Madam Rose of Shanghai

Well, as the Bead & Button Show is well on its way and the winners of Bead Dreams 2010 have been announced, I guess I can now post pictures of my entry "Madam Rose", which has been accepted as a finalist in the wirework category of this year's competition. I made the enamel pendant last year, and the story behind the piece was posted in my blog a little while back (see post 3rd August 2009). It took me several months to collect all the stones and beads, and another couple of months to assemble the piece. The necklace was constructed with wire wrapping techniques using sterling silver wire, patinaed with liver of sulphur then polished again. It didn't receive a ribbon in the competition, but I'm happy to have got through as a finalist and had the opportunity to have the piece exhibited at the Bead & Button Show. Just wish I could be there! Please click on the pictures if you'd like a larger view.

Cheshire Cat - my first steampunk pendant

This is my first ever steampunk pendant, inspired by the recent Steampunk Alice in Wonderland beading challenge on the Australian Beading Forum. The cat's face was a small cabochon I made with white polymer clay, then painted with acrylics and watercolours, and sealed with a thin layer of resin. I used a fair bit of pearlescent watercolours (Twinkling H2O) so it's quite shimmering in real life. There are stripes on the cat's face which are difficult to see in the photos. The whole pendant is actually quite small, with the head and body measuring about 4.5cm in total length. The ears were made from cut out sections of a flattened bead cap, and the components were secured with beaded bezels using mainly size 11 and 15 seedies. I stuck a few Swarovski flatbacks on the watch movement to give it some extra sparkles. I even "sacrifice" a couple of my vintage Swarovski beads for the necklace part to tie in with the vintage theme. I really enjoyed making this and will no doubt make more, maybe a more serious one next time? Please click on the photos if you would like a larger view. Hope you like him!

A few silver clay pendants

Thought I would show you a few silver clay pendants I made ages ago. The first one I did in stages. I made the leaf first, fired it, and thought it looked a little boring, so I added the cubic zirconium. I wore it a couple of times but still wasn't happy with it. Finally added a bug. Someone once asked me if I coated a real bug with silver clay paste then fired it to make the pendant - eeeewwww, no way! I'm happy to say that the bug was made with wire and lump clay, and no insects were injured or killed in the process. The cabochons in the second and third pendants (rhodonite and snowflake obsidian respectively) were cut by me from roughs, and I'm quite proud of how nicely they're polished. These days I rarely cut stones as it is rather time consuming, and I rather spend my time making the actual jewelry. The silver clay roses and the snake were moulded/hand carved by me too. Hope you like them.

Time Fairy - My steampunk collage.

With all these steampunk talks and challenges on the Australian Beading Forum, I've been wanting to make something with this theme. Decided to try a mixed media collage using colour pencils, acrylics and water colours, as well as cut outs of bits and pieces and some rubber stamps and embossing powder. The inspiration came from a quote I found on the internet, by an actor named Jeremy Irons:

"We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams."

This is a work in progress. I plan to reduce the size of the collage, turn it into a resin coated cabochon, and use it as the focal for a necklace. I decided to draw the fairy myself and took photos of the watch parts, so I can use the collage whatever ways I like without having to worry about copyright issues. This is the first collage I've ever made, and I really enjoyed it and will definitely do more.

Tibetan style wire wrapped necklace

This necklace was made for one of the challenges on the Australian Beading Forum. From memory I think the theme was "Oriental". I decided to make an antique Tibetan style necklace, using a largish Peruvian opal bead I bought a while ago as the focal. Teamed it with coral, turquoise coloured howlite beads, small sterling silver beads, and a few cubic zirconium. The piece was constructed with sterling silver wire, patinaed with liver of sulphur then polished. I haven't actually been to Tibet but did visit a Tibetan village in Sichuan province in China a couple of years ago. Somehow these were the colours that stuck in my mind. I would love to go to Tibet one day but am just a little worried about altitude sickness as I did suffer a little from that even when we were in Sichuan. Please click on the photos if you would like a larger view.

Onyx, crystal and silver pendant

I made this pendant for this week's Year of Jewellery Challenge on the Australian Beading Forum, and the theme is "Art Deco". My take on the theme is to use strong colours and geometric shapes. The crystals are actually all the same colour (Swarovski clear AB) but somehow they came out different in the photos. The pendant was constructed with sterling silver wire then patinaed with liver of sulphur and polished again. I'm keeping this one for myself as I'm loving black jewelry at the moment.

A Moment in My Heart

I made this necklace for the the Silver Accessories Contest 2006 held by Art Clay Silver in Japan. The theme of the contest was "Moment". The pendant represents a moment of my childhood that I treasure, deep in my heart. I have always loved picking up fallen leaves, and I used to press them in books and turned them into greeting cards, bookmarks and pictures etc. There's a photo that my father took of me as a little toddler, with unruly hair, picking up leaves in a park. It's a moment that has been forever captured in my heart. The pendant was made out of silver clay, with a howlite cabochon and a few cubic zirconium stones set in it. The blue background behind the leaves was achieved with enamel. The little girl represents me. The shape of the pendant, you may notice, is that of a heart - it's a section of my heart where I hold all these fond memories. The piece was a finalist in the contest.