Designing for a customer...

A (then potential) client contacted me to custom design and manufacture a ring for her. As she is in Cape Town and myself in Durban, she sent me a mail with sort of what she wanted.... A ring that fits over two fingers (index and ring), her finger sizes and that she wanted a layered type flower on top one finger and a leaf on the other ( all i knew was what leaf she wanted, as she referred to another piece of mine).

This was quite a challenging task as i didn't know her at all, and didn't send any sketches or ideas back and forth. She trusted that with the little info she gave me, i would make her something that she would love. No pressure! This was a clients idea that i had to translate into a design from my understanding of what she wanted. Not easy. Its sometimes easier and more effective to forget drawing and just go strait to metal, and just see what happens...having no specific end result in mind. This is how i often work, although it can mean remaking a couple of times, as in this case.

Progress in the garden....

Organic veggie garden going strong. Practicing sustainability not only through my Jewellery, but as a lifestyle... as best as i can for now.

Get great pleasure and nourishment from this little garden.

Recycled silver, Recycled glass....

By looking through blogs and other peoples jewellery i noted a trend in big rings and bright colours. This, i like. Very suitable. For my fashion piece i set the glass in a simple way, i wanted the glass to be the focus, and for it to seem fairly delicate.

After making this ring, i torch fired bits of glass, once red hot, i used my steel punches to form the glass how i wanted it to look. I dig the way they turned out. Want to experiment further. Only thing, once vitrified the glass loses its sand-blasted effect (Could try tumbling with beach sand).

Yay to blogging :)

As i page through my journal, i see loads of thoughts, ideas and work that goes on that i dont ever bother to blog about. Its seems i have convinced myself into becoming the anti-blog. yes I find it hard to sit at a pc and type,(as do most of us)and would much prefer to be sitting out in the sun with my journal along with plenty pencils and colours. and Yes journalling is positive, great and helps me. But in my journal i do not write much.

After being so negative about blogging i have come to realize that i am a victim of it and make a huge issue over it instead of just sitting down as i am now and just writing what comes to mind. I know that blogging will be a great help when putting my research report together at the end of next yr. So i have made a concious choice to stop excusing myself from my blog due to my lack of pc skills and blaaa blaahh blaaahhh whatever etc.

I aim to do atleast one post a week. I will start with a couple more as i will try to go back in my mind and journal and do some "catching up" with my posts. This is not ideal, but its a step in the direction i want to be heading. Yay to blogging! :)

finding fashion...

I love walking my dogs on the beach, and the Virginia beach, where we most often walk, has crazy amounts of tumbled beach glass. As my recycled, sand blasted collection grows, i realise it's relevance in my jewellery.

Because the smokey effect on the glass is naturally beautiful, my initial idea was to use it in an obvious way (just set the glass into a silver frame). Only problem i have with this is it could be made by anyone. I felt the want to add a bit more of a "me" touch to it by bringing in a leafy pattern.

While i was playing with these ideas in my mind, we were given a project to make a "fashion Piece".

Sustainability is a contemporary issue, which has made it fashionable. yeehaa I found the fashion in me :)