Friday, February 22, 2013

Week 8, Year of Jewelry

This necklace features three lamp work glass beads and handmade copper elements and clasp.


Monday, February 11, 2013

Year of Jewelry, Week 7

Back again with another piece of copper with a heat patina on a torn piece of polymer clay.  This one looks completely different.  I took last week's to the melting point to get the red color, but I was more gentle with this one.


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Year of Jewelry, Week 6

I like the look of distressed metals, and this piece is really distressed.  I tortured a piece of copper with a torch until I got this amazing red and gold patina.  The black polymer clay backing piece has torn edges and is textured to look like lava rock.  The copper is riveted to the clay.


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Year of Jewelry, Week 5

These weeks sure roll around fast!  Here is my entry for Week 5.  It is made from a piece of copper with a naturally occurring patina.  Then I laced around the edges with green leather and also made the cord from it.


Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Year of Jewelry Project, Week 4

Free-form and loose are not words usually associated with my work.  Precise and controlled more accurately describe my typical style, so I am using this weekly project to try to expand out of my comfort zone.  I wish I could take full credit for inventing this piece, but the general design of this necklace, particularly the squiggly base and a couple of the charms were "borrowed" directly from a pin by Dia Daniels in the Feb-March 2011 issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry. 


Close-up of charms


Handmade clasp


Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Year of Jewelry Project, Weeks 2 & 3

I made this polymer clay pendant and the earrings to go with it using a Retro Pixelated Cane (from Bettina Welker's tutorial).  The pendant was made by die forming using one of Dan Cormier's dies.  I needed the earrings to be long in order to show the transition from light to dark, so I used a custom cutter I made.



Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Year of Jewelry Project - Week 1

I entered a challenge to produce one piece of jewellery (jewelry) each week for 2013.  Here is my entry for week 1.  The disk and "stone" are made from polymer clay, but the beads on the cord are metal.  I made the design on the disk using cutters and a small screwdriver while the clay was raw and then antiqued it after baking.