Love Dazzle and New Directions in Jewellery

One of the challenges I have been facing during my B-tech is that there are people doing contemporary jewellery and diffusing into more commercially viable jewellery but there is no information on them, because I generally see their jewellery on websites for selling it.

So to solve this problem my lecturer suggested that I find jewellers on Love Dazzle who have also had their work published in the book New Directions in Jewellery.  

Through doing this I found 6 jewellers who have their work in both...Gill Forsbrook, Hannah Louise Lamb, Kathie Murphy, Kaz Robertson, Donna Barry and Katie Clarke.

Love Dazzle

Love Dazzle is a online shop which sells handmade jewellery from European contemporary jewellers. 

The jewellery on this site is contemporary but it has been made to sell, so some of the jewellery has been diffused to create smaller pieces.

Jenny Llewellyn is a jeweller on the Love Dazzle who diffuses her jewellery. She does this by using the same elements (silicon domes) to creates different pieces of jewellery, by doing this she is making her jewellery available to a much larger audience.

http://www.lovedazzle.com/

Plume Necklace
Once off

Blue/green fade Hoops
Not once off

Cascade Earrings
Not once off.

Cup Hooks
Not once off

Starting Writing.

This morning I was feeling really stressed out about my writing. 

I had absolutely no clue where to start...headings, sub heading, definitions, image citation, referencing. 

Where do I even start!?

I was really nervous to go to my lecturer because I didn't have anything to show him and I generally am more confused and stressed after walking out of that office. 

So I did a few Woosa's and went to go talk to him. I was very pleasantly surprised, he explained to me exactly what he was looking for and gave me very helpful advise.

So now to start with the writing...

Contemporary Jewellery

At our last Thursday meeting we discussed contemporary jewellery. The term contemporary is very confusing to me. There are so many ways in which it can be defined that it feels like it could be anything depending on which way you look at it. 

I have always seen contemporary jewellery as pieces which are handmade and are once off. 

Then is that not studio or craft jewellery? 

Thursday Selfie

Filigree Lotus

Been working on my filigree for my lotus neck piece. The first frame took me a day to do because it was the basis for how the other frames will be, so I wanted to make sure it was perfect. I am very happy with the way it turned out although the other frames will have to differ slightly because of the sizes.

Proto-type vs Proto-type

Trying to decide which frame I would prefer to use for my lotus neck piece

The first one is very angler where is the second one is a much more gentle curve. 

I did a small survey asking my friends which one they prefer and the one on the left won hands down but because I will be using filigree in this piece I am going to choose the one with the softer curves because I feel that this will fit in with the delicateness of the filigree better.

Lotus Neck Piece Design

For my statement neck piece inspired by the lotus flower I want to use the Kumihimo weave that I played around with last year which originated in Asia. I think this will tie in well with lotus flowers.

Lotus Tattoos

Here are some references I found for the lotus piece I want to create. I used Tattoos as references because this is what sparked my interest in the first place. I am looking at the side view of the lotus flower for the symmetry and the way the petals go up in steps.

http://poietix.deviantart.com/

http://instagram.com/

Lotus Meaning

When I was in Thailand I really wanted to get a tattoo, which unfortunately didn't work out because we ran out of time, but I was going to get a lotus flower so I did abit of research into it and found out the meaning.

"The lotus flower represents one symbol of fortune in Buddhism. It grows in muddy water, and it is this environment that gives forth the flower’s first and most literal meaning: rising and blooming above the murk to achieve enlightenment. The second meaning, which is related to the first is purification. It resembles the purifying of the spirit which is born into murkiness. The third meaning refers to faithfulness. Those who are working to rise above the muddy waters will need to be faithful followers."

http://buddhists.org/

 

koh Phangan

When I was in Thailand for my honeymoon I saw a real lotus flower.

The form of the flower is what attracted me to it, how the petals are raised as opposed to a flower like a daisy which has flat petals.