Intentional Stones

Historical Inspiration

In the past few days, I've read Agamemnon by Aeschylus and re-read Oedipus Rex by Sophocles for a class.  My mind overflows with regal women trapped between the rocks and hard places created by their men and their own pride.  Not to mention the pride of the gods.

This has, in the way that it will, made me think about what kind of jewelry these women would be wearing.  (Okay, yeah, I'm a dork about it.  Hush. )  So, off I went to look on the ever present Interwebs for some inspiration for this week's jewelry making.  Mind you, I think most of what I found will be more inspirational to Simbelmyne, given her gifts with wire.

Here's what I found that really struck me.  I present them to you for your enjoyment and record them for my own work later.  If I make anything based off them, I promise to post them.

 

Mycenae Earring

    

Greek Bracelet and Hellenistic Earrings

And my absolute favorite ones:

3rd Century BC Hellenistic Earrings

Simple Geometry

Collaboration begins

Mina and I are starting to work together more and more.  I'm making findings for her, I'll be sending pendants her way (she made this one, it's totally pretty!)  This one starts simple, but I can see some pretty amazing work ahead of us.

This could get interesting, since we work in vastly different ways and materials. 

-Simbelmynë

Labradorite Lyre

When I don't have a direct inspiration of a specific form or image I play with the wire until it takes a free form shape.  Sometimes it's the stones giving me ideas, sometimes it's shapes and sometimes other ideas possess me as I work. 

This piece worked all three ways.  This particular hand cut briolette is much wider than usual for it's height and I loved the idea of mimicking that shape in wire, as if it was a container with a drop of liquid falling into it.  But liquid lead to swirls and the swirls wanted more stones and those stones reminded me of a string of stars...  The final necklace carries the smaller stone motif along the beaded strand.  

Labradorite probably inspired this creative process.  It tends to inspire whimsical thinking and creative confidence in me.  Nevermind that it is Mina's favorite stone.  Good thing I hadn't chosen her gift yet!

-Simbelmynë

Sketching with Beads and Metal

This piece is commissioned by a friend with the most gorgeous pet snake.  It's kind of a difficult piece to fit and balance, so I made a mock-up to make sure it's comfortable.  I'll post photos of the completed piece once she receives it.

Meanwhile, I get to love his wee beady eyes

Reminder Ring

NaCraMaMo, NaNoWriMo, Keeping the house clean, Positive Attitude, Diet, Exercise- There's always something I'm trying to commit to doing every day, all the time, to make my life closer to my ideals.

When Adam pointed out to me that this simple bit of wrapped wire looked like a bit of string tied around my finger as a reminder, I knew I had something special. A Reminder Ring.

I've been wearing one for my creative challenge of the month. Eventually I will not be looking to others to provide these for me, but for now, I need the external motivation.

I'm very happy to wrap gemstone beads onto them. The one in the picture is carnelian, a stone I associate with creative freedom.

How do you keep things in mind?

-Simbelmynë

Andalusite Cage Wrap

The early days of National Craft Making Month were filled with the long built up energy of getting ready and of months without crafting.  And so I burst into the month with millions of ideas and new sources of inspiration ready to create!

This was one of the first pieces I made last month and I wanted to talk about making it.

This isn't a formal tutorial, but I took a fair amount of photos as I was making the piece, just so I could remember.  I'd love to share the process.

Step by step 

Materials, one large bead, 22 gauge sterling silver round, square and half round wire

This bead comes from a lovely strand of Andalusite coin beads that I've been treasuring and using slowly. I chose this one because it resembles a road disappearing on the horizon.  And the crossing is a thicker black point with an inclusion of the brown crystal off center.  It looks a bit like a sunset.  Many of the stones have the crossroad directly in the center of the stone, but this one really seemed to fit my mood better.  It's more like I'm on the journey and I cannot see my destination, but I know the crossroads is ahead. 


I measured the bead carefully with my calipers and also used a strip of scrap paper to measure the edge circumference.  Then I used my ring mandrel and mallet to form the two frames.  I bent the end wires perpendicular to the fame where they met and then back on the front wire, forward on the back wire.  I also measured the width of the bead at it's center, then I used the caliper to mark half the target distance on the neck wires (the thickness of the bead divided by two) and bent the wires up exactly that distance from the frame wire.  When I put the two bundles of end wires together, the two circles stood out parallel

I also created a small hammered 'S' element for the back of the cage using the frames width as a guide.  I wanted it to sit slightly higher up in the back so the stone could still be seen underneath.


 I hardened the round wire by pulling and made a freeform design to use as the edge of the cage.  I had hoped to do something a little more geometric, but the first attempt is still nice looking.

I formed the frame wire around the mandrel as well and trimmed the end short creating a spiral at the end of the design to overlap a wave at the beginning and create a secure resting place for the end of the headpin supporting the bead. 


Then I chose the front frame and wrapped at points where the design was touching.  I was gently reshaping the squiggling pattern as I went to insure a more even spacing of the wraps, to make sure it was secured all the way around the frame and just for aesthetics. 

I repeated this process with the front frame wire.  I taped the wire ends together to hold it in place as I wrapped.  I attached it at the top and bottom of the piece, leaving some space at the sides to attach the 'S' element and leave a little room to adjust the side wires before the last wrap made their positioning permanant.  


Once I was satisfied with the attachment points on both sides all the way around the frame, it was time to add in the bead.  I slid the pin through my bottom design, the bead and then into the taped bundle of wires at the top. 

I checked the fit in the frame, the stone was sitting just a little bit higher on one side than the other, but it was quite easy to adjust the wrapping so it did not interfere.  This is what you get from designing as you go.

Then I removed bottom of the tape holding the wires together, made sure they remained formed a tight bundle with the round headpin in the center and wrapped them twice with half round wire.  I separated the wires, chose the two in the center, bent them backwards over my tiny needle nose pliers, secured them with two more wraps of the halfround wire and trimmed the wrap wire.

One nice thing about a freeform design when I'd planned something more regular, is it's easier to decide what to do with the extra length of the frame wires.  I just spiraled the ends and bent them down to accentuate the design. 


I think this design will work well with a wide variety of beads, as long as they are fairly large.  It's delightful that it's open on the front to display a gorgeous bead and the back also make a nice ornate pendant with a background of the stone's color.

I'm imagining something more like knotwork for the side design for the formal version.  It is more of a filigree setting than a free standing cage.

Please, tell me what you think of this writeup.  I'd love to write a tutorial or two on more popular pieces, and I need feedback!

-Simbelmynë

Books for the Road

Along with crafting, I'm rediscovering my love of books. Maybe I've just been too busy. Maybe the enormous number of unread books in my house in Pittsburgh has been stressing me out. Maybe the television was eating my soul. But I hadn't been entertaining myself with literature or non fiction for quite a while.  The idea of e-books is growing on me, but moving away from your wireless router or out of cellphone range will never be a problem with the bound paper version.

The kids love to know they aren't alone in getting dragged around the country and Are We There Yet is a favorite with both the kids and the adults. The elephant who ate the hated hat is Havoc's hero, and I'd love to surf on sandstone cliffs at the Australian Bight.

I've been cultivating our habit of breaking up our long drives by stopping a interesting spots along the way. It's better to find places that aren't marked on the signs sometimes. So we've been using The Geology of Australia as a bit of an off the path travel guide. This book is amazing in that it provides an intelligent explanation of geology and it's terms for a beginner, but also goes in depth into new information and nitty gritty science. I admit it, I've never taken a course in geology, and considering how much I love stones, this is unbelievable. I may rectify that problem when I get back, because this book is fascinating!

I miss my jewelry books, and the internet has supplied me with the information I need, but sometimes the best part of a book it's lack of distractions- No people! I was lucky enough to find a great bead shop and though I've finally reached the point where I feel I have enough beads. (Yes, I said it, it's possible to have enough beads.) They had a lovely rack of instructional books. There are hundreds of books on basic wireworking and bead work out there, the unusual thing is a book about more advanced technique. Wirework, and Illustrated Guide to the Art of Wire Wrapping was just the right thing, taking basic technique to the next step with inspiring and beautiful projects. There is no substitute for time in the studio with an experienced teacher, but when it's hard to find the time, books are great for self teaching.

And for entertainment, I'm reading the long long awaited final volume of the Wheel of Time series, The Gathering Storm. I love a good fantasy novel, especially one you can get your teeth into, and at almost 800 pages, these books will not leave you unsatisfied. The death of the Author was quite a blow to the fantasy world, but he left behind a testament to the care he took in writing. After committing to novels and a series of this epic proportion, he had carefully planned and plotted so much that it was possible to finish his work. Brian Sanderson is doing a great job bringing me the story I've been wanting to read since the early nineties in college.

What are you reading?

Charming

    

In crafting month, I was trying to make a charm a day. This simple goal kept me thinking on a small, nice and workable scale for my items.

But there's so much you can do with a charm!

The beauty of a charm is that simple or complex, representative or abstract, beaded or only metal, it represents a complete idea. You can make them in identical pairs, sets to tell a story, and singles that are a picture.

And I love that you can wear just one on a necklace or choose as many as you like. Tack one onto a beaded bracelet for fun.

Charms make a statement that represents you or reminds someone you care about of why they are special.

What would your charms say?

If you like these or have any ideas you'd love to see on a charm bracelet, just contact us!

Chakra Jewelry

Yesterday was merely an introduction.  I'm combining all of this for a larger concept.

I've started the path of Chakra Work.  Simply, the Chakras are points on the body that represent the types of life force energy of a person.  Each has a definite location and color and as they ascend the spine to the head, they represent needs and abilities that move from basic to esoteric.  They are described in the Upinshadas, or sacred texts of the Hindu religion.  But have been explored widely in many new age traditions.  I hope, in the course of this project, to read the primary sources on this topic, as well as the thinking of people throughout history.  I have also been studying traditional and new designs for the representations of the Chakras.

In the end I'll have a pretty wide variety of pieces.  The exploration of each chakra's meaning and symbols will be worked into each piece.  Until finally, I've got a design I like in the wire and I will make it into a link for my bracelet. 

Let me illustrate the process.

The Root:  The Root or Base Chakra is located at the last bone of the spine, the coccyx.  It represents survival and security.  The root Chakra was pretty simple for me.  Possibly because I'm a mom full time in my home and spend the majority of my time focusing on basic needs-food, home, and safety.

I started with the simple shapes and colors of the mandalas I'd found.  The four petals of the flower, the square and triangle, and the dark red.  I formed the frame and the square and found a triangular garnet bead and began working on combining them.  The result was this pendant:

It came out a little big for a bracelet and as a work in progress, it didn't come out perfectly and linking it to another unit would have been impossible.  But for my use it's lovely.  I also decided that I'd like to incorporate the sanskrit characters in the links, if possible.  Using my experience, I measured my frame a little smaller, designed a wire version of the character representing "Mūlādhāra"- मू .

I'm currently working on the Sacral Chakra, located at the ovaries or prostate and representing the sexual and creative energy.  I hadn't thought I'd have too much trouble with this one, but was I ever wrong!  I haven't even decided on the frame yet. 

Here's a sneak peak at the work I've done:

I will post each link with with it's process steps as it's complete.

-Simbelmynë