Tim Burton is cool.

I honestly could not contain myself when they finally unveiled the creature behind the window to the TIFF Tim Burton exhibit a few weeks ago. It's one heap of Little Shop of Horrors with equal parts awesome. I get to walk by it daily and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. I jumped on the Burton bandwagon last Saturday and went to a double feature, watching Big Fish (one of my personal faves) and a movie that inspired Tim Burton - The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It was a day of crying and laughing and particularly enjoying a film that I never would have seen otherwise.

I can't deny that I am a sucker for Tim Burton's aesthetic. Anything with a touch of darkness and has anything to do with "outsiders" has me hook, line and sinker. His work was forefront in my mind when I was playing around with some copper pieces and I suddenly realized I could be making awesomely inspired Tim Burton brooches. So, I present these as my homage.

high gear

Lately I have been kicked in creative high gear. Sometimes this happens, but thankfully not so often because it can get exhausting. Fortunately the fruits of my labour have been plentiful. I have no idea why I am blogging like this. It could quite possibly be that i need coffee. Or maybe some more juice.

Anyways, these gems came about in the last couple weeks and I just finished adding the pinbacks (which I then photo edited out so that they look nicer in the pictures). The wise thing would have been to take the photo before adding pinbacks, but then again I would not have been able to hang them to get the chain to dangle without them... okay scrap that previous thought. All the motifs are inspired by wrought iron work and I have been super obsessed with the hydraulic press lately. I mean come on - turning a flat sheet of metal into a raised form, it's wicked. No hammering involved, you just crank a lever and pressure + rubber = awesome. These guys are made out of copper, which I used a patina on to darken 'em up, various pearls and gem beads, sterling silver ball chain, resin, and flocking.

Next post will be soon. and by soon i mean tomorrow. And more work to post. Very fun work. Okay, I am going to stop with the sentence fragments and get me some coffee.

Bond

Last week I went to the Opening on the "Bond" exhibition at Zilberschmuck Gallery in Toronto. I was happy that my work was accepted to be a part of the show. A while back I mentioned that it was the piece that I was going to get professionally photographed, so I finally decided to include it on my blog. I have also used the photo in my recent application to Metalsmith's call for entry for an exhibition in print. Fingers crossed that it will be included!
I also went along with Rosalyn Woo to celebrate her winning an honourable mention for her piece "leash and collar." Check out her etsy page to see more of her work.

Celebrate good time, come on

This week is pretty exciting. Right now one of my studio mates is behind me cleaning (which I should also be doing) but after polishing my jewellery and cleaning display cases I wanted to do something else. So I decided to blog about the upcoming Party my studio is having as well as an upcoming Holiday Sale.

Check out the above links for more info and join me for some wine on Wednesday and hot chocolate on Friday, cuz I'll be attending both! The Santa add is for the Pop-up Holiday sale in Kensington that I have some work at, there is a Opening for that this coming Friday (yay, hot chocolate!)

I should have posted a while back that I made these small pieces of art to sell at the Pop-up shop in Kensington. They are small paintings with a small copper frame I cut out and added a patina and thread to liven it up. Not to mention the velvet ribbon. How I love velvet ribbon.

Butterfly Earrings

A few posts ago I included some sketches of some butterfly pins that I made as Bachelorette party gifts along with my post of the feather pin that I had made myself. After a request I made more. I did however decide they would be lovely as earrings. My favourite part is piercing the inside of all the different wing patterns out, it's like drawing with a mini saw, tons of fun. I didn't break nearly as many saw blades this time around... That could have something to do with the metal thickness - I suspect that I rolled my metal out thinner. Hope you enjoy, and keep in mind that if you need a special gift for someone these could be just the thing.

Meat

The amount my family consumes within threes days. Seriously. And it's not any kielbasa either, it's made by family.

Holiday Season is coming so fast

With the holiday season approaching it means several things to me. One of the most important of which is pierogies. Lots and lots of pierogies.

Custom Band

Monday was really exciting for me, I had a pick-up for a custom engagement ring that I finished making. It was such a pleasure working together with the customer. She wanted me to combine a Fleur-de-Lis and Ankh symbols to indicate both her and her partner's heritage. After I drew some designs she decided which one she liked and I carved the ring out of wax (the green ring). Once that was done I casted the ring in 18kt Palladium White Gold and then it was a matter of emerying and polishing it up before it was ready. I absolutely love when i get to run with an idea and create something that is special and unique for someone, carving is so much fun.

I worked on some custom butterfly pins a while back (where are the pictures you may be wondering? guess what - I took some on someone else's camera and don't have them so all you get to see are my sketches). They were a lot of fun to make - tons of piercing and sawing, plus an interesting design since I only did one side of the wings as a pin that would flap about while wearing it. In my sketches I also proposed a feather which got turned down. However I loved the feather idea enough to make one for myself. The feather is made with nickel silver with the rachis (or stem of the feather) made with sterling silver. I have yet to add the chain and pin stopper, but that part is easy to imagine added on. I'm going to be wearing it on my coat this winter.

Bond

Things are getting a bit busier for me lately preholiday season. I am meeting up with a professional photographer next week to get a new necklace photographed as part of my submission for Zilberschmuck's sixth annual national juried jewellery arts exhibition entitled "Bond" I included a cropped image of the piece placed on top of my artist submission paper. Proof positive that I need a professional to be taking photos for me. I recently took up working on a few piece I left on the wayside - smaller pieces for earrings that are similar to some large pendant/necklace pieces that I made a while ago. I'm thinking of adding a gemstones on each and still contemplating what type of chain I would like to use for them. Should be finished them in the next week along with an engagement ring and a brooch that I have been working on as well.

Come see "RED"

I'm back in action after participating in QWAC. You'll have to excuse my lack of pictures from the show - my camera battery is apparently unchargeable and my cat broke my sister's camera the night before it started. This past weekend I was giving demos in the studio as part of Culture Days and finishing off all of my pieces for Jewel Envy studio's first collective group show "Red." I ended up with 5 pieces for the show that I am really proud of. I used a couple of new techniques in my work - including Mokume Gane and creating dies to use in a hydraulic press. As well as perfecting my techniques when using a patina - a process that has frustrated me in the past. If you want to see the finished pieces you'll have to make a cameo at one of our upcoming openings, or make a stop at one of the venues while it is up and running. This weekend I am participating in the Art of Fashion which is running as part of Nuit Blanche and today I just started working on my piece to apply to Zilberschmuck's exhibition "Bond." Pictured in this post are some interpretations of "Red" (excuse my made-up titles) Chia-Chien Tsai's Fairytale Apple, Gillian Batcher's Pumping Heart Necklace, and Emily Gill's Pearl Necklace. To see the rest you will have to check out the show, or wait forever for me to post more pictures.

Necklace Version 2.0

Recently I had almost finished fabricating this necklace. Then a studio mate (who shall remain anonymous) pointed out a better way to construct it. I think it was revenge for all the times I have told her that she should remake some of her work.


Since I had to back-peddle a step and remove resin from Version 1.0 of the necklace I left the piece to soak overnight in acetone. Then after cleaning it up a bit I wanted to let it soak for a few minutes longer in some clean acetone. The only problem was that I didn't have an extra glass container handy. I know not to put pure acetone in a plastic container, but I thought since I was only going to leave it for a few minutes things would be fine. I was wrong. Thank goodness I at least had the sense to place a metal lid beneath the container so that the acetone didn't leak all over my workbench. Once this beauty is complete I am planning on getting professional photographs of it. That's right. I have finally relinquished my do-it-myself attitude and I am going to let someone else do work for me.

Found some interesting images that I would like to share. I came across the website for a collective of Dutch conceptual design company called droog. My favourites include "Do Frame Tape" by Martí Guixé and Brooch #8 Diner-dansant by Iris Niewenburg. I have noticed Ralph Bakker's work in publications and recently stumbled onto his website. I had a hard time choosing just one image, so be sure to check his site out. Ledo Otto's Designs are really beautiful - they depict simplified architectural layouts of buildings. I especially like the "San Vitale" of Ravena. I also LOVE, Love, love Marianne Anderson's work, Mostly because I have a very similar aesthetic.
Please check out all my links to other various artists, I hope you enjoy all the photos.

Visit me at QWAC

More Earrings!
I hardly ever make stud earrings, but when a few new ideas came to mind I couldn't resist creating them. In the first photo you can see the pieces after I have fabricated them. I used copper and sterling silver as the base and post and then I used a patina on the surface of the copper. You can also see the holes that I drilled to place the strands of beads and ball chain. I finished them all today (as of five minutes ago). I might be making cufflinks before the QWAC, but seeing as that is only four days away that might not happen.
Tonight I start teaching at George Brown College which I am really exciting about. I will be teaching a Jewellery Design class - the students will be learning how to create workshop drawings. I haven't gotten nervous yet, that will only happen the exact moment I open my mouth to start teaching. Well then, I hope to see you all at the Queen West Art Crawl this weekend. Be sure to come and visit me!