Metal Therapy

When designing jewelry, my ongoing challenge is finding balance between disciplined technique and crazy unbridled creativity. I really can't have one without the other. Too disciplined is uninteresting, and too crazy is just chaotic. The earrings above lean more toward the disciplined end of the spectrum. I hammered the copper shapes and applied a darkening patina first, then the red patina later, and finished them with wire wrapped connectors. While the earrings below are a little crazier, with two colors of patina (blue and green), that have been wire brushed to reveal some of the brass metal beneath. Then a layer of slate gilder's paste over the patina to give a little added dimension. I have connected the brass charms to donut beads (from Outwest) with antique bronze wire and darkened copper wire.

Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

The Kristi Kollaboration

Mayan Style Copper Clay Earrings

The "kollaboration" to which I am referring is between me and Kristi Bowman-Gruel. We found one another on Facebook, and I have been using her metal clay components since she first began to sell them. It was a pleasant surprise when I found Kristi because we share an appreciation of rustic style jewelry. So, of course, the components that Kristi designs are rustic and sometimes tribal, both of which fit well into my approach to jewelry design.

As you can see, we both have a wild side. I love to come up with new ways to use these amazing components, so you will see them often in my work. The earrings in the above left photo are called "Rag and Bone", and are listed in my Etsy shop.

Kristi is branching out into polymer clay (in the picture on the left) and is applying her uniquely original style (she calls it "wonky") to this new medium. I look forward to working more with her polymer clay creations and whatever brilliant idea she may dream up in the future. The bracelet on the left is also available in my Etsy shop.

Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire

"Ancient" Artifacts

For this weeks AJE Earring Challenge Reveal 20, I designed earrings to look as though they were just uncovered at some remote archeological dig. Darkened copper with a layer of copper relief to which I have added a verdigris patina. Brass rivets add to the primitive look of the design.

Another primitive earring design using copper metal clay discs from Kristi Bowman and terracotta colored ceramic daggers from Petra Carpreau, that have ancient looking characters painted on them in black, very similar to what you might expect to find on the wall of a prehistoric cave.

Copper Relief Earrings
Ceramic Dagger Earrings

Tribe L Earrings

Tribal Totem Earrings

Tribe "L" for lively,  liberated, lighthearted, luminous, and luscious earrings! Tribal jewelry is my style!! Every few years, tribal jewelry makes a comeback on the high profile fashion runways, but it is my style all the time. 

In the top photo, the artisan copper components are from Kristi Bowman Design. In the bottom photo, I have used ceramic spikes from Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth on Etsy.

For more earrings in the Art Jewelry Elements blog hop click here.

Tribal Spike Earrings

Boho Tribal Flashback

OK, you know how old I might be to even think of a title like that:) but I love that style and I always will love it. Not everything that happened in the 60s was bad; much of it was an awakening of mind, consciousness and perception (with or without chemical enhancement). Instead of being a country that was content to be isolated from the world, we opened up our thinking to include America's heritage from the native tribes, acknowledgement of eastern religions and customs, and a realization that our life style and freedom, no matter how much we cherish it, is not the only way of life.

When you think of the colorful images of that era, they are mostly hopeful and uplifting. It was a rebirth of idealism, which is a wonderful thing if you are not blinded by the rheteric and neglect to research the facts. That is the most political comment I will ever make on this blog.

Copper clay components handmade by Kristi Bowman of Kristi Bowman Design on Etsy.

You can see more boho tribal jewelry here or here.