a wrapturous blog

YOJ10-12 Ocean Jasper Pendant

Ocean Jasper Pendant (2010)
Sterling silver, fine silver, ocean jasper
Constructed, cold-joined
L 5.4 cm x W 3.0

I’m in production mode, building up some stock, and that means digging through my stash of stones.  I came across this ocean jasper, which I bought last year from a fellow member of the International Guild of Wire Jewelry Artists.

I’m not normally an ocean jasper fan, but every time I look at this cab, I see celestial clouds and galaxies.  It draws me in, and I can imagine that I’m looking into the vastness of outer space. This is a really special stone.

Generally, my preference when setting is to leave as much of the surface exposed as possible. I also tend to favour the more substantial, heavier bezels achieved by doing binding wrapping all around the stone.  It would have been easiest with a straight prong setting, but I wanted to add the beads to create some visual interest.  They are structural in that they act almost like prongs, holding the stone, but they also add beautiful decoration.

Corners are challenging to get tight, and I’m happy to have managed a secure fit around these.  I don’t have a lot of experience setting stones with points – most of the time the stones I deal with are round, oval or teardrop shaped.

I’m undecided if I should hang this on a viking knit chain, or on a strand of ocean jasper beads. Thoughts anyone?

All in all, I’m very pleased with how this turned out.  Even my husband, who has a decided bias towards using a torch, likes the setting – very high praise indeed!

More photos:

Tags: 2010, bead, bezel setting, cabochon, dianne karg baron, ocean jasper, pendant, prong, wire, wirework, year of jewelry, yoj

YOJ10-07 Crochet Ball Pendant

Crochet Ball Pendant (2010)
Fine silver
Constructed, crochet, liver of sulphur patination
L 3.9 cm x W 2.0 cm

The other day, while commiserating with my friend Margaret about our work loads and not seeming to be able to stop to catch a breath, she quoted back to me a comment that I’d deadpanned into one of our conversations once:

“Breathing is just sooo overrated…”

This week, I told her that I think that would make a perfect epitaph for my headstone.  That laid both of us flat with laughter.

I shouldn’t complain, because it’s self-inflicted:  I’ve taken on too many projects to try to deal with at once.  As a result, I’m struggling to do anything as effectively as I’d like.  My DH is currently working a rotating shift schedule, 4 – 12 hour days then 4 – 12 nights, which is also wreaking havoc on my regular routine.

As a result, I’m off the rails on the YOJ project.  I so want to be producing quality work, but I seem to only have time for the barest minimum, and even that seems mediocre!

In an effort to catch up, I’m going to just put together a couple of very quick pieces.  I found these little crochet balls while cleaning up the studio a week or two ago.  I made them several years ago, but the project they were intended for didn’t really work out.  I applied LOS to some of the balls, and they are being used in the project that will be posted next.  These two were left over, so I put them together to make a little pendant.

Tags: 2010, constructed, crochet, dianne karg baron, fine silver, liver of suphur, LOS, patination, pendant, silver, wire, wirework, year of jewelry, yoj

YOJ10-06 Marquise Series: Pendant 9

Marquise Series: Pendant 9 (2010)
Sterling silver
Constructed, cold-joined
L 4.5 cm x W 2.65 cm

Beaducation has made a bunch of its videos available for free, and last week, while I was pondering my next YOJ project, I watched the felted bead video to refresh my memory on how to do it.  I’ve now made 3 1/2 dozen beads of inconsistent size and nearly rubbed off the skin on my palms… LOL

Felted bead-making is one of those processes that allows your mind to wander, and so I was thinking about the Marquise Series and where I could go next with it.  In the video, Gail Crosman Moore talks about making a lozenge-shaped bead, and it occurred to me that I could combine those beads with marquise elements.  So I spent the next couple of hours constructing various types of marquise elements I thought could work.  Rather than string the elements from point to point, I wanted to turn them on their sides.

What I’ve ended up with initially is a step pendant.  This design needs a bit of tweaking, because the wire looks very light weight.  In its present form, this element will be overwhelmed if combined with felted lozenges.

I have an idea on how to deal with this issue, and that will be the next project.  I’m glad to have broken through the creative block I had a couple of weeks ago though…

More photos:

Tags: 2010, constructed, dianne karg baron, marquise, pendant, silver, wire, wirework, year of jewelry, yoj

YOJ10-03 Marquise Series: Pendant 8

Marquise Series:  Pendant 8 (2010)
Sterling silver, fine silver, tourmaline
Constructed, cold-joined, woven
L 5.0 cm x W 2.25 cm x D 1.0 cm

One of my new year’s resolutions was to start using a Job Jar.  My family and friends, who know me very well, know that I’m hopeless about housework.  I think it was Erma Bombeck who said “Nature can’t abhor a vacuum as much as I do.”  That kind of sums up my attitude nicely.

However, I do live with three other (messy) people, so some token effort to maintain order must be made.  So… enter the Job Jar.  I wrote all the various chores on the little slips of paper, and included some fun things, and every day I pick one out of the jar.  The choice is completely random, although I like to think of it as leaving it up to God/the Universe to pick the task that is right for me on any particular day.  Some days I have more energy than others, and interestingly enough, each task so far has been perfect for the day it was chosen.  I do my Job Jar job early in the day, and then the rest of the day is mine to do as I please.

The net result of doing my housework this way is that I’m being much more productive with my jewellery making as well.  So, I feel good because my house is slowly getting cleaner, and I’m getting to work guilt-free on something I love every day.  Bonus!

The studio gremlins paid a me a visit this week and stole this piece for a few hours.  I noticed it was missing after my husband had done a sweep through the house collecting detritus to put out in the garbage on Monday night.  He tends to be somewhat brisk and indiscriminate when he does this.  A frantic search turned up nothing, and I was resigned to it having disappeared into the mass of trash.  On Tuesday, my job from the Jar was “Clean the livingroom.”  It was like a bunch of angels were standing around saying “We want to help you”.  LOL

So, I set to work, cleaning, sweeping and reorganizing the room.  When I picked up and moved one of the toy boxes, lo and behold, there was the pendant!  With a quick prayer of thanks, I put it in a safe location, where I knew I’d find it again.

Like the previous pieces in the series, the pendant is formed using a marquise shape.  When I was first shaped the wire, I thought the pendant looked like a moth.  The form evoked a very strong Art Nouveau influence.  As I added the weaving and the beads, the moth form persisted, and I noticed that the pendant was starting to look like Rainbow Wrapping.

Originally, I was going to hang the pendant the other way around, from the point.  It reminded me of the Star Trek logo.  I didn’t like how the tourmaline drop looked hanging from the long tail though – it threw off the balance.  So the drop was moved to the point, and the tail became the hanging point.

While photographing the piece today, I started seeing the form of an elephant face.   How cool!  I don’t remember ever seeing so many different influences in one piece.

What do you see?  Let me know!

More photos:

Tags: 2010, art nouveau, cold-joined, constructed, dianne karg baron, elephant, fine silver, green, jewellery, marquise, moth, ooak, pendant, rainbow wrap, silver, star trek, sterling silver, tourmaline, wire, wirework, woven, year of jewelry, yoj

YOJ10-01 Marquise Series: Pendant 7

Marquise Series: Pendant 7 (2009)
Sterling silver
Constructed, cold-joined
L 5.2 cm X W 3.3 cm

I made this pendant in the early part of the week, knowing that the first project for the new YOJ was due today.  Up to now, I’ve been working with marquise shapes as single pieces, either as pendants on their own, or linked together in a bracelet.  This one is a compound structure, made from one piece of wire.  It took a bit of torturing to get it to look like this, LOL, but I like how it resembles a whirligig.

Tags: constructed, dianne karg baron, jewellery, jewelry, marquise, pendant, series, silver, sterling silver, wire, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-52 Marquise Series: Pendant 6

Marquise Series:  Pendant 6 (2009)
Sterling silver, ribbon
Constructed, cold-joined
L 9.8 cm x W 3.4 cm/Ribbon: L 52 cm x W 3.0 cm

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My ex-husband used to say “Go Big or Stay Home”, so I’m finishing off the Year of Jewelry 2009 with a super-sized version of the Marquise Pendant.  This started off as an experiment to see if the basic marquise shape would translate to a bangle, but I haven’t worked out the kinks to that yet.

I also decided to give the ribbon necklace another try, although again, it’s technically uneconomic to make.  Ah well, I wanted to finish up the year in style!  LOL

Here’s another shot of what it looks like on:

And so this very challenging year comes to an end.  I’ll have a look back over the year and post some thoughts about what I achieved.

Until then, I wish you and those close to you a very Happy New Year, filled with enough challenge to keep you interested, and enough joy to keep you inspired!

All the best in 2010!

Tags: cold connections, cold joining, cold worked, constructed, dianne karg baron, jewellery, jewelry, jewelry making, marquise, pendant, red, ribbon, series, silver, sterling silver, wire, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-51 Marquise Series: Pendant 5

Marquise Series:  Pendant 5 (2009)
Sterling silver, fine silver, Swarovski crystal
Constructed, cold-joined, nalbinding
L 6.5 cm x W 1.3 cm

This pendant is made of two “recycled” pieces from Bracelet 3, which didn’t match the other links.  Initially I only added the Swarovskis as embellishment, but the pendant looked unbalanced.  So I decided to add some viking knitting – nalbinding – and create a ribbon-like effect.  The work involved in adding the nalbinding bumps this up from production piece to a “couture” One of a Kind or Limited Edition.

I’m not completely satisfied with how it turned out, but I’m also not able to define what is bothering me about it.   It might just be that it doesn’t work as a pendant.  The design would certainly make a fabulous pair of earrings.  Comments are welcome!

Tags: bead, cold connections, cold joining, constructed, dianne karg baron, fine silver, jewellery, jewelry, marquise, nalbinding, pendant, ribbon, silver, sterling silver, Swarovski, viking knit, viking knitting, wire, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-49 Marquise Series: Pendant 4

Marquise Series:  Pendant 4 (2009)
Sterling silver
Constructed, cold-joined
L 3.6 cm x W 1.6 cm

Here is one more variation in sterling silver.  The original idea was to add a 2 mm Swarovski crystal, similar to what I did in the Week 47 project, but I ended up deciding against it.

Tags: bead, cold connections, cold joining, cold worked, constructed, dianne karg baron, jewellery, jewelry, jewelry making, marquise, pendant, series, silver, sterling silver, wire, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-47 Marquise Series: Pendant 2

Marquise Series:  Pendant 2 (2009)
Sterling silver, fine silver, Swarovski crystal
Constructed, cold-joined
L 3.4 cm x W 0.9 cm

I’m still working along the lines of “quick and simple” for this series, but this time, I wanted to add a tiny splash of colour.

Still trying to keep the cost of the pendant down, I didn’t want to spend too much time on the coiling, so I added only one little Swarovski, strategically placed.

I bought a bunch of these 2 mm Swarovskis back in the late spring when I was preparing for my class at Haliburton.  I hadn’t intended to buy them, but when the supplier I was visiting only had half the tools in stock that I needed, I had to choose some other things to bump up my purchase to their minimum order requirement.  (It’s incredibly irritating when the stuff is shown in stock on the website, only to discover empty bins when you get there.  Unfortunately, this is not an unusual occurrence with this particular supplier, which is why I always go in person, and I don’t shop there unless absolutely necessary.)  They are one of the few officially sanctioned wholesale suppliers of Swarovski and Preciosa, so I picked up a few packages.

After several different attempts, I also finally came up with a nice bail that compliments the marquise shape of the pendant.

Tags: bead, cold connections, cold joining, cold worked, constructed, dianne karg baron, fine silver, jewellery, jewelry, marquise, pendant, silver, sterling silver, wire, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-46 Marquise Series: Pendant 1

Marquise Series:  Pendant 1
Sterling silver, fine silver, cord
Constructed, cold-joined
L 6.1 cm x W 1.0 cm

One of the jewelry groups on Facebook is currently running a design contest to “overcome the economic crisis”.  The idea is to use cheaper materials to reduce the price point of the finished piece.  The problem I see with the contest is that the value of the physical effort involved is completely discounted.  The cost of the labour stays the same regardless of the materials used.

The only way reduce the cost of the labour is to simplify the designs so that they take less time to make.

There are two challenges to making simple designs:  one is to make them well, because the simpler the design, the more important the finishing becomes; the other is coming up with an original concept, something that will appeal to the customer without looking like the same old same old that someone else has produced.

I think the latter is the harder of the two to overcome.

This was the background I was thinking about while making this pendant.  The goal was to produce a nice, quick-to-make design, that could become part of my bread-and-butter line for next year.  As much as I like making the complex one-of-a-kind pieces, most of my sales fall in the in $20-$150 price range.

Without the neck rope, the pendant on its own would fall easily in the lower end of that range.

It’s been my experience that chains are uneconomic for me to make from scratch, and that was proven true again with this piece.  The labour involved in making the neck rope bumps the price up substantially, and the change to the cheaper material (polymer cord) has a huge impact on the perceived value.  I end up with a piece that is not sellable at the price I need to sell it at to recoup my costs and actually pay myself.

It’s perverse.  It’s also why I don’t generally use “cheap” materials.  I want you to feel good about what you’re buying from me, so I make high quality jewellery, with high quality materials.  It’s worth every cent.

Tags: cold connections, cold joining, constructed, diamond, dianne karg baron, fine silver, jewellery, jewelry, marquise, pendant, pricing, series, silver, sterling silver, wire, wire jewellery, wire jewelry, wirework, wireworking, Year of Jewelry Project