blueberribeads

For this month’s challenge we’re trying something a little different than our usual component of the month. Our blog leader Jen set us a headpin challenge. We could make some in our chosen medium, create something with headpins from another Artisan maker, or both…. pretty much anything goes as long as the design has, as Jen put it, some ‘fancy schmancy’ pins in it!

I have only made ceramic headpins once before. They’re difficult in clay if you want them on anything other than high temperature wire. I don’t think it’s as pretty as copper or other wires which will melt while firing, so you need to fire them on something that won’t collapse in the kiln at stoneware temperatures. I rigged up a little firing tray from soft kiln brick with wire wedged in it to hold them and crossed my fingers I wouldn’t open the kiln to a welded lump!

Luckily everything came out well and after fixing with bronze wire the pins were finished.

I’ve been playing around with lots of tree ideas so the first pair were based on buds on a branch.

I like how the buds looked so I tried out a multi bud design. It’s hard to keep everything so small!

Next I tried out some leaves… these are my favourites!

I decided they needed something to finish them off so I added some tiny copper flower spacers.

I had intended to use some of each to create some jewellery, but it’s been a busy month, so I only managed a quick pair of earrings. I love these… they remind me of magic wands!

I’ve really enjoyed working on something smaller and I’ll definitely be trying out some new ideas in the future!

To see what the rest of the AJE Team and special guests have created, join us in the blog hop by following the links below.

Guests:

Alison Herrington

Renetha Stanziano

Karin Grosset Grange

Gloria Allen

Deb Fortin

Cate van Alphen

Mona Arnott

Shai Williams

Sarajo Wentling

Kathy Lindemer

Solange Collin

Brooke Bock

Melissa Meman

Patricia Handschuh

Tammy Adams

Melissa Trudinger

AJE Team Members:

Caroline Dewison << You are here

Lesley Watt

Cathy Mendola

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Susan Kennedy

Laney Mead

Diana Ptaszynski

Lindsay Starr

Niky Sayers

Another month has flown by and it’s time for the big reveal of our Component of the month challenge.

This month we were all treated to a gorgeous fossilised pebble pendant from Lesley Watt of TheaElements.

Aren’t they gorgeous? I love Lesley’s stoneware designs, they’re always wonderfully tactile, beautifully finished, and she has all the best glazes!

This is the one I received to work with…

I raided my stash and found a couple of bronze ammonite components (also made by Lesley) that I’d been hiding, which made my decision for how I wanted the design to look. I think these were earring charms, and having large holes for stringing, I decided to join them with leather thong and wrap them with bronze wire. I’m a little bit obsessed with bronze at the minute, it has such a lovely warm colour and looks great with everything!

I chose some matching beads in Czech glass, Amazonite, and some of my own lamp work, and made long connectors for the lower part of the chain.

And finished the top section with Aged seed beads and a Vintaj clasp.

It ended up as quite a simple design, but I think it leaves the focus nicely on the pendant! I’d like to say a big thank you to Lesley for such a gorgeous component to play with 🙂

To join us in the blog hop and see what the rest of the AJE Team plus special guests have made, follow the links below…

It seems to have been dark forever, so I’ve really enjoyed taking part in Lesley’s Winter AJE theme challenge – The Rebirth of the Sun… thinking about brighter days coming has really cheered me up!

Earlier in December, I created some pendants…

But for the reveal I decided I would like to try something other than jewellery or components.

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks looking for inspiration and reading through winter solstice stories and it’s fascinating to see how the different cultures interpreted the changes in light. My favourite story and the one I chose to portray is the tale of The Raven and the Sun from the Tsimshian Tribe. Here’s an abbreviated version…

Once the sky had no day. When the sky was clear there was some light from the stars but when it was cloudy it was very dark. Raven had put fish in the rivers and fruit trees in the land but he was saddened by the darkness. The Sun at that time was kept in a box by a chief in the sky. The Raven came to a hole in the sky and went through. He came to a spring where the chief’s daughter would fetch water. He changed himself into a cedar seed and floated on the water. When the girl drank from spring she swallowed the seed without noticing and became pregnant. A boy child was born which was really Raven. As a toddler he begged to play with the yellow ball that grandfather kept in a box. He was allowed to play with the Sun and when the chief looked away he turned back into Raven and flew back through the hole in the sky.                                                          http://solar-center.stanford.edu/folklore/raven-and-sun.html

And here’s my interpretation of the story…

The box is hand built from raku clay and smoke fired. Raven sits on top of the box in his true form.

And inside the box is the sun…

The glowing inner was created with copper leaf. I did want to use gold leaf, but couldn’t get hold of any in time. I still think the copper gives it a lovely warm glow, and I love the contrast against the smokey dark clay.

Thanks for reading, and if you’d like to see what the rest of the team and guests have made for the challenge, follow the links below 🙂

I’m very excited today as it’s the reveal of my component of the month for the Art Jewellery Elements Blog.

AJE Team members and special guests were given either one of my new Lichen pendants or cabochons and I really can’t wait to see what everyone’s done with them.

I chose a cabochon for myself, but my excitement quickly turned to dread… I make all sorts of components, but never make any jewellery, or ever really consider what to do with them… I was stumped. For a couple of weeks I sat and looked at it wondering what on earth I should make.

I love the texture of the cabochon, I carried out around 50 tests to get the glazes just as I wanted them, looking like stone and crusty lichens and I decided I wanted to reflect this in the design. I had a woodland palette in mind, something natural echoing the colours of the cab with an organic finish. I wanted it to look as though it had grown rather than been created by hand.

First the ‘chain’ part was created by rolling a long length of deep purple merino wool with hot water and soap to create a long snake. I then laid the rest of the design over the top of it using more merino and curly wool, some really colourful wool nepps, and wet felted everything together.

After drying, the cabochon was glued down and bezelled to hold it in place.

I added some little accents of beads to complete the design. As usual, I wanted to add all the beads, but I decided to keep it subtle and I love the results.

As my ideas came too late, I didn’t have time to finish it, but I’m going to make some cord ends with etched copper pipe. The felted ends of the necklace will be inserted into them with a loop to attach a clasp.

And now for the exciting part, I hope you’ll join me in the blog hop to see what everyone else has made! Follow the links below…

Guests