FOW 10

So little time, so much to do. I stumbled onto these sweet chrysoprase cabs recently. I did try to resist, but I really couldn't... They're two tortoises (rather than turtles, I think), and a lovely dolphin, and, one day, they will stand proudly on handmade rings.
Beaucoup à faire et trop peu de temps pour le faire... Adorables cabochons gravés de chrysoprase, pas pu résister. Comme d'hab.

Deux tortues et un joli petit dauphin qui feront de ravissntes bagues. Un jour.

Merry-Go-Round - Inspiring artist

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).

If they haven't all posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later...

This month:

An artist that inspires you.

I'm really not sure what to answer to that. I cannot name one or even several artists whose work I feel is an influence on what I make.

Of course there are a few visual artists I am particularly fond of.

Painters Turner and Magritte, as well as photographer André Kertész come to mind immediately.

For some reason(s) that I'm not sure I would want to explore, even if I felt I could.

I simply enjoy looking at their work and letting my mind ramble.

But I wouldn't say they are an influence. It's more like what makes me like them is also what makes me come up with the ideas and objects I come up with.

One work of art that has played a special role in my life is this landscape by Van Gogh. It's entitled Yellow Wheat and Cypresses.

I am not the happy owner of this painting— it's in a museum somewhere, possibly in the National Gallery but I'm not sure.

I have just owned three reproductions of it. Two of them face each other across my living-room at the moment— a large framed print and a larger unframed copy that my brother had made especially for me in China (unsigned, as I asked— it's a copy not a fake). One of the (many) things that make people find my flat "interesting" to plain old "weird".

I first "saw" this painting when I came across a very large print of it, as I was browsing through prints, looking for something to make the white walls of my Cambridge room less white. It was love at first sight. The print was really huge and much too expensive but I just had to have it.

For two years, it was the "detail" that, to my eyes at least, made my bedsitter harmonious as opposed to its original drab state.

After that, it was my visual haven in three more flats, until the paper (I never framed it) couldn't take any more. I was starting a new life, in a different city— I shed that skin.

But after a few years I remembered it and realized I'd missed it. So I hunted down a quality print on the net. Not as large as the "original", but good enough. I felt much better once I'd gotten, framed and hung up the successor. And then two years ago I had the opportunity to have a copy made— for texture— A really large one.

I must have spent hours gazing at this landscape, getting lost in its perfection.

I am no Van Gogh fan. I don't even like his painting most of the time. But this particular painting is me. Somehow.

There's quite a bit of yellow in this, and ususally, yellow is my least favourite colour. But I just love the yellow strokes in this. Just as much as the gorgeous green ones and the delightful blue ones.

The mix of violence and placidity I see in this picture is mysteriously soothing for me, to this day.

The chaotic harmony of it— I really cannot get enough of it.

I guess it epitomizes the mystery of art. As opposed to design. So, a very, very distant influence and source of inspiration...

Spécial Catastrophe au Japon / Japan Relief Special:

Spécial Catastrophe au Japon / Japan Relief Special:

Sur tout panier de 15 euros dans une de mes boutiques*, 5 euros iront à / Out of all combined purchase of 15 euros in any one of my shops*, 5 euros will go to
www.fondationdefrance.org

(30 euros —> 10 euros, etc.)

Sur les articles Spécial Japon (boutique DaWanda) 50% du prix hors frais de port/ Out of Japan Relief items (in DaWanda shop) 50 % of price excluding shipping costs.

Jusqu'au 30 avril / Till April 30th.

*ALM, DaWanda, Etsy

FOW 9

I know these are already around quite a bit and not in a terribly imaginative way, but I have at least two different ideas as to how to give my own twist to these... So once more: watch this space! ;-)

Je me rends bien compte que l'on voit déjà beaucoup de ces petites choses, et pas souvent utilisées de façon très imaginative, mais quiconque est entré dans mon appartement ne sera pas surpris que j'ai été incapable d'y résister. En plus, j'ai deux idées pour donner ma touche personnelle aux bijoux que l'on peut faire avec elles.

Pour la énième fois : à suivre ! ;-)

FOW 8

La trouvaille de la semaine est une bague chinée chez un brocanteur, dans une de ces boites où ils laissent tous les petits trucs sans valeur... Sauf qu'elle en jette, non ?
Ce n'est pas de l'argent et la "pierre" en verre (ou peut-être en cristal) a beaucoup vécu. Elle est devenue assymétrique : on voit bien qu'un petit cylindre a disparu sur un des deux côtés. Mais pour du métal sans valeur, on voit aussi que la facture est de bonne qualité, donc ancienne...
J'hésite encore à la garder telle quelle (ce que j'ai fait jusqu'ici) ou à la modifier...
Encore une histoire à suivre.


This week's find is an old ring that I unearthed on a flea maket stand, in one of those boxes where they put worthless bits and bobs. I love those... And this ring is quite striking, isn't it?
It's base metal and the stone is bruised and battered glass (or possibly crystal); you can see a small cylinder came out on one side— it used to be symmetrical. I think relatively antique, given he quality of the work on what is only costume jewellery.
Still not sure whether I'll keep it as is (as I have so far) or alter and enhance it.
So— another piece that hasn't quite found its place. Yet.

FOW 7

This is about a find that I had been looking for.

Some time ago, my moher gave me this striking, Scandinavian locket ring. I'd always loved it, since childhood; just the idea of a locket ring is a thrill, you know, and the design is beautifully simple.

Only, when my mother kindly gave it to me, I realized the ring looked a bit boring on my hand.

So I started wondering how I could alter it without spoiling the original design. My first idea was soldering a scroll on the top; maybe a golden scroll.

Then I came across rutilated cabs, and it felt right— the subtle golden threads in it, the organic, chance mix of bright and rough.

But it had to be the right shape...

And then there it was, this marquise piece of loveliness.

So here is one of my ambitions for this year— that, by the end of 2011, I have taught myself to bezel-set well enough that I can finally alter this ring without damaging either the ring or the cab.

Fingers crossed!

Cette semaine, il s'agit d'une trouvaille que je cherchais avidement...

Il y a quelque temps, ma mère m'a fait cadeau de cette extraordinaire bague scandinave. Elle m'avait toujours énormément plu, depuis que j'étais toute petite. Le côté mystérieux de la bague à poison, vous savez, avec en plus une ligne originale.

Malheureusement, lorsqu'elle m'a été offerte, je me suis rendu compte qu'elle avait l'air assez fade sur ma main.

Je commençai donc à me demander comment je pourrais bien modifier cette bague sans altérer sa beauté. Ma première idée était de souder une volute sur le dessus, peut-être une volute en or.

Puis je découvris l'existence de ces cabochons "rutilés" : la subtilité des fils d'or, l'aspect à la fois brut et brillant, dû au hasard, organique.

Mais il fallait trouver la bonne forme...

Et quand j'ai trouvé ce cabochon taille marquise ça a fait "clic".

Voici donc l'une de mes ambitions pour cette année : avoir appris à sertir suffisamment bien pour pouvoir modifier ce bijou sans endommager ni la bague ni le cabochon.

Croisons les doigts !

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