Set A Cab A Month - February 2020

Shimmering Cloud © Joy Funnell

Fine silver with enamel and an Ethiopian Opal, made using Art Clay Silver. 

Here is my piece for February for the Set A Cab A Month challenge 😊

This was very much a 'designed on the hoof' piece!!! 😂

It started out with a textured bit of clay that I demo-ed in a workshop. Looking at the piece afterwards I decided maybe I could make something more of it 😉

I searched through my stash of cabs and found a lovely oval Ethiopian Opal Cabochon which I've had for several years, and set about thinking what to add next. 

I found a texture with radiating designs that could go behind where I was going to put the stone. 

I thought the easiest thing to do was to make a back plate for the original piece that could be added to it easily once dry. 

The back plate was roughly cut out, then refined after drying....

...and the two pieces of silver clay were joined using just water. 

I used fine silver wire to make the bezel for the opal. This would be added after firing. 

Then I searched through my stash of pre-made bits and found a pair of loops that looked a good fit!! 😁

I joined the loops to the main pendant and set about decorating the back...

...rolling out some tiny snakes to add, plus a little flower motif plus, of course, my Joy logo!! 😉

The it was off to the kiln with it for firing.

After firing I polished the pendant up and then added the bezel for the cab. 

I had originally thought I would solder this on, but I also wanted to enamel the pendant.... so I decided to add the bezel using Art Clay Overlay Silver Paste. This brilliant paste easily joins fired pieces of silver together and was perfect for adding the bail to the surface. It has the added advantage of filling gaps under the edge of the bezel where the texture is, where solder is not so happy to, and doesn't re-flow like solder would each time the piece goes back in the kiln for enamelling 😀

Now I have to say this is not my normal sort of colour palette!!! I went with matching the colours of the super sparkly opal using yellow, green and orange. I was a slightly dubious having not actually tested the combination in advance but it turned out a really lovely combo and matched the opal beautifully (though I say so myself!! lol ) 😃

After enamelling I patinated the pendant, re-polished it, set the opal into the bezel, and thought about what to hang it on. I went with a black satin cord with red transparent glass beads as I thought they set off the bright colours nicely 😀

The opal has a wonderful play of colours in it which is hard to capture in the photos.  

Overall I'm very happy with the piece and I'm enjoying the challenge of actually using some of my cabs!!

Until next time...

...have fun!!

Joy x

46/52 Japanese Mask

As I'm sure you know I've made masks pendants for quite a while now. Most of my masks are based on Venetian ones, but I've also made an assortment of animals and aliens!

When I was in Japan I saw lots of festival masks and decided I really should try to make a Japanese style mask! I was just taking a photo of them in this shop window when Dice Minagawa did his impression of one as well! ;)

That kind of made up my mind which style to try! I think this comic mask face is whistling and is called Usofuki from Kyogen traditional comic theatre (but of course I might be wrong!!) :)

I started out using my own mask mould, the same one I use for all my masks. This mould has the eyes cut out though and for this mask I wanted to add eyes (a first for me!!). I decided to fill the eye holes with more Art Clay silver and then set about building up the cheeks and nose to make the comic face. This is a work in progress photo. At this point I was still creating the shape and just trying out how the eyes might look with some dry scraps of clay. 

Once I was happy with the face I finished the back (more on that in a moment) and then fired the piece. Here it is after a quick polishing.

Next was enamelling. A little red in the mouth, some white and yellow for the eyes and black for the eyebrows and nostrils. The dark around the eyes is from a patina I added after enamelling, which I then polished back when I added a stain finish to the mask.

As well as having eyes the other difference for this mask is that I decided to make it into a brooch. Another first for me!! :D

I added a tube and a hook, both made of of silver clay, before I fired the mask. The very last job I did was to add a length of hardened sterling silver wire for the pin.

I've tried wearing it and it sits quite nicely! 

It was a fun brooch to make and something different for me...which has gotten me thinking a lot more about some new styles of masks!!!

That's something to watch out for in 2016!

Have fun!

Joy x

39/52 Flower Chain

I really enjoyed making this necklace!

When I made my necklace 'Precious' (below) I added some small enamelled links into the chain. It was the first time I had made enamelled links like that and I really liked the result. I realised they would make a lovely necklace on their own.

So I decided to make some flower links. Here they are made and being enamelled. First I enamelled the black and green on each link. Black and green are both nice safe enamel colours that will not overfire so that is why they go on first. Then I enamelled the other colours.

You can see from the photos that I started off with six links. Now an even number of pieces is not generally considered very good in design so why did I make six? Not sure really, but in the back of my mind I think there was a vague idea of enamelling the flowers one of each colour...red, orange, yellow, green,blue and purple. Of course that changed!

I had already tried the links together as six and I sort of knew I should only really use five, but as I'd made six that was what the necklace was going to be.

Then serendipity stepped in!!! While I was enamelling the blue flowers I managed to forget to set the timer for one link! It ended up in the kiln for FAR too long!!! The end result was the turquoise enamel started to slightly overfire in the centre.

The link wasn't ruined...but no longer matched the others - so that was that. The necklace was obviously only ever meant to have five links!! A happy accident! :D 

Don't you just love fate!!! 

The little link above will make it's way into a delicate small necklace some time.

I finished the chain with some handmade twisted silver links and a silver toggle and clasp. I'm pleased with the outcome and I'll be making more necklaces like this in due time.

I'll also be teaching how to make your very enamelled link chain in a workshop next year! Watch out for more details soon :)

Meanwhile...

Have fun!

Joy x

37/52 Joyful Angels

I know it still October, and I hate to even mention it, but I've been thinking ahead to Christmas! A while ago I designed an angel pendant and I wanted to revisit it to make some more for a Christmas photo that I needed to do now.

I decided to make three angels in three different colours - then I hit much indecision as to what shape to make each pendant! So I went for three different shapes as well! :)

I actually still can't decide which I like best. Do let me know your thoughts on it.

The first angel has a lovely turquoise blue heart...and I'm not sure what this shape is called!

I used one of my own textures on the back of each pendant and this one also has a nice sparkly blue zircon stone.

 

The next angel is on a heart shape pendant...and of course it had to have a red heart as well :)

 

The back of this one has a nice sparkly red cz.

 

Finally the third angel has a vibrant green heart and is on a shield shape pendant.

 I decided to go with a lovely pale yellow citrine cz on the back of this one.

Each angel has 24k gold on their halos which I fused to the silver using the keum boo technique. There is a very subtle radiating pattern in the silver around each angel.  

I've now taken the special photos that I wanted so I've listed the angels on website ;)

Do let me know what you think by leaving a comment :)

Have fun!

Joy x 

PS I'm on catch up - two more blog posts coming soon! 

PPS I now have more of my textures back in stock on my website!

4/52 - Amorness

This week's challenge piece is mainly about technique. I have been playing with trying to set lots of small stones quickly and easily. So far it is working quite well, but I still need to do a bit more testing and refining. The surface of this piece is a mottled texture.

So here is the piece ready to go into the kiln to be fired. It is made using Art Clay Silver and as you can see it is quite small. After firing the heart shape measures about 23mm x 23mm, and overall including the bail piece is about 32mm high.

I polished it up to make it nice and shiny, and then added an enamelled heart the centre using my Enamelled Accents technique. I had debated putting a black heart into the centre, but bright and happy colours won out!!

Finally I added a chain. This chain is made up of sections of commercial sterling silver chain. Another thing on my challenge list* for the year is using up some of the hundreds of beads I have!! Oh yes, in the past I have been an avid collector of beads, but seldom used them!! I do have rather a large stash :) These little transparent beads are made by the wonderful Laura Sparling. I have LOTS of Laura's beads!!! So I worked out how to put them in place onto the chain without using crimp beads to hold them in place. OK...so this is not rocket science, but it is something I haven't been doing before, and I like the result so I plan to do more in the future!! :)

Here is a photo of the back of the piece. I kept it simple with a nice texture, and I didn't really see any place for my JOY logo so I decided not to add it. 

*I don't think I have yet mentioned my challenge list! At the beginning of the year when I decided to undertake this challenge I started writing down techniques and ideas for pieces. The more drawers I looked in the more things I found that I'd bought in the past - always with wonderful intentions for making things!!! - and never used! Don't we all do that??? The list has already grown to over 30 things. Some ideas will be combined and some reused in several pieces over the year - but I really hope to try to get through most of them by December! I'll keep you posted with the progress ;)

Have fun!

Joy x

Weekly Critter Challenge 4/52 - Bluebell

 

Here is this weeks critter - Bluebell!

 

She is fine silver and enamel and she is a brooch. She was a commission and guess what, I forgot to photograph the back with the brooch pin before she went off to her new home! Oh well. I am sure you know what a brooch pin looks like! :) She measures approx 35mm x 40mm.

 

She is based on Bluebell, the cat belonging to the new owner of the brooch. Bluebell is a ragdoll. I really enjoyed making this so watch out for more cats!! If you want to commission a cat brooch or pendant just let me know! 

 

Here is Bluebell's poem

 

Her fur is as white as the freshly lain snow
Her markings are delicate shades
Her eyes are as blue as the clear summer sky
Her intelligence shows in her gaze
Her manner is mischievous, haughty at times
She is Queen over all she surveys

 

Have fun!

Joy x