Cross Pollinating

It's funny how things merge and mutate. For a while there I was churning out pods, then pods with bails. Then I did a pond full of koi. When I decided to refine my stringer work, I got hooked on the cone shape and made a pile of those. Finally, things circled back, and I crossed the pods with the cones to get these:

Bails

Very strange -- the photo seemed to get corrupted. I've never seen that before, but I've replaced it.

It didn't take but a day for me to decide that the bail for the ivory pod wasn't right. It was too big and clunky for the delicate pod. So I've been working to shrink the bails and make them supporting characters rather than co-stars. I've finally got a procedure down that works pretty well.

I love this idea because I can coordinate the bail perfectly with the pod.


Yes, I've revamped the ivory pod. I'll post updated pics soon.

Pod Bails

In terms of using the pods as pendants, I decided that I wanted something more interesting than a plain jumpring to hang them from a ribbon or chain. So yesterday I experimented a bit with glass bails.

This is my favorite, so far. It's made on a 1/4" mandrel, so it's easy to run a large ribbon or cord through.


I've waded through my stash of fibers and have some fun ideas for neckcords, but that will have to wait my return after a weekend with family.

Inspired by Mother Nature

I'm so taken with the notion of pod shapes!

I've been collecting photos of pods, sketching pods, sculpting pods. I'm totally captivated with the simple, elegant shape. The concept of a creative repository tickles my fancy. Seed pods represent growth, new life, beauty to come, a storehouse of energy.

Yesterday I decided to pair back at the torch. I limited my colors to ivory and amber, which look so perfect with copper. Sometimes limitations can be so freeing -- instead of focusing on trite surface design, I worked with the form itself.

This morning when I ventured out to the kiln, I was a bit awed by the cohesiveness of the kiln goddess's production. My absolute favorite of the lot is this plain ivory pod. No matter which side I view it from, it's good!

Pods

More of these fun pods that I've been working with. I just love this shape, electroformed or not.

I make these hanging off the end of the mandrel, so they take more balancing than regular beads. After I make and shape the pendant part of the pod, I add sepals (five or six) around the top, and some balls in between.

They are finished with sterling silver loops, which then connect to a large jump ring and go perfectly over a silk cord or ribbon. As soon as I retrieve my serger from my SIL (she's making bridesmaid dresses), I'm going to make a zillion silk ribbons to hand dye or paint.

Copper Pods

More electroformed pods:

front

side

Electroformed Flowers

Finally, I got one of the flower buttons through the plating bath.


This is my favorite pod so far. I like the petals or sepals, or whatever you want to call them, at the top of the form. I need to go dig through my stash of fibers for some cool ribbons or yarns to string these on. The loops are copper plated right in, so all it takes is slipping a ribbon through to make these wearable.

Back to Electroforming

After the Gathering last year, where I sold more electroformed beads and vessels than anything else, I vowed to really focus on that when I got home. Then I totally dropped that ball while working on some other ideas. Now I'm back to metal and having a blast.

This week I've tried to keep something in the bath everyday. After the new liver of sulfur arrived, I've gotten the patinas done and have lots of pics to show.


Here is an interesting new shape I've been toying with. It's a seed pod shape, sort of like an acorn, done off the end of the mandrel so that the hole doesn't go completely through. Stay tuned for more variations.