Secret Spot - Brooch in Silver with Carved Acetate

This brooch has to also do with memory. The window into my thoughts and the nice feelings I have when I think about spending time at the lake with Tyler my boyfriend. When I was in Halifax it was difficult to be apart and so thinking about the summer and the boat on the water always made me feel more grounded and happy.

There are a few methods used here. The box was made with a sheet of silver that I scored and then sawed out the window squares. It was then soldered on the sides to create a box. The branch and the boat were created with a method of casting called cuttle fish bone. This method uses cuttle fish as a negative when you carve out a shape and then you pour molten silver into the shape to create a positive. I then soldered them onto the inside of the window.

 I then also handmade the latch and the pin for the brooch and soldered them into place. The plastic acetate I then carved into waves and mounted behind the boat with jewelers glue. It measures approx 3" x 2" x 1" and was a major project in Jewellery II with Kye Son at NSCAD University.

A Momento of Nature Lost - pendants

I etched lines of a tree onto a sheet of silver. I then measured the silver and sawed it out into smaller pieces that I hammered and bent around an acrylic rod that I shaped into a crystal form. The silver is then soldered and the top ring I made separately and then soldered to the stem. Lastly I soldered the hanging bits on either side.

I made a dozen of these tubes that are meant to represent tree trunks but ended up looking more like a bullet. I made silver in two different finishes and copper. It was for a final Jewellery II project that had to do with multiple production. 

A close up of the etching and detail.

Coalescent Moment - Mixed Media Large Piece

Add caption

This is a piece that transformed from many different types of media. I started with heavy pastel work on pastel paper but I did not like the heaviness of it. I then discovered frosted mylar and pencil crayon/ink to have a nice light and airy feel, which is more what I was going for. I worked on this piece for a few months editing and changing the flow of it until I came to a pleasant finish.
These are pieces of memories that I have from my mother and her sewing room. As a child growing up my mother was always doing something whether it be a Christmas craft fair, a wedding arrangement or barbie clothes it seemed that anything was possible in this room with all the notions and fabric. I am very grateful for her creative mind and inspiring me to be imaginative.

This was for a 4th year drawing studio at NSCAD called "Drawing the Imagined Real" with Steve Higgins. It was a great experience. This was also the piece I chose for the 2010 Graduation book and the NSCAD school magazine "Free Coffee".

These are some of the starting points with pastel. I was drawing literal things that I was trying to combine together.

Starting to edit and add more. Getting a better feel of the space and the movement of the flow of the drawing.

This is the studio space where I worked for 3+ months with Heather, Beckie, Margarita and Ben.

Many ideas later were eliminated as the materials and mediums changed.

I introduced thread as way to combine the smaller components and then later took some of it out again.

The final peice - A Coalescent Moment from all those memories.