Tag Archives: Jewellery

I’m ready for my close-up…

Holidays are wonderful things.  Getting something done that you’ve been putting off for ages… well that’s just excellent!  With help (and some of her photos – thanks!!) from Bo, I have posted some new photos of jewellery that are in my personal collection.  There are still more pieces to be photographed, but it’s a good start.

Dee photographing jewellery

Me photographing jewellery

Hidden jewellery

Hidden jewellery waiting for its turn

I did learn an important fact – no matter how interesting the location, sometimes it is too busy looking for photos.  Can you spot the earrings?

Can you find the earrings?

Can you spot the earrings?

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I have holiday brain…

… so this may be a rather rambling post.  I’m coming to the end of a very relaxing week of vacation, and I’m feeling well-rested and content.

I’ve spent some time this week looking through books on jewellery making and getting excited about going back to the basics – I’ve gotten quite lazy with aspects of jewellery making – I don’t remember the last time I set a stone, and I have some gorgeous stones waiting to become part of a piece of jewellery.  A few ideas have already been sketched out… Yay!  We also took some photos of my jewellery on the beach and other locales.  Once the pictures get edited (gack!) I’ll be posting them.

We spent some time at Qualicum Beach and visited a wonderful shop called Let’s Knit!  I found some fabulous roving there – hand-dyed and a very different texture from what I already own.

Happy new roving

Happy new roving

Although I had brought a healthy selection of roving to work with, I thought I should start with the local stuff.  This is the beginning of an experiment…

An experiment

An experiment

I’m working on silk chiffon and plan to wet felt it (Nuno felting), but rather than place loose bits of roving on the chiffon and wet felt it right away (hoping desperately for a non-windy day or the roving tends to fly), I needle felted it first, and have let the needles ruche the fabric.  When I get home I will wet felt it and then start working into it properly.  I look forward to seeing what it becomes, texture and image-wise!  I consider this just the primer… many more layers to follow!

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Artsy travel thoughts…

I had written earlier about my frustration over not having an easily transportable art form when travelling (peeved post), and have continued to give it a lot of thought. Thank you to those who suggested ideas! I am beginning to realize that I have really limited myself by my self-consciousness over my lack of drawing skills.

For as long as I have thought about art in its varied forms, I have felt that people should just try – try playing with different mediums, with different styles… dabble with textures to find something that appeals to or intrigues them… not worrying so much about what is produced, but more about the journey. I do this to a degree – I get excited about trying new mediums and techniques, however I still let my old hang-ups and insecurities stop me from progressing down certain paths.

Within Instagram I follow a variety of jewellers and cats (an oddly pleasing mix!). Today there was a post from Manon at sistersofthesun. It was a picture of some watercolour sketches of jewellery-to-be, and the start of the actual projects. I found it really pleasing and quite inspiring. I haven’t been doing a lot of jewellery sketching lately, although ideas are starting to flow again. I looked through my idea books and found pages and pages of past jewellery sketches.

Jewellery ideas

Jewellery ideas

Perhaps this is how I should break into sketching – take along some watercolour pencils and a small brush, and put a bit of time into developing ideas a little more thoroughly – not that I am naive enough to think I’ll produce jewellery the way it has been sketched (I rarely follow through exactly as planned, although it has happened on occasion) but it is a way to get my mind into a creative space. That may lead to studies for wall hangings… brainstorming images as I look out the train window.

I need to keep reminding myself that I’m doing this for me – it doesn’t have to measure up to anyone else’s standards. I was always the kid in school with my arm crooked around the picture I was drawing so no one else could see it and sneer. Do others have problems with this – the constant worrying that people are always looking over our shoulder and declaring our work not worthy?

 

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I’m a little peeved…

People who knit and crochet are lucky.  Wherever they go (except maybe a pool, although I’m pretty sure it can and has been done) they can take their art form/hobby/passion with them.  I didn’t take to knitting or crochet… I have a heck of a time following patterns, and I definitely don’t have the patience to finish anything.  My peevishness stems from the fact that none of the crafts/art forms I do are easily transportable.  While I have no problems needle felting in public, there are so many supplies to bring – especially if you’re someone who has a hard time focussing on one project at a time.  I have done some beading in a pub, but snipping wire during a poetry reading and trying not to drop beads just didn’t go well.  The propane torch probably wouldn’t be an option at the pub either… go figure…

I wish I sketched, but I can’t draw… even my doodles are more like scribbles than anything else.  My dear sister showed me a few Zentangle patterns, which have made my doodles a little more interesting (sometimes), but for the most part there are scrawled flowers, crowns and scribbles over every scrap of paper on my desk at work.

Zentangle inspired doodle

Zentangle inspired doodle

I won a trip through the Canadian Garden Council and Via Rail – Canada’s Garden Route – yay!  It’s a truly fabulous round trip to Halifax via train.  I can’t wait!  But what to bring?  I know I’ll be looking out the window a lot, reading a lot, dreaming a lot, but creatively I don’t know what to do.  It’s a little frustrating!  I will be writing about the journey, and definitely photographing everything I can, so perhaps those will help to fill my spare time.

Anyone have any thoughts on something portable I can take?

It's really going to happen... Tickets have arrived!

It’s really going to happen… Tickets have arrived!

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I think it’s me…

Finally… I have now unboxed and setup/taken down my new-to-me photo booth.  It is wonderful – somewhat time-consuming to set up, but very easy.  I think I’ll be using it a lot!

Portable studio

Portable studio

Now my next dilemma – the actual photographs.  I’d really like to blame my camera for the quality of the close-ups, but I’m afraid that this time the blame is on me.  I think it’s time to read up on how to take clear close-ups – the camera does great zooming in on something far away, but up close (zoomed or not) it gets very blurry.  It was, however, lovely to not see the “you’re not holding the camera steady enough for the low light” display come up – the light box is light enough… yay!

The photos I took today were of jewellery I worked on yesterday.  I continue trying to make jewellery out of scraps that I have, rather than buying new supplies (except wire – sometimes you just need wire!).  These were pendants in memory of dear cats.  Whenever my friend Bo has to say goodbye to one of her companions, I make a piece of jewellery in memory of them.  It’s been a rough couple of months, and she has had to say goodbye to two.

Sumato was a rescue cat from Mexico… he was a handsome and chatty little prince of cat, with a tendency to “claim” the items around him – I have called this simple piece “Mio Mio Mio!” (Mine Mine Mine) in memory.

Mio Mio Mio!

Mio Mio Mio!

Sumato

Sumato

Toby was my boy.  Not literally, but I adored him like he was.  Bo called him her first-born, as he was her first rescue cat of many.  I have so many memories of him sneezing catnip onto me, climbing on me, licking the top of my cleavage or cheek, whining for food in the most pitiful way possible, napping with me, drooling and purring in happiness, and so many more.  He was a very social boy, and would commonly walk up to Bo or I, lift his paws in the air, and cry “up”.  We’d pick him up, throw him over a shoulder, and he would stay there drooling and purring until stretching to get to the next person’s shoulder.  He loved everyone.  I call both of these “Up” (but they could also be called “Drool”… heehee!).  This is the second time I’ve made a piece of jewellery for myself as well as for Bo in memory of one of the cats.

Bo's pendant "Up"

Bo’s pendant “Up”

Dee's pendant "Up"

Dee’s pendant “Up”

Toby

Toby

They are both very missed, but they were very, very loved.

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