timing

Time is a funny thing.

It cannot be rushed
and it will not wait.

Patience is the hardest thing I've had to learn in my life.

With it, almost anything is bearable.

With it, good things come.

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 :)

time passes

today's my birthday and i'm stuck at work all day. i've become very aware of time lately, (i guess it was because my birthday was looming) though i'm by no means considered old (i'm only 24 now!)

i kinda have a crazy schedule so it's been a little hard to get into the studio for long periods of time. i try to squeeze my studio time within 3-4 hour time periods over a couple days a week. i work best for longer periods of time rather than lots of short periods, but it's better than nothing anyway!

as you can see, my workspace is always a mess. though i do like my supplies to be very organized. 

i was doing some more lichen pieces this week alongside another commission. here are two stacked sheets of sterling silver which i tape together so i can saw out two layers at a time.

just thought i'd show it since i get a lot of surprised looks from people when they find out that our jewellery pieces often start out from sheet. it's kind of hard to imagine if you're not fully involved in the process.

and thankfully i'm able to squeeze in a small birthday lunch with my friend Nini today, at least i'm not too busy for that :)

have a great day readers!

sawing curves

i was working on this big bracelet cuff at the gallery last month. Robin had this design etched into steel, places a silver sheet over it, and then rolls it through the rolling mill to get the design imprinted onto the metal.

roller printing is a far better method than etching into silver since you don't lose any material.

i have to draw dots on the areas to saw out or for sure i'll mix them up.

if you've never sawn out anything by hand before, know that sawing a curved piece of metal is pretty tedious. i know that fact far too well from this piece of mine. but isn't the shadow lovely?