When I dropped the piece off, I commented to the organizer that getting it done was my reward:  if it actually made it into the exhibition, I would consider it a bonus.  (I found out tonight that the piece wasn’t accepted for exhibition, but did make it to the final round in the selection process.)

I’m paying for all the pressure now though:  for days I’ve been alternating between exhaustion, nausea, heartburn, loss of appetite, and gastrointestinal distress.  Throw in a runny nose and lots of sneezing, and we have a recipe for Not Wanting To Do Anything.

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Snowflake Obsidian Bangle (2009)
Sterling silver, snowflake obsidian
Constructed, cold joined
20.32 cm dia.

Luckily, I had made the setting for this obsidian a few weeks ago while doing prep for my class in July.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, so I left it sitting on the bench.  Tonight, I whipped off a simple bangle to go with it.  It’s about all I can manage.

I’ll post photos of the competition piece next week when I get it back.

Tags: bangle, black, cabochon, cold joining, competition, constructed, jewellery, jewelry, snowflake obsidian, sterling silver, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-10 Fun with Fibre

Fun with Fibre Earrings 1 (2009)

Sterling silver, wool
L 6.7 cm x W 0.5 cm
Formed, wet-felted

Fun with Fibre Pendant 1 (2009)

Sterling silver, wool
L 6.5 cm x W 0.4 cm
Formed, wet-felted

Fun with Fibre Pendant 2 (2009)

Sterling silver, fine silver, cotton thread
L 4.5 cm x W 0.45 cm
Nalbinding (viking knitting), embroidered

This has been a frustrating week, in terms of getting anything done.  Number 2 Son has been demanding a lot of attention.  “I want to do homework!  I want another printing sheet!” every 10 freaking minutes.  Normally, a parent loves to hear that their child wants to do homework, but in my case, it meant getting up from bench, sitting down at the computer, waiting for him to make up his mind about what he wanted to work on – an achingly slow process – and then printing it off.  As a result, I was never able to focus on finishing the project whose deadline came and went on Friday.

He starts JK in the fall, and then I will have more extended blocks of time to work without interruption.  I’m trying to enjoy these last couple of months of us being together before he becomes a Big School Boy, but geez it’s annoying to miss a deadline.

I haven’t given up on trying to finish the project, which is very labour intensive, but by last night, I decided that I needed to change gears.  “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was on tv, so I set up my felting stuff on the floor, and played while watching the movie.  I’m still working on learning felting, still hoping to apply it to bonsai.  One of the websites I stumbled across applied roving to craft wire, so I thought I’d give that a go.

My results are nothing spectacular, but then they weren’t intended to be.

The other thing I wanted to try was mixing fibre and nalbinding.  I actually wanted to mix nalbinding with wire embroidery, but figured it would be too high on the PITA factor.  I ended up using embroidery thread, but the idea still has a high PITA factor.  My embroidering skills leave much to be desired as well *grin*.   I may try the idea again, but approach it differently.

More photos:

Tags: earrings, felt, nalbinding, pendant, silver, sterling silver, viking knitting, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-09 Felt Bangle

Felt Bangle (2009)
Wool
7 cm i.d.
Wet felted

This is not the project I wanted to post this week, but the one I’ve been playing with most of this evening is being very stubborn.  I’m still struggling with finishing it.

I bought a bunch of wool roving yesterday, and spent part of this afternoon experimenting with wet felting.

I found a really good series of videos on wet felted bangles on eHow.com, so the technique was easy to replicate.  Unfortunately, there’s no indication of who the lady is in the videos – I’d love to give her the credit she’s due.

I made a bunch of different things, which I’ll be playing with over the coming days.  This was my first attempt at a felt bangle.  It’s monstrous, but a reasonable start.

Tags: bangle, felt, wet felting, Year of Jewelry Project