Sunday Studio Visit … new jewellery designs AND saving the World!

This Sunday did not start out wonderfully!! I did not sleep a wink last night so am a bit behind the eight ball…. or am I? It actually meant I got alot done!

The weather is cooler today, which is also good… I think if I had been tired AND hot I would have been grumpy, maybe.

Yesterday I fired the kiln for classes I teach in my studio – you can check out some pics of classes and finished student masterpieces on my ClayMotion blog here.Today I unloaded the kiln and everything turned out wonderfully, except I forgot to take a photo…. I put it down to no sleep!

This evening I have been playing around with some new jewellery designs. While I do make jewellery from handmade ceramic beads and pendants, I like to combine them with other upcycled materials, or make jewellery completely from upcycled materials.

I believe that repurposing is important for the planet and try to incorporate this as much as possible into my everyday life as well as my art practice. This philosophy, in my everyday life and jewellery making, helps to offset the carbon footprint within my ceramic practice. While I recylce my clay as much as possible and also finish alot of my sculptural pieces using pit firing, I do purchase factory processed clay which requires transport = carbon footprint; and use a gas kiln = carbon footprint; and throw using an electric wheel = carbon footprint. So, you can see why I try to neutralise this footprint within other aspects of my art practice and life in general.

Well, after that bit of philosophising I’ll leave you with pics of what I have been playing around with this evening. In a nut shell I have working on combining a handmade heart shaped ceramic bead (made by me) with other upcycled beads and wire.

I also love stones, and have collected many over my lifetime both in Australia and overseas. I like to create pendants with them using wire wrapping materials, and find them to be very strong statement pieces.

I have also been experimenting with fabric beads using some of my own old 90s dresses. The wound fabric strips are securely wire wrapped with upcycled cake decorating wire. These beads I am then combining with other upcycled materials such as jewellery components I bought a few years ago in a bulk lot from a jewellery chain who was throwing stuff out because it was out of season. I take this jewellery apart and put it back together in different ways combining it with handmade beads and pendants of my own making.

And onto the pics…. have a great week 🙂

PS : Click on them to make them bigger!!

Wire Wrapped Stone Pendants

Fabric Bead Jewellery

Ceramic Pendant with Upcycled Beads