learning curves

i was working on some new lichen rings in the studio a little while back. i really like seeing my drawings turn into something 3D and wearable. these are all one of a kind mostly because right after i draw them i decide to make them. and then i don't have a copy of the original drawing.

i've been in the dental lab at school a lot lately. fourteen hour days have become the norm for me. there is so much to do. like with most things of a technical nature, there is a steep learning curve. we are learning from our mistakes, and these mistakes are very time costly.

i was trying to wrap this piece up in tissue paper for a safe trip home, and then it fell. i lost about two hours here. *sigh* at least i'm getting better and faster all the time :)

lichen rings

as promised, i've made some new sterling silver rings. these are two that i was working on for the Queen West Art Crawl. each one is unique, because i really enjoy the hand drawing process. i'd say they're really more one of a kind because i don't have access to a scanner in the studio, so i basically draw them, glue it to the silver, and saw it out with the original drawing lost in the process.

this was right after soldering and before polishing. and for some reason i decided to paint my nails that week, which was foolish - the polish doesn't last an hour in the studio with all the filing, sanding, sawing, and polishing going on. at OCAD we used to dream about manicures...and never have the time to get them.

i sold one of the thinner rings to the mother of one of the artists in my row of exhibitors. she was so sweet. she tried it on and fell in love with it right away.

it's always great to see the reaction of the people who buy my jewellery, it's something you miss when you just get an invoice saying you sold something at one of the shops that carry your work.

i think i'll make a few more of these to put in The Devil's Workshop soon. i also really want to update my etsy shop. hopefully i'll find the time in between everything i'm juggling at the moment. 

balance

hi friends.

i apologize. once again i've been on a slightly long hiatus from the blogging world. as of now, my schedule is one of the craziest ones i've ever had. i'm trying not to let myself get too overwhelmed!

there are some things that i feel need to be part of my life and when they are missing, i feel all off kilter. i've written about this before - this need for balance, and when i have it, it keeps me going through the long days and weeks and months. it helps me when i'm tired, or frustrated, or just plain overworked.  

so when i'm not updating as much, it's because i'm striving for that balance. 

if you're familiar with my work, you'll know that i don't do too many highly polished pieces. i hate seeing scratches on jewellery, my eye never misses them. and if you're not careful, it's easy to damage the finish on a piece. but i forced myself to create a bunch of sterling silver jewellery that was high polished, and while my fingers have definitely become more callused, i like how they came out. i've been trying out some new polishing compounds with my new polishing buffs and they are doing wonders.

summer colours

i'm so happy that i can say that i'm faster at enameling now. i'm quite proud of myself :p this time last year, i was much more overworked with much less results. but you only get better with practice right?

i drew out some new lichen pendant designs last week, and now i'm making use of my more summery colours that i've barely or never used. i think if it was just up to me and my taste, i would enamel everything in greens or blues. but that's just me.

 

so here's some pieces in golden rod yellow, storm blue, grape purple, pastel blue green, and pastel pink. more to come soon!

hand drawn and hand sawn

i have totally been lacking on the blogging front lately. sorry readers! my days can be so hectic. i can be out from 8:30am - 11:30pm at times working. also, my photoshop isn't working on my laptop right now, so it's hard for me to edit lighting in photos. so aggravating. 

anyway, i really like these new lichen pendants i'm enameling, and i actually really enjoy sawing as well. so while these may look like too much sawing to some, it doesn't feel overwhelming to me at all. 

each one is hand drawn and hand sawn, so they're all one of a kind - the kind of work i like best :) 

i did add yellow transitions around the small circular areas...but i think i like the pieces more when they're one colour. we'll see what i feel like doing next time i'm in the studio.  

new lichen pieces

even though my schedule has been super crazy, i've still managed to squeeze in some studio time.

i just came back from a two day trip to the states, but i found myself so glad to come home. this made me think that i probably can't live anywhere else in the world - i'd get too homesick and keep trying to get back.

after locking myself up in my room for a while, i came up with these lichen inspired sketches that made me really excited to get into the studio. 

i only managed to do work on this one yesterday before i taught my advanced jewellery class at Organic Metal Gallery, but for the others ones i definitely plan to play with scale and colour. 

i like big jewellery...what can i say?

i'm still working on this piece - my day was far too long, and i was dying to get home. i couldn't keep my eyes open on the bus. that's when you know you're overworking yourself. for this one, i plan to add transitions of a lichen green enamel coming down from the top.

fear of empty spaces

just showing you all some new lichen pins i was working on recently based on some hand doodles done in my sketchbook.

right now i'm very interested in the idea of space - particularly negative space and empty space. these may seem like the same thing, but they're not to me.

i learned some new terms today: horror vacui, which is Latin for fear of empty spaces, and cenophobia which is fear of the empty - who would've thought there were terms for that? but they're interesting concepts, ones that i definitely want to delve deeper into.

there is more than this

this is definitely one of the more laborious pieces that i've done since i've graduated. i showed you all in a previous post some process shots. A LOT of sawing and enameling went on here, more than i've ever done in one piece. i really wanted this necklace done and photographed for the Outdoor Show application deadline, so every spare second i had for a few weeks was spent in the studio.

there is more than this is about both secrecy and emotional baggage using the lichen form as inspiration. in my research i found some images of a form of lichen i had never seen before and was immediately drawn to its open spaces, gentle curves, and geometric forms that were so different from the other lichens i had created. so, from first glance i found myself planning and shaping a stylized form of them in my head for my own work.

i also liked how the combined forms are both broad and encompassing as a neck piece but also revealing in their negative spaces - similar to how emotional baggage is almost tangible on the outside by its overwhelming presence in the mind. but while it may suggest the problems underneath, it gives nothing more than that.

i think one of my favourite parts is actually the shadows they cast, they're so dynamic!

the story behind the lichens

i was looking at my last post and i realized that i don't think i've ever given an explanation on this blog for the use of lichens in my work. this is odd since they appear so frequently as of late.

in my fourth year at OCAD i had to take a jewellery concept class. we were basically introduced to different media throughout the term and then had to create work in response to them.

for one project we had to respond to Alice Munro's The Moons of Jupiter. the narrator felt a sense of shame similar to that of a mold growing over her when she compared her poor upbringing in rural Ontario to her husband's bourgeois-like background.

from this i looked at the lichen to represent the shame and their relationship since a lichen is a symbiotic organism that forms a close and long term relationship with a different biological species. because the lichens' effects are widespread and long lived they represent her baggage - her upbringing, and they are not something that can be removed. the pins i made represent how the narrator has come to terms with the differences between her husband's family and her own as well as how she will carry that baggage for as long as she lives. 

since then i've been drawn to this idea of emotional baggage - of it being tangible, far reaching and oftentimes overwhelming. but i'm simultaneously interested in the idea of resilience, of coming to terms with things, of accepting them as part of your life, wearing them openly, and moving forward in whatever way you can.

so whenever you see a new lichen piece from me that's what's on my mind.

all i ever think about is this

this was the piece i was working on before my kiln decided to self destruct for a while.

do you guys sense a lichen theme? i can't get away from it for the time being. it keeps becoming relevant to me for varying reasons whenever i'm in the mood to make a new piece. you'll see more again soon but in different forms of course.

this one is called all i ever think about is this and it's made from enameled copper on sterling silver chain.

here's a picture of the pieces in process in case you've forgotten. it's crazy how enamel can change the look of metal so much.

sawing lichens

i've been pretty busy making making new work for the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition this year for the past while. when i applied last year i had only just learned enameling so i had no enameling work in my application. but since my work is now enamel-focused i knew i had to make sure that the photos the jurors saw represent that.

i just submitted my package on Sunday, just two days shy of the deadline. these images are the early stages of a new lichen necklace i just recently finished. there was A LOT of saw piercing, but after finishing the batch i realized that i've gotten so much better and faster at sawing, something that i used to grit my teeth through :)

Toronto Craft Alert feature

Toronto Craft Alert is up and running again from their long hiatus and i was pleasantly surprised to see that sweetie pie press featured my Lichen Inspired Necklace on their front page yesterday. it's always exciting to see my work somewhere else in the world than on this blog.

did all you torontonians enjoy your snowday?

i spent mine with a nice hot chocolate and taking photos of some new work.

stay warm everyone!

a necklace in process

i was working in the studio yesterday and i was all pumped to start some new enameling work. alas, it was not meant to be. right before the holidays i was on a huge enameling binge. i guess it was too big of a binge because a coil burned out in my kiln - which means it won't work til i get it fixed.

it's annoyingly difficult for me to get my kiln repaired, i had to do it after the Outdoor Show too. the repair place is so far away from where i live, too hard to get to with transit, and costs far too much to get it fixed. i'd do it myself but i'm too afraid that i'll mess up my kiln permanently.

these were some of the last pieces i was working on before my kiln decided to die.

Sleet Street

my past couple of days have been pretty useless creativity-wise. i caught the flu, and it's left me bed ridden for the past five days. all i've managed to do is drink water and tea and finish up watching Battlestar Galactica (which I've recently become obsessed with).

i'm now part of the toronto etsy street team - a network for toronto etsy sellers to support each other. and right away, wintergarden put together this nice Sleet Street treasury that focuses on Toronto talent. while the last treasury i was featured in was about combating the heat, this one celebrates the cold and includes my lichen earrings.

Crimson and Clover Treasury

Dragonflymom was kind enough to include my new Lichen Inspired Necklace in her Crimson and Clover treasury yesterday. i think I'm going to make more of those necklaces in some other colours. i also made some new necklaces inspired by scalloped collars right before the holidays. hopefully i'll add the findings and ribbons soon so i can take photos and put them in the shop.

i just started work again, so i have some very busy weeks ahead of me. i also have to apply for The Outdoor Show (eee!) so things are going to get really crazy with me making new work for my application.

wish me luck everyone!

filling up the shop

i've spent the weekend trying to fill up my etsy shop with work like this. it may not seem like it, but it takes A LOT of time to get to that point!

after all the work that goes into designing and making, i also have to take photos, and then edit them for the web, then figure out pricing, shipping and descriptions.

i am spent. this is a new piece i made right before the holidays. it was inspired by lichens and it looks really cute and fresh when its on near the collarbone.

antiqued lichens

i decided to change up my lichen series by antiquing them to this dark colour. the fused texture leaves the raised portions the natural silver colour giving them a nice contrast. i just added this necklace to my etsy shop.

i recently sold my last pair of these earrings so you can't find them anywhere at the moment. i was in the studio yesterday making some new ones, so hopefully i'll get them back in the shop asap. i really like this series because each design is hand drawn so no two pairs are alike.

my first etsy treasury

i'm pretty new to etsy so i was super excited to see my lichen earrings included in a treasury by cynmb. yay!

the front and back

since the silent auction was last week i guess i can show you all this now.

while i knew that embroidery took a LONG time, i still felt compelled to do it. though, the last three days of embroidering were torturous. i hate working until the last minute. i try to always leave at least one day before the deadline so i can sleep peacefully.

however, the Whodunit? committee gave us a deadline extension, and i foolishly decided to double the amount of elements to my composition which resulted with hours upon hours of embroidering.

this piece (though this is the unfinished version), it won't ever change if you want it to stay the same is another in my lichen series.

i started using lichens for a conceptual project at OCAD. My paper lichen pins revolved around the idea of emotional baggage, and how it can envelop a person. later i made some out of sterling silver for earrings and pendants.

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.