Poetry & Rubies

I think I'm finally getting the hang of creating clear and crisp images for upload! Though I took about 15 to 20 images each of the two pics included here .. the necklace and earrings with multiple display devices (the one below was definitely the best) .. so there would have been some tantrum throwin' had I not gotten at least a couple good shots out of a morning's worth of photography!

Anyway, as promised, here are a few (what's left) of the finished 'Poetry Pendants" I fired. I made five of the "expletive deleted" and sold four of them at the Clayton show the last weekend in August. I kind of thought that might be a popular one, so I made a few more over the weekend. I also sold the elongated maple leaf with the crack in the center (shown in a pre-kiln state in "PMC Impressions"). I was wearing it at the time. I love when that happens.

Since I had some new and some completed PMC pieces, I thought you might like to see a PMC progression .. so the photo below includes two freshly cut pendants (top) that still need some drying time before I can begin to clean them up (I collected some white and red oak leaves over the long weekend and hope to cut several of those to add to the collection of items to be cleaned up and sanded over the next week or two. I also intend to make several more of the poetry pendants to dry, as well).

Directly below the freshly cut "wild" pictured upper left is a "wild" that's been dried, cleaned up, sanded, and had a fine-silver cylindrical bail added. If I did it right, when fired the pendant should shrink down with a little space still left on either side of the bail. We shall see. The three fine silver pieces are what they shrink down to once they're fired. I hung them all from sterling chains cuz it was quick for show purposes .. but now I kinda like the look .. the "all silver" thing.

I went out searching for some additional "word" stamps over the weekend and found a wonderful site with not only some great additional single-word stamps to add to the collection, but a couple sheets of short sayings. Won't know if they'll work as well as these until I get them; but I'm hoping even if they're smaller, I can figure something out. Discovered several additional websites with unusual art stamps, too ... bookmarked for later exploration. New ideas are already percolating.

I felt compelled to add the necklace below because I sold it at the Clayton show and still have it only because its new owner wanted it shortened. Before taking it apart, it was 19" of slightly graduated, faceted rubies with an 18k gold clasp, delicate little 18k gold spacers and 24k gold coated Swarovski crystals. A purty piece, to say the least. Since shortening it required removing beads, I suggested to my customer that I make earrings out of the extra beads. As it happened, there were 32 total beads removed from either side of the clasp ... and it seems I got a little carried away with these freebies. If you're gazing at this on my blog and not via a new post notification email, you can click on the pic and see it up close. The earrings look like little bunches of red grapes! And since the bead holes were SO incredibly small, I had to dig through my supplies to find 26 gauge gold-filled headpins (whew! glad I had 'em!). I'm glad I didn't offer to do them in 18k!! As it was, even taking into consideration the fact that the rubies were already paid for, just the gold filled materials alone would have amounted to about $38 retail (16 little connections on each earring tends to add up). If you added in the cost of the rubies, the retail value goes to $78. I'd say she got a discount on the price of the necklace, all tolled! By the way, I have another strand of these rubies (grin).




















The necklace is called Rubaiyat, which just seemed appropriate to me not only for the "ruby" aspect, but for the romance, and the Persian derivation (full of gold) and for one of the many translations I stumbled upon by Edward Heron-Allen, made in the late 19th century:

I desire a little ruby wine and a book of verses,
Just enough to keep me alive, and half a loaf is needful;
And then, that I and thou should sit in a desolate place
Is better than the kingdom of a sultan.

... from whence comes "a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou ..." (an entirely different translation, but with such an ancient language, translations are bound to be diverse!)

A little romance, a little decadence .. it fit. I may have to make another one.