April 13th, 2010 WendyLee
I have been very busy making some new pendants and I am very happy with the way they have turned.
Saw pierced sterling silver with a brushed finish and featuring either my dichroic glass cabochons or fused glass cabochons.
Here is a sneak peak of a couple of the pendants.
Posted in Glass, New Work | 1 Comment »
April 2nd, 2010 WendyLee
I have opened a new store on etsy to sell my cabochons. This is alot easier to manage and gets alot more traffic then maintaining a website.
After closing my website I was still getting emails asking for my cabochons si I decided Etsy was the way to go.
Here is the link : CabochonsGalore
I will only be listing occasionally on this shop as the focus still is the jewellery. I will not be taking any custom orders for cabochons. What is in the shop is what I have available.
Posted in Cabochons, Etsy Store | No Comments »
April 1st, 2010 WendyLee
Very excited as I got into an upcoming workshop with Cinnamon Lee.
The workshop is called “Exploring Lighting as an element of Design”. We will be using LED lights and batteries to be incorporated into jewellery and objects. There are so many possiblities with this type of technique.
This workshop ties in with Cinnamon’s solo exhibition “Twilight” which opens at Metalab on April the 8th.
Details here: Twilight
You can check out Cinnamon’s work here : Cinnamon Lee
Get along to her exhibition at Metalab if you can.
Posted in Exhibitions | No Comments »
March 28th, 2010 WendyLee
My work can now be found in In.Cube8r Gallery in Melbourne.
Check out there website for some of the wonderful artists they are stocking.
Please not they will be closed over Easter holidays from the 1st April until the 6th April.
Below is a sneak peek at some of my work.
Posted in Stockists | No Comments »
March 19th, 2010 WendyLee
I dropped off my entries today for the Sydney Royal Easter Show arts competition.
I ran out of time to take decent photos of my entries before dropping them off.
Here is a really bad photo pf my lampwork section entry
The focal is a glass lampwork bead that was slumped to make it a cabochon. A sterling silver set blue topaz was then set into the cabochon. The cabochon was then set into a sterling silver bezel and polished with a matt finish. A cluster of various shades of blue lampwork beads was then added to the chain. The chain is 60cm long so its a long necklace that dangles down. A handmade clasp was attached at the back which was also accented with Lampwork beads.
The other photos I have of the other entries are really bad, so I will have to wait until I get them back when the show is over. I also donlt like to post photos of the entries befor ethe judging as you never know who the judges are.
Will let you know how I go.
Posted in New Work | No Comments »
March 14th, 2010 WendyLee
I have been playing around with a some new designs and getting back into saw piercing.
Have discovered the trick to successful saw piercing is the right music. Somthing to fast and you you try and go to quick and break to many saw blades. The same goes for anything with a good beat, you find yourself bobbing your head and that also leads to broken saw blades.
You need somthing smooth, wit h an even rhythm. Bit of jazz or blues works well for me and I have found I don’t break saw blades.
Here a few images of the new pendants of I have been making.
These pendants are available in my ETSY store : WendyLee
Posted in New Work | No Comments »
February 5th, 2010 WendyLee
The other night I did a workshop with Sarah Whitlock on Hydraulic press die forming. I have had my hydraulic press sitting in my studio for way to long and thought it was about time that I learnt how to use it properly. The reason I chose to do my workshop with Sarah is that she uses a Hydraulic press that she purchased from the hardware shop as opposed to the Jewellers Presses on the market such as the Bonny Doon.
I have a 12 tonne hydraulic press that you can find in most hardware shops.
I purchased my Urethane pads from Apecs in Melbourne. PLease note you do not have to use Urethane, you can use hard rubber and a number of other materials.
Copper Sheet which had been hammered to give a textured finsh and then formed using a square perspex die.
Brass Sheet die formed.
The images below are some samples of some playing that I did when I got home. I had so many ideas running through my head that I grabbed any sheet metal samples I had lying around the studio.
Reticulated Shibuichi die Formed.
Roller Printed Brass Sheet Die Formed and patinaed
Roller printed sterling Silver die formed. You will see with this one that the sheet was a little bit to short on one side. It is still ok to use though. I guess if it was a few mm shorter it would have slipped into the die.
OOPS, This what happens when you apply to much pressure. It basically cuts the shape out. This was also the thinnest sheet metal that I used. It was 0.3mm Shibuichi. I need to keep in mind that thinner metals do not recquire as much pressure. LOL
This is a great technique which has alot of possibilities that I intend to explore and use in my work down the track.
If you would like to do some more reading on this technique then I suggest you grab the following book which covers alot of information.
“Hydraulic Die forming for Metalsmths and Jewellers – Susan Kingsley”
Posted in Techniques | No Comments »
January 16th, 2010 WendyLee
Over the Christmas holidays I had compiled a list of things that I wanted to try as far Jewellery making was concerned.
One of the things on the list was Broom Casting/straw casting. This is a process that has intrigued me as I had seen some really great pieces made and some not so great ones.
Here is a link to a great tutorial online. Broom Casting
I had a bit of trouble tying to find a broom that was made of natural material and not of plastic. I eventually found a Millet Broom at Bunnings for about $7 AUD. Which I thought was a pretty good price.
Here are few pictures of my results.
This one is my favourite piece. It could be called an error as the silver wasn’t hot enough to run right into the broom and pooled more on top of it instead. But I really like the effect it reminds me off the lost city of Atlantis.
Posted in Techniques | No Comments »
January 4th, 2010 WendyLee
I have taught Metalworking for Beaders at the Australian Bead and Gem shows for many years. When I saw this book in Dymocks recently I thought it was brilliant.
It is an ideal book for those wanting to go to the next step with there beading and learn basic metalwork Techniques without the complication.
The book has 29 tutorials in it to start you out with the basics and slowly work up from there.
It is broken down into 4 sections
*Metals
*Tools and Materials
*Basic Metalworking Techniques
*Jewelry (tutorials)
Book is Softcover
128 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-60059-332-1
If you are looking for advanced techniques this is NOT the book for you. It is a beginner entry level book into Metalwork.
Posted in Book Reviews | No Comments »
December 30th, 2009 WendyLee
I have been playing with the new Gaffa Glass Chalcedony to see if I can some interesting reactions with the glass fusing it as opposed to lampworking with it.
The results were interesting and I got some great colour reactions with the glass. The ones pictured above are my my favourite images and cabochons from the experiments I did.
Posted in Cabochons, Glass | No Comments »
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