Sterling Silver Dragonfly on Copper Square

 

I have been making bugs... using my pen and my torch...

I like to study bugs.... 

they are small,  with lots of delicate working parts, amazingly strong for their size... 

some nasty, some nice... 

and there are so many different kinds... and they do so many different things... 

Bugs are just all around very  interesting subjects to get to know more about..

We designed and created the sterling silver  Dragonfly  on copper square early in the year

and it is time to build up stock again.. not a good season to be running out of popular designs...

although I have to admit there are a few other styles that I am very low on,

if not completely out of at the moment..

and I should have had more made...  but alas... time... energy....... a good book.

Lots of tiny Dragonfly parts all prepared... cut, shaped and hammered ... 

little dragonfly wings, little dragonfly bodies and little tiny silver grains for the dragonfly eyes... 

That is one in the middle, there's more in a little wooden dish to the left... 

 We usually split up the jobs..  

Johns' hands are stronger than mine, so he gets to handcut all the copper squares

 and do the heavy hammering.. 

I layout all the tiny parts and set them up..  

 ... sometimes my tools or my big hands have accidentally knocked my board 

.. Not a good day when that happens...

Here they are all covered in carbon.. it has to be removed

  but the texture and color is gives for taking a photograph suits my fancy ...

 I really love this contrast.

and

I absolutely Love the Pattern they make all lined up like that...

I imagine quilt patterns, floor tiles, rugs, fabric ...

I start rearranging them

to see what they might look like with all there tails touching 

or their little pairs of eyes all staring at each other

 Then I am imagining them all divided by long bands of another metal 

or fabric if they are a quilt  and what kind of borders could be invented.. 

 or maybe designs inlaid in wood.. or a surround for a fireplace 

or borders around the edge of an illuminated book.........

oh once it starts it is hard to go back to work... 

 the Dragonflies are distracting me from the Dragonflies...

 but I'm sure you know what it's like 

and how one thing leads to another and another....

  

 

Back to reality... 

Now they are ready for the pickle pot

-  a nice name for being dunked in a scalding acid bath - which will remove all the built up carbon. 

  John drills holes in the tops with the flex shaft...

  We sand and polish them in the vibratory tumbler.

Then I make the earwires and attach them 

and we are all stocked up again...

$25.00 pr.     ...approx.  1½" from top of ear wire to bottom of copper square
...bug drawings (in first photograph)  from my sketchbook 

  Pearl Jam...  "BUGS" 

All handmade at our DESIDERATUM Art Jewelry studio 

in St. Martins, on the Bay of Fundy,  New Brunswick, Canada

...click for more of our Whimsical designs

The Studio.... Part 2

Since I am on the topic of the Studio I thought I would share a few details from around my drawing desk that give me inspiration... past drawings, paintings, sketches, reproductions I have done....





...my Whale line drawings, inspired by the profusely illustrated pen and ink by Warren Chappel in the famous book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville...
... Duane Kaiser's a painting a day, "a dozen eggs"... my Picasso attempt... a gray scale... my watercolor attempt of a Francis Bacon Portrait by Lucian Freud.. the oil attempt is in the first photo... oh and our Simpsonized selves..




Oh ... I can't forget Leonard Cohen for his input into what comes from the paints and brushes





... some more play...a floral and an attempt at an acrylic of my son... coffee cans make great containers...





... idea search... I especially love the Annotated Mother Goose, describing the reasons for the rhymes.. better understanding now... and more profuse illustrations by Caldecott, Crane, Greenaway, Rackham, Parrish.. this is an amazing book that I recently found at a book fair held in the village this past summer... The local librarian, Betty, who is a sweet heart and I think she has read every book ever written, had some of her treasures for sale and she dearly sold this to me...




A beautiful poster that was put together for promotion of the cultural interests of St.Martins... featuring art and fine craft by artists of the village..... our Booktown, first one on the east coast of Canada.... the amazing landscape and the treasures from the beaches... on the back he drew a map of everything... Click image to enlarge...




More tidbits... color and nature... sand dollars.... on the right, a treasured postcard received in the mail... on the left, my attempt to do a small painting of a photograph by my blog friend Ruth ...



Well, just a little tour of my drawing/ink/and painting corner... I'll work my way around the room, slowly but surely... Thanks for coming along...

.

Vincent Van Gogh

......... Vincent van Gogh...... Born 1853.......

.....Post Impressionist/Pre- Expressionist...

He never began painting till his late twenties after totally failing to become a preacher... very sensitive... an introvert...

His contribution to Art was not recognized in his lifetime ... As with many artists...

Van Gogh was strongly influenced by Paul Gauguin and wanted to form an art colony with him... but that plan fell apart due to Van Gogh's fanatical outbursts.... actually most of his relationships ended due to his erratic behaviour...

Nonetheless, he expressed his deepest emotions in brilliant color......
...painting simple objects, landscapes and many self-portraits with swirls, patches, lines and strokes while living in great poverty of his own wanting... clinging to reality as best he could...