featured artist: lesley tinnaro

Kaboom, copper.

Lesley Tinnaro is a latecomer to the Ring a Day challenge and she has been very faithful in her commitment to the project. Her rings are generally very sculptural, as is the rest of her work. This is one of my favorites.

229/365 bronze dammit

This would be funny if it weren't so freaking ridiculous. This ring is bronze. After trying to make the shibuichi ring with the sterling liner and failing, and then trying to solder two pieces of shibuichi together for a ring and failing, I found a little piece of 1/4 inch bronze scrap in my studio. Perfect for the commision I've been working on (and failing at). So I made a ring with it, took all of 15 minutes. Too big. Made this one. Perfect fit but not the best solder job. So I soldered it again (done it 100 times with sterling). I watched the ring PULL APART as I heated it. Crap. I wish it were funny.

227&228/365 really crappy rings

My DSL was out for the past two days. I tried to post from my cell phone, but it didn't work. These rings are terrible but they're finished. Onto 229!

holloware

Today the Handmade Division is blogging on what we would you like to create that we don't currently have the skills or technology to make. I'm interested in holloware, raising holloware to be precise.

Pitcher, Castor-Cooper, pewter

I find the idea of creating a 3-dimensional object from a flat piece of metal downright romantic. It's an ancient technique requiring little more equipment than a stake, hammer, and torch. Pictured above is a vintage pewter pitcher from my personal collection. I plan to take a pewter raising class this fall at the National Ornamental Metal Museum - so I'm on my way!

Bud Vase, Danielle Miller, sterling silver

Danielle Miller made this gorgeous bud vase, I love the modern design and her craftsmanship is always impeccable. You can see the entire process in her tutorial. It's a very time-consuming technique that requires A LOT of pounding, just the bottom half of the vase took Danielle an entire day.

Poppy Bloom Superbowl, Maureen Brusa Zappellini, Pewter, Automotive Paint

Maureen Brusa Zappellini created her Poppy Bloom Superbowl on Superbowl Sunday. Maureen invited others to join her in The Superbowl Challenge 2010, you can see all of participants' bowls here. I love the organic and whimsical nature of Maureen's work, and the way she combines color with metal.

Pewter is much softer than silver (and not made with lead anymore), and therefore a bit less effort and time are required to form it. It is also less expensive than silver. These are three big selling points for my patience level and budget.

As I mentioned, raising is an ancient technique and the equipment used can be as low or high end as you like. In fact, Maureen forged her bowl with no specialized forming equipment whatsoever - she did most of the forming on a stump! You can watch her working in this very fun video.

Stakes and hammers are expensive - so I may be working on my own stump this fall. Nevertheless, I'm very excited to try it.

Please visit the other team members and read about their interests:

Andes Cruz
NEDbeads
Lisa Hopkins Design
Jewelry by Natsuko:
Beth Cyr
ArtJewel Designs
Abhaya Fibers
Purified Art
Nova of Sweden
Bella-Bijou Jewellery
Pink Crow Studio
Sand Fibers
Alice Istanbul
Moxie & Oliver
Tosca Teran
Delias Thompson

medal

sterling silver, steel, ribbon, acrylic paint, american eagle bullion coin

I am working on fleshing out my ideas around the American Terror series, and I'm very happy with this new piece. I do want to screen print a new ribbon, this one is stamped, I was trying to reference the stencilling on military equipment but I don't think it works.

I am thinking of showing this work with my danger series. I like the idea that when we view the dangerous jewelry on its own it may make us giggle, but viewing it alongside the terror pieces is quite different - and hopefully calls into question our own humanity.

I'm just beginning this body of work and am starting with a lot of questions. To what degree are American citizens complicit in this? Do we all agree that there was and is torture happening in Iraq and Afghani prisons? What about Vietnam? Can individuals do anything about it? Do we want to? Is torture a part of human nature, a symptom or war, or both? Is it unpatriotic to condemn our troops for torture practices in the midst of a war?

I have plenty of questions, but that's enough for now. What do you think?

226/365 not a tarball

This ring began as something quite different. The lovely Kathryn Cole sent me some tarballs that she collected from the Florida coast. One was a perfect crescent shape, and I planned to set it beside the urchin - unfortunately it crumbled as I placed it into the setting. So I cut a piece of wood and added some copper inlay and a tung oil finish.

Not quite the statement piece I had envisioned, but I like it and I imagine that my Ring a Day friends are grateful for the respite from political outrage! The urchin was a gift from the wonderful Laurie Brown.

225/365 cat shadow

sterling silver