Friday 24 April 2020

Set A Cab A Month - April 2020


Whoo hoo, I've actually made my challenge piece quite early in the month this time (well for me anyway 😉) !!

Viral Joyfulness © Joy Funnell

I'm sure you can guess my inspiration for this piece!!
This is a happy bug!! 

Here's the creation process...

...this is it in a short video if you don't fancy reading my waffle...



...or for the waffley version read on!! 😂

...I started out making a paper template of a sort of a bug/virus type shape. Then I textured clay on one side only and roughly cut out the shape and dried it.


I wanted each spike (yep, that's technical name - I had to look that one up!!! 😂) to have the same texture as the back but also to be imprinted with a little design that I could enamel into later. I decided the easiest way was to add more clay to each one separately. 


I didn't worry about making it very neat at this stage, I just wanted them all to be on. I did them in batches of three and dried in between each batch so there less chance of the whole piece getting too soggy and breaking as I worked.


I chose a nice amber cab to go in the middle. It's 15mm in diameter and has some interesting little inclusions (maybe they are bugs??? 😏). 


Next I refined up all the spikes and made it all neat and tidy 😉


I made a thin disc of clay with the same texture on. Once it was dry and refined I added it into the centre as a base for the amber to sit on. As the amber is nice and transparent you can see the texture through the cab.


I wanted a surround for the cab, and also to neaten up the area where the spikes join the centre,  so I rolled out a snake of clay and placed it onto the edge of the disc...


...and then did some squidging to make a design I liked 😊 I checked how much space I had around the cab and eyeballed for the shrinkage!! 😃 (Turned out I got it spot on too, I was quite amazed!! 😂)


Once that was all nice and dry I made a little cylinder of teflon sheet to sit in the middle. Then I started to create some little snakey bits to be prongs. My plan had been to add one prong from each spike, so nine in total, but as soon as I added two I realised three pairs would look nicer (less work too!!) so I went with that. 


Then I had to VERY carefully add a couple of loops plus my logo onto the back making sure I didn't break the prongs!!! 😮😂


Ta dah!!! Finished and ready for the kiln. 



After firing I polished it to make it all nice and shiny...


...and then enamelled the designs on the spikes in blue/green. Happy colours! 


After enamelling I fused 24k gold foil on the centre using the keum boo method so it would reflect nicely under the amber and add richness to the colour.


 I patinated using Liver of Sulphur to make it dark in the recesses with the texture well defined 😀 This only affects the silver so the gold stayed nice and bright. 

Then I set the amber cab by placing it into position and carefully pressing each prong inwards to hold the cab firmly in place 😊


Here's little video of the finished piece.... 



I like the simplicity of the back....


...but...as you may of noticed (did you?? 😊) all through blog post I haven't actually said what type of jewellery piece this is!!

Why???
Well I was thinking pendant as I was making it, then when I finished it...

...I thought brooch!!!

So I'm debating putting some sort of pin through the back loops instead of attaching a chain...



...I have a couple of ideas, and when I decide I'll update you 😉😂


Meanwhile...

Have Fun!

Joy x



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