More alphabet bangles

I've done a few more alphabet bangles in different fonts and different colors.  Some are still in progress but here are the latest:

You'd never guess I was enjoying this, would you!   :=D

Dogwood bangle

Continuing with my aluminium bangles this week, I made a leaf and blossom one in a nice soft green.  The blossoms and leaves reminded me of a dogwood tree. 

We visited Yosemite with my parents one May and were greeted with the most gorgeous flowering dogwoods there.  I think that was the first time I had ever seen so many all in one place.

There is also a wonderful Asian botanical garden here in Glen Ellen, called Quarryhill Botanical Garden. They have a stunning collection of Asian dogwoods there, including gorgeous yellow ones.

It's such a pretty tree isn't it.  Masses of blossoms!

Adrift at sea

I had a little time to get back to colored anodized aluminum this week and have made a few new bangles.

This one makes me think of the sparkling clear warm waters in a sunny clime, and just floating out as I look for fish in the water....maybe on a raft.... Possibly this is due to it being a grey rainy day here today!

This was a new dyeing technique I was trying and I like it on the matt finish.  The whole piece feels so nice and smooth.

I have more to show in the next couple of days, using different dyeing techniques, so I hope you'll come back to see!

It takes guts......

I was thinking the other day, as I regularly do, about how the individual 'me' comes through in my jewelry.  With my silver work you see whimsy reflecting my sense of humor; flowers, birds and animals reflecting me as a nature lover; stained glass windows reflecting my singing at Grace etc etc..... So I started wondering how the 'me' can come through in my new aluminium work.

At the moment I'm trying lots of new things and techniques with the aluminium and being open to it all and seeing where it'll take me...but I thought I should try and think of what makes me who I am and put a little of that into my aluminum work. This bracelet is a result of that!

It illustrates the biologist in me (my undergraduate degree was in Biology) - and also a little of my gut issues - I am Celiac. Thus if you look carefully, you'll see some microvilli...and different cells.... and membranes from our body and guts..... and maybe even some good gut bacteria!  And as my favorite color is lime green, I chose to depict them all in shades of green - the perfect shade for a queasy tummy!!!

I used little rivets to hold it together...I'm hoping they don't indicate kidney stones or something.....

I mentioned this unusual "creation" to my sister a few days ago and she seemed to think that I wouldn't elaborate about it in my blog!  Well here it is!  Can you see your gut lining in it?????? :=D

Hmmm. Now what should I call this????

Harold and the Purple Crayon

When my sister and her family were here this summer, we noticed that all of them wore quite a bit of purple.  It's not a color you see very often here in the US.....Then when we went back to England last month, we noticed that all the shops were full of purple!!  No wonder the fam were wearing it! It's everywhere.....so I did buy myself a couple of purple sweaters to bring back.....

Fast forward to trying a new technique with coloring anodized aluminum....and out came the purples! And pinks!!!  As I was creating them, with all the different patterns, I thought of the lovely book Harold and the purple crayon.

If you haven't read Harold's book - go and find it now!  It's delightful. It all begins with a little boy Harold deciding to go for a walk in the moonlight and he takes with him his purple crayon......  Perfect for all ages.

And talking of the book....let me briefly digress a little.... A while ago when I was singing in a quartet, we would rehearse at my house and my pet parrot Harold would join in our singing - especially the high notes.  At the time, we contemplated calling ourselves "The Purple Crayons" as we were really just Harold's back up vocals!!  Wouldn't that be a good name?

Anyhow - back to the earrings.....I feel they are somewhat Zentangle-esque?  (assuming you know what Zentangle is?)...... and not that I've ever done any Zentangle before..... Anyhow, I started by coloring and dyeing a large square of aluminum, sealed it and then cut it up in different directions to make the earrings. 

Vibrant colors?  Well, you no longer have to be bold (or old!) to wear purple - it is the season's color!

Wait until the see the Zentangle-esque bracelet I've been working on!  Not purple.....but...

Yearning for color

 

I'm all ready to start more experimenting with colored anodized aluminum (or colour anodised aluminium).  I tried a couple of simple pieces recently, shown here (the round pair I made for our recent merry go round challenge). 

There is quite a  process involved with coloring anodized aluminum which I'll explain briefly.  When aluminum is exposed to the atmosphere, an inert film forms on it's surface as a protective layer again corrosion.  This layer is chemically bonded to the metal's surface.  When aluminum is anodized by placing in a bath of acid with an electric current, this oxide layer is artificially created - much thicker and more consistent than the one formed naturally.  The surface takes on an appearance similar to a honeycomb with microscopic pores.  These pores readily absorb inks and dyes, if they have the correct particle size, which allows for decorative coloring.  After coloring, the aluminum is sealed which closes the pores and the color becomes trapped in the metal and so is actually part of the metal.  It is therefore resistant to rubbing, abrasion, solvents etc...and as aluminum is light weight, it makes it perfect for jewelry.

As you can imagine there is quite a bit of fiddling in the whole process. So far I've just done some simple earrings but I'm hoping later this month I can dedicate some more time to experimenting.

I just love the colors you can get with aluminum - so vibrant and fresh. Yes - very different from my usual style...but who knows where this will lead?

Here are some I made earlier in the year.

I'd welcome your thoughts and comments......

A Month of Earrings

I joined a "challenge" at the beginning of the month.  It is to make 30 pairs of earrings by April 1st....that means you make on average, one earring a day throughout February and March.  I thought it would be good to join in - because I tend to make more necklaces than earrings and also because I have very few pairs of earrings myself!

You've seen some of my first 6 entries so far, in other posts, but I'll collate them all here.....and show you the new ones as they come along in future posts.

As I have only 6 pairs so far  and it's the 15th, I need to finish off a few more that have just come out of the kiln to keep up to date!

You'll notice that a couple of them are a different style for me.  They are created by coloring anodized aluminum.  I'll explain more later in another post....

There are 15 of us in the challenge and you can see all the earrings so far on our flickr group here.  If you fancy joining in - you still can.....you've only got 15 days to catch up :-)