I've never been one for smooth, shiny, flawless surfaces in my metalwork. There are plenty of artists out there who do it and do it beautifully. I prefer a little more texture, distress, and time-wear. Maybe it's because I'm an old soul with lifetimes behind me, who knows?
So I surprised myself last week when I was tinkering in the studio with some fold formed copper charms. Rarely one to plan out an exact design beforehand, I started out this pair by simply annealing matched squares of copper, folding them, hammering flat, annealing again, and unfolding---revealing beautiful rustic creases in the metal. Now normally I would next turn to my favorite texturing rock (plucked from our garden) and start banging away as if my life depended on it. For some reason, I stopped short halfway through this time.
How about we just leave half shiny, smooth, and serene---as a stark contrast to the chaos of the textured side?
And this is how designs are born.
I'm quite fond of making coin-like discs out of copper, so that's the final shape I decided to go with here. Reminiscent of an ancient coin plucked from the soil, perhaps. I filed a bit along the folds of each, sanded, sanded, sanded, oxidized, buffed, and sealed with wax. Simple, perfect for everyday wear, yet noteworthy enough to make you feel like a pagan goddess.
Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy
Hello. I hope this day finds you healthy and well.
I have always been and still am interested in all things ancient, indigenous American peoples, and other cultures around the world. And I love making jewelry that connects in any way to an expression of any of those things.
A shop I recently discovered, and love, makes, among other things, white and yellow bronze elements that depict images inspired by ancient Egypt, Africa, the Mimbres, and the Tlingit. The pieces are cast in the U.S. from their original masters and molds. The shop's name is that of its owner, RobertWGilmore. And once again, I am hooked! ☻
My earrings today are made with Robert's "Tlingit Whales." The Tlingit are indigenous people living, past and present, in the Pacific Northwest, Canada and U.S., including Alaska. Their art is unique, as are Robert's elements. They are extremely detailed, beautifully made, thin and lightweight.
I had a specific color in mind I wanted to use with these and thinking through my beads, paddling through some of them, there wasn't a single pair that fit what my mind was stuck on.
So I pulled out the old polymer clay and made a handful of beads.
Squares, rectangles, rounds, some textured, some not, and in the end the plain old round beads worked best for me. I used several colors of acrylic paints to get the color I wanted, a vibrant, vivid, turquoise blue. That was to be the only high-contrast in the earrings. As an aside, if the beads appear to be too large for the design, they don't look that way in person; it must be the way they are angled in the photos???? I used Mykonos patina spacers and square brass-plated spacers on both sides of the polymer bead, something I don't often do, the same thing on either side of the bead, but it was the right look.
The dangles below are 3mm Czech glass beads, and the intent with those was to elongate the design, and not to create a high-contrast to the whales. They are so perfect in and of themselves that I really did not want to take away from them at all. However, the beads behind the whale are a bit more colorful to create interest when viewed from the side when the full face of the whale is not visible.
The next two photos are of earrings I made previously with Robert's elements. Both of those have sold so they're not available, but I wanted to show them to you. Robert's bronze pieces were inspired by the Mimbres. Mimbres first referred to beautiful and distinctive pottery found in southwestern New Mexico, and eventually became the name used to describe the people who had created the pottery.
That concludes our history lesson for today.
Class Dismissed! ☻
As always, I sincerely appreciate the time you take to view our posts. I hope your day continues, unfolds, and ends with peace of mind, no matter what occurs. ☮
Norbel Marolla
SheFliesAgain
You can find me on Facebook and Instagram
...limpet.
No, I'm serious, go ahead and give it a try. Just one little time. Go on...while no one is listening.
See? You feel a little better, don't you? Maybe a teensy smile just crept across your face? A little levity to your soggy gray winter Wednesday? Perhaps even a smidge of impish delight when you imagine the cute cup-shaped domed shell of a LIMPET?
You think I'm mad, but if you haven't picked it up already from reading my blog posts and jewelry listings, words really do hold that much power in my life. There are some really fun words, like limpet, bauble, and mallard. And then there are some really horrible nasty evil words, like moist. *shudder*
All this to say, I found some limpets last week! My day job shipped me off to the Pacific coast of California for a week and our hotel was right on the beach. As in, I could hear the waves crashing from my room. It was like every insanely picturesque post-card you've ever seen, and it was ALL RIGHT THERE. I couldn't help myself but to kick off my heels, sneak away, and do some beachcombing and toe-wiggling in the sand.
I haven't been to a beach in probably 15 years. As a child, the few times we went I almost lost my head over all the cool little shells, pebbles, and scraps of sea life that would wash onto shore and get trapped in tide pools. I've always been fascinated by it, and nothing has changed as an adult. Every day last week I would sneak furtively back up to my hotel room with handfuls of sandy briny shells.
Now that I'm back home in landlocked Ohio, I've been sifting through my finds and picking out a few shells to incorporate into jewelry, since you know how much I like weaving organic found objects into my pieces.
These earrings are quite special, as they feature some really sweet little purple banded limpets that I collected. They swing lightly under stacks of ancient Roman glass, wood bodhi beads, pyrite nuggets, and some antique opalescent Venetian glass "moon" trade beads (100-200 years old). Purples and teals and indigoes, all wire wrapped up together and ready to whisper songs of the sea into your ears.
Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy
We're getting closer and closer to my favorite holiday of the year - Halloween. When else do we get the legal (and sane) opportunity to dress up and assume a different identify? And to celebrate all things dark, taboo, and disturbing? And to eat candy...guilt-free?
I'll admit I've always had a fascination with the darker side of life. As the saying goes, you can't have the light without the dark. I lived through quite a few dark years in my 20s, and I wholly believe that my struggles then have made my happiness now that much more sweet. So it's no coincidence that my designs reflect this fascination and respect for the dark.
This pair of earrings is perfect for any time you're feeling a little brooding, a little mysterious, a little edgy. And the colors are very Halloween-ey without being cheesy: sooty grungy black pewter charms from Inviciti, vintage African bauxite trade beads, and my own mossy green polymer clay nuggets.
So start counting down the days...and make sure you've got your black eyeliner handy ;)
Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy
How about we just leave half shiny, smooth, and serene---as a stark contrast to the chaos of the textured side?
I'm quite fond of making coin-like discs out of copper, so that's the final shape I decided to go with here. Reminiscent of an ancient coin plucked from the soil, perhaps. I filed a bit along the folds of each, sanded, sanded, sanded, oxidized, buffed, and sealed with wax. Simple, perfect for everyday wear, yet noteworthy enough to make you feel like a pagan goddess. 
