Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sea Texture Tiles


I finally got a photo of my first project from J2 to post on here. They are 3" square copper and brass tiles mounted on a faux-finished pine board. The techniques employed were solder inlay, hammer texture, roll-printing, piercing, etching, lamination inlay and liver of sulphur and other patinas. There are a few tiles that have other techniques worth noting:


The Nautilus shell tile (second row, center) received its eye-catching pink and green color by essentially burning an excessive amount of flux and rather than pickling it off, it was cooled and then sprayed with a lacquer.

The coral tile (third row, center) was created by repeatedly drilling holes from the reverse side in the coral shape. The color was then achieved by painting the coral shape with a concentrated liver of sulphur gel. The background was then painted with diluted liver of sulphur.

The starfish tile (bottom row, left) was achieved by repeatedly hammering a nail across the reverse side of the tile in a starfish shape. The background was painted with concentrated liver of sulphur and the starfish was shined with steel wool.

The faux-finished "driftwood" board was created by scraping out the soft pulp of the wood with a wire brush. An emery disk drill attachment was then run repeatedly on its edge over the surface to further roughen it. The board was finished with a mix of 5 different acrylic wood stains and sprayed with lacquer.











Thursday, September 2, 2010

DIY Ice Pendant: a summer treat

I would argue that this is the most eco-friendly jewelry a person could wear. It's DIY, it's simple, it's unique, it's a great way to cool off and undoubtedly a great conversation piece...just don't wear it with a white shirt. If you don't get it, you never will...
you can read more about this and find other great eco-fashion and jewelry pieces here: http://www.ecouterre.com/

Monday, May 17, 2010

Narrative Pendant


Here is my finished Narrative Pendant. It was inspired by an incident that took place when I was about 5 years old and got lost for an entire day at the beach in Nags Head, NC. I was with my cousin who was the same age and we wandered off counting jellyfish and before we knew it we were completely lost. We roamed the shoreline for hours until the sun went down and everyone cleared the beach. At some point during the night we decided to approach a stranger who was on his back porch and we explained what happened. Soon after the police arrived having been contacted earlier by our horrified parents. We were then driven back to the beach house and reunited with our frantic family.
The materials used are copper, brass, freshwater pearls and brass wire rivets. The techniques used include chasing and repusse, sawing and piercing, riveting, jump ring making and soldering, pearl epoxy setting and liver of sulphur patina.
The concept of the piece is that one side is the front of a nautilus shell, an obvious representation of the beach and the other side is a cut-out maze design, which is symbolic of being lost. One side is dark (copper with patina) and the other side is light (shined brass) which symbolize day and night and also a dark time and a happy ending. In certain light, at certain angles, the brass "maze" catches the light and causes the pearls to become slightly "lost" inside the shell. At other angles the bright pearls become more prominent against the dark patina inside of the shell, as if found again.

Inspirations Behind Narrative Pendant



































































Sunday, February 28, 2010