Undressing (Seduction series)

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

This is another image in my Seduction series... I was going for subtlety here. :-)

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

 

Ivy Mania

I know, lots of gardeners hate ivy as it strangles other plants, but I love the shape of the leaves, they are just so pretty and decorative, and I am always surprised by their symmetry.

Here's the Ivy Bangle, one of the commissions I made this week - see the Commissions June 2008 post. This one is for Caroline's sister and she'll get it at the end of next month for her birthday, so keep quiet about it until then. ;-)

This bangle - like the one I made for myself - has been made using a real ivy leaf from my garden as a template for the design cut from copper sheet. The leaf then has been filed and filed some more, sanded, brushed, polished, two holes were drilled in it and filed and sanded for the thick wire to be fed through, which then in turn has been shaped and hammered for texture and finally the whole thing has been oxidised and polished.



And here's a little ivy ring I made for Caroline so she wouldn't be sad when she had to hand over the ivy bangle to her sister. It's been made in the same way as the bangle but with a much, much smaller leaf and thinner wire.



Since I was busy making ivy leaves, I decided to make myself some earrings to match my ivy bangle. They are so comfortable to wear and very stylish and unusual, even if I say so myself. :-)

Here you can see them hanging from a little tealight jar in my garden.



Lastly, I made this necklace - in the same way as the earrings, ring, and bangle but with a larger ivy leaf and some gorgeous prehnite triangle beads, my favourite cut for beads. They look like little flower cups and the ghostly lime green works particularly well with the oxidised copper. The clasp is a new design.



All these designs will be available as a custom order in my Etsy shop soon. :-) I will add other leaf shapes and metals as well.

Lots of new things: Poppy, Heart Brooch, and Bangles and Bracelets Galore

Been busy - didn't realise quite how busy until I took the pictures and started to upload them. Maybe because I'd been working on several projects simultaneously, or maybe I am just cracking up! :-)

Let's do this in chronological order...


Poppy Necklace

I actually tried out a new technique with this. I cut the petals from copper, then shaped, filed and torched them, however I couldn't get them bright red. So I tried something new. I bought some translucent, liquid Sculpey (TM) a while back that can be either used as a transfer for pictures or it can be mixed with colours. I did the latter, and mixed it with two different acrylic reds and some lovely superfine glitter in burgundy. I applied that, baked it, added another layer of just plain Sculpey (TM) and then sprayed it with varnish.


Next, I added the stamen (I used a little wooden bead for the centre and twirled on some gorgeous matte black Japanese seed beads). The whole flower was attached to a vintage filigree, some black enameled chain and finished off with a handmade clasp.



Red Heart Brooch

This was made in the same way as the poppy with a copper heart base and the Sculpey (TM) applied on top, however this time I didn't apply the second (non-coloured) coat evenly but in a spiral.


I am quite pleased with the effect, it's bright red, which is what I wanted and almost has the look of enamel, but is more pleasant to the touch as it isn't cold and hard but softer and warmer.


True Love Bracelet

I really wanted a bracelet to go with my True Love necklace - most of my jewellery is silver except for the Dragon's Tale - so I needed to make myself a bracelet... You know how it is. :-)

Below it is before I oxidised it:


In detail:


More detail:


Even more detail: :-)



Here it is oxidised. I prefer it this way as it brings out the textures of the hearts and works better for me.


Here is a picture of it with the necklace:


And here is a close-up picture of both. I've used the same beads for both and made all the links/jump rings/clasp and the hearts.



Bangles Galore
Set of Five - Spirals within Spirals

I LOVE bangles. I like the sound they make when you wear more than one and when they jingle-jangle against one another. :-)

Here's a set of five. Each is different and I've used 4 different gauges of copper wire. The wooden block is actually a bangle mandrel which helps shape the bangles to a (near) perfect round. I've applied a hammered texture to some of them, but not all of them.

The bangles will go in my Etsy shop and will be sold in sets of three or five and in various wires (bronze, copper, silver, rose gold, possibly brass) and oxidised or bare, all will made to order so the customer can decide what combination.

Here's a picture of what a look of three would look like together after I oxidised them:


Here's a picture of five (oxidised):


The Ivy Bangle

This one is ALL MINE. I love this. I used a real ivy leaf for the shape and cut it out of copper sheet (filed, sanded, brushed), then I manipulated thick copper wire to 'hold' the leaf and create the main centre vein through the leaf. A little swirl at the other end finishes the bangle shape.




Here is the leaf in detail:



Here is the bangle after oxidisation:

And here is the leaf in detail again after oxidisation:


The 'botanical' bangle will be offered in my Etsy shop as a custom order, too. The customer can decide on the the leaf to be used in the bangle. :-)

Wire Experiments

I love playing with wire, it's so sculptural (sorry, if that's obvious, I only just discovered it for myself) and there's so much you can do with it: from knitting it to bending it, to hammering and bashing it, to dipping it in liver of sulphur (to oxidise it) to hanging it round my arm. :-)

Here are some of my recent projects, including (ta-da!) my first ever real, made-from-scratch ring!

It's been made with thicker square wire that I bashed and hammered into shape with - obviously - a hammer, a mandrel, a steel block and the use of a pair of pliers. I then added a teeny aventurine bead at the top with the help of a ball ended head pin wrapped around the loop at the top. The ring is a standard UK size 'M' but is adjustable. It should be available in my Etsy.shop soon. All the wire is Sterling Silver.




Here's my beautiful dragonfly bangle. Again it's been made with thicker square wire, bashed and squeezed and hammered into shape (took quite a bashing, believe me!) and then I added a sea glass nugget to the loop with the help of two tiny vintage dragonfly stampings. A generous spiral at the other end finishes it off. The wire is bare copper wire. Available in my Etsy shop soon!


Here's the dragonfly/sea glass in detail:


This is the sea glass/dragonfly from the inside:

A close-up of the spiral with the texture (all that bashing....)


And this one is MINE. It's my amoeba bangle. It started off as the snowflake bangle, but when I looked at it, it just didn't look like a snowflake... Never mind, I love it anyway! :-)

I've used a thick gauge of square sterling silver wire, bent, hammered and bashed into submission with various acoutrements, a sea glass nugget (go, say hello to Alison who braved the waves to collect it for me), and a lovely vintage beadcap/stamping in the shape of a snowflake. This will NOT be available in my Etsy shop, because I am going to wear it tonight. :-) However, feel free to commission one similar to this.




Detail of the amoeba from the front:


Detail of the amoeba from the back or inside: