Geometry

This picture was taken a few month ago from one of the higher floors of the new extension to the Tate Modern. And I remember thinking - "There is something there." In other words, I could see a potential there, an influence for my next project.

And since I had been working on a 'Choker' project previously, I decided to continue with the same theme.

Getting my head around it, I experimented with yarn first before reaching for a wire. The colour was given by the picture so the next step was to get the structure...

In this picture you can see that I begun with the size of the rectangles (windows) being divided by a red line. In the experiment on the right, I felt I needed to downsize the rectangles ('windows') but since  I created a sample I needed to complete it.

Twisting the piece, I joined it making sure the red line goes on continuously in a whirling motion and this is what I was left with. A rather sculptural offshoot but very interesting and raw.

Talking about downsizing the rectangles I returned to the original idea and with that in mind another sample emerged. This time however, I realised that it was getting far too wide for a choker.

To cut the story short, I folded it in half and...

..the choker is bolder in colour, bigger in thickness, has rounded up (given by the tension when crocheting) and follows the curve of one's neck beautifully. To join it I used a magnetic clasp and...

Again, what a fun it was creating this geometry inspired project that (I think) leaves open doors to further possibilities...  K-)

Three Ducks

This picture, picture of three ducks, was taken years ago and found its way to my business card as well as appeared (and disappeared) on a few of my profiles on social media. And now, here comes a jewellery piece...

As seen on the business card, my motto says 'analyse & create'. And that is what happened here.

These three ducks in a row that rip through the water are adding some action to the composition. The simplicity of this image stuck to my mind and I just knew that the right time will come and I will do something with it. But as it often goes with the way I work, it had to mature...

I started experimenting with straightforward crochet pattern adding beads to it to 'draw' the subject (the three ducks in a row). What you can see here is one of many samples I made when looking into colour, size, pattern, positive vs negative space,...

I also started to wonder how to shape the 2D piece into 3D. Why 3D you ask? Why not. The image is frozen in time but some action is depicted there, action made by live creatures. How would I translate this into the design?...

At one point, I remembered a project ('Flipped to a new life') where I used home-made Mod Podge (made from mixing a PVA glue and water for a picture transfer onto a wood). As I understand, Mod Podge has many uses so I decided to use another of them...

...shaping here, hoping to evoke the movement of ducks through water. At the same time I 'shaped' a line where the ducks should be and where I intended to push a cord/chain through. An idea of a necklace with a pendant started to emerge...

Since I picked green in this sample for the pendant , I decided to make a chain out of a black wire, a colour that I knew would compliment it well. After some time making Viking weave I ended with a chain that when pushed through the pendant looks fantastic...

What I was not sure about here though was the angle the piece takes on the chain. Some rethinking had to be done in relation to how to attach the pendant to the chain keeping the right angle.

A few projects, a few experiments and some relaxing time later, I returned to the original picture of three ducks in a row, the one that stuck to my mind, and finally completed the piece. Using only a section of a chain to suggest the ducks and their movement in the water I made a different chain that is helping me to keep preferred angle of the pendant. To finish it all, I made a pair of earrings to make a set. (In fact, I had some bits left over so decided to use them further ;-)

How to summarise here? Perhaps by saying that by analysing, more design possibilities are discovered within a single image. Here it is strong standing alone, it makes a great background for my business card and is a starting point to a design piece, this time a pendant. Hence my motto, analyse & create.

K-)