Tag Archives: flame-worked

  • Home
  • Posts tagged "flame-worked"

YOJ11-08 Teardrop Spiral Earrings

Posted on by dianne

YOJ11-08 Teardrop Spiral Earrings
Teardrop Spiral Earrings (2011)
Sterling silver
Formed, forged, soldered
L 4.3 cm x W. 1.95cm

I’m late posting this week.

I had started working with this teardrop shape last week, after doing research for the next installment of my essay series.  There are many historical examples of boat-shaped earrings, and I found myself paying particular attention to how they were closed.  I wanted to make the earrings secure and still maintain a sleek line.

Originally my intention was to incorporate some sort of weaving, but my muse wasn’t co-operating.  Time and again, I cut the bits off the frame to start over.  Finally, I decided to develop the spiral idea I used on last week’s earrings.YOJ11-08 Teardrop Spiral Earrings

There are so many things on my To Do List at the moment that I’m waking up in the middle of the night thinking about it. It’s one of those situations where I’m too awake to sleep, but too tired to get up. So I just lie there with my mind spinning circles and then during the day I feel exhausted and unproductive. Finally yesterday when I had a chance to sit down to work on jewelry, I couldn’t find my flow. It’s kind of ironic that I ended up with spirals – it reflects what’s going on in my over-active mind!

YOJ11-07 Butterfly Twirl Earrings

Posted on by dianne

YOJ11-07 Butterfly Twirl
Butterfly Twirl Earrings (2011)
Sterling silver
Formed, soldered
2 cm dia.

This week I had one more idea for the butterflies – a pair of hoop earrings.  Here, the butterflies fly around in a loop.  The earrings insert from the back of the earlobe and curl around to bring the butterflies to the front.

It’s been a frustrating week.   I went back to my projects notebook to work on one of the tutorials I wrote in the fall.  I quite often write a set of instructions, then put them away for a while, so I get it completely out of my head.  Then when I come back to it, I’m looking at it with fresh eyes.  It lets me test whether I can follow what I wrote.

I tend to go through several attempts at making the project while I’m writing instructions, refining the design as I go and making sure the steps make sense.  Because of the rising cost of silver, the prototypes for the project I’m currently reviewing were originally constructed in copper wire.

Well…  that was a mistake.

Silver, even in dead soft temper, is stiffer to work that copper – a small detail I forgot to consider – so the only thing I succeeded in doing was adding to my scrap bin.  I’m now revising the project so it will work in silver.

YOJ11-06 More Butterflies :)

Posted on by dianne

YOJ11-06 Fluttering Butterflies
Fluttering Butterflies (2011)
Sterling silver, aquamarine
Formed, flame-worked, cold-joined
L 4.8 cm x W 1.9 cm

 

This week has been very satisfying, both in terms of the pieces I’ve made and the quantity of work I was able to produce.  On top of it all, I had fun!

Early in the week, I was still thinking about butterflies and how they flitter and loop around each other.  That lead to this pair of earrings, and a matching pendant (not shown).  With our local temperatures here still below normal, spring really cannot come too soon.

I’ll be happy to see real butterflies again.

YOJ11-06 Butterfly Drop Earrings
Butterfly Drop Earrings (2011)
Sterling silver, aquamarine
Formed, flame-worked, cold-joined
L 3.8 cm x W 1.0 cm

Last year, as part of the Marquise Series, I made an earring with drops that were interchangeable.  I continued that thought with these butterfly drops – the briolette can be removed and exchanged for a different drop, or can be worn plain.

The rest of the week has been devoted to other production pieces, and I’m pleased to be in a good groove!

YOJ11-05 Butterflies

Posted on by dianne

YOJ11-05 Butterflies
Butterfly Earrings (2011)
Sterling silver
Formed, flame-worked
L 1.9 cm x W 0.5 cm

This week, after Snowpocolypse rolled through, Canada’s own Wiarton Willie brought the very welcome news that we will have a early spring this year!  Woo hoo!  That got me looking forward to sunshine and flowers… spring weddings and butterflies.  I love watching tiny butterflies flittering around, oblivious to me being there.

I’m still in production mode, so I’m focussed on quick to make jewellery.  I wanted to make something that would appeal to brides, but also to young girls.  These little butterflies are lending themselves to drop earwires, like the ones shown here, but also to studs and to pendants.  This is one of those rare times when the design I’ve come up with uses soldered elements.  In this case, the structural requirements of the design didn’t lend itself to working cold.

I’m really looking forward to warmer weather.  I’m done with the cold feet, cold hands, and sniffles that have been my constant companion since October.

Other Musings

Blasts from the Past

Photo of the Day

Judith Goldstein