divajools

What goes "whirrrrr,bang,woof,whirrrrr,bang,woof" ? Can't guess? Well, let me explain ... That is the noise that a team of builders make when they are cutting away brick walls and nailing everything in sight with a nail gun ... Oh and it makes the dog go crazy so he chimes in with a deeply offended "woof" and growl! No wonder I want to run away from home! It is not exactly conducive to getting work done - all that fuss and noise is messin' with my Chi ... Still, deadlines are deadlines regardless of the distractions at hand ( I should add that these builders are all young and fit looking ... Yet another distraction!) so I had to get in some studio time this week. I am joining in with a whole bunch of jewellers (real ones!) to put on an exhibition for the upcoming Fringe festival in Adelaide. The concept is to make jewellery that represents a part of Adelaide or it can even be made from bits of the city and surrounding areas. Following my usual instinct for working with recycled and reclaimed materials, I have concentrated on using wine bottles since I live in an iconic wine region. It's a bit of a process. Firstly the bottle has to be EMPTY! Never one to shirk my duty to my art I have addressed that part of the process quite happily! Next there is cutting and shaping and drilling and tumbling the glass bits to make them ready to work with. Finally I assemble the earrings using reclaimed pewter and brass components that I make and then hang them from handcrafted hooks of recycled sterling silver. I am happy with the outcome but am going to be in some exceptional company for this show which is a bit nerve racking . Still, I can't wait to see my work alongside that of some "proper" jewellers!