Thinking Out Loud

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Rings - Plain and Pierced Pearl

I’m pretty pleased with these, I’ve had this great photo of some twisty exhausts on my wall for a while now (you can just see it on my Design Wall bottom left in this earlier post) and been wanting to incorporate a hint of their shape into this collection somewhere.  These are quite regular but there is a little hint of twistyness in the cross drilled pearl ring which I am hoping I can build on.  Having avoided silver for a while I am loving the suggestion of oilyness in the oxidised ridges of each ring particularly against the purity of the white pearl.

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Cross Drilled Ring

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Pierced Pearl Earrings

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Pierced Pearl Earrings

It always gives me real satisfaction when I finally find out what I have been working on actually looks like.  From initial concept, through design drawings and models I have a pretty good idea but it might surprise you to know that what the final piece really looks like is often a bit of a surprise to me!  I love the way a design changes and develops throughout the process.  I make decisions both practical and aesthetic that often take me in a different direction to the way I thought I was going.  I find this uncertainty keeps the whole process fresh.  I have consciously designed this collection with the idea of play in mind.  I have three repeatable shapes, a pearl knotting technique and a precious metal technique that can be used in a variety of ways to create something a little different each time I make a piece of jewellery.  These pieces below are currently on show at the Mall Galleries until 17th January 2010.  For more details click here.

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Dark

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Light

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Earrings

Another of my sneak peak posts - straight off the jewellery bench a fresh design for my new collection.  I have used up the test cut pieces and am now pushing on with making more for Suzuka Chrysanthemum. The four laser cut shapes are flexible enough to allow each piece to be different be they flowers, flat or folded the repeated shapes can be different colours, have different inlays, be laced with pearls like the necklace in my previous post, combined with precious metals like the ring or both like this earring.  Each new piece of jewellery will allow me to play with these elements and create something subtly different each time.

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Necklace

First necklace in my new collection, inlaid titanium with hand knotted pearls.  It is really elegant and wearable, makes you feel really special while you have it on.  I am so pleased with how it turned out even if I nearly went blind hand knotting each and every pearl!

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Ring

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Ring

First of my new Suzuka Chrysanthemum collection, a cocktail ring in blue/purple anodised titanium, oxidised sterling silver and fresh water pearl.  As with all my current work it is inspired by Formula 1 and Japanese kimono.  The collection is named after the Suzuka race track where the Japanese Grand Prix is often held and the flower that is such a popular motif in kimono design.

The ring retains a mechanical air through the positioning of the holes and rivets in the design but also has a dark and opulent beauty through the blue and purple flower form, oxidised silver and the rich, iridescent pearl in the centre.  The ring shank is made of layered silver wire darkened through oxidisation to retain an ambiguous echo of race car pipe work or folds in a kimono.

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Ring

Suzuka Chrysanthemum Ring

Halloween Masquerade

I made these for my husband and I to wear to a Halloween Masquerade this year.  Great party, and I was really pleased with how the masks turned out.  Made entirely of brushed aluminium their sparsity of decoration was down to a last minute accident and trip to casualty rather than design!  However,  I think the blankness of the finish improves the spookiness of them.

I am really excited to have been chosen by Remedy Mag to appear on their blog, a colourful online publication they seek out new talent from a variety of creative sources.  Well worth a look and not just because I’m in it!

Manifold Bracelet

Laser Cut Test Shapes

My titanium test cuts have finally arrived and they are just superb!  When you have been working with card, paper and digital drawings to finally have the shapes in your hand in crisp titanium makes my new jewellery so much more real.  I was really surprised at how well they had worked and how clean and pretty the shapes look.  They were a little delayed but well worth the wait.  I am just itching to see what I can make with them now and see how they work with my design ideas before I get lots more shapes cut.

I am excited and terrified in equal measure to have been offered my first solo show.  Sara Preisler In Birmingham have offered me a show running for 2 months in March and April 2010.  Not much time to get something spectacular underway so I am paying the gallery located in the fabulously named Custard Factory in Birmingham a visit in November to really get a measure of what fabulous things I have to create!

Wings Ring Blue/Purple

I am always unsure right until the last moment just what a new piece will look like even if it is based on a design I have already made.  The combination of new materials and new colours made this one not only a testing technical challenge but aesthetic one as well.  Hammering the rivets was particularly difficult as they are so close to the resin inlay.  Forming this piece up into its final form was also a moment fraught with tricky moments!  Due to the nature of the making process the piece has to remain flat both for the inlay and the rivets so while I am forming of the final shape I have to be so careful not to crack the inlay or damage the anodised surface of the titanium.  I completed this piece this week and was so pleased with having made a new shiny thing!  It is my first proper foray into combining precious metals with my titanium techniques.  I will eventually be using palladium as it does not tarnish and is lighter than silver.  This version of my Wings Ring was made specially for The Mirrorball exhibition running at The Platform Gallery in Lancashire over Christmas.

Work In Progress