the evolution continues

It's been a week of experimenting, trials and triumphs.  A few pieces have come together almost instantly, others over days.  Each element is tested, assembled, taken apart, reassembled, hung on my in progress wall, where I leave it rest overnight and come back the next day to see if it still works.

Hanging against my inspiration and where I am as of this morning .........

And, of course, if you've been with me for a while, you'll know how I struggle with cordage and the vehicle for assembling my pieces.  This collection is no different, although it's been a much less painful road.  Remember, I had decided on my color palette, the starting point being my beautiful sweater's ochre and linen.  Black and dark brown are always an easy option and readily available in any fiber I might desire.  Ochre or antique gold, not so much.  Tuesday, I decided I needed ochre cord or thread or something.  So I trotted down to my local chi-chi yarn store and fancy fabric shop in search of my vision.  Zip, zero, nada, squat ... nothing at all.

I already had 'plan B' in mind ... purchase some white Habutai silk yardage, cut into ribbons and dye the fabric.  Head over to the cheapo fabric store to buy dye and they've got a very minimal selection of basic old Rit dye.  BTW, I could have gone downtown to the real fiber store and bought fancy dye, but I wasn't up for that much of an adventure.  Alchemist Kathy goes to work ...

It took a while, but after a couple of tries, I got from "golden yellow" mixed with varying amounts of "dark brown" to this ....

The cord on the right was my inspiration.  Recycled sari silk that was the perfect look and perfect color, but beware - that stuff has literally no strength and I easily ripped this cordage in two.  While I was at it, I chucked some taupe Habu silk in the pot to see what would happen.  I knew I was in for a big mess, but I secured the little bundle of yarn as best as I could and went for it. 

Not quite the mother of all tangles, but close ...

Side note ... I'm one of those people that actually likes to untangle things.  I can remember way back in my teens when I was working at a department store and the jewelry department got a shipment of chains that arrived in a big mess.  Everyone took turns trying to untangle the enormous pile.  Not so sure anyone else was enamored with the challenge, but I loved it.

Okay, back to my cord choices.

After much deliberation, I decided that, even after several washes with extra rinse cycles, I was still concerned about the stability of my dyeing efforts ... maybe I should have gone to the real fiber store after all.  All right, so it's not like I didn't already have a pretty decent assortment of options on hand.

Right now I'm okay with using several different fibers for the cord and so far they're all pendants.  I still want to do some 'not pendants', but I'm running out of components.  This is most of what's left and I've still got bracelets and earrings to consider ...

I've also been working on a lot of different ideas for closures.  One thing with the pendants, the cord will be long enough to just slip over the head, so there won't be a clasp.  Some of my test closures ...

I've decided to go with the waxed linen wrap, second from right.  One little detail I like is the way I can include my KVK tag when I make the cord - very clean and minimal solution.

So I need to finish up here and get back to work.  But, of course, I want to share two of my favorite pieces.  Every day that changes.  This one reminds me of an ancient stone henge ... the way the two center pieces of fossilized bone fit together so beautifully.

How is it that pieces that look so simple and minimal take so long to compose?  For me, it's all about editing.  I put pieces on, add on, subtract, change the size of the accent component.  There is asymmetry, but it is balanced.  Still, it always surprises me how long it takes to get to this point.

And then this piece ... oof!  I played around with those long curved steel elements all week and then yesterday this piece came together.  It took a good part of my afternoon, but I'm so very pleased with the result ... especially the way the fossils mirror the shape of the steel pieces and the way I wrapped the cord to secure the fossil in place.  This is steel, fossilized bones and Roman glass on hand plied nylon cord.

Rightio!  There's work to be done, more jewels to create and plots to be plotted ... all happening with my  evolving ambient/Stephan Micus Pandora station in the background.  One thing I love about Pandora is discovering new artists ... my new fave, Bonobo.

ttfn

l i g a - kvk

p.s.  apologies for the erratic spacing ... something going on with Blogger won't keep my edits ... annoying.

uncertainty and the evolution of a new collection

These last days have been something of a roller coaster ride.  I've been alternating between wonderful creative bursts during the day and nights that have bordered on "dark night of the soul" depression.

I go from feeling terribly uncertain about where I'm headed, what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, wandering around the house trying to do something productive, to sitting back down at my worktable, pulling out components, remembering bits and tucked away fragments, assembling prototypes and experiments, seeing potential and direction and focus and then realizing I've come around to something that feels like hope.

Here's where I am right now ...

As I sit here trying not to get lost in my feelings of uncertainty and inner confusion, trying to stay positive and know that it always works out, one thing I'm really looking forward to is the release of Jonathan Fields new book, UNCERTAINTY, Turning Fear & Doubt Into Fuel For Brilliance.  Here's the exceptionally well done and really inspiring trailer.



Could the timing be any more perfect ... I don't think so.  I had an advance digital copy that I only got part of the way through, so I know what's in store and I'm excited.  The timing is, well ... timely.

So while I'm still wafting around in my own uncertainty, I have been making some headway in putting together the new jewelry collection.  I thought I'd share some of my process and the unfolding evolution of this collection ...

You may remember, the gathering of inspiration started with the purchase of Cara May's sweater from Niche.  While chatting with the artist, ideas for jewelry started to flow fast and furious.  I got to thinking about that bag of fossilized bone I'd been hoarding and decided I needed more!  That led to putting in a request to my in-laws to see if they'd like to part with some of their stash.  Here's my massive haul of fossilized treasure.  The starting place for my new jewelry collection ...

The sweater is knitted in part with wool coated steel wire from Habu Textiles.  That led me to ordering Hadar's steel metal clay.  Okay, so the jury's still out on steel metal clay.  It's a total pain to fire and, while almost everything has survived, it's not a for sure guarantee that everything will fire properly.  Just when I was ready to hate it and chalk my $50 investment up to experience, I decided I actually like the look of the pieces.  I'm still figuring it all out and it's a pain, but I'm going to use the 150 grams I bought, turning it into a very limited collection.

The progression so far ...

One thing I had read but forgot, the steel tends to warp and curl, a very nice thing in my book.  Only thing, these pieces curled the wrong way.  So I wet them down and put some card stock over them to flatten them back out.  I really do love this shape - long, thin, curved and slightly textured.

This is my first batch of components ready to fire.  I've got some experiments happening here.  I've embedded raw rubies and sapphires in a couple of pieces and wrapped a bit of the clay around a couple of forged bailing wiring rings  ... all of which should survive the 1700 degree firing.  The pain part of the firing is that you have to fire in two stages, one to burn out the binder and the higher, sintering phase and then you can only fire a few pieces at a time ... these pieces took two firings.

I'm still trying to figure out the finishing of the components.  The pieces emerge black and crusty.  Here's the contrast between straight out of the kiln and sanded with polishing paper.  The rubies survived but the piece broke in half; I'm thinking I'll still be able to use the pieces. 

I tumbled everything in various ways ... steel shot for several hours gets rid of the crusty look, but my usual abrasive media is just not abrasive enough.  My 400 grit polishing paper seems to be the best follow-up to the steel shot, but I really want to try a steel brush and coarser sanding paper.  I've also put a coating of Renaissance Wax on everything ... just in case.

Now I've got the core components - steel and fossils ... what next?  That's been the big question and a contributing factor to my mood swings and ponderous navel gazing.  So I've been taking a few breaks to let the ideas rest, the juices mingle and stew.  Yesterday, after a short burst of cleaning and some de-cluttering, I headed back to my worktable.

I'm thinking it started with pulling out those luscious teal glass beads I bought in July.  Then drilling a big chunk of bone and remembering those other big Ghana glass beads I had stashed here and there and oh man, what about those vintage Venetian glass beads I've had for 15 years and can you believe it, they've got that same teal in them and oh yeah, don't forget those big chunks of Roman glass and doesn't this all look just amazing with the ochre of my sweater and lo and behold ... I have my color palette.

teal Ghana glass and bronze metal clay spacers

vintage Venetian glass, Ghana glass, fossils

 

Roman glass and ochre, rust and ruby bead drawers

figuring out how it's all going to go together ... flourite, Roman glass, fossils, steel

some prototypes against my sweater ... a very promising start

So that's where I am right now. 

Goodness, this has taken a really long time to put together and those beautiful components are calling me back to the worktable.  Plus I want to use up the other 100 grams of steel clay, 'cause it's going to take a couple of days to get it all fired ... still not happy about that, but I'm just going with it for now.

Let me know what you think!

l i g a - kvk

chillin' in my happy place

Since I was on my ocean inspired design burst, I pulled out some beach glass to make a few of my Sea Goddess components.  Here's the before ...

And the really excellent after ...

Interesting that one of the green pieces changed color a bit.  That's what I love about doing these, it's always a surprise!  I think I'll do finished pieces with the two pendants and I'm planning to list the other componenets on Etsy.  This coming week is going to be crazy busy, but I should be able to squeeze a photo shoot and some 'puter time in there somewhere. 

I've been working with my mondo pile of shark fossils and enjoying myself immensely!  My soon to be replaced cheapo drill has actually been cooperating and I've been able to do a bunch of drilling.  The only challenging part with the fossils - some are not so fossilized and crumble or break when I'm drilling them.  The good ones make a lovely ringing sound when they click together.  Happy sounds are always a good thing in jewels.  I'm having so much fun with these ... I can't believe it took me 3 years to get these out and start experimenting.   Gotta say, on the whole, they're looking very cool and I'm quite pleased.

I took a couple of days and made a bunch of teeny spacers and accent beads.  I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love making these tiny beads.  And when I've got them all sorted out, well sort of sorted, and in my little bins ... that's a sight that makes me ever so happy.

What I've started with is these really simple necklaces with stacks of silver alternating with the fossils.  I'm debating about adding some sparklie bits, but keep going back to the simpler versions.  These are on the nylon cord I'm making.  I'm liking the thinner version for my own self, but can see that thicker cords will be good for the guys and the heavier pieces.

I'm planning on spending most of tomorrow working on these.  There'll be earrings and bracelets as well.  Oh yes, that will be me ... chillin' in my happy place!

Sending out prayers to those in the path of Irene - stay safe!
l i g a - kvk