Pearls, pebbles and process

I mentioned I was hoping to get some new jewellery made to deliver to Maleny Additions whilst we head back to Scotland and so I have been beavering away over at the workshop and in the spare room trying to pull together a few more earrings for them.

I had this notion of pearls within pebbles and tried to work out how to texture some silver sheet, and then cut it into circles, that would 'cup' the recycled black pearls. Interesting times and so very very good to have B around who knows all these processes and can show me and teach me.

First up the sheet of silver in the gig that cuts circles! And me using a hammer to do said cutting... quite an interesting process.

Once the wee circles were cut I had to drill a tiny hole in them, and then polish them a bit. Very fiddly.

And them hammer them into the doming thing to create cups.

And this is all I had to show for a good half-day's work!

And then it was back to the house to sit and fiddle some more. I threaded a pearl into the cup and onto this long sterling silver wire. 

I needed help from B to do all the forming of jump rings and bending as it was pretty tricky.  As he was doing that I was getting them ready for packaging. This is a random moment in that process.

So these really are a team effort. I have others of my usual pebble earrings underway and hope to get them done in time.

Pouches and Packets

 It is one thing to design, make and finish a book; it is another thing to consider its container. That is the point I got to through the week, when I had to knuckle down and make some pouches for the books I have recently made.

Given we are headed off again shortly, I knew I would not have time to get Perspex containers made, so I turned to stitching pouches or packets...

First up I made the pouches for the three Red Card books.  I had chosen my threads back here, and had pretty much done the measurements, so it was down to cutting, piercing and stitching. And here they are complete.

Three pouches with one book showing. These pouches have a turn-over at the top edge and are hand-stitched down both sides.

One pouch with its book popping out.

As ever, I love the edges...

One book open on top of a pouch.

I am really happy with the simplicity of them, as well as the functionality of them. They protect the book, but look sombre.

I also knew I would have to make pouches for the Simply Being books which I have actually finished, but not yet blogged about, and I managed to get them done on the same day. A satisfying day's work.

These are simpler in a few ways. There is no turn-over at the top; but I made sure to cut the paper so that the feathery deckled edge was a feature. And they are machine-stitched down each side.

I left the threads dangling a bit; and here again, I love the interaction between those edges and threads.

One book on top of its packet/pouch. I think these might be packets because of the no turn-over? I really don't know but they could also easily be pouches.

The title page of the book, on top of its pouch/packet.

Had I had more time, I may have done something different for the containers; but I actually really like these and think they serve the books well.

Thursday Thoughts...

“The paper burns, but the words fly away.” 

Akiba ben Joseph

Part of me was very surprised to discover that I had never used this quote for my Thursday Thoughts ponderings before now.

I used in my books "Beyond Bombs and Burning" an din my book "Endure".

I think it is such a powerful quote, and one we need to take comfort from as we watch books being banned in many places. You can ban the book, or burn the book, but the words are still out there, being shared, on the breezes, reaching hearts and minds.

I imagine the quote also encourages thoughts about the value of oral traditions and how the written and oral can complement each other and how we can benefit from both.

I do find comfort in these words.

Returning to jewellery for a bit...

 As I continue along this merry path of making sterling silver jewellery, I am planning to take some with me to Scotland. Barry and I are hoping to have a small pop-up exhibition one weekend, in our local village hall so I am making a few pieces to take with me.

Here are some cards I have had made up for folk who might come along.

I am still loving the oxidised silver and had ever so much fun with the textured surfaces as well.

I am also busy making some new designs for Maleny Additions to stock whilst we are away...in case they need them!

Still slowly...

 It has been an odd couple of days preparing for a cyclone that clearly has a mind of its own and is making it very hard to know where it might go, and when it might go there! We are fortunate to be to the North of it, so nothing like the torrential rain and flooding to the south of it, along with such strong winds trees are falling into power lines, houses and cars all over the place. 

So we have been a bit twitchy and distracted, but also have been using the time at home to get on with some making. And so the wee book continues. I worked from our studio space in the spare room, having brought all my gear home, anticipating that it might be too risky to be on the roads.

Setting up a template to guide my writing of the words on the pages. I didn't draw lines on the pages, just worked with space and a sense of the line.

Still playing with the notion of transparent paper! And trying to think of a good name for the book. This is not the name I ended up with...

And so I sat and wrote the words on the pages, enough pages for three books.

Despite feeling so distracted (I also re-arranged all teh art in the house that day!), I was really pleased ot have achieved this milestone.

The other evening we lined up to collect sandbags from our local SES depot. We were so grateful for such a great service.

We sandbagged the sliding doors at the studio and the rear wall, as we know from past experience that heavy rains can flow into the space...

We weeded, dug trenches and cleared the channels to let the water flow as freely as it can.

And so we wait to see what happens. It really doesn't look like the rain will be as much as we originally thought; and the winds not as strong, and I really do hope so.

Thursday Thoughts...

“The things that we love tell us what we are” 

St Thomas Aquinas

It feels like across the world, many people are showing us what they love; and by this telling us a lot about what they are. People who love their country, equality and decency; compared to people who love power and money.

One small thing caught my eye here as I thought more upon the words - the use of the phrase "... tell us what we are" because I assumed as I first read it, that it said "... tell us who we are".

What difference does what v who make I wondered? Perhaps who simply makes you go" I am a person who loves x y or z". Whereas what asks you to consider the compilation of things?

I sat for a while and pondered the things I love and what they say about me. I decided that things did not equal people, so my nearest and dearest are loved, but I shan't be pondering upon what that might say about me.

I wondered what I am given some of the things I love include quiet time, reading, conversations with friends, making and creating, sipping a good coffee, walking quietly, looking at small things of beauty in the world, and sleeping well.

What does the make me? Something along the lines of a peaceful, quiet, artistic character searching for beauty in the world?

I'll take that.

Lots of this way and that

 We are looking at a Cyclone crossing the Coast near us in the next few days so we are a little bit into preparing - moving outdoor furniture, filling up water containers, charging everything, getting our documents together, helping out neighbours, making plans, tuning in to all the services etc. Nothing major, just ready in case we lose power for a few days or the water supply gets interrupted. We have enough food to see us through for more than one would expect to be needed!

And so our minds are a bit jumpy and I have been doing this and that with not very much to show for it.

This is me planning to make a pouch for my Red Card book. Trying to work out which red crochet thread might best match the red sewing machine thread. I  think the lucky answer was pretty much any of them so that was good news.

Nevertheless, I have found moments to stop and look at the beauty of life...

Evening light.

And I love how this one just blurred. I would love to be able to paint this!

And flowers. Always flowers.

I spent a few days in Sydney last week and on one of our wanders, my friend showed me this. I like to think Resistance is yellow!

Still Looking Slowly

My work is slow. It takes time. There are so many choices and decisions along the way; most of which need me to test them or trial them. And so we are still looking slowly...

I like the cards, I worked out where the masking strip for lettering would be, I knew which tape worked. I had chosen the pencil and the white pen (tried a silver one but it just looked like more pencil). I had my watercolour palette worked out and I worked out how many pebbles and broadly in which positions.

I kept going back to my 'recipe' and trying to work out how I could include transparent or translucent paper.  It's not easy with an accordion stitched book, but I checked out whether the 10gsm Tengucho could be glued over an area.

I tested the Spray adhesive - but it left a rusty brown mark which wasn't going to work. Then I tried a plain old Blu Stick and you can see this was not yet quite dry.

I thought that gluing the whole piece of the Tengucho down really flattened it, and took away the look of it, so tried just gluing at either end; leaving the middle part of the paper 'free' and so you could see the texture better.

I quite liked it and was almost set to do it, when I wondered as the book was handled, would the lightweight paper lift or roll? And yes you can see that it does, so it was back to the drawing board for the transparent paper. Sigh.

I began to think other design elements and piercing came to mind - not outlining, just in a few places around the pebble forms. This was tested on a piece that had worked up until the moment I had to remove the tape, and a fair chunk of card came with it.

I wondered about blind embossing and embossing and found the small pebble forms I had used to blind emboss the covers of my Grief is A Stone book-ets back here. And I really like their subtlety and the way they simply hint at the forms. 

And so we continue. I have now painted and drawn all the cards for the books. I have blind embossed all the cards, and pierced all the cards. With wisdom I have decided to ignore the recipe because in the end, if the recipe doesn't serve the book it is not helpful.  I am still looking at ways to incorporate transparent or translucent paper, but it won't be on the pages.

I have started to plan the covers and am beginning to play with the title page. I think I have chosen the thread for stitching, but am yet to decide on a container. Still plenty to go on with - and of course I still have to write the words!! I did do a trial of each of the pages and the size of lettering that would fit, so that is something. I thought I had lost it, but found it under a pile of paper today so at least I don't have to repeat it.

And just for a break from thinking about the book, I did some more swing tags for Barry.