Day 38

 This pendant is an interpretation of some ideas I have had lately.  I have been looking at microscopic organisms, and planning a body of work loosely based on the amazing world that exists on the cellular level.

Day 38
Pendant
Sterling Silver
April 27, 2010

Day 37

This is a pendant made of forged sterling silver.  It is unfinished, but I plan on filling the bezel cup with resin/flocking.  I have work in a shop in Alton, IL called BY DESIGN.  I am looking to add new work to the store sometime soon!

Day 37
Pendant
Sterling Silver
April 26, 2010

Day 36

I finally had a good long day in the studio!  I have been working on some more wearable pieces out of sterling silver.  This is a pair of earrings in a style I am going to further explore.  They are forged sterling wire soldered to tubing, allowing the earrings to dangle nicely while being worn.  

  

Day 36
Earrings
Sterling Silver
April 25, 2010

Day 35

Again, I have used a material that would have otherwise been thrown away.  This ring is made of a paper towel and copper wire.

Day 35
Ring
Copper, Paper Towel
April 24, 2010

Day 34

Today's piece was made very late at night with very little motivation.  I needed to make something, and here's the result!  It is made of coiled paper bound together with a mass of copper wire.  Simple, yet fun to wear.

Day 24
Ring
Paper, Copper
April 23, 2010

Day 33

 Today's ring is simply green cotton/rayon blend thread that has been knotted and then needle felted.  I was curious how the thread would respond to being needle felted.  It worked!

Day 33
Ring
Cotton/Rayon Blend Thread
April 22, 2010

Day 32

 A splash on the finger!  That's what Brandon calls this one anyway.  I continued experimenting with the glue on the wool roving, but this time I tried to control the form a little more.  I think by using less roving, I was able to get a more organic, natural-looking form.  The shank of the ring is still soft, lightly needle-felted.  I could see a whole neckpiece made from dozens of these soft-yet-rigid bursts.

Day 32
Ring
Wool Roving, Elmer's Glue
April 21, 2010

Day 31

Using glue as a material for making a wearable object yesterday got me thinking.  What would happen if I combined the glue with raw roving?  I have created objects before by soaking felted pieces in resin, but never the roving.  It was an interesting experiment, and I am curious as to how other glues would react with the wool.  I am intrigued by the soft roving becoming solid, but it sure is messy!  The glue got all over me, and I had to hang the piece up in the kitchen since it couldn't dry flat.  

Day 31
Ring
Roving, Elmer's Glue
April 20, 2010

Day 30

 As you may have read in a previous post, I have been collecting the snail shells outside my house.  I have been thinking about a quick way to use the shells in this challenge.  I covered the shells in Elmer's glue and let them dry on a sheet of waxed paper.

 It ended up taking about 2 days for the glue to dry enough that I could remove the strip and form it around my finger.  I enjoy the encapsulated shells, and think that with a different type of glue (one that is not water soluble) this idea of encasement could be pushed further.

Day 30
Ring
Snail Shells, Elmer's Glue
April 19, 2010

Day 29

 This ring is a continuation of the idea I started experimenting with yesterday.  The roving is simply wrapped and bound...only minimal needle felting was done after the form was established.  I think the addition of the thin silver-colored craft wire adds interest to the piece.  I don't know if I will continue on is this vein of experimentation, but it is definitely exciting to see how I use materials I am familiar with in new ways.

Day 29
Ring
Wool Roving, Silver-Colored Craft Wire
April 18, 2010

Day 28

 Today I went back to using the felt, but in a different way.  This piece is knotted roving.  It is only lightly needle felted after the form has been established.  If the person wearing this piece repeatedly washed their hands with it on, the ring would felt tighter and conform to the finger, making it highly customizable.

Day 28
Ring
Wool Roving
April 17, 2010

Day 27

 I have been experimenting with paper piercing for another project, and for this piece I decided to try punching the paper out and elevating it over the finger.  I don't feel that this piece is very successful, but it is an interesting idea that I could pursue further.

Day 27
Ring
Copper, Paper
April 16, 2010

Day 26

 Leftovers!  Today's ring is made from the wrapper of a pair of chopsticks and a scrap of silver bezel wire that had gotten mixed in our change box.  Brandon was up late one night and I awoke the next morning to find he had folded the wrapper and left it for me.  Sounds silly, but I love things like that.  It is tension set, and quite comfortable to wear.

Day 26
Ring
Silver, Chopstick Wrapper
April 15, 2010

Day 25

I am a collector of anything interesting.  Today's ring is made of copper wire and a dried bud I found at Arrowmont many years ago. 

Day 25

Ring

Copper, Dried Natural Material

April 14, 2010

Day 24

I have a vice.  I really love Jawbusters jaw breakers.  It was a bad thing when I found that the local Walgreen's carried them in their "retro" candy section.  For today's piece I wanted to create a piece made from the wrappers of the candy I so love.  

Previously, all the pieces I've made have been rings.  For this piece, it seemed logical to create a piece for the mouth.  This is a really funny object, and kitschy, but nonetheless it speaks to my addiction to the hard crunchy jawbreakers.  

Day 24

Mouth Adornment

Copper, Cotton/Rayon Blend Thread, Candy Wrappers

April 13, 2010

Day 23

This piece is similar to the other wrapped pieces I've done, but I wanted to simplify the form.  I wanted to play with a straight, linear form that rests slightly above the finger.  I tend to over-complicate most things, in my work and other aspects of my life, so with this piece I tried to tone it down, to highlight the simplicity.

Day 23
Ring
Copper, Wool
April 12, 2010

Day 22

I wanted to continue experimenting with the idea of a ring that hovers above the finger.  In undergrad, I was a ceramics major before I fell in love with metalsmithing/jewelry design.  I have a bunch of tiny thrown pots that I never glazed, so I decided to use one in a ring.  It is wrapped in copper wire and bounces and wiggles when being worn.  The weight is substantial, but not overwhelming, and by creating a double band the piece is quite stable.

Day 22
Ring
Copper Wire, Stoneware
April 11, 2010

Day 21

This piece is much more functional for everyday wear.  I was experimenting with simple ways to make a highly wearable ring using nothing but copper wire.  It creates an interesting space on the top of the finger when being worn, and hugs the finger nicely.  If I were to create this to sell, I would forge the wire and smooth out the wrapped wire.  It is slightly uncomfortable with the thin wrapped wire pressing into the finger, but with a few alterations, it could be a really fun ring to wear!

Day 21
Ring
Copper, Spray Paint
April 10, 2010

Day 20

This was a really fun ring to make!  I found some old broken gold chain that I didn't really want to fix, so I decided to play with the fluid movement of the chain when suspended above the finger.  The focal point of the ring sits about four inches above the finger and the chain moves constantly when being worn.  It has great movement, and I hope to involve this idea in my work.  

Day 20
Ring
Copper, Cotton/Rayon Blend Thread, Gold Chain
April 9, 2010

Day 19

For today's ring I continued using plastic bags.  This time I wanted to play with using the soft, flexible material of the plastic bag to restrict finger movement.  I wrapped the copper wire around multiple bags and and formed it into a ring for the index finger.  The piece acts as a brace for the finger, not allowing the joints to bend.

Day 19
Ring
Copper, Plastic Bags
April 8, 2010

Day 18

I've been getting a little burned out the past week or so using the same materials over and over again, day after day, so I decided to switch it up!  At least just a little bit.  I am still using the copper wire in this piece, but using another material to be bound.  I think the rubber tubing ring inspired me to look at synthetic materials that are typically thrown away.  I used a plastic bag today to create this ring.  I was interested in the transparent quality and the associations most people have with Ziploc bags.  I wanted to take this material which is so overproduced and discarded in our society, and give it a second use.  Plastic bags are designed for single use, and I am as guilty as the next person of tossing it in the trash once I've removed my lunch.  I have been trying to become more conscious of the materials I use and discard, and at least in this piece, I have saved one plastic bag from ending up in a landfill.  

 

Day 18
Ring
Copper, Plastic Bag
April 7, 2010

Day 17

I wanted to continue using the copper and craft wire I had used in a ring earlier this week, but in a new way.  I created a very rough and quickly formed vessel and using the basketry/textile technique of twining, created a small and delicate hollow form that sits on your finger.  It is strange for me to work with wire without soldering.  It's pretty exciting to just sit in my living room and create simple, more rough and less polished wearable pieces, but I feel these pieces would be more refined if I took the time to solder the structures first.  But, it is part of the challenge for myself to work in ways I am not necessarily comfortable with, so I think I will continue to explore more materials I have just laying around at my house.  It's exciting to see what I come up with using ordinary materials that most people overlook.

Day 17
Ring
Copper, Craft Wire
April 6, 2010

Day 16

I decided to change things up a bit today and use some scrap rubber tubing I had laying around.  I  made multiple knots in the rubber and then stitched and wrapped the ends together to make it wearable.  It was interesting using the same knotting/wrapping technique I had previously been using on a much more sturdy and thicker material.  The rubber was interesting to work with because it doesn't hold it's shape unless you force it into position.  I think the embroidery floss offers a nice contrast to the rubber.

Day 16

Ring

Rubber Tubing, Embroidery Floss

April 5, 2010

Material Experimentation

            In my art I strive to push the boundaries of what a specific material can do.  Through trial and error and many discarded attempts, I stretch the possibilities of a material, taking it away from what it was originally intended to do and highlighting its texture, color, and tactile qualities.  Utilizing techniques such as stitching, cutting, folding, stretching, soldering, enameling, forming, dyeing, drawing, and piercing I create wearable pieces that question the historical traditions of metalsmithing as well as paying homage to it through scale and relationship to the body. 

Menacing Enticement.  Hair Ornament.  Copper, Silk, Flocking.  2009.

            Rarely beginning with sketches, I proceed directly to the materials and search out forms, textures, patterns, and color relationships that excite me.  I search out materials that I may or may not have ever worked with before, and play with them until they produce the effect I want.  Each material has its own characteristics and offers up an array of textures, colors, and forms, which I can then choose to employ in the creation of my artwork.  I refuse to be confined to one process or technique, and my excitement and inspiration comes from the discovery of new materials.  My artwork is eclectic and spans numerous material and technical processes.  If I work with a specific material or technique for too long, it begins to feel like a process of constructing, rather than a process of creating.  To avoid this I pick up a different material and begin experimenting with it, finding new ways to bring together this new material with the ones with which I have already been working.  For me, this playful process of stepping back from work I have done previously and starting off in a new direction is a cyclical process that in the end leads to more informed final pieces as well as a greater understanding of the possibilities of materials. 

The majority of my creativity is about letting go, letting the materials speak to me, paying attention to the subtle interactions of materials, colors, and textures, and not trying to control every aspect of a material. 

Experience Contained/Set Free (Detail).  Brooch.  Steel, Copper,  Enamel, Wool.  2008. 

My felt jewelry is a perfect example of this.  Felt is a dense, non-woven fabric produced from compressing wool to interlock the fibers.  Wool fibers have little barbs all along the surface, somewhat like Velcro, and when heat, moisture, and pressure are applied, the fibers latch onto each other, creating a fabric that has no warp or weft.  The longer you apply these factors to the wool, the harder and denser it will become.  Needle felting is done when the fibers are dry using a long pointed needle with barbs on its surface.  When repeatedly pushed in and out of the wool, the barbs interlock the fibers and tighten them.  For example, when I needle-felt I don’t follow a predetermined design but rather I closely observe each piece that I have previously wet-felted and trace with the needle the patterns of the fibers left from the wet-felting process.  While I am aware and conscious of design elements and color relationships, much of my creativity is intuitive and process-driven. 

Day 15

Continuing on with the craft wire, I wanted to push the height of the ring and see how adding heavily wrapped areas affected the look of the piece.  I think this wrapping technique has the potential to find its way into my work as another way to reference the snail trails I obsessed over for so long.  

Day 15
Ring
Copper, Craft Wire
April 4, 2010

Day 14

Well, it was bound to happen eventually.

I forgot about making a ring until about 4:00am after I was already in bed.  Luckily, Brandon reminded me, and though I was so tired I could hardly see straight, I stuck to my goal and made a ring.  I just finished reading the Inferno by Dante' Alighieri again for the first time since high school.  It had been my book of choice to read a few Canto's of before bed.  It's actually the perfect bed-time book because each Canto is a few pages long, and when I got too tired I could quit at the end of a chapter and not feel like I was interrupting the flow of the book.  

I leaned over and ripped out the last page in the book.  Brandon poked his finger through the page, and that was that.  It's interesting because the text says "By the year 2000, 2 out of 3 American's could be illiterate."  I wonder how accurate that prediction actually was.  

Day 14
Ring
Book Page
April 3, 2010