Daisy Chain

What little girl hasn't sat on the grass and tried to make a daisy chain?

Picking daisies and trying to thread the stems is such a vivid childhood memory. Yet I have to say that daisy chains were a challenge for me as I used to bite my finger nails and so making that hole in the stem was not easy! But I would persevere to make a pretty little daisy chain necklace or bracelet. What about you? Do you remember making flower jewelry? I hope little kids still make them nowadays....

The image brings back such great emotions - often just of a quiet time, the sunny shining, sat on my own on the lawn, or chatting with a close friend and enjoying the summer.

Yet I wonder if any boys ever made daisy chains? I'm guessing not.  I just asked my husband and he said he never made any as a little boy, but he taught his boys how to do it when they were little and they would make really long chains - not to be worn or anything uncool like that!!!!. Ask your hubby or partner, see if he ever tried....

But adorning oneself with a little garland of flowers was such a perfect thing for a little girl. Your moment to feel special.

And so, that feeling comes into my latest color anodised aluminum bangle "daisy chain".  It's for the escapist....the person who wants to recapture those precious moments from childhood.  But maybe we shouldn't need a bangle to do that.  I'm going to make sure that this summer I find a lawn with daises and sit and make a daisy chain! Maybe I'll do it with my nephews when they come and visit - although they may not be too keen at their age :=D  I hope you'll give it a go too -and then let me know!  But if not, you can always wear a daisy chain bangle as a reminder of those simple pleasures in life.......

I have another version of this to show you on Thursday, so look out for Daisy Chain version II!

Overdyeing

This bracelet shows the technique of overdyeing, where first the aluminum is dyed one color - lemon yellow, then resists are added as the flowers and leaves and the bangle is dyed again with a quick dip in red dye.

The resist is removed and the result is yellow flowers and leaves on a peach colored background.  I've done a few using this technique but love the peach color created with the quick red dip on the yellow.

What do you think?

Lily earrings

I've been trying some metal forming techniques on the aluminum and  a new design for earrings came about from it. Little hanging flowers that make me think of lilies.

Each has two petals and hanging between the petals are beads for stamens.

 The little bead makes the tiniest sweet sound against the aluminum.

I'm enjoying trying the metal techniques and look forward to seeing where it takes me.... Just playing around for now and being open to where it goes......

Glint Bangles - Ray of light

Here are some more aluminum bangles to add to this week's creations.  They are like the green glint earrings and necklace from last week however, the glint in these cases, is dark rather than light.  

I wonder if there is a different word from glint meaning a "ray of dark" instead of a "ray of light"!!!

As you may be able to tell, I'm enjoying finding a little time to make progress on the color anodized aluminum.

What do you think?  What is your favorite color? I have a few more bangles to show you on Thursday too.... yes, now I've started, I can't stop!!!

Alphabet bangles

Here are  my two latest color anodized aluminum bangles.

I really like them with letters all over them.

Each was done in a different way, but I think both methods worked well.  I actually like the black and silver one best. Seems silly that I got into color anodized aluminum for the bright colors and now the one I like best is black and silver !!!

What do you think? Do you like them?

Green Glint

Here is my latest pair of color anodized aluminum earrings entitled "green glint".  I think glint is an underutilized word!  It means "ray of light" - so I figured naming jewelry is an ideal opportunity to use words that I don't tend to use in everyday speech.

I love the dark smokiness of the grey/black with the brightness of lime green. And the little bit of silver color exposed on the edges seems to frame them nicely.

I made a simple pendant to go with them.

Hope your day had a glint in it somewhere.

4/52 Bird a week - Sitting Pretty

For this week's bird, I used my aluminum.  I drew three little birdies "sitting pretty" on anodized aluminum and then dyed the aluminum and sealed it and shaped it into a bangle.

You can see one birdie from the front:

and two from the back:

The inside is colored a nice teal color.

Happy little birds, sitting pretty. I hope you are sitting pretty too. There's still time to join in our bird a week challenge too - check out the flickr group link below and get birding.

If you are part of the Bird a week challenge, please add your link here:

Spring Flowers or Ice cream flavors?

Spring in San Miguel begins next week - on February 2nd - my birthday! So today I finished a couple of "spring flower" aluminum bangles ready for spring.

Happy cheerful colors.  I also did a bird bracelet - ready for my "bird a week" challenge so I'll show that tomorrow.

Are you ready to think of spring yet?  It's lovely and sunny here - cool mornings and evenings but the afternoons are delightful - sunny, ice cream sort of weather.  It seems that San Miguel has become an ice cream place for me. I normally don't eat ice cream - only occasionally when I make it myself - but in the square there is this one ice cream maker whose ice cream is just divine.  Hmmm, maybe these are ice cream bangles, not spring flower bangles....tutti frutti and blueberry freeze!!!    What do you think? Spring flowers or ice cream?

Cathedral Rose Window jewelry

I made some more cathedral rose windows last week - this time making larger earrings than my original pair. These earrings are 3.5 cm diameter (approx 1.5 inches).

The design is the rose window at the East end of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco where I sing every week. I'm really pleased with how the color from the anodized aluminum shines through them, giving the illusion of stained glass.

 

I also made a pendant.  I've strung it here on 5 cables but also am waiting on a chain for it, as I think, with it's size, it will be nice on a longer chain too. 

And here's the set: 

If you are interested in rose window design.....the geometry of the design of this window at Grace is the same as the rose window in the Gothic cathedral of Chartres, France - but the final design is actually different. Here are the two so that you can compare -  and for more geometry, here is a link to a detailed comparison of the two windows. 

Chartres Cathedral Rose Window

Grace Cathedral Rose Window

Maybe I should try the Chartres window next......

Gothic Arch - stained "glass" windows

One of the defining characteristics of Gothic architecture is the pointed or ogival arch which evolved from the Roman round topped arch.

As I sit in Grace cathedral each Sunday, where I sing in the choir, I just can't help but look at the stained glass windows.  Most of the windows have what is called an internal tracery made up of small ribbed arches with different pictures or patterns in each.

The colors and indeed the reflections of the colors on the floors and walls of the cathedral are just a delight to behold.

 

As I arrived a little early last week to sing, I wandered around and just looked at the windows...again...and thus was inspired to capture some of those arches as earrings in silver and using the color anodized aluminum to mimic the look of the stained glass.

I have more to show to you another day of the rose windows but hope you like todays arches.

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????

Weekly Bird in the Hand

Photo by Merriepix

Here's my weekly "bird in the hand" - the things I'm grateful for this week:

• the smile and hello from a stranger
• the little turtle in the pond who sits on our duck nesting platform every day to catch the sun's rays
• the two little green herons we saw this week also on our duck nesting platform (we'll have to start taking reservations soon!)
• the fun of trying new techniques and designs with my aluminum jewelry
• the great comments and feedback that I got on my blog, facebook and from other friends on my new aluminium jewelry
• teachers - I started a new Spanish conversation class this week, and also had a great cartooning class
• my merry go round friends - wonderful supporters
• the warm sunshine that helps the grapes ripen and increase their sugar levels

I hope you had a good week too and had lots to be grateful for.

Merry Go Round - what's your favorite colour and how does it show in your work?

It''s time for another ride on the merry-go-round! Jump on and join a group of 8 artists/crafts-women as they link around the world and tell you a little about their lives in art and craft.

This month's question is : What is your favourite colour and how does it show up in your work?

And my answer is:

LIME GREEN! 

Hugh the Chameleon - "show your true colors

This is a perfectly timed "merry" question for me!  As you know - most of my work to date has been with silver - and silver is not my favorite colour!  I've tried different ways of adding color to silver over the years and while some have worked fine - like "Hugh" -  they haven't been quite "it" and I've still craved bright colours.  But recently I've been working more with coloring anodized aluminum to get that spark of colour in my work, either with aluminum on its own, or combining it with silver.

Fresh leaves

Spring

I just love bright colours and if you've ever been to my home or met me - you'll know that I surround myself with a lot of color...so silver is in that way quite limiting. I started working on anodized aluminum at the beginning of the year...and my success was slow to start with.....but now I'm finding lots of new ways and techniques to work with it.  The colors it produces are so vibrant.

Garden seat

So yes, lime green is bursting out of me! It just always makes me happy when I see it.  I am so attracted to it.  So it is coming through now in my aluminium work...watch this space... you will see more and more...

Bangle  - work in progress

Faux bone bangle bracelet

If you want to learn about the other members of the merry go round and how they use their favorite color, please click on the links below.  We live in all different places around the world, so time differences may impact when we all get our blog post up.

What's your favorite color?

Mitsy at ArtMind - http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com
Kim at Vilt a la Kim - http://viltalakim.blogspot.com
Sara at Crafts of Texture - http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com  
Fabienne at Easterya Jewellery Creations - http://easterya.blogspot.com
Mariana at Florcita - http://www.florcita.eu/
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent - http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
Lily at Lily Pang Art and Design - http://lilypangart.blogspot.com

Bright flowers

I made the silver part of these flower earrings a few years ago and a necklace too - shortly after starting with metal clay.  At that time I inlaid colored resin for the petals and stem.

I saw the earrings hanging up this morning and decided they needed freshening up!  So I decided to take out the resin and use some color anodized aluminum to provide the color instead.

What do you think?

The color "pops" so much now. I can see this style working with lots of different designs........ I already have a few ideas - including another old pair of earrings that I can "freshen"!