Restock at Craft Ontario Shop

I’m happy to say that I dropped off some work with the Craft Ontario Shop recently, so if you’re browsing, spot my work :). Selection of what you can find there below.

You can find this luscious selection of M clutch pins (sterling silver and needled felt)

This T bar M pendant with hand-knotted jadeite beads, two-colour silk, sterling silver and needled felt

I’ve made a new version of my Asymmetric M earrings (sterling silver/needled felt). These are a bit shorter than the original model at about 2 inches long, with a corresponding slightly smaller hollow forms to have a similar look to the original, longer model.

I don’t want to give everything away, so if you’re going by the shop, pop in and have a look at what else is there!

Is it a spoon, or is it a ring??

This week I thought I’d tell you a story about a piece I’m working on for my mom. It’s a nostalgia thing. It’s part of a common trend of using cutlery for jewellery, so it’s not particularly original, but it is a nice story, and I’ve been playing with AI photo processing again.

This sterling silver teaspoon (or, if you’re my mom, it’s a demitasse spoon) is one of half a dozen that was a wedding gift when my parents got married. Mom swears that this particular spoon is exactly the one she used to use to feed me, and then some time later, my brother. So, she decided since we don’t really use them IRL, that she thought it would be great to have a ring. She saw a video somewhere of what she wanted, so, armed with my orders, I made a start.

So, I decided it was a fun idea and wanted one for myself. I flattened the bowl and I reshaped it, I thought it was a bit too big over my finger and then I started bending it. It’s not finished yet, and the other one won’t quite look like this - my mom has a bigger ring size than me, and she wanted a particular design. But I think it will serve it’s purpose - it will provoke memory in both of us every time we look at them! I’ll share a pic when they’re properly finished.

Major necklace

Almost a year ago, I told you about an art collaboration that I did. Along witht that, I made some jewellery pieces incorporating quilted and embroidered panels in silver frames that I call my “Portholes on Immunity”. A series of four brooches, a pendant and a large 5 panel necklace, these mostly (but not entirely) are an homage to different cell types of the immune system. When I was thinking about making this series, I was reminded of various sci-fi films where you see people shrunk into miniature, along with their little submarine, journeying through the blood. So, these are how I imagine cells would look from the porthole window on a teeny tiny vessel in the blood.

Sterling silver frames the embroidered panels. The panels are little quilts with a base of oakshott cotton, using trapunto to emphasize some areas of the panel, and quilted using mainly embroidery techniques.

Left - Right: monocyte/macrophage, T cell, extravasation in blood vessels, B cell, granulocyte

Legend: quilt = 3 layer sandwich secured with stitching; Trapunto = a technique where you use added batting to highlight or give further dimension in quilting; oakshott cotton= fabric that has different colour threads in the warp and weft.

Interested in knowing more? Drop me a line, and let’s talk!

Pictures and AI

There’s been alot of controversy about AI and art. I think AI is here to stay, and it’s up to us how we engage with it. I recently started playing around with a photo processing app - I admit it, I fell into the FB advertising, and got sucked in! Anyway, the app uses AI to cut out your object and then you can put it onto a new background. So far, it’s been great at picking up on the object and I can quickly place it on a new, interesting background. What do you think?

These were both taken just sitting on my wooden bench, and the transformation is pretty startling!

Restock coming soon!

It’s always difficult facing the end of summer…..to be honest, there are only a few things that I really enjoy about summer, I love the lake, hanging out a bit with friends who always seem to be a bit more available, enjoying not wearing heavy clothes…..but fall is really my favourite season, and I’m finding myself longing for that first evening when I suddently have that feel that the weather has turned. Sadly, I also am not that keen on winter, but I somehow forget that in the beauty of the fall colours. Of course, that means that I’m kind of starting to think ahead to the holiday season, especially when I start getting requests to provide work! So, I’m busy fabricating away at the studio to get new work to Craft Ontario for the shop (down on Queen Street). Stay tuned to see a new modification of an existing design new this season!

New hollow forms waiting to be - I broke two saw blades and sawed 3 different fingers piercing these shapes!! (Don’t worry, no blood was shed on metal :)

Stay tuned to see the final pieces! And hey! If you want to suggest a favourite colour, drop me a line and let me know!

Wedding Rings

It’s so amazing when people ask me to design their wedding rings. This couple came into the studio with a pile of family jewellery, a very modern engagement ring and an assortment of old gold, along with a pretty well developed vision of what they wanted. These are the result!

14kt yellow gold incorporating some old sentimental gold allowed with new gold, and re-use of diamonds (again, from sentimental family jewellery). The quality of the stones was amazing, and the new design really highlights them, and will endure for ages!

The groom wanted a sand cast ring in sterling silver, set with this large diamond, and smaller diamonds flush set into the band, for an extra blingy (but subtle) sparkle! The silver was new, but like the bride’s rings, the stones were all re-used from sentimental family jewellery.

The joy that I feel when I get a comment like this:

“Robin we cannot thank you enough for all the incredible craftsmanship and beauty you have poured into these rings. They are so beautiful!!! You made the whole process seamless all the way across Canada!”

is indescribable!

Something’s Still Cooking

I started last week telling you about a new project I was working on. I’ve made a bit of progress on it, and I’m still working on custom work I can’t really show yet, so I thought I’d share a bit more about this project with you.

These guys have progressed a little - I’ve cleaned them up and done a preliminary polish on them - you can see that they’re slightly domed much better now. Normally I’d add a backplate so I could stuff some colourful felt in those cutouts, but not this time! They’re going to have colour, but I’m going to use glass enamel instead! Haven’t quite decided what colours, but the biggest one will definitely be blue!

Make it stand out

So, I’ve made a start on the second metal elements I’m going to use - these will eventually be some of what I call my “L units”, inspired by lymphocytes, the “smart cells” of the immune system. When they’re in their nascent or naive state, lymphocytes are almost all nucleus with very little cytoplasm. So, I like to texture the surface of the discs before I dome them, and then attach them to a backplate. For this project, I won’t use all the units here, but I like to make extras so I can do other things with them (economies of scale!). I also decided that I wanted to use several different sizes, to go along with the variation in size I used for the “M” units.

Have I piqued your interest yet? Watch this space to see how things progress further!

Something’s Cooking!

I’ve been doing alot of custom work recently, so this week I’ve been working on something for myself. I collected some bits and bobs ages ago, and they’ve been sitting in a bag, along with my half-baked design for what to do with them. So, I made a start. The design is still pretty half-baked, but it’s moving in a good direction! Next up, some enameling, I think. Any suggestions for colours?

I’ll post some more pictures when I’m finished, but as with my ongoing obsession with the immune system, it’s all about cells of the immune system (with some pearls thrown in for good measure!).

Summertime - Shows

The hot weather seems to be truly here! It makes me think about the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. Sadly, you won’t find my work there this year (boo!), but I will be there - a number of my friends will be there exhibiting their jewellery (and other art). Anyway, in honour of not being able to show you new jewellery, here’s some of my favourites!

A selection of my M pendants on postcards by Lamellopodium Art - I love using them as backgrounds :)

If you find yourself wanting to get out this weekend, venture out and see some art! It will make your heart sing.

Remodeling can be fun!

This week I’m sharing a pair of custom earrings I finshed recently. They came from a pair of old fashioned kind of cluster earrings with a centre sapphire and tiny diamonds all around. The brief was to make a new pair of earrings. The client likes an art deco kind of vibe, so I riffed off that and suggested a few different designs. We landed on these, carved in wax and cast in 14kt yellow gold, which came from the original earrings and some other miscellaneous jewellery that was languishing in her jewellery box!

They look even better in person! They’re cute little earrings, with a bit of bling.

M#

hand carved wax models for the earrings

Earrings finished, ready for stone setting.

I really enjoy bringing new life to jewellery, and it’s a great way to make the most of what you have, you get a lovely new piece of hand crafted jewellery , and you’ve upcycled bits that you already had! Have jewellery that just isn’t doing it for you anymore? Drop me a line, and let’s talk about how to do something with it that you will love again!