YOJ10-03 Marquise Series: Pendant 8

Marquise Series:  Pendant 8 (2010)
Sterling silver, fine silver, tourmaline
Constructed, cold-joined, woven
L 5.0 cm x W 2.25 cm x D 1.0 cm
(Update: SOLD June 2013)

One of my new year’s resolutions was to start using a Job Jar.  My family and friends, who know me very well, know that I’m hopeless about housework.  I think it was Erma Bombeck who said “Nature can’t abhor a vacuum as much as I do.”  That kind of sums up my attitude nicely.

However, I do live with three other (messy) people, so some token effort to maintain order must be made.  So… enter the Job Jar.  I wrote all the various chores on the little slips of paper, and included some fun things, and every day I pick one out of the jar.  The choice is completely random, although I like to think of it as leaving it up to God/the Universe to pick the task that is right for me on any particular day.  Some days I have more energy than others, and interestingly enough, each task so far has been perfect for the day it was chosen.  I do my Job Jar job early in the day, and then the rest of the day is mine to do as I please.

The net result of doing my housework this way is that I’m being much more productive with my jewellery making as well.  So, I feel good because my house is slowly getting cleaner, and I’m getting to work guilt-free on something I love every day.  Bonus!

The studio gremlins paid a me a visit this week and stole this piece for a few hours.  I noticed it was missing after my husband had done a sweep through the house collecting detritus to put out in the garbage on Monday night.  He tends to be somewhat brisk and indiscriminate when he does this.  A frantic search turned up nothing, and I was resigned to it having disappeared into the mass of trash.  On Tuesday, my job from the Jar was “Clean the livingroom.”  It was like a bunch of angels were standing around saying “We want to help you”.  LOL

So, I set to work, cleaning, sweeping and reorganizing the room.  When I picked up and moved one of the toy boxes, lo and behold, there was the pendant!  With a quick prayer of thanks, I put it in a safe location, where I knew I’d find it again.

Like the previous pieces in the series, the pendant is formed using a marquise shape.  When I was first shaped the wire, I thought the pendant looked like a moth.  The form evoked a very strong Art Nouveau influence.  As I added the weaving and the beads, the moth form persisted, and I noticed that the pendant was starting to look like Rainbow Wrapping.

Originally, I was going to hang the pendant the other way around, from the point.  It reminded me of the Star Trek logo.  I didn’t like how the tourmaline drop looked hanging from the long tail though – it threw off the balance.  So the drop was moved to the point, and the tail became the hanging point.

While photographing the piece today, I started seeing the form of an elephant face.   How cool!  I don’t remember ever seeing so many different influences in one piece.

What do you see?  Let me know!

More photos:

YOJ10-02 Marquise Series: Bead Cap 1

Marquise Series: Bead Cap 1 (2010)
Sterling silver, fine silver
Constructed, cold-joined, woven
L 2.7 cm x W 2.6 cm

Last week’s project was about going beyond a simple marquise shape to a compound shape.  This week, I’m going a step further and moving into working in 3D.

The original germ for this piece was a project I made in 2003 as a Secret Santa gift.  The Cathedral Egg Pendant was made of two pieces, connected with bead links.  Cathedral Egg was inspired by a piece, called “Gluttony”, which I had made for the “Heavenly Virtues/Deadly Sins” exhibition presented by Object Design Gallery the same year.

The ladder weaving here was very time consuming to do, but the effect is so nice!

I think this really needs to grace a fabulous lampwork bead by some superbly talented artist.  The problem I’m finding is that I need a big bead:  the base of this bead cap is almost (2.5 cm (1 inch) across.  So, I’m on the hunt for something appropriate.  It still needs to go into the tumbler to shine it up, but I wanted to get it posted.

Other views:

Year of Jewelry 2010 – 1st Quarter Goals

The turn of the new year means that a new Year of Jewelry is beginning.

The push to get the previous year’s YOJ projects done has gotten me fired up again in terms of making. While challenging, the thing I like most about the YOJ is how productive it makes me feel.  The project forces me to focus.

Many of the issues that were influencing me in 2009 are continuing, so I’m not going to including them as specific goals, more as over-arcing themes.

For the first quarter, in terms of goals, I think I’m going to keep it straightforward:

1)  Complete at least one piece, every week, photograph and post.
2)  Complete a piece for the HSTA Faculty show.  This year’s theme is “Passages”.  I have a mixed media piece in mind.
3)  Continue series work.

Off we go!