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YOJ10-03 Marquise Series: Pendant 8

January 16th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in Year of Jewelry Project

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:

YOJ10-03 Marquise Series:  Pendant 8 YOJ10-03 Marquise Series:  Pendant 8 YOJ10-03 Marquise Series:  Pendant 8
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YOJ09-07 Double-sided Citrine Pendant

February 16th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Year of Jewelry Project

YOJ09-07 Double-Sided Citrine Pendant          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:

YOJ09-07 Double-Sided Citrine Pendant          YOJ09-07 Double-Sided Citrine Pendant
YOJ09-07 Double-Sided Citrine Pendant          YOJ09-07 Double-Sided Citrine Pendant          YOJ09-07 Double-Sided Citrine Pendant
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