cat earrings

I was looking through this blog yesterday and today and realized there are a lot of things I never got around to posting.  Below are some cat earrings I made around the end of last year.  I had Shapeways print them in wax and my friend in the US cast them in silver and finished them.  I also had them print some in plastic and in steel as a pendant. 

Zbrush pearl pendant

This is a pendant I made in Zbrush earlier this year.  The sphere in the middle is a pearl.  I will definitely make this one once I am back in the US.  This design has a slight problem I don't like, but other than that, it is one of those designs I made and didn't think much about it at the time, then I looked at it months later and realized I really liked it. 

CAD stuff

I've been working on CAD consistently since my last post.  Mostly ZBrush.  I really enjoy it but I've learned it well enough that I am trying to put more time in to learning Rhino now.  I have also started learning MODO a little.  It seems it will be really useful to use in conjunction with ZBrush. 

In September I got a Wacom Cintiq Companion for ZBrush.  I love it.  There's a couple things they could have done better, but overall it is great.  Working directly on the screen is much better than looking at the cursor on the screen while using the pen someplace else.  I rarely do any work at home, that's why I got the Companion rather than a normal Cintiq.

 

 I recently had  Shapeways, a 3D printing company, 3D print some things for me.  A couple waxes, some plastic pieces, and one steel piece.  My friend in the US is casting the waxes for me.  After they are done my parents are going to send everything to me.  These are the first things I have had 3D printed.  I have only seen the pictures my parents sent, but from what I have seen, I am not too impressed with the level of detail.

CAD process pics aren't very interesting, so I haven't felt much reason to post them. Here are some finished, or nearly finished designs I have done.  Most of these were primarily done in ZBrush.  Usually I make the basic shape in Rhino, then import the file to ZBrush to sculpt on it.

 Some pendants...

 I'm not sure this ring could actually be made in metal and keep all the detail.

 3 stone ring.

 

 Another pendant...

This last one is the only design here that I did completely in Rhino.  

watercolor rendering

Recently I became interested in doing watercolor renderings of jewelry designs again.  I took the jewelry design course at GIA in 2001 and learned how to do watercolor renderings, but within a year of finishing the class I had completely stopped doing them.  I like the look of them, but they were usually just too much work.  Living in a small apartment in Korea I am really limited with the kind of jewelry work I can do here, so I decided to relearn to draw and paint.  In December I ordered some books and jewelry illustration and rendering.  I also asked my parents to send me all my drawing and painting supplies and all the instructions, handouts, notes and samples from my design class. After I finished that class I had kept all my papers organized and in a folder because I felt I would need them again someday.  I have never been so organized with any class materials before or since then. 

Since there is no school all January and February, but I am still required to be at school, I have had a lot of time to practice drawing and painting here.  So far I have been doing the technical drawing exercises in Jewelry Illustration by Dominique Audette and the painting exercises from my GIA design class.  I recently got the book Techniques of Jewelry Illustration and Color Rendering by Adolfo Mattiello, which seems like a good book.  I did a few of the exercises in the beginning but I think I will wait to start on that after I have done most of the GIA design class assignments since they use a different painting technique. 

There are some designs I did in the design class in 2001:

update

I entered the Jewelry Arts Awards last week. I entered the new brooch in my previous post, and a brooch from last year. I did well with rings in the past, but this year I didn't have any rings that I felt were worth entering.

I am working on a few new pieces using aluminum and other materials. One with thin stainless steel cable, and another with ebony. I will see how these pieces turn out and then decide of I want to do more with those materials.

I am also working on some prototypes of jewelry made from folded sheet metal similar to the folded vessels I have done. I have been thinking about doing this for a few months, but I have only now just started working on designs. I have done several paper models for earrings, and one model out of 4" x 4" 22 gauge (0.64mm) copper. 4" x 4" sounds kind of big, but when it's folded up it's only about 1.25" wide and a little under 1.5" high. 22 gauge was the thinnest sheet I had, but it was too thick when I folded it up and the edges were binding. It also seemed kind of heavy. So I need to get some thinner metal, probably 26 gauge for earrings.

folded copper vessel part 2

In this picture I have mostly sanded the piece. I do as much finishing as I can while the piece is flat. It's much easier that way. The only parts I cannot finish while it is flat are some of the edges near the center.


Even though I have done a paper model, when folding the real piece it is sometimes hard to tell how much each part should be folded, so I fold the piece a little bit at a time.




The tabs are what keeps the piece together.




This is where I am at right now. I need to file some edges around the bottom of the piece and put a patina on it. I like it, especially the top, but I am not going to do this exact piece in silver.

folded copper vessel part 1

I came up with one idea for my folded silver vessel. I made 2 paper models then decided to try it in copper since I don't have gas to solder the pin back on my aluminum and silver brooch.

In the picture below I have the design glued to 12" x 24" 20 ga. copper. The design was sized to fit on a 12" x 12" sheet. I use Elmer's School Glue to glue the paper to the metal. Usually I sand the surface of the metal a little to help the glue adhere to it. This time I decided to skip that step and see if it would still hold ok. Skipping that step was a big mistake. The glue does not adhere to the metal at all. The paper was constantly peeling up while I was trying to saw out the shape and I kept having to glue it back down with super glue, which will be more difficult to remove when I am finished.



This is about where I stopped last night. I have almost all the holes drilled and I am deburring them.


This piece should be different from the others I have made so far, I am trying something new. Except for the holes. I am getting a little tired of the holes. The silver piece probably won't have holes, or if it does maybe they will be smaller and much closer together.

What ever design I decide to use for the silver vessel I will probably not cut it out of a single sheet of metal like I have done with every other folded vessel. I will probably cut out each side individually then solder them all to a center piece. There's lot of waste when I cut the design out of a single sheet of metal. That's ok with copper, brass and bronze, but silver is too expensive to waste.

designing

I am trying to resist the urge to start on another brooch I have been thinking of till I finish the one I started last week. I don't have much more to do on it and I don't have any commissions due for a little while so I should finish soon while I have time.

I am also working on a design for another folded vessel I want to make in silver. I would like to make one that is significantly different from the last few I have done. I have some ideas in my head, but it is difficult and time consuming to work the design out. Making these folded pieces is different from my other work because I can't just do a drawing, I need to make a paper model to see how it will fold up. Using CAD has sped up the process, but still I need to print them, cut out the shapes and fold and tape them. Most of the time I see the design is a failure as soon as I finish the model.

(I got this one back from CraftForms today.)


I thought I had decided last year to make this teapot, I even bought metal for it.


But now I am having second thoughts. I was working on some more designs, but haven't come up with anything else I like. I need to hurry up with it because what ever I decide to make I want to have it finished in time to enter in the Cheongju International Craft Competition. Entries probably won't be due till June or July, but a teapot will take a while and I will have a lot of other things to make.

Aluminum and sterling brooch part 1

I started a new brooch the other day. I was looking through my sketch book and saw this little drawing I had copied from my old sketch book into my new sketch book in August 2008, the original drawing was from August 4, 2005. It popped out and me and I knew I had to make it next. Rarely do I copy the designs in my sketch book as exactly as I did with this piece. Usually I change some things when I start making the piece. About the only change I have made in this is I have made the top part slightly skinnier.

Aug 2008 copy


Aug 4, 2005 drawing