Jury Photos

And this is what professional photography can do for you:




Photos I took of these two pieces were posted earlier this month. They were alright for a blog or website, but cannot compare to these! They don't even look like the same pieces! These photos were taken by Larry Sanders, of Sanders Visual Images. So much nicer!!

Capturing the Inaugural Moment

I did not travel to Washington D.C. for President Obama's (I just LOVE that phrase!) inauguration, and miss being a part of the energy, but my consolation is that you can take some very, very nice photographs from an HD TV! All of these photos are still shots of the live video feed broadcast by ABC. Here is a nice shot of the Obamas and Bushes on the South Capital steps, just before former-President Bush and Laura Bush leave in the Marine helicopter.



What a great looking couple! I watched the inaugural events ALL day (8AM to 5PM, CST) and after a while began to really love Michelle's outfit. The fabric of her dress and coat have a gorgeous texture and I love the warm color. It is very unlike me to comment on anything related to fashion, but her outfit really was quite striking, especially on her! And check out Sasha in the top photo. Her outfit is a bold combination of pink and orange that actually works; I wonder if she picked out her clothes.

I am so thrilled! President Obama!

More Fun with Coral and Viking Knitting

The four stitch double knit chain that was jettisoned from the coral pendant shown in the previous post got a new life! I cut a section off the original chain to use with this piece that I made on Sunday. Eight stitches worked on a large dowel incorporating a new stock of red coral chips. The resulting piece has a fascinating feel, spongy and squishy, and I have a hard time keeping my hands off it! I quite like this design and already have plans for a few more like it, but with other stones (turquoise comes to mind). This piece was mailed off last night to be photographed by Larry Sanders for use in applying to shows. I can't wait to see my new professional jury photos!

Posted by Jan Raven on http://wovenwire.blogspot.com.
If you are seeing this on MakingWireJewelryBlog.com, know that this content is being lifted without permission or attribution to the real author (me!). Unethical at best and possibly a violation of copyright and of U.S. law (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act). If you really want to learn how to make wire jewelry, please go to JewelryLessons.com and support actual artists!

Viking knit chain with red coral pendant

I spent a few days this week modifying an older piece of work. Originally, this pendant was on a four-stitch double knit silver chain with a coordinating hook. It never really met my own vision of what it should look like, mostly because the chain had been pulled through too small of a hole. It looks OK, but I don't like the look of very tightly pulled chains, and the chain diameter was not the correct scale for the large pendant. I was paging through my sketchbook and found a sketch for a different type of pendant suspended on a short length of Viking knit, bracketed by two small hand-coiled links. Perfect!

I made the 5-inch segment of 5-stitch double knit and the two links to match the pendant, then made a new length of 4-stitch double knit (not pulled so tightly!) and a new hook to match my current style of coordinating hooks. I am very pleased with the outcome! I made this piece a little long (22"), so it looks great on a black turtleneck. I am planning on including this piece in my next round of jury photos (to be taken on Monday!).

Posted by Jan Raven on http://wovenwire.blogspot.com.
If you are seeing this on MakingWireJewelryBlog.com, know that this content is being lifted without permission or attribution to the real author (me!). Unethical at best and possibly a violation of my copyrights and of U.S. law (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act). If you really want to learn how to make wire jewelry, please go to JewelryLessons.com and support actual artists!

A Tale of Two Hearts

The most recent issue of Art Jewelry Magazine contained a small teaser for the next issue, which will feature a simple wirework heart pin by Sharilyn Miller. I don't usually recreate any magazine projects, but I HAD to make this pin. And I had to make it for Christmas! As usual, I used the photo as a guide and made my own version with no further instruction.

I wanted to post these photos when I finished making the pin on the 24th, but didn't want to ruin the surprise just in case the intended recipient decided to read my blog on Christmas eve (Hi Mary!). I am sure I'll make another (or three or four) when the March issue comes out.

Posted by Jan Raven on http://wovenwire.blogspot.com.
If you are seeing this on MakingWireJewelryBlog.com, know that this content is being lifted without permission or attribution to the real author (me!). Unethical at best and possibly a violation of copyright and of U.S. law (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act). If you really want to learn how to make wire jewelry, please go to JewelryLessons.com and support actual artists!

My First Rivets

The title for this post sounds like the title for a children's book, which I think is appropriate since my first project made me jump up and down with child-like glee. I couldn't bear to wait for my new tools to arrive, so I rummaged around to see what I could do with what I had. Basically, I have a lot of wire and a lot of construction materials.

I found a scrap of thin wood, drew a somewhat random pattern, and cut out the rough shape using a coping saw. I dragged out my new and unused Dremel with a flexshaft attachment, added a sanding drum, and had a blast refining the wood shape. I wanted to try putting some flush rivets of copper in the wood base, but decided I better just start with an ordinary rivet with mushroom heads.

My woodworking dowels have an interesting spiral groove (for holding glue). I resisted the urge to lay in some wire (too obvious for now), and decided to rivet this to my wood base after flattening the bottom on sandpaper first. I had issues attaching the dowel to the base. I wanted to use 14 gauge copper wire (that is all I have) with a balled head on top of the bare wood, but I could not get the copper to ball up. I switched to Argentium wire (balls up just fine), then decided the color contrast with copper would be nice, meaning making copper "washers," and why use plain copper when heat-treated copper yields such nice red-pick colors? So my washers are randomly shaped pieces of heat-treated 28 gauge copper sheet. They kind of look like leather.



My drill bit died, so I couldn't drill holes in the copper, but I managed to make holes by using an awl to deform the sheet, file down the bulge, push out again with the awl, file again. This worked extremely well! I love creative problem-solving!! The part of the project that made me jump up and down was the tube rivet at the top. This was just the coolest thing ever! I think these will start showing up in my work.

I have been "absorbing" information about riveting for several months now, but I have to thank three sources for finally pushing me to actually try it: craftcast.com, Robert Dancik, and Janice Fowler. Craftcast.com hosted the live online workshop with Robert Dancik that I wrote about yesterday, and last week I bought a very nice tutorial on tube rivets from metalsmith, Janice Fowler. All great sources!!

Online workshop with Robert Dancik

Last night I "attended" a live online workshop with jewelry artist Robert Dancik on making cold connections (wire rivets, tube rivets, making tabs, countersinking rivets). It was inspiring, informative, and a blast to attend (even though my browser froze twice and I had to force quit and restart). I have tried to teach myself these techniques before, but never quite "got it." Robert's oversize models were brilliant, and cleared up the questions I didn't even know I had! His teaching style is very laid-back, which I enjoyed immensely. You kind of had to have a laid-back attitude about the whole event, since the computer and phone connections were acting up for various people all evening. There were people attending from all over the world, which I still find absolutely fascinating. The class was hosted by Alison at craftcast.com, and she did a great job trying to keep everyone together and dealing with issues of connection as they were "voiced" in the chat room. I feel lucky to have attended, since I didn't even find out about this workshop until Sunday! I just happened to catch a post about it on the Daily Art Muse (my favorite blog!). I am now full of ideas, and only lack some of the tools needed to bring those ideas to life. Today I will order some tools (bench pin, jeweler's saw and blades, super small drill bits), and in the meantime will just practice the techniques. Hopefully, I will have some new work to post in a few days!!