Progress Report

This week I've completed three of my four major assignments! The only one left to go is the cufflinks (oh, god, kill me now) and a stand for assignment one, the vessel. 

I thought I might post some happy snaps of the work I've done since completing the RoseBud Rings, my first wax ring creations shown here:

 (http://daniellekathleenjewelery.blogspot.com/2009/09/rose-bud-rings-current-projects.html) 

A couple of weeks ago I posted this image here: 

Since then this cast has transformed into a complete ring! I created a 'T' style band for this ring, designed to slot between the fingers and look like a growth sprouting from the hand. Here are a couple of images of the ring after I completed fabrication:

I've since whitened this ring, so all the stalks are very white, and the bobbles on the end and the band have a glossy, silver shine. I'll post a pretty pic very soon!

Over the last weeks week I've also created the metal masters of my wax mushroom rings! These were based on my half-circle organic rings, which I designed in wax last september, and blogged about here: http://daniellekathleenjewelery.blogspot.com/2009/09/organic-half-round-rings-current.html

Both of those designs failed : ( 

However, I went back to the original sketches and decided to pursue the mushroom design. Here we have the rubber mould I made from the metal masters, as well as the wax injections that I used to invest and cast:

And, finally after all that effort I created a metal copy in silver- perfect! I've got two silver sets of these, one in dark silver tones with blackened veins, and one in whitened silver, the veins polished lightly. The one you see here is the darker set:

The beauty of this ring is also the fact that some of the mis-cast wax injections only have the mushroom partially formed, while the band is perfect! This means that I might create more multiples of this ring, which are like the imperfect mushrooms you see in nature. That means there is variance and quirky individuality to each cast. Keep in touch for pictures of the white set too! 

XX Danielle Kathleen