25 October 2009

projects for the near future


this piece will be entitled "Homage to Fernald".
i've been collecting stones on the beach my whole life. i love the shape, the texture and the subtle coloring of these stones. the first SERIOUS still life drawing i did in high school was of a stack of cape cod sea stones. i have PILES, STACKS and ziploc bags full of stones. it never occurred to me that i could actually use them as a precious item in a piece of jewelry till i met my friend barbara fernald (check out the gallery section of her blog...it's in my blog list over there to the right). my plan for this stone is to set that sunstone with a bezel of silver INTO the surface of the beach stone...drill a hole in the stone (yikes-that's the hard part!), so it can be strung. i made a silicone mold of the stone so i can duplicate it in silver...2 of the 4 are shown here. it might be lovely.

this is my RIVETING project for the winter. i've watched robert dancik's presentation about cold connections at least 3 times...he's truly inspirational, but i'm still scared of riveting. that silver and green cz element will act as a bail and i will probably rivet in a faux bone something(maybe, maybe not...oooooo-maybe if i get great at drilling stones i will rivet a skinny little beach stone in there!!!!) .
i see now that i have to add more drill holes than 1, if i don't want the stone/faux bone to rotate on the rivet....

3 comments:

Barb Fernald said...

I'm honored! ...and curious. How will you set the bezel into the beach rock? Rivet? This will be a beautiful necklace. I just thought of something, and maybe you already thought of it. Why don't you practice drilling on a few stones you don't plan to use right away. Then you'll get the feel for it, and drilling this particular rock won't feel so daunting.
Love the rivet design. What are we worried about?
xoxo B

holly kellogg said...

i will for-surely practice the drilling A LOT before i go and potentially ruin my little stone! i hope to buy a fat drill bit the same diameter of the silver bezel around the sunstone and nibble nibble until i have a hole that i can use a CHEMICAL BOND in....

Barb Fernald said...

Chemical bond is what I was thinking, too. Hey, check out Hadar's blog, if you haven't already.
Steel clay!