News / Jewelry
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Apr 12, 2013
What a difference a day makes…
Read more →Well this is embarrassing. Ten days since my last post. Pfft. First of all lets deal with this here silk ribcage, which will go into the Midsummer Collection and which I completed on Wednesday. Then I gots some explaining to do. I filled in the rest of the shape with my fine fine machine weight silk, chose a couple of other warmer shades for the spine and added some french knot spiny processes and (you probably can’t see this but) some subtle shading lines on the under edge of each rib. Then I spent some time outlining the ribs in...
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Apr 02, 2013
Ribcage Redux
Read more →So I realise I’ve not been keeping up my one-new-design-a-week typical blogging schedule this last 2 weeks ish. This is not only because of the wonderful and long longed for distractions of things like this picture – the honestly really real life beach covered in snow and topped with azure sky scene at the (almost) bottom of my street WHERE I NOW LIVE. Sigh. It’s also not only because of distractions like Ice Cream Sundaes (yes capitalised because they are Sundaes of God-like status in my house), a soothing balm-slash-reward enjoyed slightly too frequently since moving to the seaside (FYI...
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Mar 25, 2013
Deadly Black Henbane…Part II
Read more →I have been a bit quiet this week, as far as blogging goes anyway. But the needle has been stitching away as ever, and I just finished the Black Henbane flower yesterday, so here is part 2! When I left you last week I had completed the 3 petals using detached wire slips techniques. So here is number 4; And here is the fifth and final one. In some ways this was the easy bit over, now plunging the wires into the black ground fabric one by one, to constuct the flower head. As each petal is pushed through the...
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Mar 11, 2013
Procrastination, Distraction, and Getting On With It.
Read more →Procrastination is the art-killer. Who said that? I did, just then. I would believe it too, up until about 4pm yesterday I was having a very unfocused day, distracted, starting things, stopping, forgetting what I was doing. All quite annoying and not very me! But then I obviously got my shit together and did most of the Crab apple you see above. Other things I did/was distracted by: Moving house chaos in the spare room (AKA My office goddamit!). More tidy and lovely light-filled lounge. So much floor space! Fox in the garden! I never seen one before. We call...
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Mar 05, 2013
Stumpwork Willow Branch
Read more →I know I seem to always say this, but I’m really pleased with the way this one turned out. When I had decided on the construction I thought that as it was going to be so simple, it might not be so effective. I also wasn’t sure about how the detached woven picots would behave as willow leaves, and whether they would give that twirly, tendril-like appearance. They are in fact infinitely poseable. I wanted to achieve with this piece that soft, falling, almost ethereal quality that white willows have in the spring. And I’m also really happy that it...
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Feb 14, 2013
Making the Birch Forest
Read more →I’m very pleased with this, but it also feels a bit ‘un-me’ in a weird way. The whole thing seems very elegant and contemporary and somehow a bit of a departure from my normal style? I dunno. What do you think? Now, the photos are as usual crappy, but I have a good excuse this time, as it’s because the embroidery is so pretty that the photos came out so shit. Because I used super fine super shiny silk thread, silver – naturally – this one in fact: The silver one on the right and the ivory one on the...
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Feb 08, 2013
Making the Mandrake
Read more →I had fun making this little chap. I knew instantly exactly how I wanted to create it. I was going to blog this in two goes but life is crazy at the moment so it’s a one hit wonder. Hope you like it! I bought some special silver plated copper wire. It’s 0.2mm thick and to be honest probably slightly too thin to be flexible yet firm enough to be controlled easily. But the stuff I had already was too thick and I ended up with this: Just a bit too chunky. So I made this little wire mandrake frame...
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Feb 01, 2013
From Little Acorns – Part 2
Read more →I’m really sorry; sometimes I get a bit carried away when I’m sewing something and I forget to do more step by step pics. Oh well. So if you’ll remember I was feeling a bit ‘blobby’ about the acorn in it’s solo state and felt like i had just enough space to add an Oak leaf sitting behind it. It’s not how I usually plan designs – to have these kind of big changes at the late stages but that’s the evolution of design I guess. It’s kind of nice. Do you know of all the stitches I find the...
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Jan 28, 2013
From Little Acorns -Part 1
Read more →I was pleased, then a bit surprised, when Craft Gossip featered me on their blog last week. Only because they called my post on the Hawthorn flower a tutorial. I didn’t think about that when I wrote it (the pictures are rubbish for starters), it’s just my normal way of showing step-by-step as I make something. But if it works as a tutorial for you, then good stuff (but don’t go selling it or copying or anything uncool like that ;)). This week as you may deduce it is the Oak’s turn and it had to really be an acorn...
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Jan 17, 2013
Creating the Hawthorn Blossom
Read more →I was venturing into new territory with this piece: I’ve not incorporated 3 dimensional and detached elements into miniature jewellery designs, so I was a little nervous that it would work out and I could pull it off – not only as a one-off, but as a workable design that could be repeated bespoke. Here’s how I did it: I finished all 5 petals. It probably doesn’t show up in my trademark excellent cameraphone pics, but I used various random shades of white to give a bit more depth to the overall flower. Then I cut each one out, trimming...