Expanding activity

Lately, I was expanding my activity.
First, there were the Holidays, and when making my crafted gifts, I used my paintings to decorate them. I made coasters and key holders, and also Mezuzah cases and wine charms.
True, crafting is a hobby, but things came out so beautiful and so warmly accepted, that it convienced me to open a second shop for housewares and gifts:

art print coasters

wine charms

And then I thought: if I can use my own paintings on coasters, why not make them available too?

Well, you can't expect everybody to buy original art - but there are other ways to make my art accessible.

So I oppened a third shop for art prints, calendars, bookmarks and other graphics for instant download:

digital painting for instant download

printable bookmarks for instant download

Now, isn't it the most wonderful excuse for my long absence?

Inspired By Nature

I have shared with you my artistic inspiration in the pat, and also how nature itself provides such inspiration.

My new collection too includes items that were inspired by nature. Such is this new necklace:

red and chartreuse wire crochet necklace

The source of inspiration this time was Physalis Alkekengi, also known as "Chinese Lantern", "Japanese Lantern" and many other names:

Physalia Alkenkegi

The necklace - as well as it's matching earrings - represnt all of the advantages of my wire crochet jewelry: they can be colorful but transparent, voluminous but light weight.
And most of all: fun to make :)

Thundering art

As I told you before, I began knitting chains for pendants, which later became a new line of jewelry. Still, knitting and crocheting seemed to be just a craft, not yet art. The inspiration came out of the technique, and was limited, like there's not much else to design.
My creativity came to halt.

I also told you how much I love spring rain. I love the large raindrops and the clear air, but mostly I enjoy thunder storms. We had some of them in the past few days, and since they always "charge" me somehow with fresh energy - they did so this weekend, too.

work in progress

How is this relevent?

So far I used knitting in the same manner, as a continuity of those chains and only a little further designed.

Today I woke up to the sound of loud thunder, the color of dark gray sky and the mist of heavy rain. Normally, my artistic ideas present themself to me using dreams or images - mostly in awakening. Often I forget many of them, and that's why I asked my mate to build me a dream capturing camera :)

Since he failed to fulfill my wish, I took my notepad (which constantly lays within my reach), and began sketching from memory. The designs just kept pouring out of me - wonderful artistic designs!!!

The next stage is to "translate" those designs to technical details, and to knit them - which I already began doing.

It feels like birth, or something quite similar.
I'm so thrilled!!!

work in progress

Textures for Dad

I love textures.
I love to feel them, and also to smell and taste almost everything (mainly rocks on field trips), but that's beside the point.
I love to use them in my work - paintings and jewelry alike, and one of the main reasons is my Dad.

pod3, detail

Dad was a very talented and skillful craftsman. As a child I loved to watch him work, so I became his diligent apprentice for decades. Much of what I learned from him is reflected in my art.

As I grew up, we began to dream on a joint studio, where we could work together after his retirement. Sadly, he lost his eyesight, so I began using textures in my work for him to"see" with his fingertips.

texture in jewelry

I lost Dad last week.
He, who was my most strict critic, was also one of the biggest fans of my work.
I will always cherish him, not just in my heart, but also through the design process of each painting and jewelry piece, and in my longing to "show" them to him.

Dad

Inspiration - spring rain

Spring came early this year, raining large spherical drops that cleaned the heavy haze.
These large raindrops remained on the leaves in my garden for some time.
What a beautiful sight, just like in this photo by Susan Stevenson:

Susan Stevenson: raindrops on leaves

Nothing can be a better inspiration than nature, as I manifested in this pair of earrings:

fine silver crochet earrings with fresh water pearls

I wonder how will summer inspire me this year...

Tutorial - Fine Silver Earrings

One of the techniques for working with metal clay is to press it into a mold.

The main advantage of this technique is repetition - with is great for duplicating the same design over and over again.

The mold can be made out of any object, and also your own design. These designs can be carved out of wax, pressin a metal prototype, shaped using polymer clay etc.

I work with Art Clay Silver, wthich is easy to handle, shape and burn at home.

I pressed soft silver clay into my mold, and waited for it to dry. 

work stages (left to right): mold - silver clay - fine silver piece

My long experience with the material tought me I should let it to dry completely. My patience paid off, and the next day I burned the pieces over a net on the gas stove in the kitchen.

After firing and filing corners, I blackened the pieces - now pure silver - using liver of sulfur, then smoothened the relif with sandpaper and polished with a burnisher.

All that's left at this stage is to assemble the earrings: adding the beads and the hook.

fan earring - fine silver with rose quartz

These earrings are "little siblings" to a pendant I made last year:

"big brother" - fine silver pendant with rose quartz and sterling chain

Georgia, For A Day

Today is Purim, a jewish holiday, and it is custon to masquarade.

I really like being me, but for only a day I would like to be Georgia O'keefee. Well, not "be", but see the world through her unique eyes.

So I'm Georgia, for a day...

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918 (Source: Wikipedia)

"Light of Iris", 1924 (source: wikipaintings)

Gem Carving

I will probably never stop learning, and often brows the net for knowledge.

My search today was for ancient jewelry making techniques. Many of the links were sponsored or lead to commercial sites, but I finaly found myself in the J. Paul Getty Museum Youtube channel. Among the many art-related videos, I found a real gem: The art of Gem Carving.



Enjoy!

A New Line In Progress

I love working with silver. Maybe it's the way it allows me to form it in so many ways.

A while ago I bought a lagre spool of fine silver wire, and began to search a way to use it. At first I repeated some of my artistic wire designs. I was satisfied, but still wanted to "listen" to its language, its flow.

In the past few weeks I came up with a line which combines pearls and gems - but also bare silver.

Here are a few samples:

fine silver wire crochet and chrysocolla neckpiece

dangle earrings - fine silver wire crochet and pink corals

bridal cuff bracelet - fine silver wire crochet and white fresh water pearls

fine silver wire crochet doughnut pendant