Inspired by Art

I'm really getting in to the swing of things with my ceramics. Do you ever feel as though things are starting to fall in to place? I have many styles and techniques that I love to work in/with. And over the last couple of weeks I've been working on ways to incorporate them together in my work.

My first love in the art world is Art Nouveau. The gentle flowing lines, the movement and suggestion of form, and the rich earthy colours in the designs.

Art Nouveau Inspiration

My absolute favourite is Alphonse Mucha, the Czech painter and decorative artist.

Alphonse Mucha - Donna Orechini

Alphonse Mucha - Job Cigarettes

Alphonse Mucha - Zodiac

When you look closely at his work, it seems deceivingly simple,  a series of heavy lines, with washed pastel colours, but the sum of the parts is an incredible result.

Alphonse Mucha - Posing a model

Mucha regularly used photography as a tool for his work, building grand sets with his models, taking many photographs, and choosing elements from them to create his artworks. After school, I studied photography at college and have hundreds of pictures from which I regularly draw inspiration. 

If you'd like to read more about Mucha's life and work, you must visit the Mucha foundation website,  full of information and even colouring pages of his line drawings.

http://www.muchafoundation.org

Mucha Quote

I also love to draw, and have multiple sketchpads full of work I've produced in pursuit of my own style. 

Sketches

The simple suggestive style really appeals to me and I've been exploring that with some new tile designs.

Carved tile designs

I'm really enjoying working on a larger scale and these designs include my love of carving, nature, photography and Art Nouveau.

Underglazed tile

Inspired by Jenny's post showing how she uses underglazes for her work, I decided to try it out myself for my first test. The carved tile was decorated in multiple layers of underglaze to create solid colours, outlined in black and then fired with a coat of clear glaze. I've found with my underglazes, they work better if you fire them bare, then fire again with the clear. The colours turn out much brighter. 

For a second test, I tried single colours of transparent glaze. These turned out to be my favourites.

Single colour glazed tile

I've always had a thing for the way glaze breaks over texture, and in this version, the carving really stands out. 

Not wanting to abandon beads altogether, I tried out some miniature versions of the tiles as pendants.

Hand carved ceramic pendants

Next I'm going to try these out with multiple colours, although on previous attempts, this hasn't always gone to plan and they looked a bit messy, maybe having a bit more patience might be the key! 

And finally, as I really liked the smaller tile pendants, I tried out one of the design in bronze clay, using the same hand carving techniques I used for the clay versions.

Carved bronze pendant

I'd like to turn this in to some jewellery, I have bronze wire on order, just need to decide how to go about making up the chain! I'm thinking something with rich coloured Czech glass beads and wrapped wire. 

And finally, a quick update on the mugs from my last post. They're still very much a work in progress, I've decided the handle on this one is too big, but I quite like the multi coloured glazing (which took forever!) I think with a bit of tweaking, and maybe an extra coat of glaze for a more solid colour on the purple, they will be pretty cool! 

A WIP

It's still great fun to drink out of something you've created yourself, even if it isn't exactly as you'd like it.

I'm really enjoying the journey I'm taking with my work, it's extremely satisfying to search for what it is that you love and express it through your work. 

I'd love to hear what it is that inspires your work... don't forget to leave a comment!

Silk Macrame Bird Bangle Tutorial

 

Some of you may remember this bangle from my Spring Fever design challenge earlier this year and as it was so popular I've put together a tutorial so you can make your own.

 

Materials

• Approx 12" 16 gauge wire
• 1 bird bead 
• 1 silk string cut into 2 equal pieces 
• Size 5 Miyuki seed beads
• Round nose pliers and wire cutters

Bird bead from Blueberri Beads
Silk strings from  Sowzere Designs

Notes: 
If you use different beads check your core wire will fit through the holes.
The silk strings used here are approx 50" long and sufficient for 1 bangle but you may require 2 strings if you use shorter ones.
The  amount of wire and the number of beads used will depend on the finished size of the bangle and the numbers quoted here are based on a bangle that fits my 7" wrist so adjust your requirements accordingly. There is a guide to sizing bangles here.

Step 1
Cut a loop of wire from a coil measuring approx 10"

Step 2
Starting at the centre of the coil tie a macrame square knot with the one piece of the silk using the the wire as the core - for a clearer diagram of a basic square knot see here. I hold to wire with my thumb and 3rd finger while knotting but it you find this awkward you can hold the wire in a vice to free up both hands for knotting.

Step 3 
Thread a seed bead onto the wire and repeat step 2.

Step 4 
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have 14 beads (or your required number) on the wire finishing with step 3.

Step 5
Turn the loop around and add your focal bead and then repeat the same process on the other side of the bangle with the second piece of silk.

Step 6
Bring the silk strings to the top of the wire and tie off in an overhand knot.

Step 7

Trim the ends of the wire to approx 6/8", files the ends smooth and turn a simple loop at each end - one on the vertical and one on the horizontal.

Step 8
With the remaining wire turn a simple loop at one end.

Step 9
Using round nose or bail making pliers curve the wire in the opposite direction from the simple loop to create a hook clasp. Bend the end up slightly, trim and file smooth. Hammer on the curve to work harden

Step 10

Use a jump ring to attach the hook to the horizontal loop of the bangle. The vertical loop forms the eye for the hook closure to connect with keeping it flat against the wrist.

Step 11
Trim the silk tails as you prefer - you can leave them long, cut them close, add beads or knot as you choose.

Alternative finish
I prefer this 'open' style bangle as I have large hands and to get closed bangles over them they end up quite loose on my wrist but, if you prefer a closed bangle you can simply forgo the hook and connect the simple loops to each other as shown here. If you choose this finish you will need to add extra beads to ensure the bangle will go over your hands - in my case 3 on each side. If your bangle gets misshapen while you are working on it you can ease it back using a mandrel or cylindrical item (baked bean cans work well) taking care around the focal.

And there you have it - you can of course adapt this to use any bead of your choice and I hope you'll give it a go and have some fun with this simple design. The bangles featured here are available in my Etsy Jewellery Shop.

Lesley
The Gossiping Goddess