I love quirky shop signs. This one in the Hague is of a teapot, and advertises: “Groothandel. Vaste collecties, halve prijzen! Porselein, kristal, bestek” which reads in English as: “Wholesalers. Fixed / (Permanent?) collections, half price! Porcelain, crystal, cutlery.” What expresses this all better than a teapotsign? …even if this isn’t your particular cup of tea.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
This jewellery, in the last of this series,crafted by Péronne and discovered during one of my “Parels” (Pearls) days out, are amongst my favourite pieces. The shell that we call “Paua” in New Zealand is a myriad of colours and stunning in it’s spiral shaped setting This is literally one shell from the sea, shaped in the form of another shell from the sea! A kind of cross-dressing hybridisation intersection between colour and form that works absolutely perfectly.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
In this jewellery post, I am giving out the details of the Jeweller just in case someone is interested in one of the pieces or maybe even asking about a commission item. I have in this instance edited the details for reasons of privacy and internet spamming/ phishing and general safety. If however someone wishes to have more information, then I can arrange to put you in touch.
Every time I attend one of the Hague’s “Parels” (Pearls) events I discover things I never knew possible or existed, this day was no exception. I have discovered that there are special metallurgic clays to assist in jewellery making and now I see that it’s also possible to have a detailed pattern go from the paper page to a finished metal piece. It’s an excellent discovery for anyone who has a special image or pattern that they would like to keep forever in metal form. Péronne did outline in layman’s terms how this was achieved but I have to confess that by now I was stacking up heavily on pain relief, tired and not concentrating well, so will not write here what I “sort of remember” because I will invariably have many details wrong. Instead I will let the photographs speak for themselves.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Following yesterday’s post, I am looking some of the jewellery display boards of a talented sSilversmith,, and discovering more than just new exhibits but new knowledge too. I now know that a thing called “Silver metal clay” exists. It’s like a regular modelling clay in that it can be formed into something with very fine detail
The clay originated in 1990 in Japan by metallurgist Masaki Morikawa. The Wikipedia “Metal Clay” page tells us: “there are now several sorts of specialist clays available to jewellers today. It also says these clays * allow craft jewellery makers to make sophisticated looking jewellery without the years of study needed to make fine jewellery.”
The Wiki page tells me all about what each sort of clay is used for, strengths and uses… and if one sort were not enough, there is a list that includes: Silver metal clay, Precious Metal Clay (PMC) and Art Clay Silver (ACS). Sterling Silver Metal Clay was invented by Bill Struve, also the inventor of BRONZclay™ and COPPRclay™.”
The Wiki page goes into more technical detail than I was quite ready to know about jewellers mondeling clay, telling all about the development and uses of each, pro’s and cons etc… but the link is there if you are curious for any further reading. Once again the camera proves no match for the human eye, the depth of colour in the large turquoise piece especially, had to be seen to be believed.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
The exterior “Garden” ornament area of the Garderen Sand Sculpture Exhibition in 2017 had a variety of items that I liked and wanted to record in my arty reference and inspiration files. The metal sun I particularly like as a more organic style than most that have pointy extra parts that illustrate that it is in fact a sun, instead of a moon or other planet. With a little bit of adjustment this could also be a sunflower. I have a small “thing” about trees and leaves, I love them, love to draw, photograph and observe them. That’s why I was inspired by the round log burner with the tree images on it, although I have to say that a burner that has beautiful images of threes on it is a tad ironic considering that we cut down trees to burn inside it. It’s literally the source of your inspiration going up in flames!
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Visiting the Garderen Sand Sculpture Exhibition 2017, I found a selection of decorative pots, jars, bottles and the like to photograph and include in my artistic reference and inspiration files. Age, dust, chips and dents are all part of the charm of these pieces and so doing the washing up, cleaning or repairing them would certainly be detrimental in these instances. Cleaning up would be wiping away the character that comes with dusty bottles and lamps so I’m delighted to see that these have been presented in their “as is” state.
I also love that these are all a break from the endless stream of plastic goods, since most of them were made before the “plastic explosion” took place. I hope that we can be inspired to return to more products that use less plastic for the sake of our planet, these were made to last and we need to return to that ideology more too. If only that could be managed despite the constant battle of companies to incite the people of the world towards rampant consumerism.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
The 2017 Garderen Sand Sculpture exhibition has an outside area around the entrance where all varieties of garden ornaments can be fund for sale. In this particular year birds were a popular theme and so I got a closer look at some of them.
The first one swings with a sort of pendulum effect on it’s base, The others don’t move but are beautifully decorative in their own quirky way. I love how they have been put together, the added elements like the glass “eye” beads and the glasses. Of course, if you are talking about birds then maybe there is also a chat somewhere about the birds and the bees… since the exhibition included one of those too!
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
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