Feb '09 - learning from Dianne Karg Baron

In the previous post I explained that my first inspiration to try wire wrapping came from a trip to the NS Gem & Mineral show in Parrsboro. Those first pieces were very basic.

After some hunting on the internet I found Dianne Karg Baron's site, Wrapture Wire Jewellery, and her work was so beautiful, it inspired me to try slightly more complex pieces. Naturally I check back to her blog from time to time, and in mid February of 2009 she posted a piece called "Double Sided Citrine Pendant". Again, I just had to try the technique.

The copper pendant seen here is the result of my efforts.




I used 19ga stainless wire for the base, and 24ga copper craft wire for the wrapping. The nextimage shows how the two pieces of steel are woven together to make the frame. The weave creates a shallow channel which holds the edge of the stone.
(In this case, the stone is one of Dad's creations.)



I wasn't sure that the frame was quite snug enough to truly hold the stone, so I added the extra wraps all the way around just as a precaution. Not perfect, but as a first attempt I was happy with it.

Ms. Baron's site is at www.wrapturewirejewellery.on.ca

I later found pieces in a similar, but more chaotically sculptural style at www.metalworkers.org.

My own further experiments included this finger ring (19th Mar 09), and beaded marble pendant (18th March 09):

Nova Scotia Gem & Mineral Show 2009

First, let me remark that although I haven't posted since October of '08, it does not mean I haven't been making anything; I just got a bit lazy about posting here since I had started posting pics to facebook. In the next week or so I will try to play some catch-up.

Now on to the meat of this post.

This year marks the 4th year I can recall having attended the Gem & Mineral Show, which is put on every August by the Fundy Geological Museum at Parrsboro, NS. My first inspiration to try making my own wire wrapped jewellery was a simple pendant that I purchased while attending this show for the first time in 2005. One year I attended the show (which is approximately a 2hr drive from my home) even though I worked until 7:30 am on the day we went over, and had to go back in to work at 11:30 that same night. Luckily I wasn't driving :D

Previous years, I mostly bought finished pieces of jewellery for myself to wear, and one or two items for making jewellery. This year I promised myself I would NOT buy any more rings (I bought one at each of the first three shows, of which my favorite two were from Nikki Sheriff) and I am happy to say I held to that promise.

So what did I buy? This year I managed to stay under budget, and yet acquire some lovely cabachons, including a lovely piece of labradorite, a piece of rutilated quartz which I'm told was cut by Hans Durstling, and sundry small cabs of a size suited to set in rings :D (I did not promise I wouldn't buy materials for the making of rings :D). And lastly, I bought a pretty little pendant consisting of a yellow and orange swirly hand-made glass cab wrapped in gold filled wire, mainly because it matched my outfit. I'm afraid I was a bit disappointed with the bail when I discovered it was too small for the ends of my gold chain to fit through; it appears I will have to attach it with a jump ring, or make a necklace especially for the pendant.

This year, our day didn't end with our departure from the show. We had a delicious lunch at the Gloosecap restaurant (although I'm afraid the waitress was too busy reminding people about the show when she should have been looking after her tables), and then took a little tour out to the beach because I hadn't seen it before. It was an impressive view, but the adventure turned to misadventure when I got my car bogged down in the loose rocks of the road. Luckily Dad is an awesome driver and got us unstuck, but I haven't yet had the courage to look for damage to the undercarriage. Even so, it was a good day.

Next year I hope to stay overnight and perhaps attend one of the tours and some of the demonstrations by the craftspeople. Oh, and this is one of the pics that may have cost me some damage to my car: