After I had posted about the crown I had made inspired by Calder and Medieval crowns (CLICK HERE to view the post), I began to really study the picture of the Calder necklace with the bits of wire-wrapped broken pottery. I allowed my eye to follow the lines and shapes – twisting, curling, looping. The next thing I knew, my hands were already picking up the wire! I knew that I had to try my hand at it. Instead of bits of broken pottery, I used undrilled ammonite slices that Baba, Dawn, Holly and I found while exploring a dusty tent during the Gem Shows. I think that they came out quite nicely! I like their roughness and the organic quality of the forms. I'm excited to adapt this to my own work. I can't count the times that I've wanted to set something but not had the tools. These wire bezels are fairly easy to make and don't require a lot of tools. (The heavy gauge wire is tricky to manipulate, but I found it much more pliable after annealing it.) It'll be interesting to see what I do now that I've added these to my repertoire.
10 comments:
They look great!
Really loving the Calder inspired work. The exhibit was amazing and I'm still sad I didn't buy the book at the time. Saw on another blog a museum store that still has it in stock for the original price. Might need to succumb.
Your crown is glorious and the little basket forms a delight. Have you seen the work of Biba Shutz? Here's a link to the Google image page - http://tinyurl.com/5swlpp4
All that wire ... makes my fingers ache thinking about it.
p.s. such a beautiful use of Roman glass
Hey Andrew, your wire work in wonderful,and i am so excited to get my carved skulls i alredi have a design all planed out in my head. i really love your posts so interesting and very creative. ttfn :)
Very clever! I think it's hard to make wire behave ... especially heavy gauge wire ... and beating it into submission doesn't always work ... but there's always fire. Sounds like that was the solution this time! These are beautiful, exhibit great craftsmanship, and are very playful! Sounds like a winning combination to me!
These are Gor-Geous!! wow. I'm really inspired now. ;)
What a great way to use the ammonites! You have been very busy! Kate's house holds a lot of creative energy. Wish I was sitting at the table with you!
Love the wire winding. The loops around the edges make such a great feature as well as making it secure.
Fun, very free and playful. I especially like the middle piece, which reminds me of a cat's cradle.
This is so fascinating! I have a piece inspired by Calder in my next book. His jewelry is amazing! As I was working on it, another designer friend brought him up to me. I think these things are in the air, these moments just emerge when something starts nudging some of us who are tuned to a different frequency, Calder has something to say.
I love these.
xoxo
Margot
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