Oops I did it again...

So, it looks like I've been missing for a while! Fear not, I have been busy fabricating bejewelled delights to endorse your eyes with!
Here are some snaps of what I've been up to:

Final Pieces:

Silver and 24 carat gold plated.

The rings are stackable to create your own mini cave!

Rearrange the layers to suit yourself.

The earrings are solid silver with 24 carat gold plating and are oxidised on the back layer.

Test Pieces For Professional Experience Project:

Excuse the sprews on some of them, I haven't cleaned them up yet! 

Look What I've Done:

During our first, or maybe second, week of Uni the First, Second and Third years of BA Jewellery And Silversmithing collaborated to create Christmas presents! A little early you might think? Well, so did I. But it was fun anyway. The presents we made were to be gifted to other BA students as part of an exchange at Christmas. We were all to make a present in a group (the presents were all meant to be wearable and reflect a similar theme to th
e rest of your group) we then decorated boxes for them to hang from the School Of Jewellery Christmas tree once it's erected.

My group's theme was 'All That Glitters Is Not Gold' (I kind of manipulated it this way, you'll find out why later!). And this is what I made:

It's a ring (the shank made from a ring bound sketchbook). The 'flowery' bit is from felt, I added a metallic paint to the outside and inner edges, which dried with a metal/plastic feel. I also painted some cocktail sticks which I added to the inside and created a webby mess with UHU glue! Sounds crappy but I loved it!
It's a shame that I have to give it away because whoever gets it probably won't appreciate it as much as I do so they'll just chuck it in the bin!

Everything I shouldn't like....

Reid Peppard is a designer that I was exposed to whilst writing a seminar on 'Gender and Jewellery' (sounds drab, I know, but with a tongue like mine you can make anything sound vaguely interesting...or at least try to). So, as I explained in an earlier post, I went down the route of androgynous jewellery, and Peppard was on of my pit stops along the way to discovering how jewellery can be wearable by both men and women.
So here's my chance to explain what it is that I admire about Peppard's work....
I'm a devout animal lover. I've spent my whole life surrounded by pets and even doing my bit to look after and conserve local wildlife. As you can expect, my initial reaction to Peppard's taxidermy work wasn't one of adoration. But I didn't detest it. There was something intriguing about the pieces. I'll admit, the pieces showing animals faces displaying horrific expressions were slightly...disturbing, but I found myself scrolling further and further down the article I was reading. A huge wave of relief flooded my body as I read that Peppard doesn't kill any of the animals that she uses. They're either found dead as road kill or are brought in by her pet cat. So my mind happily affixed a "no animals were harmed in the making of this collection" sign to Peppards work.
The conclusion to my seminar read "So, how does androgynous jewellery represent both genders? Well, in my view it represents neither, and this is key to representing both". I hope you understand that, because I'm not going to sit and type out the whole twenty minute seminar to explain it to you. Peppards work fits this conclusion perfectly. Yes she has made some pieces specifically with women in mind (handbags and purses for example), but the main body of her collection is suited for both men and women.
Anyway, check it out. I'm not going to post pictures on here because Peppard's blog comes with one of those "adult content" warnings, and I don't want to have to put one on my own. So I'll leave a link, and you can find your way from there.
http://reidpeppard.blogspot.com/