telling tales: a whirlpool, decay and junk

'spore': wire and fibre flower brooch


Some of my first wire and fibre creations were embroidered brooches - I made a series of seven and each had a name; marshmallow (pink!), forest/moss (dark green) and rainforest (darker green with black accents), into the garden (lush green lawns with flowers), and so on. The names have stuck, reappearing whenever I work on a piece in a particular colourway if it seems appropriate.


the original 'spore' brooch


Some of the names are a little 'odder' than the others; 'spore' and 'skookumchuk' for example.
The 'spore' series came about when I was working with some purple fibres and found objects/upcycled jewelry-making remnants on an embroidered flotsam brooch. Around the same time I also cleaned out the car. My son was around 4 years old, a champion snacker and litterbug. Some of the detritus I found around his car seat had taken on a life of its own (I did wash my hands between jobs, rest assured). I added the fruiting bodies, the little stems with metal crimp cover beads, to my work after this discovery.


'skookumchuk': wire and fibre flower brooch


'Skookumchuk' appeared following a holiday to the Sunshine Coast. One day we took a hike to the famous whirlpools of the Skookumchuk Narrows which form at the entrance to the Sechelt Inlet.


whirlpools at the Skookumchuk Narrows

 The word itself is derived from Chinook jargon, the old trading language for the area, for 'strong waters'. The strong swirls and eddies were incredbly impressive, almost to the point of inducing nervousness. The original blue flotsam brooch featured embroidered or wire swirls and waves on its surface, inspired by the whirlpools, plus other 'jewels from the sea'.



the original 'skookumchuk' wire and fibre brooch - note the wire mesh offcut used as the canvas


Of course, none were as weird as the brooch 'space junk', made from smashed up cell phone innards and inspired totally by The Clangers

telling tales: the odd, the weird, the miscellaneous

"tarantula (i always get what i want)" wire and fibre ring



So this is the week to tidy up all the loose ends in my "telling tales" series where I've been giving the stories behind my work featured in the Blackberry Artist's Society gift shop.
This week's theme is the odd and the weird.


Sometimes it's just plain liberating to throw caution to the winds and make something fun, that's fun with a capital F. Fun things are not sensible, reserved or practical. They may not even be suitable for wear! but they will be intriguing to look at (and will be made with plenty of chuckles).


"fuzzy orchid" wire and fibre ring
 

Today's odd/weirdo items are two wire and fibre rings I had enormous fun making. They were both crocheted from black Artistic wire and incorporate an obscene amount of fuzzy synthetic fibre. "Tarantula" gained its name as I crocheted it to life. It's big, black, menacing and fluffy with blood-tipped fangs er, stamens advancing towards its victim er wearer. I swear this ring could crawl homewards after the party all by itself, and wouldn't go hungry en route either.

"Fuzzy orchid" is a bit milder ... but I wouldn't call it Audrey!

telling tales: a little garden for your wrist W.I.P.

The "into the garden" cuff shown here is a panel or quilt bracelet made up of five squares of wire crochet linked together with jump rings.
The four outer panels contain simple clusters of glass beads. The centre panel has quite a different treatment.



First the panel was embroidered with fibre, natural and synthetic.



Then it was 'planted' with stems and glass flower beads. Once these were in place the whole panel was felted or fulled to mesh the materials together.



Vintage plastic flower cabachons were glued to the stems and the bracelet assembled.
Voila! A little garden for your wrist; it never needs watering and the lawn never needs mowing.

'anemone' wire and fibre ring

This is one of my favourites. I'm so pleased with the way it came out - the textures, the colours and the size of the finished ring.
First I crocheted the shank of the ring with a small flared cup in place to hold the flower. Next I carefully (!) needle felted the base blue fibre before adding the synthetic fibre 'stamens' and holding them in place with the bright yellow felted centre.



It reminds me a lot of some Japanese anemones I had growing in the garden of my first house, the tiny cottage in Morpeth (OK, the flowers were white not blue but the stamens and centres were amazing, as in the ring).
And it also reminds me of anemones feeding in tide pools! Again that sea/ocean reference!

wordless wednesday: telling tales of wire and fibre brooches

my collection of wire and fibre brooches, past and present

telling tales: wire and fibre rings "poppy" and "candy"

wire and fibre "poppy" ring

Continuing this week's 'telling tales' garden theme, and also introducing a new technique!
My first house used to be filled with flowers - I bought myself a tiny little terraced cottage in the north of England and mortgaged myself to the hilt in the early nineties. My one luxury was buying fresh flowers at the local market every second weekend (I was on call on the other weekends and forever at the mercy of the phone). I would bring my newspaper wrapped bundle home and spend an hour or so distributing blooms in vases around the house. On the weekends when I didn't stay in Morpeth I'd be heading home over the border and would return laden with blooms from my parents' garden to sustain me for the week.



rose in bloom in my parents' garden


chocolate bloom!

The new technique I've incorporated into the wire crochet rings is needle felting. As readers of the blog you will know by now that I love combining wire with fibre then felting it. Usually this is done by embroidering with the feltable fibre before slinging the whole lot into the washer. Needle felting is a little more refined! For one thing, it's done dry, and there's a lot more control over what the final piece looks like. However, needle felting fibre to wire is tricky ...... and that's all I'm saying on the subject!


"candy" wire and fibre ring

telling tales: the garden series

"exotic orchid" wire and fibre ring


This week's 'telling tales' for my featured artist slot in the Blackberry Gift Shop will run to a garden theme.


the garden of my childhood

This is my inspiration - it's 8000km away from where I am now and I miss it. Making the garden-inspired jewelry, just like the sea glass pieces, reminds me of home and eases the homesickness.
It's a fabulous garden, a true testament to my parents' love and devotion which transformed an overgrown wilderness into a fantastic wilderness full of lush plants, incredible trees and secret paths.


fruit trees and more

It's no wonder then that a lot of my work has a garden-inspiration behind it. It was a big part of my life and, I suppose, it still is!