Showing posts with label rolling mill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rolling mill. Show all posts

Saturday, August 29, 2009

My "Second Career" !

Designing and creating jewelry is Naked Jewelry's “second career”. She loves to design with techniques that create organic textures and finds it a privilege to use the precious metals and stones of the earth to create personal adornments that bring people happiness. Her Etsy shop offers many beautiful pieces http://www.nakedjewelry.etsy.com/ .

























Designing and creating jewelry is my “second career”. For 26 years, I co-owned a video production company (www.onthescene.com) headquartered in Los Angeles. I loved the company and the employees who called it home, but my partner and I did not want to grow old “propped up at our desks” as we used to say and so in 2006 we sold the company to investors and I was able to pursue my growing passion for jewelry making.I took my first beading class in 2006 and was hooked!













































After about six months, I realized that I wanted to have a design range that required metalsmithing skills so for the past two years, I have been taking a variety of classes along with book learning and plain old experimentation. I find that I gravitate to techniques that create organic textures. I love to use my rolling mill to imprint grasses, bark and leaves into silver. I figure you just can’t improve upon Mother Nature so why not use it, along with natural gemstones, to create beautiful jewelry!My bucolic studio is perched atop a hill in our backyard. From there I watch squirrels, hummingbirds and spiders go about their business. I can hear the next door neighbor's baby burble and coo. And, as I pass by our vegetable garden, I am able to watch the plants grow almost imperceptibly day by day.I did not imagine even five years ago that I would be making jewelry. Life has a way of taking some unexpected twists and turns. I was never interested in science or chemistry, yet as a jeweler, I am now fascinated by the characteristics of stones and the use of heat to manipulate precious metals. After nearly three decades working in a service industry under tight deadlines, spinning pie plates and huge pressure, I love the peace and solitude of creating a piece of wearable art that is all my own, entirely with my own hands; relying only upon myself to conceive, design, execute and sell. For me, it is a privilege to use the precious metals and stones of the earth to create personal adornments that bring people happiness.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Let's Hear It For Busy Mums Everywhere!

Original Design UK
Busy mum Lou from Original Design UK has a beautiful little girl and a new little one on the way
and still finds time to create her many wonderful designs. She credits her organization and lots of storage to help keep her productive. Sit back, and enjoy a visit with Original Design UK.


www.originaldesignuk.etsy.com


My name is Lou and I live in Manchester, UK. I’m a full time mum to my 18mth old daughter and have a boy due in March so things are going to get a little more hectic! I studied
3-D Design at Uni and i’m a trained Art & Design lecturer. A couple of years ago I got sick of teaching and decided to try selling my own artwork, I also have a mail order plants business and website . I’m probably like most crafters in that I have to try everything that appeals (and my etsy shop reflect this!) so i’ve done Painting, Mosaic, Ceramics and now I do Jewellery i’ve done Resin and beaded work but i’ve recently started doing Sterling Silver and intend to keep doing this. I’m currently buying materials to start CP soap making and Screen printing too, I love to learn new techniques and I get bored only doing one thing.My inspiration comes mainly from the natural world and vintage prints and architecture.
I primarily hand pierce my own designs from Silver sheet which I often texture using vintage lace and papers, i’d be lost without my Rolling Mill and of course my trusty piercing saw. I don’t really have a great deal of large tools or equipment apart from lots of files and so on, I do it all by hand but I do use a drill with my polishing mops to give the Jewellery in either brushed or shiny finish. When Lex is up I tend to sort orders/emails do research and sort of my material orders and so on, i’ll also sketch my designs and transfer the images onto my silver ready to work on when she nods off at noon. As soon as she is in bed I crack on with making and periodically go on the pc to sort out whatever needs doing and take my photographs. I have a large home studio where I create my work, it’s currently pretty organised (it’s not normally this tidy)with a few desks and big cupboards and i’ve cleared away most of my tools ready for my new supplies.
I would recommend lots of storage, I find i’m far more productive when I have separate spaces for different things and don’t have to keep clearing away and setting up all the time. I try and list a good few items a week dependant on the complexity of the piece. I’ve got lots of new designs and finishes in mind including more oxidised silver and colourful patinas that i’m about to start making, I think i’ll have to book myself a day off to give birth!
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