Flower Power - Part 3

Living in the South, there is an event I look forward to each year. A sign the frosts and chills of Winter will be leaving soon: the Daphodills blooming!

This happens earlier for us then most places in the country, I would assume- typically in March or so. I also grew up in a town that is famous for their "Jonquils" to the extent it is the town's logo and the theme of an annual festival so that is always close to my heart as well.

This was the inspiration for today's pendant:

Ah, just looking at this piece has me dreaming of those warmer days to come!

Flower Power - Part 2

I really am fond of cherry blossoms, can you tell? Today's series post illustrates that fact once again. This piece is 3D but does not project out as much as the others. Since it is an entire tree branch of flowers, everything is scaled down a bit.

Did I mention the size of these pendants? This is the largest and it is maybe an inch and a half from the very top of the bail (the part that the necklace threads through) to the bottom edge. The colors are pretty soft as well- demure in fact ;-)

Flower Power - Part 1

Consistancy! A theme! Yes... a great feat for me.

This post kicks off the presentation of a series I have been working on. I love including flowers in my art. Whether it is painting (something I need to share more of on this blog), sculpting or jewelry, it is a subject I use over and over again. Why? Well, I am not a girly-girl.  I think it is just because I appreciate their beauty and fragility. They are like nature's beautiful and temporary paintings.

If you have worked with polymer clay, you know that is it really easy to start making roses as you are fiddling with your scraps or kneading the clay while thinking about your next step in your project. The medium lends itself to it so well. This is just how this series started- I was playing with some clay I had blended for another project that didn't work out and made some little pink roses with it while brain storming. I had made several polymer pendants during my 365 day "adventure" and I thought those delicate little roses could be the project and would make a really nice pendant!

As you can see, there is some varigation in the leaves and on the petals. The petals are primarilly pink but have some metalic silver accents blended in. The leaves are several shades of green blended.

In creating these pendants, I tried to make each three dimentional, delicate yet wearable. I have really enjoyed making these, I hope you enjoy them as well!

Concepts are Sketchy

Something you may not know about me (unless you saw some of my not-so-hot 365 posts):

I am not a great sketcher. I think I can draw and paint well but my sketches are rarely to never neat or realistic. This is mostly because I feel sketches are kind of a throw-away. They are not the real deal.

With that being said, sometimes I have an idea that I don't want to lose. These usually come in bursts. I will cover a sheet of 8"x11" with tons of little sketch doodles. Some make their way to fruition, others just go in my bag, purse or get buried under craft-junk on my drafting table.

Here are a couple of examples of these *ahem* sketches:

Each of these are supposed to be covered in individual hand-applied scales. That's what those little circle blobs are. The one on the left would be sort of a bib necklace. I still want to make it, but that trend train might be on to another station by the time I get to it. 

I actually made the pendant portion of the item on the right. It turned out great, with bright colors in aqua, hot pink and white, but it is pretty large and heavy. I am not saying that is a bad thing- just very audience specific. Therefore, I haven't made the necklace portion yet. I need to make sure it is balanced correctly. Since the pendant is 3-4 inches long, I am thinking it is better suited to a long chain and could lose the drop beads above the pendant. We'll see where that goes.

I actually decided to post this because my co-workers tease me about my sketching I do for my for mock-ups, brainstorming, etc. They don't say so, but I know it is because it is bad. And frequent. Not going to stop though, bad or not! 

I guess it is just the way I can get the idea out and explain a process. I guess that means I am a visual person? Hmm...

I'm a Fabric Designer!

Last year, I created some custom fabric for a friend of mine. She was a HUGE help to me this Summer and I wanted to do something to show her just how much. She loves to sew and had recently started an online presence which she named The Paisley Dragonfly.

I took that idea and incorporated some of her favorite colors to create a custom fabric panel for her to use as she wished:

Then I got the bug so I tried a few more designs:

Contact me if you would like additional details on any of these designs.