Latest Commission - Another Aquamarine Siren Ring

Gosh, it has been a busy weekend! I haven't really had a decent break after the course assessments last week - instead I caught up on commission work. Ironically, it was a welcome departure from all the uni stuff and it was great to get back to my wire sculpting roots

This ring is from my beloved Siren Ring collection, they are part of the Shipwrecked Jewellery family . They are made for Mermaids, that have discovered barnacle encrusted gemstones on their travels, perusing the ocean beds for Shipwrecks. This ring contains an Aquamarine gemstone (bluey-green) and is sculpted in sterling silver. The attractive elegant finger displaying the ring is that of my husband's lol....he has very elegant fingers compared to me, so he is the designated ring modeller in this household lol











Samantha Braund

New Camera Fun!

I had my assessments at uni this week, and it went really well.  It was the first time I had ever really been assessed on anything arty before. I was sooo nervous as were the others in my assessment group - then I was chosen to go first and present my work, so it was a case of sink or swim lol. Anyway I won't divulge all the deets here, but it is safe to say that I came away from the experience on a real high!

The hubby was ever so proud, and felt it was high time I got a decent camera with  great zoom capabilities. I usually make the best out of my pocket digital camera, but the demands of the course has been proving to be a bit of a strain. So he got me a brand new Nikon Coolpic P510 - the brand had been recommended by a friend at uni, and I'd had a go on hers too. I don't usually go in for product endorsement, but this is one of the most amazing cameras I have ever had my hands on.

I have been playing with it all morning around the house and garden, as you can see. I love how it really focuses on one area of the composition so sharply, and it's macro function is unreal. I usually have to mess about endlessly with white balance , but not with this camera - it is all automatically done for you, with a special  night scene setting too. I cannot recommend it enough - anyway next week I will be running around museums in Cambridge (cannot wait) and Twycross zoo, so my new toy will come in very handy...enjoy the pics :)






An alarmed looking Jasper, "Oh no she has another camera to torture me with"





Oh, I forgot to mention that this little Peacock Pearl swirly Necklace sold this week too. It's one of my favourite pieces, as it represented a creative turning point for me at the time...I'm happy it is going to a good home though :)






Samantha Braund

Happily Exhausted

This is the first time I have managed to catch a breath long enough to be able to post an update here, since starting my Art and Design course at DMU (DeMontfort University).

As you can see, there is no jewellery goin' on here lol. I will be doing ceramics and metals, and dabbling in glass at some point, but the initial phase of the course was to break us in, with tons of drawing, painting and lately, maquette making...

Everything had to be done fast, the tutors insisted that outcome isn't important right now, just the process. Basically this means being set numerous tasks and being given a time limit within which to execute them. I have posted up a few of my favourites in this post. The little scene above on the loveseat, is part of a narrative I had constructed from similarly fashioned little dolls - it was fun and just a little nuts lol

The images below are scenes photographed at Leicester Market, and collages I made from those images. We had to include materials collected at the scene which is why there are random bits of corn husk, paper, and cardboard packaging stuck to the pages...

I am loving the course so far, and am also exhausted by it, in a pleasant kind of way. It is full on, and there are 160 students all rushing around in this hulking cave of a studio! (which incidentally decided to burst a pipe of boiling hot water onto people's work today...what a mare...)

Anyway, things will be slowing down enough for me to make jewellery again soon, but for now, I hope you enjoy this departure from the usual on this blog :))























Samantha Braund

Concertina Altered Book

I am going to be starting my Arts and Design Foundation Course this week....yay!
The enrolement pack turned up only a few weeks ago, it included details of a homework Summer project, that had to be completed by the start date.....no pressure....

We had to make a concertina altered journal , with enough pages in it, that it would be taller than myself when unravelled. It is meant to contain drawings and paintings to serve as a sort of daily visual record of your Summer. I only just managed to complete it this week, the complete set of art-ified pages can be found here at my Flickr account

I particularly love the cover I did for the book. The base is constructed from mountboard, upon which I have fused polymer clay sculpted elements of a seashore landscape. The rest is textured tissue paper and gauze, painted in acrylic paints to complete the look. I have added some images of it below

Anyway, I am thinking of creating some altered books/journal covers for my second Etsy shop, which is on my to do list. The idea is that I take some time to settle into the course, then resume jewellery work, as well as set up the other shop. No rest for the wicked eh?...













Samantha Braund

My Serene Way Of Regaining My Mojo

This is my latest piece, called Serena. She is a necklace based on my shipwrecked jewellery themed collections, sculpted in Fine silver, with sterling silver wire elements. The gemstone is a pale green Aquamarine gemstone from the multicolour Beryllium family

Serena is a name with the dual meanings of Serenity, and calm, as well as meaning Mermaid in Italian. Creating this piece has been an exercise in serenity for me. I found having completed my wire jewellery commissions recently, that I had lost my "metal clay mojo". I came to realise that I hadn't sculpted in metal clay in almost half a year!

It was so frustrating having sketchbooks full of weird and wonderful ideas, and I just couldn't do a thing about it. Ultimately I decided to calm down, and indulged in zen like creative practices such as zentangling. This worked amazingly well for me. Initially, I tackled the patented zentangle exercises, then over a few days, having got the gist of it, I branched out and incorporated my own ideas. The last post has the large illustration I came up with in the end

It was a nice way of easing myself back into that rhythm of creative thinking , and designing in metal clay. I sought inspiration from my sketch and came up with a watered down design, as you can see below. Then I calmly and methodically worked out a way bringing the sketch to life as a 3D sculpture

The whole experience has been a joy, and I love the results. I'd recommend zentangling to anyone with a creative block . Anyway, I've added more images of the lovely Serena below. I hope you love her!















Samantha Braund

Experimental Chimeras

I’m starting to get back into my metal clay again (yay!). It has literally been months since I have gone near any metal clay work – I am a little faddish, and jump around from medium to medium anyway, but  commission work had pushed everything back a bit too.

So this week I have been doing a few experiments, drawing inspiration from my zentangle doodle thing that I posted below. I took a few elements from the illustration and tried to bring it to life in metal clay.  I’ve posted one or two of my experimental “chimeras” made by randomly combining various design elements I’m interested in

I kind of love the “centipede”  - and the “chimera” one is really weird isn’t it lol...I think it will sit on my desk  as a reference guide.  I’ll be making a proper metal clay piece next, incorporating some of these ideas... it feels sooo good to be back in the metal clay groove again


  (The doodle illustration my experiments are based on). Click the thumbnail to view in full

Samantha



Samantha Braund

Birthday Week Work and Play

I had a rather significant birthday recently, and had to rush straight back from my brief getaway, and get to work on a couple of commission pieces. I have only just been able to stop for breath...

I thought I would share a few highlights from my Birthday Week in pictures...
The first picture is of a decorative plate of chocolate dipped Strawberries, left for us in my hotel room!!. They were gorgeous to look at, and tasted even better...



This is one of the true highlights of my trip to London, I went to see Wicked at the West End. I'd wanted to see the show for ages. I knew a few of the songs and loved them, and had watched clips on You Tube. I really didn't know what to expect though...it was wonderful and the leads were amazing. I laughed and cried . It was magical, no pun intended lol

The photo below is the the stage - a huge mechanical dragon hung over our heads, throughout the show. The canvas at the front, has a map of Oz and a shimmery Emerald City that glowed green in the centre



Anyway, onto the work ....I had a commission request to make one of my Siren Rings in Gold . This one was sculpted in Goldfill wire and contains a White freshwater pearl. I loved working with the Gold wire, it was so malleable and has such an alluring colour. I'll definitely be working with this wire again soon
I've posted multiple views of the ring below, my favourite phot actually is the one with the ring on the Cinnamon stick lol









This ring is the second commission piece I had to complete this week. It's another from my Siren Ring Collection, a blue green Aquamarine gemstone sculpted in Sterling silver . I love how it turned out...enjoy the extra views of this piece below too. I even modelled the ring on my own little  finger lol

So now that I am back and have finally cleared my decks of work pending, I find myself in the rare position of having free time to think, and experiment. I am also becoming obsessed with zentangles, have you tried them? they are dangerously addictive and do have a calming affect on the mind....








Samantha



Samantha Braund