Resurection

I've been out of the loop. I restarted this blog back in 2012 to talk about jewellery, jewellery making and the wonderful work I find along the way made by other artists. And whilst I still intend to use this as a platform for that very thing, there will be a much more personal edge to this now, I think. My online presence was cut short last year by a number of obstacles, but the main focus of my attention, particular for the second part of the year was the dreaded return of my partner's cancer.
It's funny, after two and a half years of all clear, we had actually begun to relax and develop a 'normal' lifestyle. (whatever that is when one of you is a visual artist, the other is a musician and you're both certifiably crazy!) Cancer is a big toothed bug that takes momentous delight in creeping up behind you and biting you hard on your tenderest parts! Suffice to say, we've had a long and arduous few months of racing back and forth to St. James Hospital ( a good 40 mile round trip every day), grueling chemo (or 'Juice' as the doctors like to call it - trust me, there are NO healthy vitamins and minerals in this stuff!)
But more of that later, bite size is best with this subject. The jewellery I make was my escape throughout all of this - turning a situation that was potentially gut wrenchingly awful into something positive and creative. Here's a taster of some of the pieces I made in the middle of this mayhem.

 This is my triangular magpie locket: I have an obsession with lockets, before I made jewellery I used to collect lockets, boxes and poison rings. I'm fascinated by clasps and locks, and compartments within compartments. I think I may have been a jewel thief in a past life:)

Continuing with the bird theme, I was working hard on my stone setting: it's an area I've always struggled with, so consequently obsess over until I get it right - these are pretty big rings, by the way! Maybe the shield form is a metaphor for how I deal with difficult situations: whether that's the case or just hypothetical bunkum, these are still very special pieces to me: I overcame a major difficulty with these on a technical level, and they most probably represented the bright light of success in a very dark place, secreted in a thicket of distress.

Piercing Through the Rain

Copper and Silver Magpies pendant with Peridot
and Pearl: Sterling Silver Hares with Zircon and Garnet

It feels like it's been raining for an eternity!  There's not much time to go out with the camera, and the woods are so waterlogged at the moment, I fear I would sink into the mire and never be found if I dared venture out there! (although admittedly, the greenery is LUSH!)
So, confined the the studio, I've been concentration on my piercing work instead: this is a new venture for me, I'm in the process of developing a new line that is both a mixture of etching and piercing and purely piercing.  This takes time; these few pieces are the product of hours upon hours of work, carefully drilling and then threading the piercing saw blade through each tiny hole and sawing the shape: repeat, repeat, repeat. The larger magpie and hare pieces took around 8-12 hours to complete: the smaller are between 1-2 hours.

Hand Pierced Rook Pendant, Gilding Metal

Hand pierced Copper Pendants

Hand Pierced and Etched Copper Mad Arch Hare Pendants

Magpie finally captured

One of my woodland magpies caught in feeding frenzy action

I got rather excited this morning: for the first time I actually had my camera to hand when one of my magpies came a visiting.  I was actually trying to capture the blue jay that visits, but since this magpie has eluded me for so long and I've now finally managed to grab several shots of him/her, I'm a happy bunny:)

Sir Squawks Alot

The Studio in The Woods

This is my current studio where I create all my pretties: I've been building the contents of this for the last three years, and spend all of last year with this and me cramped inside a 6 foot square keeping cellar with no natural light.  Suffice to say this is a breath of fresh air (in more ways than one) and a definite improvement.  I'm surrounded by woodland here and as well as having the cats tearing in and out of the patio doors (along with my other half and his son, though, being human, they don't technically count or feature in my work much!) I have visitations by a lot of wildlife.  The latest has been the little wren who has a helluva lot to say, but more about him/her in later posts.  Daily visits come in the form of two magpies (presumably a happy couple), and these earrings are one of my latest pieces, in part homage to my two cheeky black and white visitors!

Titanium Magpie Earrings

These titanium magpie earrings have been hand cut using a jewellers piercing saw and coloured using a jewellers torch to create a vivid, iridescent rainbow patina. 
They are inspired by a nesting pair of magpies that live and forage in woodland around my studio based in West Yorkshire, UK.
The are hung from a pair of sterling silver earwires which have been hand formed and hammered into a swan neck shape.
In Jewellery making, titanium is valued for its hardness, durability and permanent vividly coloured patina: it is an extremely light metal, despite it's hardness, making it perfect for earrings.

The colours in these earrings are mainly yellow, orange, pink, purple and blue.

Gothic Whimsy of Wim Delvoye

Caterpillar

I recently came across the work of Belgian artist Wim Delvoye: to say I'm in awe and equally tickled by his playfulness is a bit of an understatement. I'm particularly enamoured by his 'Gothic Works', great metal structures imitating everyday machines (dumper trucks, cement mixers, flat bed trailers), imitating gothic structures reminiscent of cathedrals and churches: I'm not entirely sure which came first, the cathedrals or the machines that might contribute towards making them these days, but they certainly are impressive constructs: I'd love one in the yarden, maybe to worship in. (I accidentally spelled 'workship' and  had to amend, do you see what I did there? I probably would try and set up a workshop in one of these actually, if it was remotely feasible and I could convince Mr. Delvoye to install one of his masterpieces in my aforesaid, 'yarden'. Anyway, I digress)

Concrete Mixer

Nautilus

Mr Delvoye's 'Towers' are as equally awe inspiring, I particularly like this one: if only Kirklees council would invest in one of these beauties outside the train station, all would be right with the world! Ahhhh!

Tour (bruxelles)

Torre

New Works - Copper Pattern Cufflinks

Copper Pattern Cufflinks

In the run up Father's Day, I've been designing for men, and these pattern cufflinks are the first an new range of jewellery for gentlemen.  I've been asked number of times if I make men's jewellery, it's one of those curious things that I've never been very sure of: My man doesn't wear jewellery at all, and I'm always a little bit surprised when someone orders something from me, such as a copper cuff or one of my silver rivet rings and tell me 'it's for my husband'.  When I actually look at the pieces, I can totally see how it would suit the masculine form, but I do tend to make things because I'd love to wear them myself!  I guess,like the principles of yin and yang, there must just be a little bit of male in me!

Copper Pattern Cufflinks, front

Cufflink making tutorial Father's Day

Cufflink making tutorial Father's Day 

 

Items you will need:

Two large metal rectangles – the ones here have been etched and are 2cm x 1.5cm

Two small rectangles – the ones here are 2cm x 0.8cm

Four jumprings

Two small lengths of chain – one length of chain plus the jump rings should be around ½ inch in length.

Stage One

File all the edges of the metal rectangles at a 40 degree angle to the flat surface on either side, rounding the corners, then sand to smooth and finish the edge – it should feel free of burrs all the way around when you run a finger around the edge.  I have used 400 grit wet and dry paper here.
 

Stage Two

Doming – this part is optional – I use a doming block to place a light dome in each rectangle, but if you don’t have one of these, it’s perfectly ok to have flat parts rather than curved.

Stage Three

Twist open a jump ring and thread one end link of one of the chains through (note – when opening jump rings, always open by twisting the ends apart, not pulling them apart). Close the jump ring.  Using a pair of tweezers to hold the jump ring opening side down against the back of one of your large metal rectangles.  Make sure that the metal of the jump ring touches the metal of the rectangle, otherwise the parts will not solder together.  Make sure that the chain is pulled away from the soldering area, try resting it on top of the tweezers.

Stage Four

Place your solder close to or through the jump ring. (I have used prefluxed copper solder here, but silver solder can also be used with a good flux, or silver solder paste, which is already mixed with the  flux and easy to put in place)  Use a hot torch flame to solder the two parts together.  When soldering, beginners often make the mistake of trying to get the solder to melt by concentrating the flame on the solder – the most successful method is to heat the largest part of the piece first – in this case, the large rectangle, until the solder begins to flow, then flick the heat over the smaller piece at the last minute to encourage the flux to flow onto it, creating the join.

Repeat this step for the remaining three joins when soldering the smaller rectangles onto the piece, it’s much easier to dangle the larger piece over the back of the tweezers out of the way, as shown.  

Pickle the finished pieces in your pickle pot to remove the flux.  Use a brass bristle brush to burnish the piece, or use whatever polishing equipment you have at your disposal. (I use a tumbler for small items, but dremels, pendant drills or bench polishers can also be used.)