Im back!

Wow, didn't realize that i had been ignoring my blog for so long. Sorry! But it has been a busy few weeks, first I was my friends Bridesmaid and i have now been running around organizing my display for the exhibition that I am taking part in at artspace in Durban. And while doing that i have been making jewellery.

Flavours is an exhibition by Durban emerging jewellers which is going to be held at artSpace on Monday the 13th July at 18.00 so please, if you are in or from the Durban area, come and have a look. The exhibition will run until the 1st August.
This is the exhibition that we have all been preparing for.

Below are a few new pieces that I have been making over the last few weeks.

These earrings are made of black wooden disks, the red beads at the top are real coral beads, then silver wire work on top with a silver flower.

This a bracelet that I made from stained wooden round disks and a T bar clasp, the T bar is decorated as a flower garden.

This a new wooden pendant that I made with forged wire and silver flowers.

New Piece 2!

Its been a long day but I have finally finished my new piece and very excited about how it turned out. I found a few wooden beads that I had brought a while back and decided that they would be perfect for the new bracelet. I then started cutting them in half and they fitted perfectly in the curves that I wanted them to. I then had to make a of how the wooden half beads would stay in place so I made pins that were soldered to the bracelet and the pin went into a small hole on the other side of the bead and glued together for extra strength.

My New Piece!

OK, so Ive been a bit off lately and now I'm getting back on track with things. I started making this piece, it started as just a wire bracelet but I have now decided to add more to it. I decided there was too much metal so now I trying to add wood to it to incorporate my natural or organic material for it to stick to my theme.

New Pieces!

I have finished these two pieces, a bangle and a pendant. I have enjoyed working with wood and the things you can do with this material. I'm hoping that the vein on the bangle resembles of just looks like a vein plant.

Design Ideas!

These are a few design Ideas that I have been working on at the moment all incorporating wood and silver.

Making a wooden bangle!

Over the last week I have been thinking about making my own wooden bangles and using my designs to incorporate the wooden bangles. So I started on a long search for the equipment. First I had to ask around on who had a bench drill and from there I had to find out where I could find the drills I was looking for. I had to buy a set of round tube drills, which was a little bit expensive, but if you buy them in a set it worked out cheaper than buying them separately.

While setting up the bench drill, you have to make sure every thing is lined up well otherwise if while drilling and the drill isn't lined up you could hit the drill with the steal stand, making the drill blunt.

Once cutting the outside I use a vice to hole the solid piece but I don't make it too hard because once the inside is cut out I was scared the it would snap, so I don't crank it too tight. Once the middle is cut you have a bangle that just needs tons of sanding.

More Private Work!

Over the december holidays I was asked to make a few different items.

First was a pendant for a family member, she had bought the stones on Bidorbuy. A website that as acutions every Wednesday in South Africa. She had gotten a blue topaz and an unusual shaped opal. Stunning stones. She wanted them set in white gold but because she couldn't afford white gold, so we set them in silver instead.

This next piece was half my design and half the customers design, she wanted a bracelet, but big, bold and chunky yet not a complicated design. She like a pendant I made in 2nd year where I made a dome and made glass beads to be suspended in the middle of the dome.

The bracelet is made of many dome and instead of the glass bead, I made silver beads that went inside the domes, once I had soldered the domes together, it became a battle to slighlty bend the domes to fit the shape of the wrist, it was a challenge but a good one and I think it came out very well and I love it so much that I want to make one for myself.

Above is my 2nd year piece.and the bracelet I helped design and made.

The next ring I made was also a challenge, for the first time in my life I got to make or should I say alloy Rose Gold. It was difficult but now I know the secret to making rose gold. The rose gold strip is placed over a silver band. But what had happened was that I had filed a grove into the silver band thinking that it would prevent the rose gold band from coming off the silver band, and then in the process I landed up making the rose gold band spin like a stress ring, was not what I wanted but when the customer saw it and started playing with it she was happy. So we didnt change it.

Creations Over The Xmas Holidays

Well this last season has been short but on the other hand too long! I have been really busy over the last couple of months.

At the beginning of our hoilday in November, there where a few of us from tech that were getting together and where trying to sell some of our jewellery at the "I heart market" in Durban, the last 3 weekends before Christmas and with that we where all busy trying to make as much stock as we could.

These are a few pieces that I have made and am hoping to sell. From the market I did recieve alot of feed back from poeple that had taken my card and are wanting once off pieces.

End of Year Show.

At the end of every year we have a show to display our work that we had done over the past year. It's very stressful and nerves are in the air and people start to panic about displays and stands for the jewellery.Below is my display for this years end of year show. I made a glass box to encase my jewellery.

Here are a few of my friends with their displays.
This is Jadi Clark and her jewellery is all about interactive colourful jewellery, she mostly makes fun and colourful jewellery.

This is Kelly,

And this is Lusanda.

Wooden Ring!

I just got this sudden burst of inspiration with the wooden disks that I have been using. I have so many ideas that I have found myself stumped on where to start.

I made a ring below of wood and silver wires act as veins holding the wood. The way the veins interlink is to represent the confusing feeling I have when there is just too much that has to be done and I don't know where to start.

More Wood!

I've sort of been on my own mission lately and trying to Incorporated new materials to my jewellery. When I made that first pair of wooden earrings I realized that I enjoyed working with wood and had more pieces that I wanted to make, its like designs have been pouring out my head, I have so many ideas there's just not enough time in the day to get them out and the more I working the more ideas keep popping into my head.
I been wearing my wooden earring and have been given orders for them and now I have to try keep up with not only my head but also the orders.
Below are a few more jewellery pieces that I have made. One of the girls that I work with asked for a pendant that matched the earrings that I made last week.

Pendant made of wood with small silver flowers riveted and a mother of pearl flower carved shell in the middle hanging off a brown organza ribbon.

Wooden earrings cut to a pear shape with small silver flowers riveted to the wood. They so light you forget that you have them on. I feel that they simple yet elegant.

This is another pair that I have just made, the only problem with these are that they are sightly heavy on the ear. They that the two different shades of wood giving them that contrast and they have two small silver flowers riveted and that the mother of pearl shell carved flowers.

The next two pairs of earrings are just plain silver flowers that I made into studs and little sweet dangle earrings. They very light and I feel they are a bit to plain for my liking but I have a few orders from friends and family for them. So they work I guess.

Memories!

I have just had to deal with a close friends death and its had me really down lately. She was such a wonderful person and always ready to have fun and cause a little trouble every now and then, she was full of life and lived each day as if it was her last. She loved nature and she always recognised the good and purity in everything and everyone even if you couldn't see it.

In the last blog I showed a whole lot of stuff that I found while shopping. I decided to design a piece that I know my friend would of worn and also to symbolize her in a way. The first pair of earrings is made of black wood which reminds me of death, I then designed a simple yet complex little Flower that represents Sarah (my friend) as her soul and the white flower is carved mother of pearl shell and that for me represent and symbolizes the good purity of her soul.






This next set of earrings, well they where just an idea that I had after making the top pair. The great thing out these earrings is that they not heavy at all, I wore a pair today and I didn't even remember that I had them on. I felt really pleased when someone stopped me and commented me on my earrings.

Wild Rose Earrings!

I have finished my Wild Rose earrings, but there are a few technical problems that I still have to work on. I feel that you cant really see the colour stone, so I feel that the stone needs to be bigger and the wire should be thinner. So will be making new ones and see how they come out.

Flower bracelet

The past few days I have been making a bracelet to match my earrings and my rings from my stylized daisies. So far I have made the flower but I'm battling with the clasp and which one is the best for this piece.

A Ring For A Friend!

I have had to put a side a my own work for a small amount of time to manufacture a 9ct yellow gold ring for a friend of mine. I hated it at first, 9ct yellow gold is so hard to work with, I had to start the square setting, ohhhh, about 4 times till I got it as perfect as I could. But the shank was just as much of a pain to make. But I think it turned out very well and my friend was over the moon with it.