And then more…

Following from yesterday :

1. full metal weaving
2. scroll/poster hanging
3. cut and framed
4. free play and pinned
   ..
   
5. free play, pinned and adorned
   for the ‘Winter Brooches‘ exhibition at Studio 20/17 in 2010; I don’t consider these pieces very successful actually, though I quite like the bar brooch at the bottom of the image
   

   Time: group

   … the ‘Quotes’ group for that exhibition were better in my eyes, as they’re less ponderous and more whimsical

   

   Quotes

6. long weave neckpieces
   for ‘Winter Neckpieces‘ exhibition at Studio 20/17 in 2011; these I love!
   

   For William

   

   For Caroline

7. gem and bezel set
   for ‘Oh Opal!‘ at Redox Gallery (and then Studio 20/17) in 2012; this was the start of a series of experiments with bezel setting; these, being the first experiment, didn’t have perspex on the top … that was to change for future work (to make them more durable)
   

   ‘Oh Opal!’ group

   …which I then extended in the ‘My Australia’ exhibition in 2013

   

   My Australia group

8. simple bezel set
   for ‘The Love of Coffee‘ at Studio 20/17 in 2012
   

   Coffee group

   then for ‘Deck the Walls‘ at Studio 20/17 in 2012; I think they tired of my weaving (and that they didn’t sell; it’s labour intensive and therefore not inexpensive), so this was the last collection of work for this lovely gallery

   

   Summer group

   then cufflinks for Lord Coconut; including a platinum commission

   

   Platinum Commission

   … again though, the bezel setting is similar to the cut-and-frame work; I’m still not quite content with how it seems to be trapping the material, constraining it, making it ‘less’ somehow; pretty clearly I haven’t yet figured out what is actually my problem with it!

I wonder what will happen next.

[no photographs in this post to be reproduced without explicit permission of the author]

Making presents

I love making presents.

What could be better than having an idea for a gift especially for someone you love, and being the single person in the whole wide world to make it come into existence.

These are for my most favourite 10-year-old in the universe. I should probably wait until after Christmas day to share these photographs, but I’m pretty darn sure that the recipient doesn’t read my blog. Plus, I’m a bit excited about them.

image not to be reproduced without permission

This is her first Christmas having pierced ears, so I hope she likes these. Naturally she can’t wear them to school, but I envisage her wearing them to friends’ parties and such.

I thought about making her hook earrings, instead of studs; but she’s very active and hooks are more easily misplaced than studs.

They’re made with purple banded agate beads, fine silver and some sterling silver components.

And then I totally outdid myself in spectacularity (it’s a word now) by making my card into a little stand for them. I know.

image not to be reproduced without permission

Merry Christmas beautiful young lady.

Commission: woven cufflinks

A friend (who has previously commissioned me for a pendant and earrings) asked me to make some cufflinks for him. He’s a most stylish man, so this pleased me.

He selected a charcoal and a hot pink; he wasn’t sure which one he wanted, so I agreed to make both. Excellent indeed.

I secretly would love to see these two colours together, but he’s more conservative than that.

hot pink and anthracite woven cufflinks; image not to be reproduced without permission

After making these, he decided to chose the charcoal ones.

The hot pink ones therefore will be off to Lord Coconut in the next few days. I do hope someone thinks they’ll be a magnificent festive-season gift!

An important note: I sell my woven cufflinks exclusively through Lord Coconut, and as I want to maintain a good relationship there I checked in with the gallery owner if this commission was okay with him before I started making. And as this is a dear friend, of course it’s okay – naturally makers want to make for friends!

And more cufflinks

I’ve experimented with some prototype cufflinks for Lord Coconut, made using wedding invitation papers.

Given my cufflinks are simply paper woven with silver (protected under a layer of 1mm clear perspex), it’s relatively easy to incorporate papers of (nearly) any kind.

It interesting though that the pattern on the paper be so clear, yet it can either disappear or be accentuated by the weaving.

“Paris in Silver”; image not to be reproduced without permission

The pattern for the cufflinks above center on the heart-shape shown on the paper just below the actual cufflink.

And those below on the bowl-and-fountain (erm, best description I could think of at the time!) icon.

“Florentine in Silver”; image not to be reproduced without permission

I wonder if they’ll appeal?

On a similar topic – the idea of weaving sentimental papers into cufflinks really appeals to me – though I’m sure if I am ever asked to do that for a client that I’ll be pretty darn nervous! Like I did with my Nana’s trifle recipe brooch, I’d likely do a very high quality scan first as a means of saving the document (in a way) … anyway, that’s for the future.