copper plate brooch

Press and Peel etched copper plate brooch in progress.. still taped to the styrofoam floatation for the acid bath. The part with the design is now raised and the background lower, eaten away by the acid. Different to the type of etching I learnt when doing print making years ago where you painted bitumen tar onto the metal sheet and then scratched into it to make a design.

Also note the little tiny moss cave I found in a rock :) I wish I could shrink down and curl up in there.

The moons full of water ice and crystals

This latest scientific news ties in perfectly with my latest works, especially the ones I'm in the process of making right now!
The discovery has been that the interior of the moon is filled with water ice, and crystals are what keep it there... here are some snippets of the article I read:

"Last October, scientists announced that a crater near the lunar south pole is jam-packed with water ice, likely holding a billion gallons of the stuff"

"This discovery, made by studying pieces of lunar magma hurled to the surface by ancient volcanic eruptions"

"the researchers analyzed pieces called melt inclusions, which are minuscule globules of lunar magma encased within solid crystals"

"These crystals prevented the magma's water from gassing out during the eruption, thereby largely preserving the original water content of the underground rock"

http://au.news.yahoo.com/tech-news/a/-/technology/9535411/moon-as-wet-as-earth/

This is very very inspiring for me!

Press and Peel

I learnt this new technique today...this is my drawing printed on a piece of press and peel for copper etching. This is the backing piece you don't use though, the usable piece is dark blue and is ironed onto copper sheet (or what ever metal you choose), taped to a block of repurposed styrofoam and placed face down in an acid bath to eat away at the exposed surface and leave your design. Mines going to become a brooch. The same technique is used to make circuit boards. My plate is etched and soon I'll make the brooch back pin and decide on a surface colour treatment.

And in the background is my minty polkadot and floral apron, I have quite a big collection of lovely vintage aprons found over the years of op shopping. I like to wear them whilst in the workshop but also as everyday wear as well.

glow

Inspirations and my 'Many Moons Ago" pieces in the dark taken with a flash to show their light reflective qualities.

filigree halo mountain and cloud mobile

A piece I made 2010 but hadn't documented clearly... Silver, Quartz.



And my cloud mobile van which I've partly painted, it's not finished yet though..I started quite a while ago, it's taking me ages to get it done as it seems hard to find the perfect sunny day for painting outdoors with no forecast of rain (it rains more often up here in the mountains! Somedays I see clouds drifting down our dirt road street) and some spare time up my sleeve but it shall be completed at some point!

Box Hill jewellery

My class's faerie tale themed exhibition and silent auction... I'm donating 5 pieces that will be up for grabs

Angel Aura Quartz ring

Silver, Precious metal plated quartz.

Stamped with a steel teardrop stamp tool I made myself. Contructed out of random scraps found in my tool box. Made for a 3 hour ring challenge where I was asked to complete a ring within that time frame, or close to finished as possible, I completed mine in 3.5-4 as I chose a time consuming design.

This ring I made and only just finished a few days ago is currently in a mini exhibition at the Box Hill Centre for Creative Industries library display cabinet in the lobby. Displayed on some beautiful seasonal found items like rosey autumn leaves, dried branches and hopefully soon some cheerful bright big red toadstools.. I'm going to pick some at midnight tonight before I go to bed from out the front of my house, fingers crossed they haven't been eaten by bugs. It's so cold in the mountains at the moment the mushrooms have started growing early this year, apparently it even snowed a little further up the mountain the other night! Time to start knitting and collecting firewood!

Cloud Beast

Cloud Beast sculpture, vessel marquette made early 2010, currently living in theBox Hill Centre for Creative industries jewellery department display cabinet.
Wire, plasticine, found feather, acrylic gems.

luminous light reflective moons

Some photos of my Many Moons Ago pieces. They are in pastels and fluro colours, frosty silver and glow luminously shimmering when light hits them because of the coating of light reflective glass spheres, like road safety reflectors. Some of these will go to the White Horse jewellery auction, some to my etsy. click images to see larger.

Silver, light reflective glass spheres, resin, acrylic paint, neon oil pastel, paper clay, mixed media.