Inspirations for the New Year

Kite earrings in blue and green
©2012 Nayna Studios™

Inspiration they say can strike anywhere well  looking for inspiration I realized that simply anything can turn into an idea, sometimes it is another artist's work  that set the old cogs turning, sometimes an everyday object , at times a beautifully hued drying leaf. More than once I have stopped short on my way home from the studio to stare at a dry leaf that had the most amazing combination of red, green and yellow (how does mother nature do it !!) 

At other times its my feelings sometimes I can truly confess that there have been occasions when I have been angry and taken it all out on a piece of metal (let me tell you do it right and you end up with  some fantastic designs :D) 

But what better source of inspiration then the seemingly endless line up of festivals in our beautiful country ! This pair of kite earrings was the first such design, I was only trying to do something commemorative of the festival of 'Sankranti' a festival that heralds spring and is always marked by flying of kites all over the country. Its quite common to see young , old, Men Women all practice and even compete fiercely on the day (the one who cuts another's kite gets to keep it :) Little did I know this piece would prove to be so popular I have lost track of the number of these I have sold !

X'mas Set
©2011 Nayna Studios™

The second such piece I have worked on is this Christmas set with a reindeer on the pendant and a pair of holly leaves for the ears. This one was of course inspired by the Christmas and is quite a sweet piece. I got quite the reaction to this one as well :)

So now my question is this what should I create for the very important upcoming New Year ? While not traditionally a festival it does symbolize everything new, new hope, new beginnings, new (dare I say it ) resolutions ! What would in your words qualify as the interpretation of New Year?

Back to the pitch and some added mask mania

Line work on the two mask profiles.

For those of you who are not in the know, I am first a metal artist and then jewelry artist and while I do keep working on my art, I spend most of my time designing and creating jewelry, using all the techniques I learnt as a metal artist. I use most of what I learned not all and repousse` is one such technique that I rarely use any more. That is un-till I saw a piece by a Laurie Jane Kern on her blog The Adventurous Silversmith. She had made the most gorgeous Cuff which she had named 'The Calamari Cuff' It was a gorgeous piece in silver with detailed repousse and some very smart patina finish. Looking at all of her pictures and the way she had created the relief on the cuff reminded me of my college days and how much I used to love working with copper repousse often creating specialized tools for the required project in hand! ( Our professor was quite the tough task master when it came to hand crafting each tool something that I will forever be grateful to him for it has really made me appreciate a well made tool and the benefits of being able to create one by myself :)

Now you might wonder why a Mask for the design element that is because I have a very old relationship with the subject of masks. You see my final year dissertation subject was mask and masking traditions around the world, so I simply could not resist combining the two passions! 

Mask Cuff
©2012 Nayna Studios™

Although not very detailed these faces took me back ten year when all did sleeping waking talking was think masks ! Heck I had the mask mania so bad I even had my friends hunting for material for my research :P
Well this little piece turned out very well including soldering the edges perfectly :)

Mask Cuff
©2012 Nayna Studios™

Baby Anklets can there be cuter jewelry out there ?

          A few days ago my maid who usually either finds my work fascinating or thinks I'm completely nuts! asked me whether I could make some anklets for her grandson who is all of 6 months old. Now you might wonder what's with anklets for a baby well traditionally here in India all babies above the age of a three months are given a pair of sturdy ( well sturdy for them :D) usually made of metal so as to help them gain strength in their wee muscles and improve blood circulation. These are usually made of either copper, silver or what we call 'Panch Dhatu' meaning five metals. The combination of metals like gold, silver, copper, bronze, nickel or sometimes zinc is considered to be very good for one's health (as per ancient Ayurveda ). 

         Obviously with the prizes of gold and silver being what they are today my maid wanted to know whether I could make a pair out of copper for her . Well  you know me I'm game for experimenting at all times :)

           So here is my version of baby anklets. I balled up the ends of some 14 ga copper wire so that there would be no sharp ends to hurt the little tyke and flattened the wire in my rolling mill. This was followed by gripping one end of the wire in my bench vise and the other in my hand drill a few turns later lovely twisted wire !

I suppose I could have made it easier by doing the twisting first and the balling later but anyhoo I loved it and apparently so did the kiddoo ! 

And if  you are wondering I do kiddoo custom work for free !!!