I Love Big Rings

Hi Everyone
The weather is not so good today, dull and feels 'coldish'. Not an 'uplifting' sort of day !

However, I'm still upbeat with life. I've lots of little snippets to share which are linked to my silver clay workshop. The first is a great find on my art book shelf



I bought this book a few years ago and forgot that it was in my collection (I do have lots of books !).The book has so much more meaning after the silver clay workshop. The book deals with all the things and more which we looked at in the workshop. There's a great bit on rings. I love rings, especially big, showy rings. I have lots of very large colourful rings and always look for a ring everywhere I go. My ambition is to design a 'wow' silver ring. I'm going to make some sketches over next few days of initial ideas. I'm sure there are huge design issues with rings but I'm up for the challenge. My favourite ring of the moment is this orange number.




The orange ring is made from resin and is lovely to wear but bulky. I don't want to recreate this design but I like the size and the almost 'hammered' finish. Lets see what comes out ?
I have learned from my workshop experience about the importance of 'design' to ensure the final piece is 'perfect'. Perfect in the sense it is exactly as I want it to be - either as an exact outcome or a 'great' mistake. Often, my best work is a 'worked' mistake. My earrings and pendent from the silver workshop are more than OK but my wish to thread them (through the silver) is 'tricky'. Here is a quick look at the threading.



I am slightly struggling with having the thread in the 'right'place with the 'right' technique and Im a little unsure if the Diamond Glaze (used to glue the posts) will be sufficient ! If I did it again, I would slightly change some of my design to incorporate the thread issue. I know what to do now and I will do the project again. For the present, I have a couple of options. I could change this design and do a second firing adding to the design and abandon my current solution. I will try to solve the current design and then go for the new second firing design if necessary. The point is, experience and developing techniques are so important. I need to be constantly reminded of this. This, I believe, is a positive thing.
Along with being creative with silver, Ive also been spending time sorting a large collection of beads and jewellery making stash. It's been a big job and its still ongoing (another day should do it) I'm looking to add some little green beads to my silver project and have had this in mind while sorting. I emptied a collection of stuff into a bowl last night and thought the image was lovely. I took a few photos and love the way the beads are placed in the bowl.Not sure if the photos do justice but I love the texture on the ceramic and the colour contrast. It's given me an idea to 'sink' some beads in this fashion onto a painting. It's another link in the 'mind map approach' to design. I'll ponder this one and get back to the subject another time.






My next offer today is this image from Pink Petticoat I will have mentioned this outfit before but I do like this image.


It's very like some other stuff by Angie Lewin



The book was a Christmas gift and am continually inspired by her work. Both image elements bring slightly different takes on the same idea. My particular inspiration is to try and develop some new hand made stamps to help me with my March paining. This is the one using 'Tartan'. I don't have a title today ? Maybe tomorrow ?

Bye for today.