Outdoor Adornment [9/17]

So I was recently given an assignment:  to create an "outdoor adornment."

At first I was completely confused.  I didn't know what I wanted to do because I had never even considered outdoor adornment/jewelry before... plus my teacher had criticized my paper crane earrings, calling them "unoriginal."  :(

After about 9 hours of work and much confusion, I came up with THIS:

right next to a red truck!  haha, just my luck..

I'm calling it "The Gory Wind Chime"  just because I was told so many times that's what it looks like :)   It took a long time and was a lot of work.. I took apart a fan & spray painted the grill black, cut out styrofoam pieces and painted them different shades of red and then attached it all together with monofilament wire.

To be honest, I'm not too too crazy about this.

I appreciate that it's very different than my normal works, but right now it's just sitting in my kitchen closet and feels like a waste :x  I think I'm going to hang it up on Halloween, though :D

Mo' mo' mo' to come, as always.

(:

Paper Crane Earrings [9/15]

For Friday's jewelry design class, I made paper crane earrings ! (:

The assignment was to make something primarily out of paper that could be worn as an on-the-body adornment.  A lot of people made really cool stuff.. there was a ring made out of twisted strips of organic-looking paper that twisted into the air.  One girl even made a pillbox hat out of woven strips of black construction paper!  I was so amazed by everyone's work! :o

Anyways.. I got a B :(

I thought I would have done better because these earrings seemed to me to be very aesthetically pleasing, but my teacher said they weren't the most well made and criticized me for my lack of originality : /  I appreciated her criticism, because it's teaching me how to release myself from the mindset that "Success = aesthetics."  I'm starting to really think about creativity, ambition, and craftsmanship when it comes to art, and I have Lauren Abrams to thank, in part, for that. (:

I would love to make more of these!  I'm toying around with the idea of watercoloring them, too.  Leave me a comment if you're interested in some! 

More to come. (:

Ceramicism [8/16]

I made this clay necklace for a good friend of mine's birthday!

She turned 19 !  Happy birthday, Mo!

I love clay jewelry because it's great not to have to buy the materials you're working with, but actually create them.  I would love to actually make my own clasps sometime soon, as well. (:  The only thing I don't love is the feeling of clay on my hands.. it's so drying!

I have a few requests for some of these so I'm going to be making more soon!  

Expect updates!