Influences ....

I think I have always had a bit of a "thing" for folkart and religious iconography. I love all those sad eyed saints depicted on Russian triptychs. And what is not to love about the beautiful nichos and reliquaries associated with Mexico? Not to mention flowery decorative shrines and the like. I am often drawn to simple symbols like hearts and hands - they have such universal appeal and most cultures relate to them. I also have a propensity for chopping up dollies for their eyes ....It is no surprise then that of late I have been borrowing heavily from all these cultural influences to create my jewellery. I also think that my mind is wandering to Mexico 'cos I have a trip planned there!

The heart with the hand inside it and the heart with the eye are both brooches. I am working on getting better at bezel making. The eye has its own little bezel too. I have used resin to fill both of the brooch bezels. The hand one has tin as a background and in the eye one I used paper. I cut the bezel strips from copper and brass trays but used copper sheet for the backs. There are some vintage rhinestones and earring bits involved too! The heart with the cross is a pendant. I approached this one a little differently - mostly because as it turns out I am a bit impatient about waiting for resin to cure! I still made the bezel from recycled material with a copper back. I added brass stampings top and bottom. The main difference is that instead of resin, I made a heart shaped die and used my homemade hydraulic press to form up some tin to sit inside the bezel. Hence it has that nice domed look. I riveted the cross and heart to the tin before I set it into the bezel. There was a fair amount of fiddling etc because I am not yet very skilled at the whole bezel thing ...Still I am pleased with how they look - and I will keep on persevering with the bezels!