Sunday 16 January 2011

Coping with the high cost of silver and gold


Reading my friend Lori's blog sparked my idea to write some musing on this subject from my perspective. I used to make art jewellery pieces up until a couple of years ago with sterling silver armatures wrapped with very fine silver wire, I developed my own style and things went well, but with the constantly rising cost of silver I began to question where I was going, add the gemstones etc, etc and expenses rose, yes it was fun to create, especially as I enjoy making as many parts of a design as I can apart from the gemstones obviously I leave that to mother nature.

Then a few years back I was introduced to Premo Polymer clay, its a bit like paint in solid form I thought so I was hooked. I took a few tutorials to begin with, then as usual I meandered off on my own. Many years ago I worked with clay but this was different I had colour now and many more colours could be mixed from the basics! So I made many different items from small sculptures to jewellery, which is now my preference.

Polymer clay it would seem has come into its own and is no longer considered the outsider but is sold in prestigious galleries, there are museum collections and displays of jewellery it has finally made it!

Last year I got to thinking how wonderful it would be to work with gold clay that I could shape into my own designs for necklaces and pendants, a lovely setting for beautiful Jaspers, Agates and Gemstones etc so working from my original sketches; I spent the next six months building a collection of art necklaces and pendants based in the gold polymer clay.

The Inspiration; water plays a large part in my life as I live close to the ocean, enjoy lakes and streams, with reeds and swans, the ponds in our garden. Trees are important to me, also mosses and ferns, each piece of jewellery I sketch has an inspiration in nature and the natural world around me. Sometimes it is a shape I want to capture or maybe a beautiful Jasper cab inspires a picture.

So my problem seems to be solved, I no longer need large quantities of silver or gold metal and I am excited with all the new possibilities this new direction has given me.

This collection will be available when we have finished updating the web site.

5 comments:

Marian Hertzog said...

I have been down a similar path. Polymer clay is so fun and there are so many different things to do with it! Love your work! Very nice.

Islandgirl said...

HI! I thought you were going to USE those jellyfish! I actually have one sitting on the kitchen table right now that should be listed this weekend that I really like...

I have my bead soup ready to ship all I have to do is figure out what some of the beads are as we are suppose to label what we are sending!

I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the silver prices... I should raise my prices on my bracelets or take them apart and remake them with less silver... that doesn't seem like a profitable solution!

Islandgirl said...

I'm laughing about you saying you're updating your website... mine has been being updated for 3 years... I always find something better to do half way through... Actually mine is written in html and there is only so much I can do before I screw it up totally!

Looking forward to seeing your work when the website is updated!

Coralie Cederna Johnson said...

Soooooo beautiful! Thanks so much for your visit today! I always love hearing from you!

Be sure to stop back tomorrow and sign up for my One World One Heart Giveaway!

Hugs,
Coralie

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

This is gorgeous! I love your work! ♥