YOJ 2012 - Week 7 Pottery from the past

To buy this, go to:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/fleurviolettejewelry/4386346

To buy this, go to:

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/fleurviolettejewelry/4386346

I made this using the new wire my new friend Nicole Hanna told me about (her blog link is in my blogroll). It is copper wire, painted with antique bronze, and then enameled. I LOVE how this wire looks. It is a lot harder to make this kind of pottery with it because it is not as soft as pure fine silver wire. But I sure do love its looks, and the price doesn't hurt either :-).

This piece is based on the earthenware pots we used to have when I was a child, growing up in India. We stored water in them to keep water cool. We called this kind of a pot "Surahi".

I couldn't find any ready made chains in this finish/material. I was trying to find those to keep the price of the piece down. As it is, this type of weaving and shaping with this wire took a long time and plenty of blisters, I didn't want to add more to the labor cost by hand making the chain as well. However, I found no chain that looked just like this wire, so I created my own with 24 gauge wire of the same kind, and cream colored fresh water pearls. I have kept the chain long because this kind of a pendant does not look nice on a short chain. I have not really measured the chain, but the pendant falls around the heart or just below. The chain is so long it does not need a clasp, so instead of a clasp, I added a BIG white fresh water pearl, and made a scroll on it with the wire I am so in love with.

So...what you think?

I have been wanting to learn pottery for ages now. But no time for that. So I will use wire to do my own pottery :-).

Oh...and the last 2 pictures...that was just something I was playing with in Photobucket edit mode after seeing Nicole's black and white picture with color splash :-D.

In case you are wondering where I got this lovely wire from, I got it from Etsy...this store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/UnkamenSupplies?ref=top_trail  The owner Ralph is a really nice and friendly person. Very helpful too! :-).

"Flame of Divinity": A cold connections, sterling silver, fine silver, Rhyolite, fresh water pearls necklace

If you want to see the image enlarged, click on it. This piece is based on the spiritual journey of a beautiful person I met online. She said she felt she was asleep for a long time spiritually, but has awakened now. She has been having beautiful spiritual experiences...her words glide like poetry...gently...as she expresses her thoughts to me in emails. I see this piece as the flame of re-awakened spirituality or Divinity in her...burning steadily, brightly. The old, battered feel of the antiqued silver around it, cold connected with brass tubes represents her human journey so far. Often even the most gentle human journey can be quite hard on the free Spirit that is used to no limits. The fresh water pearls are wrapped up with fine silver which has not been antiqued, to represent the pure glory of the awakened soul pouring out of this steadily burning flame. The pearls have different hues of earth and gold tones....very soft and gentle...very softly divine...very pure in their feeling. This piece represents you dear Cynthia.

I still have to make the clasp. But I am leaving for the weekend...be back on Sunday and will complete it then :-).

I had this Rhyolite Cabochon with me for sometime. It looks like a perfect flame. When I saw it I loved it...it looked like the perfect flame of Divinity. Each time I had tried to pick it up, it said, "No, not now" to me. But when I heard Cynthia's story, I knew the Rhyolite was for her. This time when I picked up the Rhyolite, it did not refuse.

An interesting thing happened in the meantime. The stone disappeared while I was working with the other orders. I looked everywhere. Made my hubby look too. Finally I asked the supplier if he could cut a stone exactly like this. He did his best to help. And he did cut an excellent Rhyolite cab...only, it didn't have the flame. So then I was gong to email Cynthia and apologize that I lost her stone..when I heard very clearly within my mind to go look in my dresser. I thought, "Yeah well, I have looked. So has hubby. So many times. It wasn't there". But the voice was firm, and yet gentle that I looked once more over there before I emailed Cynthia. I thought it didn't hurt to look. So I did. And to my utter surprise...it was right there!!! Not even hidden under things. It was right there in plain sight in the middle drawer where I had looked so many times before. Hubby had looked too. We were both mystified....but I was very very very thankful!!! I guess the stone was truly meant for you Cynthia! :-)))

Swan Earrings - Designed by my daughter

These earrings are designed by my 11 year old daughter. She made the ones on the left, without the pearls. They are made with craft wire. I tried to copy her (in sterling silver and pearls), but the shape of mine didn't turn out as good as hers! Booohoooo!! But I am very very proud of her, that she could come up with some design herself, and made the shape and showed it to me. No help from me till there! I just showed her how to weave. I didn't try to teach her the weaving...I had a migraine...so I told her I'll weave one, you watch, and if you can follow it, do it....or else, I'm sorry, I'm in no mood to teach right now. Well, she saw me do it, and did it exactly like that in the other earring! Did I say I am proud of her? :-) Click on the picture to see it bigger.

Valentine's Day...romance, love, affection...sweetness: Carnelian Heart Necklace

To buy this, please go to my Etsy Store.

With Christmas and New year gone, I was thinking how there's going to be a long blah period. I totally forgot the sweetness that Valentines Day brings! What does Valentine's Day mean to you? When I was younger, it meant romance. But now as a wife, a mum, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a sister, a friend, a sister-in-law, aunt...and so many other roles that have become important, Valentines Day means simply Love....sweetness. It is also the day I met my sweet hubby for the first time. Valentines Day is a day for me to wish anyone I love...and there are so many I love. So many that I can't count. I hope it is the same with you.

So for Valentine's Day, I made this sweet necklace. A deep orange Carnelian heart, wrapped in sterling silver wires, following Judy Feskun's tutorial. Pearls too stand for innocence, love and sweetness for me, so I hung this pendant on a simple string of pearls, finished with a hand made sterling silver clasp. The fresh water pearls chain is 17.5" with the clasp.

This got me thinking...love is a great subject. I think for a while I will focus on making pieces on themes of love...on the world's greatest romances, Divine Love, affection, love between different relations. Do you have a great love story to tell me on which I could possibly base a piece? If you do, email me at cobaltblueastrid@yahoo.com.