parts of a flower ring

parts of a flower ring
Originally uploaded by bcyrjewelry

Another commission I have been working on are these "parts of a flower" rings. Lots of experimenting and a few failures - these are the near finished product! I have a little bit more work to do on them before they are 100% finished, but they are oh so close!

... and yes, they are real flowers, surprisingly, not that easy to work with! But fun and the waxes looked oh so pretty!

When I was doing a lot of black and white photography (with a 35mm camera and actual film!) I started looking at everything in black and white. My eye became trained to seeing the contrast and knowing what it would look like w/o color. I'm finally starting to feel that same sense with I am working with natural materials and wax. Wax only, was quite easy for me to "see" what it would look like in metal - totally finished with a patina and highlights. Natural materials are a little bit different, as color can sometimes trick they eye making one thing stand out over another. I think the black and white photography training is kicking in. I'm getting a much better sense of what they will look like in black in white textures instead of the bright orange pop of the petal mixed with the green of the leaves and the black and yellow bits of the stamen.

Practicing is good and I'm thankful for my customers that give me a fun project to work on - it allows me the time to experiment and try new things that I might not otherwise feel I had the "time" to do.