Works in progress
Works in progress · 27. February 2016
A couple of us here at Jewel Envy have doing a little bit of experimenting with adding a black finish to metal surfaces.
Typically patinas such as liver of sulphur or commercially made products like Jax silver blackener can be used to dip the metal in to build up a gun metal/black colour. There is also black rhodium plating, which is applied with an electric current like other colours of gold plating.
Patinas and plating are wonderful for pieces of jewellery that are worn on parts of the bod...
Works in progress · 12. January 2013
It has been ages since I have gotten around blogging in these here parts. I am going to go ahead and blame my neglect to be due to the fact that I am a creature of habit. Change things up and it throws me out of whack. I just have to get used to using the computer and working in our new location. I have to say I am in love with this neighborhood. Roncesvalles is such a friendly part of the city and I have been enjoying discovering little shops and cafes nearby. The 7th Sister...
Works in progress · 09. May 2012
To those of you wandering onto this site wondering, “What does cellular biology have to do with jewellery making and stone setting, what the heck?” I apologize. For the rest of you, I will now get down to business. Protoplast has made its way into my regular useful tool rotation along with chopsticks. All of this will soon make sense in the how to in this blog!
Works in progress · 16. October 2011
This is going to be a short one, I am exhausted from the class today! I wanted to be true to my promise of updating with pics of the results of our gem cutting class...
Works in progress · 15. October 2011
I jumped on board for the chance to take the gem cutting class that we have running this weekend at Jewel Envy. I guess I have a romanticized vision of how cutting a gem stone would be like… selecting my gem from a lump of rock and imagining the precious cut gem within like Michelangelo would envision his sculptures trapped within the marble before he began carving. Like anything you want to accomplish as a goldsmith it is fraught with nitty gritty details. To speed up the process our...
Works in progress · 30. October 2010
Things are getting a bit busier for me lately pre-holiday season. I am meeting up with a professional photographer next week to get a new necklace photographed as part of my submission for Zilberschmuck's sixth annual national juried jewellery arts exhibition entitled "Bond" I included a cropped image of the piece placed on top of my artist submission paper. Proof positive that I need a professional to be taking photos for me. I recently took up working on a few pieces...
Works in progress · 29. October 2010
Look everyone, check out our latest equipment addition – a log! That’s right I am using the blog to talk about a log. In all seriousness though we would like to thank our neighbour at PLANT Architect for donating us such a fine specimen. Now that all the bugs that made the log it’s home are dead and gone we will be using it as a hammering surface. Logs are a great working surface for using dapping blocks (as pictured) or otherwise any tools that make a racket – because it will help to...
Works in progress · 16. September 2010
Recently I had almost finished fabricating this necklace. Then a studio mate (who shall remain anonymous) pointed out a better way to construct it. I think it was revenge for all the times I have told her that she should remake some of her work.
Since I had to back-peddle a step and remove resin from Version 1.0 of the necklace I left the piece to soak overnight in acetone. Then after cleaning it up a bit I wanted to let it soak for a few minutes longer in some clean acetone. The only problem..
Works in progress · 10. September 2010
Whenever I have an upcoming Art and Craft show I always go into overdrive thinking about what I want make - ideas flood into my head and I can't help but overwork myself leading up to the show. This is the case leading up to QWAC. I finished off the rings in my last post and moved onto creating some new earring designs. I decided since I wanted to create quite a few pieces that I had never made before I would first make them in copper. You can see in the first photo the wonky ring shapes...
Works in progress · 03. September 2010
Lately I have been bouncing around projects. In anticipation of my fourth year participating in the Queen West Art Crawl and my studio group show I have been working on several pieces at once. The shield piece in my last post is one of five pieces that I plan on making for the show and I have been giddy over some new resin pieces that I have been experimenting with. Lately I have been attempting to take some process shots of my work. However since I am more on top of actually creating the...