not pink...

This doesn't use the pink thread... It is a brooch made from green casting wax, pearls and tiny chrysoprase beads. Because it is based on the wax pieces I have been making for this project - particularly the Rubies and Pearls for Louise Bourgeois neckpiece I allowed myself to post it! Stay tuned for a pink tufty brooch...

keeping with the sprouty theme...

This is a piece I made today - hot off the bench! It is made from a white plastic fake flower stamen-like thing, NYC Pink wax, 925 silver and thread. I have quite a few of the white plastic bits and I'm looking forward to using them all! I got them at the same time as the pink thread...

Pink Sprout Neckpiece

I'm not so sure this one... I made it a few weeks ago and debated about whether to post it or not - but adhering to a strict document everything policy, the duds and the good ones will all be duly photographed and posted!
The piece is made from a wooden pink bead, a pink sprouty bit from a plastic aquarium plant and some fine silver roll printed with leaf skeleton has been cut to make petals. The thread makes its appearance as a triple strand with single threads tied randomly around its length (see detail) - I like this detail and will use it again...

a cumulus of body organs and rubies and pearls

This neckpiece is called Rubies and Pearls for Louise Bourgeois. It is currently showing in an exhibition called explorations at gaffa Gallery http://gaffa.com.au/ This is an annual exhibition put on by the wonderful folks at A&E Metal Merchants.
It is a follow on from the earlier neckpiece and again uses NYC Pink casting wax, this time I have used three strands of the thread for strength and added rubies and pearls to the wax. It is much longer and heavier than the first wax neckpiece.
Making it was a labour of love - I spent HOURS obsessed with getting the drips of wax just so. The colour of the wax and the way I was using it made me think more and more of Louise Bourgeois' sculpture as I was making the piece - I always associate her with shades of icky pink and bulbousness (amongst other things of a more intellectual nature!).
I was inspired by pictures I saw this week of the inside of my stomach taken during recent keyhole surgery - confronting but beautiful at the same time. I added the rubies and pearls to the piece at about the same time as I started thinking about the connection between Bourgeois' often confronting and visceral, yet strangely beautiful sculpture and the experience of seeing my own interior landscape in all its vivid pinks and reds and whites.
Why add real pearls and rubies to the wax and thread? A recurring theme in my work is the questioning of what we value (and why) - for instance, I know that when there is hardly any pink thread left it will feel like the most precious material I have. Adding valuable materials to the work acknowledges this... and it looks beautiful

Getting crafty!

One of the fun things about this project is getting crafty - I am re-discovering all of the pursuits of my childhood... the first thing I have re-discovered is the gentle art of pom pom making.
Last week I made one fairly large one which took a very long time. At first I thought it could be a pendant - but then after I had made it into a pendant neckpiece, I realised that I need to make lots and string them to make a graduated neckpiece. It will take a very, very long time, but the results should be impressive!
Just the thought of it completed makes me think of her fluffy pinkness Barbara Cartland!

Chewed gum?

This is a neckpiece made from 'NYC Pink' casting wax melted onto the thread to create beads.














I love that it looks like chewed gum!

the rules

These are the rules I set myself for the project... they are a bit hard to read in the image so here they are again:

• wearable
• continue until all the thread is gone
• only use other materials found in my studio
  

take a ball of thread...

Hello and thanks for visiting.
This blog is part of a new project I am embarking on. The plan is to use this entire ball of pink thread I found to make a series of new jewellery pieces. I have no idea how many metres of thread are on the ball, nor how many pieces I will end up making - this is part of the challenge and the excitement of the project.
I decided to embark on this series of work as a way of pushing myself to explore new materials and ways of working. I have set some rules for myself and as the project progresses I am finding that the limitations also spell a kind of freedom. Wish me luck!