The Rabbits

rabbit rabbit rabbits

so these are some of the rabbits in my home...I've been told I might have a problem...

Ballerina Bell

Inside of the skirt before setting the bell

The top of the bell with tab

the bell is set

the bell is finished

images taken 17/06/11...This is one of 3 bells that I want to make as part of my Ballerina series, trying to get this bell together was probably the best challenge I have had in a while....and as usual because things were very intense during this process, I did not document all the things that happened. The setting of the Ballerina on to her skirt was a design issue that I sorted out when I made the spin ring. The inserting of the bell was another story.

I tried so many things, riveting, jump rings... etc I even considered jewellers 'adhesive'... but in the end even though is will never be seen, I made a pierced unit with claws, that is set in place by the tube that comes through the centre of the skirt and sets the ballerina and skirt together. I set a dome on top of the bell, with a tab which has the 925 and my scv stamp on it, and then set it with the claws on the inside of the skirt. I will get better and neater by the third bell...I'm sure. And it works... the knocker, is a silver heart which comes from earrings that I make.

I little background on these elements, the skirt my friend Carla made, and the bell was a brass-bell (which I silver plated) from a strand of bells that I have had since I was a teenager living at home. The ballerina was cast and adapted from one of those plastic cake decorations. So each object has become a found object that I have combined together. Even though I had the skirts made for this series they feel like found objects to me.

The reason for bells in this series, sound...music...the bell to mark the beginning and end of my ballet exams as a child... and I have always had a variety of bell in my life for some reason...

W/hole hearts... 6/20

h-z enamel hearts

finished a-f

image taken 24/06/11...So I've made 6/26...not quite sure what happened to my images of names starting with...f.... This is much like...a...with a little person in a window, but this time a lady (it's the last bag on the right of the 6 hearts).

Any way this is my process, I have all the enamelled hearts pinned behind me on a board and then remove them to make one, when finished I pin them up on the board in front of my bench. I prefer seeing what I have done, rather then what I have to do. Mentally I think it's a more positive and less daunting to see what I have achieved. When I took these images I was busy with names beginning with...g....

I did have a little bit of a brain faff and thought that I should start making these hearts at random, I was worried that one of two things could happen...either I run out of ideas by the last few letters of the alphabet or the works get more intense when I get to the end. Should I make the work randomly to avoid this melt down or build-up, so that everything looks even and balanced???? Well I decided to carry on in alphabetical order, no matter what the out come. I think it will be a good insight into my design progression or regression...

W/hole hearts...names beginning with e

fitting on the claws once the heart shape was sawn out of the 'lace'

This is the enamelled side the copper was burnt after the first layer of enamel, which has left these intense dark patches.

all done

images from 21/06/11...names beginning with e...emma, evan, elisa, eileen...I made imprint from plastic 'lace' doilies in clay and then made wax impressions which I cast, quite a while ago. I have not done anything with these bits for a bout a year...it was a friend emma's birthday when I made this and she always reminds me of material, lace etc...being a clothing designer. So emma is an e- name and this seemed apt. I had a difficult time deciding how the claws would interact , but I think my solution worked I filled the bit that are to be soldered on into the 'dotted' elements that are present in the lace design and fitted them. Once set they blend in quite well.

W/hole heart...names beginning with d

enamelled front...names beginning with d

back of  brooch

photo's taken 21/06/11... so names beginning with d... ended up being no where near where it started out and unfortunately because I was so concerned with how things were not going (cause for a while I thought I'd have to start all over again), I did not photographically record things happening. I started by making a pair of scissors and wanted this to be a 'cut on the dotted line' piece. But, as I started putting in the dotted line things went wrong. This is what happens sometime when you work all day and then make jewellery at night. I was engraving the dotted lines and they were terrible. I then ended up with a solid engraved line around the whole border. Things were touch and go...so it was time to go home. After a rest, I thought I could salvage the original idea, but did not know how. I thought about engraving lines where the stitches are...sometime the idea has to be put aside if there is any hope of salvaging the work. The result...which I am really happy with.. was to saw along the engraved line leaving small tabs hidden under the stitches. Then I drilled holes and used the red embroidery thread to stitch the border and middle 'together'. The texture is hammered and the surface is blackened. I think it has ended up with a sense of tension and distress... and the cut on the dotted line will happen later

W/hole heart...names beginning with c

back side of the two halves of c brooch

front side of c brooch with porthole

set brooch with man's legs through the porthole

front enamelled side of c brooch

Photo's taken 17/06/11....names beginning with c...carla, charmaine, chereen, craig....so i made porthole and decided to that I wanted to see a little person through the porthole. Why his legs...why not...as I was viewing different people through the window, this view happened by chance and i liked the oddness of things...what is he doing?

W/hole hearts...names beginning with b

The beginning drilled holes to start melting

after melting although it's a bit to even and organised

after a bit more melting and fusing with claws added

the front of the brooch with enamel

Photo's taken 19/04/11...This is the start of names beginning with b...belinda, bella, bronwen, bevan, brandon....I decided to melt holes of craters on the back of the brooch. Its an obvious like to holes in your heart, whether this is a good or bad thing I don't know. But I have decided to make the back of each heart different as it goes along.