inspiration download

Thursday, during my morning meditation, I got what felt like a big ol' inspiration download.  Images of two necklaces and a matching bracelet flashed into my, aspiring to be empty but definitely not, mind.  It was a tough one ... I wanted to jump right up and get to work, my breathing grew short and my pulse quickened.  I took some deep breaths, acknowledged and thanked the universe for the new ideas, managed to calm myself down and returned to something of a quiet mind.

Yeah, but when that half hour was up, boy howdy I headed straight over to my worktable and started hauling out components.  The resulting pieces are what I'm pretty sure will be the theme of my KVK Luxe series.  They feel luxurious and kind of over-the-top.  No scrimping on materials, no worrying about the cost, no hesitation ... and I am thrilled with the results.

I debated and debated about where, if anywhere (for right now), they should go.  My first thought was to hold onto them and build the collection.  Then, after our morning outing for breakfast and a blitz trip to the used bookstore, I came home and decided to put them on Etsy ... kind of a run the flag up and see who salutes marketing approach.  Here's the first three pieces of the collection:

the Vertebrae Pendant

 

the Standing Stones Pendant

The Vertebrae Bracelet will be listed tomorrow

And for the same reason, I also decided to list the Starry Night Cross ... ahhhh, it is just lovely.

I've also got the prototypes for another new series adding to the Talisman Elements collection, but you'll have to wait a day or so as I nail down a few more details.

Goodness, so much to share!  I've still got St Augustine photos and stories as well ... so look for more posts to follow.

with deep gratitude and many blessings - kvk

a brief history

Working on these last two jeweled crosses got me to thinking about my other jeweled crosses so, I thought I'd share some images of past work ... and of course share images of the newest treasures all bright and shiny and ready to find new and loving homes.

Well, these first two aren't crosses, but are my first bejeweled pieces.  The images are not so great - just scans, but I still love the pieces ... 

I call them Vestiges of Byzantium ...the earrings

and the pendant

Then there was this cross I made for a friend in PT.  I cut a cross out of thick mica, wrapped it in pmc, drilled a hole in the center, then more pmc with a wash of 22k pmc in the center.  A total experiment, but a pretty successful one ... at least I thought so.

Then the crosses started getting more fancy.  

I gave this one to my sister to accompany her breast cancer journey.

White topaz in the center, peridot trillions, sapphire and moonstone cabs with a 22k pmc wash in the recesses.

From last year ... peridot and raw diamonds, a sapphire at the crest, hanging from a braid of dark blue silk and tiny faceted gems.

Another one from the same time.  A yellow sapphire in the center surrounded by a lot of raw diamonds, with a tiny ruby at the top, hanging from a braid of plum silk and tiny gems.

And my most recent creations ... the raw ruby cross on multi-strand leather.  I love the ragged edges around the rubies and the color of the stones is just wonderful.

And then there's my pièce de résistance.  Dave says this may be one of the most beautiful pieces I've ever made ... and that's saying something!  He's seen it all - the very bad and 

the truly extraordinary.   I call it Starry Night ...  

 And I don't know what it is, but it really does feel like a very special piece.  Do you ever feel that way about your work?  Something will seem very normal during the creation process and then, upon completion, you realize something has transpired and the work has been transformed, transcended ... it's become more than the sum of it's parts.  

Here's a different angle. 

I'm not sure where this one is going.  I sent off a bunch of work to Artisans on Taylor.  ArtFest is next week and I always try to stock them up with my most interesting pieces.  For some reason, Starry Night, didn't want to go to PT.  Not sure where it wants to go...

But for now, I do know where I want to go!  Dave and I are heading down to St. Augustine, FL for a long weekend.  Warmth, sun and sand!  I am so in need of a salt water fix and they've got lots - hard to say which I love more, the salt marshes or the ocean.  

But I won't have to choose.

Hope you enjoyed the show!   Have a lovely weekend.

blessings - kvk

 

I couldn't help myself

So I really was working on an order and I finished the components and I had one more package of PMC sitting there and just over my shoulder was my cigar box full of new jewels calling out to me ..."use me, use me", so what's a girl to do?  I had an itch and I just had to scratch, what is it with me and this itching thing lately.
Anyway, this was my inspiration ...

side one of my brother's cross

 and side two of the same cross

He found this cross in an old junk store on Malta in the late 60's.  There's an amazing story about it, but that's not my tale to tell.  But, I have been absolutely fascinated by this object for all these years.  I showed it to a psychic once and she was kind of bowled over by the power she got just from scanned images.  We don't know anything specific of its origins, but guess it to have been made around 700a.d. ... maybe.  It's old, very old.

So yesterday afternoon, I decided to use the shape of this amazing object as inspiration for a couple of jeweled crosses.  I do love jeweled crosses.  It's that whole medieval obsession of mine ... jewel encrusted objects especially.  They still need to be fired, but here's what came of the inspiration ...

The one on the left has faceted white topaz and tanzanite and dark blue raw sapphires and, before firing is about 2 1/2" x 1 3/4".  The one on the right is all raw rubies and is about 1 3/4" x 1 1/2".  The kiln is currently cooling from firing the work I'm supposed to be doing.  I'm mere moments away from loading these lovelies and firing them up.  Can't wait to see the results!

Okay, bye for now - I really am going to get some work done - really.

Except for there is this one annoying thing today ... I use Thunderbird email and went into it this morning and all of my messages - inbox and trash (which I was actually sort of saving), well anything that hadn't been saved into a specific folder, which was most everything ... gone, disappeared, poof - vanished!  So if anyone was waiting for a reply from me, please write again.  As we speak, that is right now I'm trying to export my address book to Outlook and be done with T-Bird, which is taking forever and I'm a wee bit concerned.  So very very frustrating.  Pish posh - dern computers!

ah well, have a lovely rest of your weekend

blessings - kvk

oh, yes ... don't forget!  One more day in my Etsy sale.  After that, I'm pulling everything off and packing it up to send to WA.