Back at the bench

Ok, so I was a less than a diligent blogger in 2014 ... I guess I could declare my New Years Resolution to be to write more regularly but I am a bit sceptical about both Resolutions and my ability to stick to my good intentions ...

Let's just start and see where it leads us!

I recently had the pleasure of spending some teaching time with South Australian artist, JoJo Spook. JoJo loves making marks on metal and this inspired me to have a go at making some texture hammers.

I have a bunch of hammers gleaned from op shops, as well as a few cheapies that I was happy to sacrifice if the whole thing went pear-shaped!

This was my first victim. I cleaned up the surface, evened it out and gave it a polish. Then I took to it with a Deremel wheel and files, creating an abstract pattern across its face.

This is the pattern it created on a piece of metal.

This is what it looked like with a patina added and a bit of a polish. I like it!

Next I turned my attention to the narrow end of the hammer ...

Again I used the cut off wheel in my Dremel to make some random marks.

I like this result too! I had to go ahead and make a piece of jewellery with my 'new' tool ...

It's pretty simple but I think the organic nature of the marks makes it quite interesting. Next time I will have a go at making a more regular pattern on the hammer face - right now it is 41 degrees Celsius and I won't be using any tools that create a spark today!

Getting underway ...

It seems that the Christmas lull has been a bit protracted this year. Or maybe I am just lazy ...? Anyway, there is a show coming up in February that I am very happy to have been accepted into so I thought I should get started on some work. The theme of the exhibition is "Wear a Piece of Adelaide" and it runs throughout the Fringe Festival (South Australia is the Festival state after all!). The premise is that you can create jewellery that is literally made of a piece of the city or something representative of the city/surrounds. I am planning some pieces made from wine bottle glass, specifically wine bottles from South Australia, most probably from the Barossa Valley because that is where I live!

Working with glass can be pretty exciting and as always when you work with recycled materials, you have to be prepared for outcomes you might not have envisaged. 

This is part one of a multi-part process ...

These pieces will most likely become earrings. Eventually. There are plenty of steps to follow!

Oh and glass can be. teeny bit dangerous ... Band-Aids are a necessary part of this whole process I have found!

Despite the little nicks (wow fingers bleed a lot even from teensy cuts!), I am super happy to be feeling productive once again. Now if I could just summon up the courage to clean up the studio ....

Artefacts

Over the summer I got to do a little bit of beachcombing - a real treat as there isn't decent oceany beach within coo- eee of where I live. I foraged and collected, often enlisting my hapless companions to scour the mounds of seaweed and piles of shells for interesting bits and pieces.

Today I applied a loose taxonomy to my finds. Firstly into their geographical zones ...

Then I went a bit further and divided them up into  groups within the geographical groups based on their material properties. Shells with shells,pottery with pottery etc.

This was the largest group. All this was gleaned from the lower part of the Yorke Penninsula in South Australia - scrummy isn't it? 

Mmmmmm - just loving all these organic shapes. This stuff began life as mass produced things and has been worn away by the tides to create strangely natural looking objects. It does my head in. In a good way! I feel an exhibition coming on ...

Quite probably the best find could be the desiccated fish we found at Walarooo .... 

Let me introduce ZOMBIE FISH!

Scary huh? 

Casting Mania

Since my cuttlefish casting adventure meant that I had all the necessary casting equipment to hand, I decided to make some new silicone molds and cast some new jewellery components.

I used up the last of the compound I had which is good because it was approaching the end of its after-the-bottle-is-open shelf-life. I had varying degrees of success this time around - some casts were brilliant and others - well not quite up to scratch! I was particularly pleased though with how this one turned out ...

It has a rather Victorian look about it.

At this point, it has had a minor tidy up - removing overflow from the edges. Notice how rough and bubbly it is? That is because the mold is new - a few more pours will "cure" it further but hopefully it will retain some of that roughness because I really like it!

Here it is with a patina and an eye added!

It looks old and crusty - just the way I had hoped it would look!  I love to work with found objects but I have come to realise that many of the things I like to work with repeatedly are, like embroidered doileys, quickly becoming a finite resource! So, I have decided to cast some things from objects I find and hence be able to use them more than once in my work. I think it will simply add another dimension to the work - and besides it will be heaps of fun! Here is the first of my "Faux Found Objects"

This has been cast from a very sweet little key that is earmarked for use with a layered pendant I created the other week. It is a great size and shape so I have recreated it using reclaimed pewter. I have cast it with a flat back which will give it plenty of applications. I guess nothing could ever replace the truly found object but I think these reproductions will have their own aesthetic - on their own or combined with originals.At the very least, it is a more useful object than the beer mug it used to be!

Here's looking at ya -  ha ha ha - get it? there is an eye - and it's lookin' at you ..?  Well I thought it was frickin' hilarious but you may feel it only warrants a wry chuckle of amusement - either at my comedic delusions or the pun - I'm not fussed - at least I will have made you smile!

Steampunk Renos ....

Well my lovelies, it has certainly been a long time between posts - apologies for being such an absentee blogger. I won't bore you with the details - suffice to say it has been pretty hectic around here and as always the first sacrifice on the pyre of busy-ness is blogging! I have been playing around with some quasi-steampunk jewellery over the last few days and today I decided I wanted a point-of-sale display for my jewels that has a quasi-steampunk aesthetic! I had a rummage in the shed and a quick dash to the oppie where I unearthed these treasures ...

I also fished out my paint supplies and a skerrik of really lovely mulberry paper. Firstly I stripped the exisiting paper lining ( it was pretty shredded already!) and gave the case a coat of black paint.

After the black, I slapped on some red - a really cheap brand which in this instance works in my favour because the cheap stuff doesn't have as much pigment as the good stuff so it can be great if you want a sort of translucent colour. Which I did!

Painted up and ready to deal with the inside. I had to do some careful cutting because I didn't have a huge amount of paper but I made it work ...

Above you can see it all papered up - then I started arranging elements for that steampunk appeal ...

Hhmm - something is still missing - maybe a splash of colour behind the big key?

Yep - that is just what it need! I dismantled the ice-bucket I had purchased at the oppie and used the outside vinyl as well as the "coat-of-arms". I should fess up and tell you that at this point everything is just hanging together with double-sided tape - I really wanted to get an idea of how it would work before I commit myself to epoxy and nails!

And here it is housing some of my latest bits and pieces ...

I think it will work a treat don't you? Now for an up-close squizz at the new jewellery!

This piece has been made from a watch face, key plate, vintage key and the bunny is made from pewter that I have reclaimed and cast into a mould I have made. I had to make the little "cog" too because I didn't have one to suit! I riveted the vintage shell button to some brass as a dangle from the bottom and if you look at the very top part of the first pic you might be able to make out a sweet little vintage ear-ring that just seemed to beg to join this piece.

 It seems I haven't gotten over my "Alice" phase yet. This piece is made from old teaspoons, some kind of doo-hickey brass thing, and a watch face. All cold connected. I stamped "seek" on the doo-hickey and altered a small religious medal that you can see joining the chain in the top pic. This was great fun to make as it required quite a bit of ferreting about in various corners of the studio to find just the right doo-hickey!

I also made a couple of much simpler pieces. These are made from old spoons, reclaimed pewter that I have cut and etched and some watch bits. Again all cold connected. Oh wait a minute that is not quite true - I soldered the jumpring to the top of the heart ... I think they are pretty.

Finally, this watch case reliquary - it has a pretty vintage image and lace inside, along with a pearl and a mother of pearl button. Other components include that lovely chunk of rough quartz, a handmade chain and a vintage chandelier crystal. It is rather romantic isn't it?! Well that is my little lot for now. I am hoping to Be a Better Blogger from now on ...

Exhibition pics - at last!

It has taken me a minute to get organised but I have finally been to the venue and taken some pics of my SALA exhibition.

 Apologies for all the reflection! This gives you a bit of an idea how the display is set up. Putting the jewellery iside the boxes magically transforms it - amazing what a bit of "context" will do isn't it?

I  like to have  things accessible too - it's nice if people can really look and touch the pieces.

It is a bit hard to see the jewellery but in the background you can see my lino cut entitled "Oh Dear". It is of course based on Alice In Wonderland and features a rabbit, a clock and a little bottle that says "drink me"!

A few of the pewter pieces - both cast and hand-cut. You have seen some of these in the making ...

In the foreground you can see "An English Country Garden" (sold) and in the background is another Alice themed piece which features vintage rosary crystals, china, pearls and a toggle clasp I made from brass and a vintage key - kinda twisted around the wrong way in this pic  - sorry!

When I set up the exhibit I realised that it had a sort of vintagy/steampunk feel to it as a number of the pieces ended up featuring cogs and gears etc - I didn't mean for it to happen but I must have been in that kind of headspace.

This was in fact the very last piece I made for the show and I think it is my favourite! I used an old spoon, a pewter bird that I cast and some laminex. Sales have not been outstanding - in previous years I have pretty well sold out by now! Most artists are reporting the same thing apparently. It is pretty understandable in the current economic climate. I will list what I don't sell online - and there maybe a couple of pieces that stay in the family ..

oh and if you want to have a squizz at some other SALA shows from the comfort of home, head over to Emmica's blog for reviews and pics!

The Cardi lives on!

A while back, I purchased three cardigans from the 50 cent rack at a local oppie. None of them were appropriate sizes/colours or styles that would suit any of my mob but they did have rather delicious buttons. Once home, I did indeed pluck off said buttons but I was feeling a tad guilty about returning them to the oppie sans closures - it was a dilemma indeed! "So", I hear you ask, "how did you solve that dilemma and keep the guilt demon at bay Sue?" . Well, in a moment of remarkable clarity and channeling my inner Ikea-ness, I decided to whip up some Wintery cushion covers. Of course I hadn't reckoned with the truculent attitude of the knitwear and their apparent reluctance to be cut up. Slippery, stretchy and generally uncooperative, it was a bit more effort than a simple "whip up". However, I did persist and here are the rewards of my efforts.

I need to add some decorative stitching to a couple of them but overall I am sure you get the idea!

The light green is rather more green than the photo shows, and the olive is - well - more olivey. They are super snuggly and cosy. As for the buttons - I used them up too ...

I manage to squeeze out a necklace and a bracelet from 2 sets and made a brooch from the lovely big red one - that is for me!

 

I made pewter discs and stamped them to create a kinda pod-like effect.

I also used up one of my lovely metal buttons as a closure on the bracelet. All in all, I think it was  $1.50 and a couple of hours well spent - don't you?