I made this pendant in the early part of the week, knowing that the first project for the new YOJ was due today. Up to now, I’ve been working with marquise shapes as single pieces, either as pendants on their own, or linked together in a bracelet. This one is a compound structure, made from one piece of wire. It took a bit of torturing to get it to look like this, LOL, but I like how it resembles a whirligig.
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My ex-husband used to say “Go Big or Stay Home”, so I’m finishing off the Year of Jewelry 2009 with a super-sized version of the Marquise Pendant. This started off as an experiment to see if the basic marquise shape would translate to a bangle, but I haven’t worked out the kinks to that yet.
I also decided to give the ribbon necklace another try, although again, it’s technically uneconomic to make. Ah well, I wanted to finish up the year in style! LOL
And so this very challenging year comes to an end. I’ll have a look back over the year and post some thoughts about what I achieved.
Until then, I wish you and those close to you a very Happy New Year, filled with enough challenge to keep you interested, and enough joy to keep you inspired!
All the best in 2010!
This pendant is made of two “recycled” pieces from Bracelet 3, which didn’t match the other links. Initially I only added the Swarovskis as embellishment, but the pendant looked unbalanced. So I decided to add some viking knitting – nalbinding – and create a ribbon-like effect. The work involved in adding the nalbinding bumps this up from production piece to a “couture” One of a Kind or Limited Edition.
I’m not completely satisfied with how it turned out, but I’m also not able to define what is bothering me about it. It might just be that it doesn’t work as a pendant. The design would certainly make a fabulous pair of earrings. Comments are welcome!
For this piece, I took the idea developed in Week 48 and extended it to a bracelet. The design looks simple, yet it surprised me how much work was involved in adding the copper beads.
I like the bi-metal toning – it’s a nice effect, and would really sparkle on tanned, warm toned or dark skin.
Like the project in Week 45, I alternated the links in mirror image; however, the alternating pattern sets up an issue for sizing. I noticed it with the Week 45 bracelet as well, but because it’s all one metal it’s not as obvious. With this bracelet, because there are two metals, it becomes clear that there can’t be an odd number of links: it throws off the pattern. This design will fit either a very small wrist (like this bracelet does), or a very large wrist. On my wrist, which is a little thinner than standard, but not small, the bracelet fits comfortably with room to move easily, but I generally like to wear my bracelets loose so that they jingle.
The design would look stunning with the Swarovskis I used in Week 48, but adding them will also add to the price of the finished piece. If you’re interested in a Swarovski version, please email me for a quote.
Here is one more variation in sterling silver. The original idea was to add a 2 mm Swarovski crystal, similar to what I did in the Week 47 project, but I ended up deciding against it.
Lots of playing going on! I love the sparkle of Swarovskis, so I added a thin row of crystals to this next pendant in the series. I love the classic “sweetheart” look that resulted!
I’m still working along the lines of “quick and simple” for this series, but this time, I wanted to add a tiny splash of colour.
Still trying to keep the cost of the pendant down, I didn’t want to spend too much time on the coiling, so I added only one little Swarovski, strategically placed.
I bought a bunch of these 2 mm Swarovskis back in the late spring when I was preparing for my class at Haliburton. I hadn’t intended to buy them, but when the supplier I was visiting only had half the tools in stock that I needed, I had to choose some other things to bump up my purchase to their minimum order requirement. (It’s incredibly irritating when the stuff is shown in stock on the website, only to discover empty bins when you get there. Unfortunately, this is not an unusual occurrence with this particular supplier, which is why I always go in person, and I don’t shop there unless absolutely necessary.) They are one of the few officially sanctioned wholesale suppliers of Swarovski and Preciosa, so I picked up a few packages.
After several different attempts, I also finally came up with a nice bail that compliments the marquise shape of the pendant.
Marquise Series: Pendant 1
Sterling silver, fine silver, cord
Constructed, cold-joined
L 6.1 cm x W 1.0 cm
One of the jewelry groups on Facebook is currently running a design contest to “overcome the economic crisis”. The idea is to use cheaper materials to reduce the price point of the finished piece. The problem I see with the contest is that the value of the physical effort involved is completely discounted. The cost of the labour stays the same regardless of the materials used.
The only way reduce the cost of the labour is to simplify the designs so that they take less time to make.
There are two challenges to making simple designs: one is to make them well, because the simpler the design, the more important the finishing becomes; the other is coming up with an original concept, something that will appeal to the customer without looking like the same old same old that someone else has produced.
I think the latter is the harder of the two to overcome.
This was the background I was thinking about while making this pendant. The goal was to produce a nice, quick-to-make design, that could become part of my bread-and-butter line for next year. As much as I like making the complex one-of-a-kind pieces, most of my sales fall in the in $20-$150 price range.
Without the neck rope, the pendant on its own would fall easily in the lower end of that range.
It’s been my experience that chains are uneconomic for me to make from scratch, and that was proven true again with this piece. The labour involved in making the neck rope bumps the price up substantially, and the change to the cheaper material (polymer cord) has a huge impact on the perceived value. I end up with a piece that is not sellable at the price I need to sell it at to recoup my costs and actually pay myself.
It’s perverse. It’s also why I don’t generally use “cheap” materials. I want you to feel good about what you’re buying from me, so I make high quality jewellery, with high quality materials. It’s worth every cent.
Marquise Series: Bracelet 2
Sterling silver, fine silver
Constructed, cold-joined
L 19.5 cm x W 1.4 cm
The next step in developing the Marquise Series was to add some form of embellishment, like a spiral. To give this bracelet a bit of visual interest, I decided to alternate the links in mirror image. They remind me of fish, and a bit like the stylized birds from the Partridge Family tv show.
I debated about using solder to join the spiral to the frame, and then decided that I wouldn’t save enough time doing that to make any difference in price of the finished piece.
Marquise Series: Earrings 1
Sterling silver
Constructed, cold-joined
L 5.4 cm x W 1.4 cm
The next logical step from the Bracelet I did for YOJ09-43 was to make a pair of earrings. I liked the idea of making the earwire in the same shape as the link – it gives the earring a chain-like look.
Marquise Series: Bracelet 1
Sterling silver
Constructed, cold-joined
L 19.5 cm x W 1.4 cm
I’m doing a serious push to get caught up on my YOJ projects before the end of the year. It’s sort of cheating, because I’m working on a bunch of things all at once, and posting it all in a very short time frame, but so be it.
The other week I was working on my Secret Santa project for this year, and it inspired me to explore some other ideas. (I can’t post the SS photo until after Christmas, so it will be a few days yet.)
This week, I started working on what has become a new series of pieces, all using a marquise shape as the starting point.
This is the first bracelet from the series, which is just a simple marquise link. This is such a basic shape to make that I can’t imagine it not having been done elsewhere. It’s a good start point to develop other designs though.
Still trying to play catch up on the YOJ, but I’m feeling decidedly uninspired. So, I decided I’d break out my bench block and do some hammering on copper. Just playing, nothing serious.
I like pieces that resulted, but realized that some of them resemble the work of Ann Wylie-Toal, a fellow Canadian whose pieces often look like gesture drawing.
To add a bit of visual interest to these, I hauled out my frying pan again and cooked the copper. It’s so much fun watching the metal turn from orange to brown to red to purple to blue to silvery! Unfortunately the blue is an oxide layer that wipes off very easily. Immediately spraying with Krylon would be the only way to preserve it. Still, I love the possibilities!
