lichen earrings

last winter i made some lichen pendants for my show at Cedar Ridge Gallery. i still had some sawn out pieces kicking around and after some prodding from a friend decided to make earrings with them. i was initially going to make studs but one happy accident later and i decided that hanging, slightly movable earrings looked much nicer.

each set is unique - i hand draw each pair onto the silver sheet and then saw them out. they also all slightly differ in their hook lengths and shapes. i've been using a technique called fusing a lot lately which is where you combine sterling silver sheet and sterling silver shavings under a flame to get this rocky texture.

words

"one must always be careful of books...and what is inside them, for 

words have the power to change us."

- clockwork angel

the prototype

this was the first fan style necklace i made before i started doing these ones. both styles only work with certain kinds of fabric.

i think i'm particularly partial to this one because it's exactly my favorite colour.

a new space

since my education at OCAD has been over since April i've been pretty worried about where i would continue doing my jewellery outside of school. i own a lot of equipment but i don't have a torch to do any soldering.

i knew if i didn't find a studio my work would definitely suffer. i shopped around a bit but i have a complicated work schedule that was ill suited to some of the studios. good fortune came to me when i was referred to work at Organic Metal Gallery with the lovely Robin Gray. 

now i have the opportunity to work with customers and make jewellery in a very well equipped space.

i am ecstatic. 

yesterday was my first day working at my very own bench. get ready to see some new work from me :)

lace edges

last week i was busy making some lace edge inspired enameled necklaces. some of them are enameled different colours on each side - something a lot of people enjoy since you're basically getting two necklaces for the price of one.

there really is a different feel with each colour. here's a necklace with harvest blue on one side and pea green on the other.

weaken your ambition and

toughen your resolve.

- the book of tao

more fans

here's a picture of a blue version of my fan necklace.

i recently got a commission to make earrings of these in a rose pink colour. if i like them i think i'll start making the earrings as part of my collection as well. i also plan on making more necklaces in new colours in time for cabbagetown (next month!).

"smplicity is supremely beautiful, yet difficult to obtain."

- garr reynolds

square foot show

this year i'll be participating in the 8th Annual Square Foot Show at AWOL gallery for the second time. there are over 1000 pieces with hundreds of artists. it's a HUGE show full of work from artists of all backgrounds and levels. the only real criteria was that the submitted piece was a 12"x12" square.

i decided to do some embroidery to give me a slight break from my metal work. though, it wasn't really a break since embroidery is quite labourious. a good thing about embroidery though is that you can do it in bed. i wasn't feeling well this past week, but at least that didn't stop me from doing something creative.

here are some detail shots of my piece entitled something pulls. come to the show and try to spot my work. all the pieces are on sale for $225. the public opening is on the 21st at 100A Ossington Avenue.

"emptiness and silence are powerful elements of expression."

- garr reynolds

fan necklaces

here are some newish fabric and sterling silver necklaces i had made just in time for the outdoor show. i also had some in a fiery orange red, turquoise and a light cabbage green (my fav one). i didn't have time to take photos of them before the show, so these two are the survivors who are lucky enough to be documented.

purple mania

so i've been pretty hard at work for the past while trying to make new jewellery for cabbagetown. i try to spend a  whole day, 2-3 days a week enameling. and the rest of the time i spend making fabric pieces, or going down to the OCAD studio to do torch/prep work for pieces that are either silver, or will be enameled.

i also try to work on my commissions, or you know - sit down and relax for more than five minutes.

after reviewing what jewellery i had in my inventory, i realized that i didn't have any purple pieces at the outdoor show. i found this weird since i have quite a few shades of purple in powdered enamel form.

i think i wasn't especially fond of the shades when i was first doing my colour samples, but i've grown to like them after playing around and discovering how they react in the kiln. the orchid purple on the cocoon with the black spots was particularly problematic when i first tried it out. it didn't work well in small details (like in my lace pendants), but it's good when it covers a larger area.

these pieces are all pendants - except the fabric pin.

i've started making my pins with opaque material. while i was helping my parents move out i found this fabric from an old fashion project i was making in high school. it pays to be a pack rack when you're an artist, you never know when a material is going to come in handy.

"the world's best photos of art and labyrinth"

found two of my thesis pieces in this flickrhive mind gallery.

hope

"people live through terrible times

but you must believe

you can survive."

drive

"it's too much for me 
to want to stay in one spot."

a rainy day set up

this long weekend i visited my parents to help them move into their new place. while i was there i was also able to grab my set up photos from the outdoor show from my dad's computer...after a month.

if you recall, the first day of the show was pouring like there was no tomorrow. this made for an extremely unpleasant time unloading my stuff off of Bay street. the police gave us a ten minute limit to unload from our cars, but it was kind of hard to manage since we also had to simultaneously make sure my displays/work/frames/etc remained dry (almost an impossibility).

another problem i encountered was that they moved my booth around without telling me. so i had to hop around in the rain for about 20 minutes trying to find out where i was supposed to set up (allowing my display to soak up even more rain). i was booth 703, but the booths were laid out as 701, 702, 713, 714...which  made absolutely no sense. a good note was that they ended up moving me to a corner booth that was underneath a sheltered area - protecting my visitors and i from most of the downpour.

there's nothing like teamwork.

here is part of "team amanda" on their smoke break. i think jon is scared that i'm going to ask him to do some more heavy lifting.

here is one of our much deserved food breaks across from my booth...didn't want to stray too far!

so much work goes into these shows and i have to do it all over again for Cabbagetown next month. eee!

if you forgot what my booth looked like all done and without the rain you can look at this post again.