blue – dianne karg baron

YOJ11-04 In Production Mode

Posted on January 29, 2011February 15, 2011 by dianne

Aquamarine Bridal Set (2011)
Sterling silver, aquamarine
Formed, cold-joined, flameworked
Pendant: L 4.0 cm x W 1.5 cm
Earrings: L 3.8 cm x W 0.7 cm

I had such high hopes this week for getting a lot done. I did get a lot done, but very little of it related to what I wanted to be doing, which was making jewelry for restocking galleries and for an upcoming studio tour. Oh well. As we said when I was a kid: C’est la vie, c’est la guerre, c’est la pomme de terre…

I’m in production mode and working on things that can be quickly made. These earrings and pendant are part of a “Something Blue” casual/bridal line. The stone is aquamarine – a strand I picked up last fall at the GMCS show. I’m still on a buying moratorium but the icy opaqueness of the stone is part of what appealed to me. I have very little blue in my stone inventory, because most of the time, blue stones can’t withstand the punishment of tumbling.

I’m actively working through my stash of stones, so pendants and bracelets are also on their way!

YOJ10-14 Knotted Earrings 2

Posted on April 10, 2010 by dianne

Knotted Earrings 2 (2010)
Sterling silver, iolite
Constructed, cold-joined
L 2.5 cm x W 0.7 cm (L 0.98″ x W 0.275″)

My life is all about choices: if I choose to focus on one area of my life, another area gets sacrificed. For the past few weeks, I’ve had to focus on some group endeavours, and so my work on YOJ projects ground to a halt. I’m working towards finding balance, but haven’t found it just yet.

For this week’s project, my focus was on making bridal jewellery. My thoughts were on “something blue” and “tying knots”.

The Monkey’s Fist is a classic macramé knot, usually used as a weight or ornament on the end of a rope. Tying them in rope is relatively easy. When I learned it as a child, it was just a matter of sticking a marble between two fingers, and wrapping the rope around the marble and fingers, then around the marble through fingers and then through the loops created by the fingers. Then the loops were pulled tight.

In wire, the stiffness of the metal, and its tendency to kink makes tying challenging. There is also the issue of trying to get the proportions right: thinner gauge wire is more flexible to tie, but the knot becomes very small and fiddly. I found it impossible to tie wire around a bead without it slipping all over the place. Pulling the loops tight at the end was also a non-starter, so I had to make the initial wraps as close to round as possible – challenging since without a bead in the centre, the tendency is to wrap ovals. I ended up creating an invent-a-tool to help.

It took a bit of practice to get consistent results (doesn’t everything?), but I did end up with a satisfying “knot”. To get the “blue” part of the earrings, I decided on adding some pale 2 mm iolites. I would love to try these in a larger gauge of wire, but I think that would really only be possible with fine silver. Sterling just gets too stiff too fast.

More photos:

YOJ09-37 Paua Shell Bangle

Posted on September 15, 2009 by dianne

Paua Shell Bangle (2009)
Constructed, cold joined
Sterling silver, fine silver, paua shell
L 19 cm x W 1.5 cm

I have lots of supplies left over from my classes at Haliburton, which I’ve decided I will not be using next year. The cabs I ordered were a huge disappointment, with widely variant thicknesses. In particular, the green paua shell cabs were paper thin, making them virtually useless for wrapping. Basically, they can be pressed into something else, like maybe polymer clay, glued into a pre-manufactured setting or as part of some other craft item. Unfortunately, by the time I got them, it was too late to send them back to the supplier and order something different: the supplier wouldn’t have been able to give me anything else in any case, because I had already cleaned out the stock she had. The students who had to work with these cabs did admirably, but we had to change the project to make it work. Oh well, lesson learned. I’ll use a different supplier next year and put the remainder up for sale as a destash on Etsy to see if I can recoup any money that way.

The blue pauas were meant to be used for rings, but again, the thickness (while much better than the green) was an issue. They are actually quite pretty, so I may try to make something out of some them.

The first go is this variation on my Art Nouveau Bangle, which uses four wires instead of eight. It ends up being a very dainty looking piece.

More views:

YOJ09-08 Effervescence Pendant

Posted on February 22, 2009February 22, 2009 by dianne

Effervescence Pendant (2009)
Sterling silver, fine silver, blue topaz
L 5.4 cm x W 2.5 cm
Constructed, flame-worked

Having made the decision to make more production pieces, I’m picking out stones from my stash and setting to work. This week’s piece reminds me of the “Use it Up” pendants I made back in YOJ 2005-06. I fished a piece of 15 ga. square wire out of the scrap bin and balled up the ends, then bent it into shape and added this 8.96 carat blue topaz brio. It looked too plain, so I embellished it with 2 and 3 mm sterling beads.

Even since my friend Anna did the flower arrangements for my wedding, I’ve been mindful of the principle of using odd numbers for groupings. She explained that it’s more pleasing to the eye to see 1, 3, or 5 things together, rather than 2, 4, or 6. To some extent that principle is at work here with the three larger beads, and groups of 5 beads.

After I got it out the tumbler this morning, I tried it on. The beads looked like fizzing over top of the brio, and made me think of what my kids refer to as “bubble water” – soda water. So, it has the name “Effervescence”. *grin*

My husband likes the pendant, but then again, he prefers any pieces to which I’ve take a torch. The pendant wears well, but I’m not completely happy with the result – decorative beading is really not my forté – so I may it try again.

More photos:

Tag Archives: blue

YOJ11-04 In Production Mode

YOJ10-14 Knotted Earrings 2

YOJ09-37 Paua Shell Bangle

YOJ09-08 Effervescence Pendant

Other Musings

Blasts from the Past

Photo of the Day

diannekargbaron