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!

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!

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!

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.

New Ring - Help me name it!

So, I can’t remember if I posted anything about this one, but I’ve finished (finally!) a new ring. It’s super fancy in 14kt rose gold with a star sapphire and a lab created diamond. It’s embellished with some tiny new elements I’m starting to use in a new series of jewellery, modelled after red blood cells. They’re sculpted, and put together to give the impression of flow and subtle differences in shape, but still with that characteristic “donut” look to them.

I love the hexagonal shape of the sapphire, even though the star is not very discernible with ths kind of cut, and I think it looks amazing with the colour of the rose gold!

I envisioned it as my interpretation of a “Toi et Moi” ring (which seem to be pretty popular at the minute, and is usually two stones together to represent you and your partner), so it could be worn as an unconventional engagement ring (and there’s cleverly space for a wedding band to snug up against it from either side!). However, it doesn’t have to be an engagement ring, I just hope it will eventually go to someone who loves it as much as I do!

Here’s how it looks on my finger - don’t you want to see it gracing yours?? ;)

I made it with a created diamond, rather than a natural one. Apart from the price difference, created diamonds don’t have the same ethical issues, and so I’ve decided that, as a goldsmith, the work I make for my own personal designs are going to be made with re-claimed diamonds or from lab created diamonds. The interesting thing about lab created diamonds is that because of the process that is used, you still get different grades of stones, so the “C’s” (cut, clarity, carat, colour) still apply!

So, I like to give everything names, but I haven’t quite landed on one for this ring, yet—any snappy ideas come to mind? Hit the button below, and let me know!! Or, if you just want to tell me how much you love this ring, that would be awesome too!!

Focus on Stem Cells - Collaboration piece

Stem cells. What do you know about them? With the rise of the concept of stem cells, you’ve probably heard them both exalted and vilified in the media. There’s a lot of hype. What you may not know is that the original identified stem cell was actually the blood cell stem cell or hematopoietic stem cell (see what I did there? It all comes back to immunology!). In fact, HSCs have been in use for therapy for a long time, particularly for cancer treatment. You can read in more detail about this on the Canadian Cancer Society website, which has a nice, accessible description about it.

While most stem cell therapies remain more science fiction than science fact, there is a lot of research happening around stem cells, and understanding their development, as well as how they can be used to intervene in health and other areas of biology. One researcher focusing on this area is my colleague and friend, Prof. Jennifer Mitchell, based at the Cell and Systems Design Department of University of Toronto. So, when she approached me about designing some special pieces for her, I was excited about the opportunity to work with her again. I had made a one-off piece for her previously: a representational ball of stem cells, in my early days of designing. This time, the brief was to revisit that piece, evoking her focus of using embryonic stem cells models to understand how the develop into other cell types.

A hint of the first piece I made in 2019, alongside the microscopic image of a stained ball of ES cells. The blue staining is a nuclear (DNA) stain that fluoresces blue under the right wavelength of light!

I fabricated this one, and it had alot of features that I liked, but it had some aspects that I wanted to fine tune more, so it was great to have a chance to reconsider this design for something that I could produce again in the future. This time, I went the casting route, and carved something in wax.

Wax model of stem cell ball

This allowed me to make something flatter, but still with a lot of dimension. I then added a back plate to close it, a simple, hidden bail, and added the felt, and voila! A new sophisticated cousin was born.

Finished pendant, sterling silver with needled blue felt

I’m loving the way it turned out (and Jen was pretty pleased too!). You can see one of these on display in Cell Systems and Biology, if you’re passing that way, along with more explanation about Prof. Mitchell’s research. Want one of your very own, or know someone who would? You can visit my Shop Page to get one!

Art, Science and a day out this Saturday at Science Rendezvous

The weather seems to be perking up, and so is the exhibition/event season. I’m excited to be able to participatein the SciArt Gallery as part of Science Rendezvous this coming Saturday, May 13th, 2023, 11am - 5pm . Come out to see my jewellery in person, hear more about why and how I do my art, and see some new work that I will be unveiling in person.

Science Rendezvous:

·        Is FREE

·        Is an annual, all-day festival

·        Brings science out of the lab, onto the street

·        Encourages public involvement in STEAM (science, technology, engineering art and mathematics)

·        Involves U of T departments, local organisations and community

·        Engages interest, and encourages hands-on experiments

Hope you make it out on Saturday! Stop by to see me, in the Sydney Smith building at the University of Toronto St. George campus, and say hello!

Breaking News.....

It’s almost the end of the week (although not so much for me!), and I thought I’d share a bit of news with you. If you were wondering more about me, and some of my jewellery processes, you can head over to a website called The Node. They have a regular feature on a SciArtist, and this month, they’re featuring me!

You can see the feature here. Happy reading!

Have a great weekend!

Slow sewing- Creating a quilted vest

I think it’s no secret that I love to sew! Although these days I often don’t get as much time to do any “fun” sewing (All sewing is fun, of course, some is just more fun than others!) as I might like. I FINALLY finished something recently, that I STARTED in the summer of 2021. Frankly, it’s not the longest standing project I’ve worked on, but it definitely took longer than I wanted!

I had the pleasure of taking a workshop (virtually of course!) with the lovely Sandra Johnson, who lead a day of making a quilted jacket. Well, I made it a vest, I didn’t like it. And I didn’t manage to do my homework, so I didn’t spend the day sewing a garment so much as trying to make my fabric!

I improv pieced the base for the back and two side fronts, and then appliqued a bunch of my signature cell shapes on the back!

Eventually I managed to get the base all put together, and then it was time to quilt! I can never manage to keep it simple, so I did a combination of machine matchstick quilting and then the back got some free motion quilting and big stitch hand quilting.

So, sometime last summer, I managed to cut pattern pieces, fit them to myself and get them sewn together. I embroidered a two inch shawl collar, added some cap sleeves, and voila! A finished vest.

I loved making my own fabric, although it was time consuming, and it was great to make a really one-of-a-kind garment (I hate it when I see my clothes on other poeple!). It really re-invigorated me, and I was so inspired to see what others on the workshop made, as well.

What do you do when you want to be inspired? Drop me a line and share one with me!