Watch this space. 29/32.

The long car trip home on Monday, followed by two sessions of paid work and a lot of sleeping yesterday got in the way of me finishing anything. I have made a lot of progress on the knitted piece I started while we were in Albany, but it's not nearly at the stage of having its fittings attached yet. A lot more knitting to do. It's in a fairly spectacular purple, and I'm thinking this one will be a bracelet. I expect I'll keep working away at it and you'll see it up here in a day or two.

Meanwhile, this is catch up day. I need to make three pieces to be back on track. I do have to work again tonight, so might only manage one or two, but will give it my best shot. If I'm not on target by tonight, then definitely will be tomorrow. I'm just casting around for ideas that are quick and simple. Off to the studio shortly.

While we all wait to see what I'll come up with, here's the knitting in progress, just to prove that I've actually still been making something. Apologies for the terrible lighting! The little hints of shiny bright purple you can see to the right of the photo are something close to the actual colour of this. The spool of wire caught my magpie eyes and I had to buy it! In fact, I bought two spools.

Tubular purple wire knitting. One day it'll be something wearable!

Right. It's get to work and start catching up time. See you at the other end......

Wind. Noun and verb. Bracelet. 29/29.

We drove up to the lookout today, near to the rocks I once scrambled down onto for that first close encounter with a Southern Right. It's not the season for whales just now, but the view from up on the side of Mt Adelaide and out across King George Sound is spectacular at any time. The wind made the surface of the water choppy, but it was a blessing against my so recently heat-stricken skin. I had the window down and my face into the wind on the drive into town, enjoying the cool and the smell of sea air, until the whistling of it annoyed everyone else in the car and I had to close the window again.

Today, as we enjoyed the view, there was a parting in the clouds and and a glorious display of multiple rays of sunshine in a band from sky to earth, shining like a benediction on Gull Rock, away across the water, and also onto the wavelets in Princess Royal Harbour, creating a sparkling patch of silver, that danced like my spirit did, just to be there. It was like Heaven had chosen to speak to my heart in that moment, to welcome me to where I belonged and to tell me not to stay away so long again. I swear I won't leave it so long between visits again. Seven years was far too long. It isn't time to move back here, not yet - and I don't know whether that time will ever come - but, if it is to be, the right oportunity will present itself. In the meantime, I know we need to take more holidays than we do - one every few years is just not enough - and this is the perfect place to come for rest and relaxation. Little wonder so many people retire down here. It's going to be hard to leave again.

Meanwhile, I had the joy of being able to work in cool conditions, but without access to my studio, I had to find something I could do with minimal equipment. A bit of wire work, requiring only pliers and patience, was definitely the order of the day. I brought a few kinds of wire with me, not sure what I would want. I opted for some enamelled copper wire from an electronics supply store. The coating is bright red. Unfortunately, the lighting where I am tonight is even less photo friendly than at home, so this is another I'll have to re-shoot later. You'll have to take my word for it that this piece is a bright shiny red, photographed on a white background. Yes, really! The style of wire work I've done here is known as Egyptian Spiral. I've finished with a sterling jump ring, but I think it would be better with a red to match the work. If I can find an anodised one to suit, I may swap it out later.

 

Egyptian Spiral Bracelet. Red enamel coated copper & sterling silver.

I've brought my wire knitting gear with me too, so perhaps I'll get started on a new project with that. I'll be back in my studio not so very many hours from now. More options open to me then. We'll see.

Whale of a Tale. Pendant. 28/28.

Back on track today and all up to date with this piece made in the early hours of the morning when it was still too hot to sleep. I mentioned yesterday that the heat was taking a toll on me. By this morning, I was feeling really unwell with it. What does one do when Perth is sweltering in 42C heat and humidity?
Given the opportunity, one heads South.

Albany, on the South coast of Western Australia. The place I spent the first 12 years of my married life and where all my children were born. Not my place of origin, but my spiritual homne in so many ways.
The place I discovered my creativity and first dared to dream I might one day be an artist. The seaside haven where I saw my first whale, up close and moving wild and free in the waters just alongside of where I stood looking out from the rocky shoreline. The only place I've ever lived where the climate suited me - and the first place I think of and inevitably begin to yearn for the moment the weather wherever I am starts to bring me down.

One can dream, or one can drive. It's a 5 - 6 hour trek from where I now live. So dear and close in the memory, so very far by road on a day of oppressive heat, when the sky weighs down upon the heads and shoulders of hapless humans who must for any reason venture out of doors, beating a violent tattoo on a weary and aching body. It's days like these when the humidity renders evaporative cooling ineffective, when the energy is at its lowest ebb and everything just seems too hard to deal with, that I long for that place I still think of as home, despite almost 13 years away from it, and even though I spent my first 17 way further North, in the sweltering WA Wheatbelt.

So, in the spirit of that place which calls to me in all my deepest dreaming, and in keeping with my pledge to try more circle based designs, I give you this stylised rendition of the natural totem of the place, with thanks to Rowan, who helped take my idea from a pathetic scribble I couldn't get quite right and turned it into something worth trying to replicate in metal.

 

Whale Tail Pendant. Sterling silver, rubber cord.

The texture you see is from use of my chasing hammer, which I must confess was not part of the original plan. In hindsight, I probably should have started with at least 1.5mm wire for the outer circle instead of 1.2, and I could have been a little more careful with my soldering. The wire was slightly marred at one point on the outer circle when I made the last join. It was a ridiculous time of the morning and I was far too tired to countenance starting over, so I filed and sanded and hammered away, which covered the worst of the faults, although clearly the circle is no longer perfectly circular. Not to worry. This, as with all the others in the challenge, is a prototype piece. Perhaps I'll do it over, with some variations on the design, and with more appropriate choice of materials, at some future time. For now, it stands as my challenge piece for today, and the symbol of my longing for escape to someplace cool to refresh body and spirit.

Back Down the Rabbit Hole. Pin & Pendant. 27/27.

Welcome to my first catch-up day blog! Today you get pieces 26 & 27.
It was bound to happen sooner or later, and in the end, it was the weather that got to me.
Here in Perth we've been experiencing a heatwave. Days on end of temperatures hovering around 40C and it's also been humid. I don't do well in this sort of weather. The result of it is that I've been feeling tired and not especially well. That's the reason I finally went a day without posting an update to my project. True to my promise to myself and to anyone following my progress, that meant I had to catch up  by making two pieces the next day. (Or, if I skipped more than a day, two or more a day for however long it took to catch up again). I was a bit worried about letting it go any longer, lest it prove too hard to get back into the swing of it. Besides which, I was already feeling disappointed in myself for skipping a day so early in the year.

My inspiration also seems to have gone into estivation, but I was determined not to let that get in the way, or to get any further behind, so I took a dip into my emergency supply and pulled out a couple of ready-cast pieces left over from a series I made a couple of years back, titled "Down the Rabbit Hole".

The casts were in rough state, so I had to spend a bit of time cleaning them up before I could do anything with them. I've soldered some findings onto them to turn one into a stick pin and the other into a pendant. With my apologies for the terrible photos, here they are:

Rabbit Hole Stick Pin. Sterling silver.

Rabbit Hole Pendant. Sterling silver, rubber cord.

Hippy Trippy. Floral Pendant. 25/25.

Hippy Trippy. Sterling silver, leather cord.

A very simple one tonight. About an hour from concept to finished piece. Well, it was a single length of wire after all. I haven't even put a clasp on the cord, but have done a double slip knot arrangement so that it is possible to lengthen or shorten the dangle by sliding the cord back along itself. This is a large piece, spanning about 12cm across the flower at the widest points.

I started with 1.2mm round wire and after bending and soldering it, spent most of the hour in the studio adding texture by employing my chasing hammer on both sides of the piece, which also flattened and hardened it. I was going to use black leather, but opted for the red brown on a whim. This would look great on a dark, plain background like a black or navy skivvy or a simple shift.

I quite enjoy the simplicity of it. Sometimes less is more. I can't think where the idea came from. Maybe it was seeing a couple of episodes of The Young Ones on DVD while having dinner tonight. Nigel Planer as Neil the hippy always amused me back in the day. Still does. So perhaps it was a sub-conscious nod to hippiedom and flower power and the retro style of big pendants worn low on the body. It wasn't just me looking for a quick way out of the challenge today. Honest!

Scarified! Pendant. 24/24.

orI almost felt a little disappointed in myself today. I was tired - just about running on empty, and for the first time, I took what I felt to be the 'cop out route' - not actually skipping making a piece, but doing the big compromise and finishing off something I'd actually started making a long time ago.
Then I reminded myself that I had, after all, stated when I set out the rules for myself at the start of this challenge that this was quite permissible.In fact, here is a quote lifted from the 'rules' which I posted back on New Years Eve:

4. If I have time and inclination to do so, it will also be permissible for me to accumulate partly made items as an emergency supply to finish on other days. The item will count as the piece for the day on the day it is finished and documented. Again, the ideal would be to make something from scratch, and while I will attempt to do this as far as humanly possible, there are bound to be some days when I’ll need my emergency supply.

Okay then! There was more than ample reason for me to take this option today. I only had a little over an hour of actual sleep last night, along with about another hour and a half of disjointed napping.
This after several nights running of less than adequate sleep. Not good for me, or for my work. It would have been bliss to sleep in today, but I had to be at work by 8.45 this morning. I only had to work a couple of hours, but I had a whole series of appointments set up for the afternoon that I couldn't skip out on (medical stuff for a family member) and  then I had my couple of hours work this evening. I didn't get home till quite late and it had been a long, very hot, exhausting day. The smart thing would have been to just skip it tonight and make two pieces tomorrow. I have allowed for that in the rules also - and there is a very high likelihood that I will have to make that choice at least a few times during the year.
Not yet. For tonight, pride and my stubborn streak just wouldn't allow me to do that. I felt way happier settling for a low effort piece and being honest about it here on my blog page. It's part of the process.

So, to the piece itself:

Scarifier Point Pendant. Sterling silver, cubic zirconia, neoprene.

 This is one of two almost identical items I started making in class at CIT way back in 2009 or maybe 2010 - during my three year course. We had been learning how to prong set faceted stones, using commercial prong settings. We were only required to solder the setting onto a piece of metal and set the stone into it, but my feeling was I might as well make jewellery as a sample piece, even if I only did something simple. I did two of these, to give myself a reasonable practice at it.

The shape of the pendant is something I'd been squiggling in my visual diary on and off for a while before I used it. Classmates thought, not unreasonably, that it was an arrowhead. Actually, farmers daughter that I am, I was thinking of scarifier points. These are, if you aren't familiar with farm implements, metal tines - 'teeth' or blades, shaped a bit like an arrowhead or a spade (well, both!) which are fixed in rows onto a piece of machinery which is pulled around behind a tractor to break up and turn the earth.  It's primarily used in shallow cultivation. It's something I grew up with - the sight of the long rows of turned soil and the rich scent of it, especially after rain, coming up off the furrowed earth - you could almost smell the fertility of it. This strong visual and olfactory memory is one of those you could say helps bind me to the place where I was raised and informs my character. That really does make this shape a strong personal identity mark or spiritual anchor for me. Definitely NOT an arrowhead. I'm a hereditary cultivator, not a hunter gatherer, though I suppose that must also be in my ancestry, as it is in all of humanity. Certainly one could argue there are bits of both in my nature as an artist - and in general - but I digress. It is late at night and I am prone to rambling!

When I designed this, I set the stone off centre as I enjoy a bit of asymmetry in my work now and again. I suspect I may have had in mind to further embellish the piece, perhaps with some etching or engraving. When I looked at it tonight, I decided it was fine without that. I do still have another that is in about the same condition this was when I picked it up tonight, so perhaps I'll decorate that one to distinguish it from its partner. The piece was formed and the stone pretty much set already. All I had to do tonight was a bit of filing, sanding and polishing, including smoothing the prongs a bit. I'd already made the bail and attached it, so apart from the clean up, all that remained was to choose and put together something to suspend it. None of my ready-made cords were the right colour, so I cut some 2mm black neoprene and attached a clasp. I used a commercially sourced hook and eye set, in keeping with the commercial prong setting. I designed and cut the piece from sheet, formed it, soldered in the prong setting and cut the prongs to fit the stone. I also cut and formed the bail, which was a far better match for the piece than a jump ring would have been. 

Actual 'making' time tonight was therefore probably about 20 minutes, though I was almost an hour in the studio, as I spent a lot of time cleaning up - filing, sanding and polishing. I know it took a lot of time to get the piece made to begin with, mostly because it was my first go at prong setting and it was a very fiddly job for clumsy, novice fingers. I could really do with some more stone setting practice, so expect to see more gems in future pieces. Not just prong set, either. There's several other types I've learned the basics of and need to brush up on, besides also feeling I should have another go at this, and at making more of my own prong settings instead of using bought ones.

I seem to have spent the time I saved making something tonight in rambling on about making things instead. It's high time I signed off and had a serious meeting with my pillow. Perhaps I'll dream up something exciting for tomorrows piece! 

Circles. Pendant. 23/23.

Circle Pendant 1. Sterling silver. Rubber cord.

I needed something fast today, as circumstances left me short of time again. For inspiration, I went back to some of the class exercises my tutor, Soham Harrison, gave us to do when I was in about my 2nd year at CIT, and he was filling in as our teacher for a couple of weeks.

There's several of these exercises, all good ones, and one in particular that I've meant to come back to and try to do properly - or at least better than I managed in class. It was Soham's birthday yesterday, so maybe that's why I thought of it.
(Happy Birthday, Soham, and many more!)

He suggested we make a 40mm diameter circle in a heavier gauge wire, and then use some thinner wire to make a design within the confines of that circle. It was a great exercise in terms of design and soldering technique. At the time, I did one in brass, and my soldering was terrible. I had another go at it tonight, in sterling silver. Still not perfect, but certainly better than the previous one. Also, it is a form it would be possible to play with almost endlessly, coming up with different ways of filling the circle. I might just do a few more of these. It could be a great fall-back choice for days when I'm stuck for ideas.

Rubbed out by a grape! Pendant. 22/22.

Purple Eraser Pendant. Sterling Silver & pencil cap eraser.

This is not the piece I set out to make today.
It was another one of those days when things just didn't go right. I had intended using the recycled plastic junk I keep hinting about, but I have some technical issues to resolve with that piece, so I want to let it simmer away in the back of my mind for a few days more and then put it together on a day when I have plenty of time. I did think about making a pendant to match the gooshy ring from yesterday, with the leftover part of the same pencil grip, but I felt I needed to try something a bit different.

Bad move! I had trouble getting the end cap made to the right size for this piece, as I just don't have the right size mandrel to form it over. The end of my ring mandrel is a couple of millimetres too large, and I don't yet own a bezel mandrel, or any rod of the right diameter. I eventually got it sorted out, making unconventional use of my dapping tools, which is why the cap has a slight inward curve to it. It does the job.

This one isn't a Gooshy grip, but a pencil cap eraser from the same company - Foohy - and I do seem to have bought a lot of their products lately, though not for the intended purpose. I bought these erasers before the pencil grips in fact. I saw the colours and immediately decided I could do something interesting with them. What does worry me slightly is that I'm not convinced they'll be as durable as the grips. Unless I can find a means of sealing and preserving them, the rubber might eventually perish. There's bound to be something compatible I can use, so I'll do a bit of experimenting with silicone and varnish products - including some I use for textile work. I won't market these unless and until I can find a way to ensure they stay clean and last well. The fun thing about these erasers, which sealing them would put an end to, is that they are fruit scented. The purple ones are supposed to smell like grapes, hence the heading for my post tonight.

Well, that's seven "Artificial Colours & Flavours" in seven days. Perhaps I'll make a return to more conventional work tomorrow. Perhaps not. I don't want to plan too far ahead in case the day puts something interesting in front of me that I can bring into my design process. I'm always open to suggestions for themes for a day or a week, though I can't guarantee I'll adopt them. Try me!

Blue light? Ring. 21/21.

I keep making my pieces at night, and even when I finish on time, sometimes it seems to take forever to get the images uploaded. I might have to start leaving the blog for the next morning and just getting some sleep! As it is, I seem to be sitting up half the night wrestling with file uploads and then backdating my blog entries to fit the date the piece was made. One day I will actually make it to the studio in the morning, as has been my intention all along. Mostly it seems not to happen, because I haven't slept the previous night, so I end up spending hours in bed in which it would be smarter to be awake and productive, and hours working and blogging when it would be far wiser to be asleep. I've always had a natural tendency to be a bit of a night owl, so this cycle becomes habit all too easily.
Let's see if I can break it this week. I would like to do so before the Fringe Festival starts in Perth, as there are shows I want to see, mostly late at night, and I can't be doing that then coming home to make things. Need to be creative in the morning, go out at night, then come home and sleep.
The challenge within the challenge - and I thought the actual making things was going to be the difficult part!

So, this was day 6 of my Artificial Colours & Flavours Week, and I stayed with the Gooshy Grips. A family member suggested a Gooshy ring, so that's where I went. It's a fairly large band this time - still only 3mm wide by about 1.7mm thick, but I've made it a size X (inside diameter 20.8mm). It fits my middle finger quite comfortably, so would fit a larger hand. Looking at it with my post-creation critical eyes, I think the band should have been a bit wider for this one, for visual balance. Also, those end caps could have done with being slightly bigger across the diameter, or maybe I could have made little bezel cups instead. Something with a more secure looking hold on the gooshy. Not that it's going anywhere - the rivet is good and tight - but it would be better to be sure the edges weren't going to pop out, as I've not glued them or anything. Easy enough to push back into place if it moves though. It would just be better that there was no chance at all of it happening. Still, these are prototype pieces and I'm learning plenty in the making of them. What I currently lack in finesse I'll hopefully have gained before the year is too much older.

Blue Lantern Ring. Gooshy grip, sterling silver.

This was one of those days in the studio we all have now and again. Nothing went right the first time. Several things didn't go right the second or third time either. I'm not going to tell you how many times I had to solder that ring band! (And that was the easy part of the job!) I got there though. Sometimes it pays to persevere. Other times it's best to just down tools and walk away from it for a few hours, or even a day or two, and do something else. So far I haven't had to do that. Unless you count the days when I set out to do one thing, then changed my mind and made something else instead. It's a good thing I'm not working on specific orders for clients with particular wishes and deadlines!

Gooshy again. Pin. 20/20.

Day five of my Artificial Colours & Flavours Week. The Gooshy pieces have proven themselves popular, here, on facebook and at home, so I'm sticking with that material for the moment. I've been somewhat in error though. Gooshy isn't the brand, but the product name. The brand is Foohy - should any stationery officionadoes wish to know. I picked up another couple of packets of their Gooshy pencil grips today and I'm seriously considering investing in a whole lot more, in case this turns out to be a saleable line for me. Perhaps I ought to try and sell a few first, then decide how much to spend.

Anyhow, today I went for a new colour and format.  The bright orange grip was begging to be used, so I've wrapped a band around its middle as well as putting the ends on, and have turned it into a stick pin.
I'm thinking I might make the actual pin a little shorter. It's quite a bit longer than my other stick pins. It's only a minor detail, but it did make it a tight fit for the little box I was packing it into, and it isn't really necessary for it to be that long. It might even be nicer to wear with less length to it. That would only take a couple of minutes to fix, so I wont worry about it for now.

Orange Gooshy Pin. Sterling silver, Gooshy pencil grip.

 There's been a request for a ring, so I might consider that tomorrow. That, or the other piece I keep threatening to make, which is non-Gooshy and using some recycled plastic junk which I find rather pleasing to the eye. No promises. I'm just taking each day as it comes and will see where the mood takes me. You're lucky you got a simple pin tonight, given that I went to the studio fresh from an exhibition of erotic photography!

Another day, another daisy. Ring. 19/19.

I know I said last night I had a plan for my next piece. I did, well, I suppose I still do, but, as it turned out, there wasn't quite time to make what I had in mind today, so I'm saving it for sometime in the next couple of days. The exhaustion from my mad week of running around caught up with me today, not helped by the heat and humidity. All I wanted to do was laze about, trying to keep cool, so when my daughter suggested a trip to the cinema, I caved immediately. Nothing wrong with that, except that it meant I was on the self-imposed night shift in the studio again.
For the first time so far, I seriously thought about skipping a day and making two pieces tomorrow, so I could have an earlier night than usual. My conscience just wouldn't let me get away with it, so I decided to make something very simple, just so I could get piece 19 done quickly and still get to bed in time to be able to wake up in the morning feeling okay and ready to work.

This being day 4 of my 'artificial colours & flavours' themed week, I pulled another little daisy button out of my packet and made a sterling ring band to put it on, complete with pearl embellishment. I picked out a lilac one this time, just for a bit of variety.

Lilac Daisy Ring. Sterling silver, plastic craft button, freshwater pearl.

Unfortunately, given the poor lighting, the images I shot came out looking pink, and I don't want to stay up fiddling about with photoshop tonight. You get the idea, at least. You'll just have to take it from me that the colour is really a very pale lilac/purple. It's another one I'll need to reshoot when I finally get my lights and light tent set up. I hope I'll have time to do that this weekend. It would be great to get the images right first time, and to replace the ones that need it before there are too many of them!

Like tiny lanterns. Earrings. 18/18.

After the positive feedback here and on facebook for the Gooshy necklace two days ago, I went back to my packet of Gooshy pencil grips tonight and made some earrings. I chose a bright pink grip, sliced it in half and proceeded pretty much as for the necklace, except that I used a much thinner sterling tube inside this time. It made sense to do that, because it would be lighter to wear and I only had to get a wire through it, rather than a cord. I also opted for fully hand made ear wires and support wires tonight. That meant I could use them to connect the parts, cold joining them to the bead ends by hammering one end like a rivet and turning a loop at the other end to take the actual ear hook. They're very pink! They're also quite translucent, and I think they look a little bit like Chinese lanterns.

Pink Lantern Earrings. 'Gooshy' pencil grip & sterling silver.

Pink Daisies. Earrings. 17/17.

Day two of my Artificial Colours and Flavours Week, and the second day in a row of mad running around away from home and studio. Todays earrings were made in an hour from start to finish, using all found or bought components, bar the rivets, which I had to do by hand, and the two small jump rings, which were from a batch hand-made on a previous occasion. It's about the closest I've come to a 'cheat' so far, but actually, I think they're pretty cute. Being quick and easy to do, I'd be able to keep the price down on them too, so they might work well as something to do for market stalls or the local craft shop.

Pink Daisy & Pearl Earrings. Plastic buttons, sterling silver & freshwater pearls.

The pink daisies are from a packet of mixed colour craft buttons I found in one of the large chain stores. They're intended for use in patchwork, scrap-booking and that sort of thing. I thought they were a bit plain on their own, so I tizzied them up with small fresh water pearls, attached by sterling silver rivets. Then it was just a matter of adding some jump rings and the ear wires. I almost did hand made wires, but in the interests of saving time, went for the commercial ones. Still sterling silver though, and it didn't seem wrong somehow to use those, given the nature of the other materials. I have plenty more of these little daisies and in different colours too. I think there might be other work I can do with them yet, maybe with more hand made components added.

Stationery, not stationary. Necklace. 16/16.

As I promised (mostly for myself) I've moved away from the inlay for now, though I've no doubt at all I'll come back to it. For a while now I've enjoyed working with found materials - or at least the idea of working with them. I've accumulated all sorts of bits and pieces and had some interesting thoughts on how to use them, but mostly that's as far as it's gone. I decided when I first came up with the plan for this year that I would try to incorporate some of those designs into my making for the project, and maybe come up with some new ones.

Today was a day filled with busy work and errands, mostly for other people. The sort of things one does when one is a wife, mother, daughter and all. I started my day taking a family member to an appointment and it went on from there. I didn't make it back home till almost 10pm, so it was a mad dash to get something made tonight. It seemed the ideal moment to try something quick and easy with some of my found materials.

It's amazing what you can find, just wandering down the stationery aisle of the local supermarket.
A few months back, some colourful pencil grips caught my eye. I wasn't sure quite WHAT use I might have for them, but I KNEW that there would be a use. I thought of them on my way to the studio tonight and pulled them out of the cupboard. As soon as I opened one of the packets, I had an idea. It was simple, used only one pencil grip, and I was in and out of the studio in around an hour and a half - decision time, making and photography included. I even found time to have a coffee!

I used a rubber cord in a colour as close as I could find to the grip I chose, and of course I've used some sterling silver for added value (and to qualify it as 'real' jewellery for the folks who might question my use of such unconventional materials!) Personally, I believe the value of a piece is in the making, the context and the meaning ascribed to the object by the maker and the wearer, as much as in the market price of the materials used. What do you think?

Green Gooshy Necklace. "Gooshy" pencil grip, rubber cord, sterling silver insert and ends.

I turned the pencil grip into a sort of bead, if you like, by making slightly domed sterling silver end caps, then tube riveting the piece together, also with sterling. That silver tube on the inside helps to add a little extra sparkle to the translucent green of the rubber grip - and the glitter in it is silver, so it was a good combination.  I think that turned out pretty well for a rush job! It's made me wonder what else I might do with the rest of these, and some of my other off-beat 'finds'. In order to explore that notion, I've decided to declare this my first Artificial Colours and Flavours Week. (No, I'm not spelling that incorrectly. I'm an Aussie. We use the English spelling, not the American version!)

So, the rules for the week will be to incorporate at least one piece of found material into the work each day. Also, that material (or some of that material) must be colourful. There's a fair bit of scope there. Let's see what I can come up with over the remaining six of this seven days!

Not so different after all. Ring. 15/15.

I had thought I'd do something in a different style today,  but once I was in the studio, I got as far as deciding to make a ring, then couldn't come up with an idea, so stayed with the copper inlay.
A slightly different approach to it today though, with the ring being composed of an inner and an outer layer. The inner ring band is all sterling silver, while the outer features a couple of small copper pieces butt soldered against the sterling before the ring was formed. It still gives the appearance of inlay, but the copper doesn't go right through, so it won't come into contact with the skin. No green fingers!

Gents ring in sterling silver with copper inlay.

This is a small gents ring, size V. The band is a little under 5mm wide and approximately 1.4mm thick.

I was fighting the fire scale demon with this one, probably due to the time spent soldering the layers together. It's the bane of anybody working in sterling. Fine silver doesn't do it, but is not really hard wearing enough to use for something like a ring band.

Perhaps tomorrow I really will take a break from the inlay work and try something else.

More Spots. Earrings. 14/14.

In deciding to make a piece every single day for a whole year, I had to accept that some days were not going to be as good as others. We all have our off days, right? Days when, despite best efforts and intentions, things simply do not go they way we planned. Welcome to my Saturday. I got in early and worked today's piece overnight, having started off in tandem with the tie tack from yesterday.
It's a pair of earrings made to the same design as the tie tack, only slightly smaller.

Spotty Earrings. Sterling silver & copper inlay.

As you can see from the photo, I didn't do as good a job with the inlay on these as I did with the tie tack from yesterday. What you can't tell from yesterdays photo is that the tie tack is only marginally better. Okay. The point, or one of the points of this whole challenge was to get me working every day. To get me learning and improving upon what I do. I did say at the outset that some, if not all, of these daily pieces would be exercises and samples. So let's say that's what these last couple of pieces have been. Looked at that way, they're a huge success, because I've learned a lot of valuable lessons in making them.

I know that if I'm going to do this style of drilled and filled wire inlay again, I'll need to start with a thicker base sheet. More importantly, I'll need to ensure a much tighter fit for my wire. It would help if I had the right size drill bits for each gauge, as reaming out the holes, I didn't manage to be as precise as I needed to be. One moment too tight, a couple of twists more, slightly loose.  Turns out slightly loose is too loose. It works okay if you use plenty of solder and file back - so long as you don't need to apply heat again, and you have a reasonable thickness of metal to work with. I did need to solder again, and I didn't have a very thick sheet. I did go down to a lower melt point of solder, but the piece being so small, it heated fast, so it didn't help much. I could have put some extra solder on, but then that would have meant more clean up. I didn't want to file too much away and end up with a piece too thin to use. The ideal thing would have been to have access to a rolling mill, as this would have made sure I got a nice tight fit, while compressing the whole thing. Sadly, I don't have one and can't afford one of my own at this stage. I'm sure that would make a difference though. I'll have another go at this style of inlay once my CIT class starts again this year and just see what difference the mill would really make. I rather like the design, production faults aside. I think this is another idea I'll revisit, hopefully with more success next time, given what I've learned in the doing.

Something a little different again tomorrow, I think. I have the rest of the day to ponder on it.

The genuine article this time. Tie Tack. 13/13.

Spotty Tie Tack. Sterling silver with copper inlay.

After making a fair hand of my attempt at inlay with yesterday's "Tie Pin",  I decided to have another go, in a different style, and also to make an actual tie pin. It's one of the tie tack/lapel pin kind, with a single pin and a clutch back. It came out reasonably well, though in retrospect, I should have started with a thicker base sheet of silver. I'm learning as I go along. Tomorrow's piece is already on the go, having been worked in tandem with this one.

Tie Pin. (Not quite what its name suggests). Brooch. 12/12.

Tie Pin. Brooch. Sterling silver with copper inlay.

 Credit for inspiring todays work goes to Hannah Gadsby, one of the best and brightest to emerge on the Australian comedy scene in recent years. Hannah hails from Tasmania, has a dry, quirky humour, keen intelligence, and a distinctive style of dress which frequently includes a tie. Well, it goes perfectly with a three piece suit, no?

January 12 is Hannah's birthday, so this is my humble tribute to the woman and the day.
Happy Birthday, Hannah!

A deceptively simple design. I've not had a lot of experience doing inlay work, so this took a lot longer than some of my other pieces so far. It was a bit fiddly, and I'll admit not as near to perfectly executed as I'd have liked.
A good learning experience though, and a technique I've no doubt I'll use again.

I also quite like the tie design. I might revisit the idea a few times during the year, in different materials and styles. Not just something anodised, either. I reckon this one would suit some enamel work.

Peacock Colours. Ring. 11/11

Gravity Ring. Sterling silver & anodised niobium.

Things would no doubt have gone more smoothly today if I'd just made up my mind what to do and stuck with the one idea, instead of changing my mind several times and starting work on three other things before finally settling on my fourth choice. On the plus side, it means I have a few things I can work with next time I get stuck. The real down side was how late it was when I got started on the actual piece, and how much later it was when I finished it. This challenge is going to get a bit tricky if I don't start panning ahead a little.

Today's effort is a ring, size P. The design harks back to the earrings I made on January 1st, and the title is a shout out to Ralph, who made a comment on my blog entry that day which both amused me and fired my imagination.

A little drop. Pendant. 10/10.

You know what they say? Be careful what you wish for. A reaction to my day. Or a small part of my day. Other parts of it were very good indeed. Some excellent health news, some good results in another area of recent effort. As for the bit of it in question...nothing seriously bad happened, more a sort of pause for thought. Not a big enough one to be worth a huge elaborate piece - and after the hectic day it's been, there wasn't time for that anyway. Just one of those moments when you realise that a situation needs a rethink and that something has to give. When it's worth a little bit of pain for the greater good. That sort of thing. So it's a very simple, very quickly made, symbolic piece. It also carries that little element which says there can be a good thing inside the less than pleasant thing.
Hope, if you like. I'll put this one down as the marker for the beginning of a new chapter. Catharsis, with a potentially positive outlook. The blue cord seemed an appropriate choice for the mood of it.

Letting Go. Sterling silver. Rubber cord.

I'm the first to admit that expressing emotions by means of a teardrop or a heart shape (or both!) is a cliche. There again, there's a good reason each of these symbols has been used to the point of becoming cliched. It's because they are so clear, easily recognised and understood. Also, they are still open to a little interpretation, depending on the context and the viewers own perspective. Is the tear a sad or happy one? Does it express relief, or pain, or tiredness? Does the heart represent love? Romantic, familial or other? Maybe it's just an indication of simple affection, or a trite expression of liking; no more meaningful than "I love that colour", or that drink or that movie, or whatever it might be.  Or does it represent the physical heart? In this case, the teardrop is the solid, positive shape and the heart is a hole in the teardrop. Does that hold any significance, or is it a simple quirk of design?

One of the things I love about jewellery, is that it can mean one thing for the maker, another for the viewer and quite another again for the wearer. If somebody buys a piece to give to another, it may mean something different to each of them also. What we adorn ourselves with expresses something about us and becomes part of our own story. A piece may gain or lose meaning over time, and find new meaning again with other wearers and viewers. It's a little part of the makers story that becomes a part of somebody elses. As a maker, I find that a rather exciting idea.

Fast work! Pin. 9/9.

It was a real challenge to make something new today, with even less studio time available to me than yesterday. I thought about dipping into the emergency box and just finishing off something that was almost done already, but then realised that I could go from scratch if I looked at it within the usual rules of a JMGA pin swap. 1 hour making time and about $10 worth of materials. I compromised and started with a small disc of sterling which I had previously cut out and partly domed. It was very rough, so I probably spent about the same time cleaning it up as it would have taken to make a whole new one anyway, but waste not! Then it was just a matter of adding a pin and pegging on a pearl. Done - and in a fraction under an hour, including a bit of stop/start and cleaning up. A very simple idea, but an attractive one. It looks a little like a retro reading lamp or maybe a doctors headlamp. I've always rather liked the soft warmth of a pearl on polished silver.

Pearl Pin. Sterling silver & freshwater button pearl.

It's going to be another extraordinarily busy day tomorrow, with work (casual gainful employment) both morning and evening again, and a medical appointment in the middle of the afternoon. It will probably come down to two or three 1 hour sessions. More time than I had today though, so it's possible. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'm hoping that I'll start to have more days when something happens, or I find something that gives me an interesting new idea for a piece. You never know.

Variation on a Theme. Brooch. 8/8.

A family outing to the movies this morning meant it was well into the afternoon before I could do anything in the studio today. I was tired and not overly inspired, but certainly not unmotivated.
I chose to make things easy on myself by making another lightning piece. Then, for some reason, I decided to make them harder again by opting for a brooch. I used a slightly larger size of the same pattern used 3 days ago (Thors day!) for the pendant. No spacers in between layers this time, but three layers instead of two, as I needed some sterling on the back to take the brooch pin and catch. I anodized a couple of volts lower this time, so the colour is not quite the same as on the pendant.

Thor Brooch. Sterling silver & niobium. Double pin (steel).

Lest anyone doubt that this is indeed a new piece, let's have some proof that I am indeed staying on track and honest, with a piece per day. Here are the pendant and the brooch, side by side.

Thor Pendant & Brooch, pieces 5 & 8.

This photo illustrates how the two layers of the pendant are spaced, while the three layers of the brooch are not. Also, you can see the anodised colours vary between the pieces and within each piece.

Just a Little Dotty! Pin. 7/7.

What a strange day!  A late start and a head full of ideas. I spent so long sketching the first concept out, I realised it was too complex to finish in the few hours I had left. So, I drew up another couple of ideas, much simpler ones, but spent so long doing the math working out which sized parts were going to work best in what combination, I didn't have enough time left to do one of those either.
Went to the studio with very little time left and not a clue what to do.
A quick rummage around in my box of loose ends yielded a small sterling half dome. It's probably part of something else I was in the middle of making, so I made a note of which container I'd swiped it from, and how big it was, so I can replace it if I need to. What would it become? Ring or pin? Pin would be faster, I thought. What would I do to embellish it? It had to be fast!

Inspiration struck. I took to the silver with an assortment of drill bits, burrs, reamers and files and filled it as full of holes as my planning for the day. With a back and a pin soldered on, and a bit of polishing done, I could have left off there, but I decided to take the whole thing one step further. Voila! A pin almost as dotty as the day:

Dotty Pin. Sterling silver & polymer clay.

I still haven't tidied the studio and my workbench is all cluttered up again. That will have to change before I start work on tomorrow's piece. I also still haven't had a chance to unpack and try out my new photography gear, which I really must do if I want to post better photos of my work.
Looks like a busy but fun day tomorrow. Best think of something very simple to make.

First (ring) of the year. Ring. 6/6

I really had no idea what to make today, other than that perhaps I should do some more earrings, or a brooch, rather than another pendant. Or maybe a ring. I haven't done a ring yet.
Then it was a matter of design and materials. I thought I'd tie it in with something I'd already done, so that narrowed it down a bit, to maybe a lightning pin or a floral ring.
Once in the studio, I opted for the latter. It's in sterling silver and niobium, same as the pin from day 2.  The band is 3mm wide, and the ring is size Q.  The flower is actually the same size as the one I made for the pin.

Floral Ring

Floral Ring detail

There looks to be almost as much of the gold colour as the pink. It really depends on the lighting and the angle. From some angles it appears almost entirely pink, with a slight rim of gold at one edge. I rather like the way it varies. I might have to make some earrings and a pendant as well.  The full set.

Another one for Thor. Pendant. 5/5.

The sky was rumbling a little again when I set out for the studio today. Not an actual storm, more like the vague threat of one from somewhere in the distance. Stu seemed to like yesterday's effort, but perhaps Thor was not amused. Or maybe he felt he deserved a little more of my attention. Either way, I thought I'd best play it safe. Besides, I still have all those lightning sketches Rowan did for me yesterday. It seemed a shame not to do something else with them.

Thor

Another one photographed late at night in poor lighting. It came up fairly well anyway. My light cube and lights were delivered this afternoon.  I'll unpack them and have a play in the next few days. If I can get better results, I will re-shoot all my pieces.

Topical and still on track. Pendant. 4/4.

There was a massive electrical storm here in the early hours of this morning, which caused a power outage. I'd already shut the computer down because there was so much lightning so close. The thunder was incredible. I'm surprised anyone could sleep. I know I wasn't the only one in the house awake.
I'd been having problems trying to get my blog posted, so even though I was ready for bed when the power came back, I chose to log in again and finish what I'd started. I also logged in to facebook to let folks there know I'd managed to get my pictures posted, and to wish a happy birthday to my friend Stuart. I was joking with him on facebook in the wee small hours that the ruckus outside was Thor
 saying Happy Birthday Stu. (Yes, there is a point to this ramble!) I give you, in honour of Stu's birthday and the earth shaking lightning storm that heralded it's arrival, my piece for today:

Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer)

I must thank Rowan who helped me turn my idea into an actual design simple enough for me to make in the very limited time I had after work tonight, and then, despite also having to go to work this afternoon, went on to sketch a selection of thunderbolts for me to choose from. It's very handy having photoshop proficient offspring with drawing ability! I've no doubt some of today's efforts will turn up  in some form in future pieces.

This was a far more basic design than what I originally had in mind, but the time constraints tonight forced me to put the complex ideas aside for another day. I hope neither Stu nor Thor take offense.
The other plans I had may be revisited at some point. Right now, given that I've stayed up half the night again writing and rewriting this post (which has taken way longer than making the piece did!), I'm off to get some much needed sleep, while it's still dark outside. Tomorrow will be my first opportunity to spend a decent amount of time in the studio. There's a very good chance I might even have my next challenge piece finished in daylight! Of course, I have to work out what to make first...

Copper and Fire. Pendant. 3/3.

Knowing today was going to be tough due to work commitments and appointments, I gave myself a head start last night. I have quite a few bits and pieces of unfinished work: spare parts for pieces I was working on in class, and sample pieces that date back to my three years at CIT. Out of that collection, I pulled a couple of die formed copper hearts I'd made while trying out the press. They were only samples, so I hadn't done anything with them. They were cut out but not filed back and had discoloured with time. I filed the edges and sanded them last night, going from the dirty looking mess on the left, to the shiny bright pieces on the right.

To the left (in the photo at left) and at top of right hand photo, one concave "inside" view. The article to the right in each case is how the same pieces came up after a bit of sanding.

I managed to finish today with time to spare, despite the limited time available.
During my afternoon break between appointments, I decided to solder the two hearts together to make a hollow formed piece, to which I added a jump ring. I wanted colour, so I opted for borax and flame, then cleaned back and used some sulphur. Smelly, but effective!
I left a little of the natural fire scale visible too. To seal and preserve, I polished with some dubbin on a rag. I would have liked to put this one on a dark brown or black leather thong, but I didn't have any handy, so opted for 2mm neoprene to finish. Working title for the piece is Burning Heart (or possibly Heart's Afire). I've photographed both sides.

Burning Heart. Front view.

Burning Heart. Back view.

More Niobium. Pin. 2/2.

Another late night last night, fiddling with the blog and posting publicity for it all over my social networking sites. That meant another late start today, but I worked simpler and faster, so I finished my piece a little earlier than yesterday's.

A minor panic about an hour and a half ago, when I'd just set up the computer to load my new images and we had a power outage. Nobody's laptop was well charged enough to handle the job. Thankfully the power came back on, so here I am.

I had all sorts of ideas running through my head when I went out to the studio this afternoon, so hopefully some of those will come in handy over the next few days. Once at the bench, I decided to do something else with niobium, but to set the voltage lower on my anodiser for a different colour.
The result is a lovely pinkish mauve. Unfortunately, the lights in the shed don't do it justice. I'm so looking forward to receiving the mini light tent and  lights I've ordered, so I can take better shots. Of course, if I started earlier and finished in daylight, natural light would also be a help.

Recently, I made a primrose necklace in titanium and silver. Today's little stick pin echoes that design, in a much simpler form.

Floral Pin. Sterling silver and niobium.

The lighting issues and the lack of a way to limit reflections mean I've got some colour issues here. For a start, this was shot on a white background! I haven't worried about photoshopping.
What looks like a gold strip at one side of the half dome is actually glare from the silver. The brighter area of colour to the centre is pretty much what the niobium piece is like all over. The rest is shiny sterling silver. Again, I'm happy with this one, so there will very likely be some related pieces soon.

I've had a love of titanium for years now. I'm only just discovering how much more versatile niobium is, in terms of its workability and capacity to take surface colour. Also, I love my little anodiser from Reactive Metals, bought with my prize money from York 2010. One of the best purchases I've made for my studio. I'm looking forward to spending more time getting to know this little machine and what it can do for me.

Tomorrow presents an interesting challenge. I have work in the morning for a couple of hours, and the same again in the evening, plus a doctors appointment in the afternoon. Squeezing in studio time will require a bit of creative scheduling. I might start planning my piece tonight, to get a head start.
Too early in the challenge to take shortcuts yet. Time to put pencil to paper in my visual diary!

Just getting started. Earrings. 1/1.

After being up pretty much all night and then sleeping in, I hadn't given myself the best start.
I spent the first couple of hours of waking time pondering what exactly to make for my first piece of the year. I had in mind to do earrings. That was about as far as I'd planned, apart from deciding they'd have to be fairly simple, given that I was starting late in the day. Finally made it to the studio late afternoon, and then had to spend a couple of hours clearing rubble off the bench and finding my tools and materials. So much for being prepared! It will all get easier from here on in. If I can keep the bench relatively clutter free, I can do a little bit of sorting elsewhere in the studio every day, and I'll eventually be the model of working efficiency. That's the plan anyway.

After toying with the idea of going with sterling silver and doing something resembling i-ching coins, I suddenly remembered the niobium discs I'd bought about a year ago. Two things about niobium. It's a lot more workable than titanium, so those discs would dome nicely. Also, it anodises beautifully.
Time to play with some of my favourite studio 'toys'!

I started with this:

Sterling silver wire and niobium discs.

then turned it into this:

Anodised niobium and sterling silver earrings.

I'm pretty happy with these. They took a little longer to make than I intended to spend, and were slightly more complex than was the plan, given that I had to rivet two domes together without deforming them or marring the anodised surface, but I still manged to be finished in time for dinner.
I'd estimate they took somewhere between 2 - 3 hours to do, but that did include a bit of messing about with those rivets and re-forming and re-anodising a dented dome. A good learning process though. At some point I might revisit this design and try some in different sizes and colours.

The photos aren't the best, given that they were taken late afternoon and at night, under the fluorescent lights in the studio. Still, you get the idea. I might think about some professional shots, or at least a properly lit re-shoot at some stage, perhaps when there's more pieces to shoot.

Setting off to work today with no fixed plans gave the start of this project the familiar air of NaNoWriMo, only it's high pressure jewelling instead of speed noveling - sort of a LoJeMaYe (local jewellery making year!).

Hmmm. I wonder what I should make tomorrow?