seacandy

Wire Wrap Rings

2008-12-11T09:24:00.006Z

These simple wire wrap rings are a delight - - they are fun to make and the variations seem to be endless. They look to me like something Roman or Bronze Age although the basis of the design came from my mother's engagement ring (which is neither of the above, I would like to point out!) - three diamonds set in a row. I wanted something simple and pretty - and affordable. I sell these for £20, no matter whether they are bronze or silver. Let me know if would be interested in a tutorial.

The design is not one I learned, but one that I came up with whilst trying to find a way to make a ring which did not sit too "high". So many wire wrap rings seem to stand up a long way from the top of the finger, and if I wear rings like that they tend to catch on things all the time, or the stone gets hit on to things when I am waving my hands around to illustrate something, so there is always a risk of breaking it.

I wear the bronze and amethyst version every day, (it looks very regal). One of my friends wears the silver and aquamarine version with matching earrings.

Studio Gallery in Hastings

2008-10-31T13:46:00.005Z

I have just realised that I had forgotten to mention that in the long gap between posting in March and October, not only was I busy due to a serious illness in the family, but I also managed to open a studio / gallery in Hastings Old Town, with my partner, artist, etcher and printmaker, Colin Bailey. I(I don't know how this managed to slip my mind, but it clearly did!). The gallery is open from 1.00 to 6.00 pm most days, and often a bit longer at the weekends. So far it seems to be doing extremely well, and we love the challenge of constantly redesigning the window displays and interior set up. The attached picture is an early one, I will try to add something a bit more recent soon.

Netted Bracelets

2008-10-30T16:54:00.004Z

New work - these bracelets incorporate a mix of twisted, wrapped and crochet wire - in this case antiqued copper with amazonite, flourite and aquamarine semi-precious stones. They look as though they have been dredged from a rock pool - and they do look very antiquey - as though they've been lying on the ocean floor covered by sand for a very long time.....

ORNAMENT

2008-10-30T09:29:00.005Z

Well over the top, I know, but I love these new pieces. I have been told they look like mad musical notations, with over-zealous treble clefs all over the place! Each one takes a couple of hours or so to create - and of course each one comes out different. I try to be guided by the central stone or shell and the way the wire wants to go. They look great with a simple dress and never fail to get favourable comments.

it's been a while....

2008-10-29T13:48:00.005Z

but I'm back again. I have been away due to family circumstances - I can't believe that it's been more than eight months since I posted anything. Anyway, I am now making a promise to myself to keep this blog going rather more regularly and to to fill it up with useful bits of information and tutorials. I'll get the camera out tonight and post some pictures of new work, most of which is using wire wrapping copper antiqued with liver of sulphur. Yumm....

Monday 17 March - St Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T14:38:00.001Z

So green Guinness and silly hats all round!

I managed to find a copper and bronze supplier at the weekend so I will be able to include some of these gorgeously coloured metals in future work – am very excited at the idea!

I also had a trawl around one of our local “antique” shops and managed to find some little keys which are clearly just crying out to be incorporated into jewellery – they are certainly far too interesting to be left in a box somewhere and will be making an appearance shortly.

The one completed project of the weekend was a crystal bangle – made with lilac ametrine, orange citrine, green citrine, garnets and some vintage lead crystal beads – very pretty and old fashioned – and I have just the perfect recipient in mind. Photos to follow soon.

13 March 2008

2008-03-13T13:34:00.002Z

New stuff... this happened last night while I was experimenting with twisting some wire into coiled beads - it ended up incorporating a couple of bits and pieces from junk shop jewellery which I had taken apart, and some crochet wire with little crystals in the crochet stitches -- I wore it today and it seems to be very successful... I think the next one will be in silver and copper - this was only in practice wire. Anyway, I love it, and I can see more of these on the horizon....

Monday 10 March 2008

2008-03-10T13:06:00.003Z

Fantastic storm! And as I live right on the Sussex coast we are getting the best of it (or the worst, depending on your point of view…)

I enjoy these storms – at least, I enjoy looking at them – trying to walk along the seafront this morning was a bit of a challenge, to say the least! The sea was all the colours of fluorite – purple, grey and dark green – and the waves were huge even though the tide wasn’t in. High tide is at 1.00 today so I will probably pop out to admire nature at her most frisky around that time, before running back inside for some tea and chocolate biscuits. In appreciation of the storm, I am attaching a pic of a bangle which features a fluorite nugget, and lots of frothy green moss agate.

Saturday 8 March 2008

2008-03-08T12:57:00.003Z

It's really late and I've only been up for a couple of hours, all the good intentions of doing the housework and being a domestic goddess have been at least postponed if not altogether cancelled. Have just added another couple of links to the Essential Surfing list at the bottom of this site - Heather Powers Humble Beads site - the most gorgeous and subtle polymer clay beads you have probably ever seen, and Desiree's Desired Creations - new ways to use polymer clay in jewellery and excellent friendly well presented tutorials. Have a look at them both if you get the chance - they are highly inspiring!

Anyway - am off to wave a duster at some of the cobwebs - and when I feel I've scared the wits out of a couple of spiders, I can justify settling into some serious jewellery making....

Le Weekend!!!

2008-03-07T16:13:00.001Z

The weekend at last! I am planning on beginning a heavy silver bracelet this weekend – double chained jumprings and silver beads…. I love the thought of it and it would of course be extremely versatile – but it may take some time to finish as I will probably have to order in more handmade Bali beads – and they can takes weeks to make their way across the sea….

Anyway – will be watching a local band tonight -- 1066 Rockitmen – and on Sunday will be going to another gig – Keith Foster – (truly excellent) and so the jewellery will have to be worked in around the fun!

Amberlet

2008-03-06T12:54:00.002Z

Strange name, I know. This is a piece of amber (actually it is copal – ‘young’ amber) with a delightfully refractive crackled quality. It is set into a silver wire pendant which is made from slightly flattened, and then twisted, sterling silver wire. This wire is then wound through and around the stone, and where the resulting shapes seemed to demand it, hair thin (0.2mm diameter) sterling silver wire is woven across in a basketweave pattern. The bail is woven (I really like these woven bails – they make each piece look more ‘finished’ somehow).

The name Amberlet comes from a mix of Amber and Amulet – amber is after all supposed to have protective qualities and is considered to be associated with good fortune (not altogether surprising when you consider the price of it!).

Supplier of stone: Mr Bead

Supplier of sterling silver wire: Palmer Metals

Extra info: The wire was flattened out using a custom wire rolling machine designed and made for me by my father – bless him. It works beautifully and I am extremely grateful to him for the time and thought he put into it.

Pink Seashore Cuff

2008-03-06T09:21:00.002Z

Pink Mangano, pink peruvian opal, rose quartz, garnets, goldstone, pearls, seashells, coral and lots and lots of silver - this is beautiful, contemporary, heavy and very, very eyecatching! Plus - it is shaped like a fish!

This one took a while – there are a lot of gemstones woven around the wave shaped silver wire interior. It is girly in the extreme and looks like it should belong to a mermaid... More pics at Seacandy

Cappuccino Cream Fondant Pendant

2008-03-05T13:01:00.001Z

I have been trying to think about the best way to use this space – I think it is going to evolve into a diary of work, sprinkled through with tutorials and general information on jewellery making, ie, suppliers of materials, links to other jewellery artist’s sites, etc.
As I don’t want it to be just a list I will try and pull in the suppliers, inspirations, and associated bits and pieces of info where they are relevant to the pieces I am working on.

At the beginning of this year I decided I would try and create at least one piece of jewellery each week, (inspired by the YOJ competition in the US) so that by the time the summer came and exhibitions started to happen, I would have some new and original work to choose from to show at each event and would be able to avoid showing the same work twice.

But the blog only started yesterday – 4 March 2008 – so I can’t write about each piece as I create it because that would leave the earlier pieces from this year out – and I don’t want to keep them “in reserve” to post on weeks when I don’t create anything because that is the sort of excuse that will make it toooo easy for me to have a week off….

My solution is that I will try to play catch-up for the first week or two of March, and write about the earlier pieces daily – or “second daily” -- until they have all found a home on the blog, but I will add in new pieces as I finish them. You will have to guess which are which!

Having said all that I feel I should start!

The piece opposite (and up a bit - I haven't got the hang of making things appear exactly where I want them on the page yet) is called Cappuccino Cream, (should there be one ‘p’ or two?) and was created in January 2008 with an oval cappuccino jasper from mineral warehouse and sterling silver wire from Palmer Metals. There is a woven bail at the top and the front has small scrolls of silver around the edges holding the stone in place, whilst the back is a netted bezel (see Eni Oken for more information on netted bezels). The wrapped stone measures approx an inch and the woven bail another ¼ inch. It was complicated to make - the wire was threaded through the stone, looped into a double bail and then wound all around the outside of the stone again to form a base for the double spirals and the netted bezel to attach to. The spirals had to be held together with coiled wire links and the bail woven with 0.2 mm wire.

2008-03-04T22:31:00.000Z

Okay, well that seemed to go okay. Have set up this blog on the advice of my partner who is an established artist Colin Bailey at Ryepress and has become the local web messiah. I am really hoping to get in touch with other jewellery artists / designers to share ideas, inspiration and connections. I have been obsessed by jewellery design since I was a child, but it is only in the last few years that I have managed to find the time to dedicate to learning the skills to turn a collection of items into a wearable piece of art. Some of my work is viewable at Seacandy and I am now going to post this piece of text and see what I have to do next to add pix etc.