Kuriosities

Some pic’s as promised of my little bird. I thought that I had taken pics of my wax in progress, but cannot find them at all now. I spent a long time carving all his little feathers. Oh well. I do have a wax from casting – maybe I’ll take pics tomorrow.

Here is a Robin fresh from being cast. They alway come back white, but this will polish to silver easily. They also come with a big annoying chunky thing called a sprue, which is how the molten silver flows into the mold to make the piece. I have to first saw off the largest part of this, and then file the piece until it is the right shape again, and then sand it. In this photo one bird still has its sprue, the other does not.

After I de-sprued the birdie, I tossed him into my centrifugal magnetic tumbler to rid him of the white and polish him up a bit. I didn’t leave it in there for very long, because I don’t want it to have a high polish, I want a more antiqued look… This is also why I did not hand polish it with tripoli as I usually do with my small run pieces.

I wanted to add a patina to bring up the details, so into the Liver of Sulphur it went, resulting in this bluish black finish…

After the bird was oxidised, I brushed it with a steel brush  to give it a satin finish. It removed the oxidation from the high spots, but left the crevices with the patina. The light was not with me at the time of day I photographed the next two, but you get the idea…

And now it is ready for the finished pieces that it will be a part of! It is fairly tiny, though hard to tell in the photos. It measures 17 mm head to tail.

All jewelry designs on this blog are copyright Kuriosities.com 2008. My jewelry and my writings are  how I make my living, and put food on the table. No stealing of ideas, svp.! I hate to hire lawyers, but I will.

Here are a few more record players that I have made! These things are addictive in their one of a kindness, and little gears. I love the gears, and the tiny little rubies. The first record player from my previous entry is sold, lickity-split just like that! , and one of these is likely as well, though I am not sure which one has been chosen yet as the details are still being firmed up. I am going to make a few more for my grand opening of the Kuriosities line, maybe with some custom stamping, maybe some with more intricate gearworks. In the meantime here you go!

Record player pendant #2  – I found this lovely engraved little gear for a turntable and used a contrasting gear for the centre The engraving gives a kind of steampunky country vibe to it, I think anyways. Should maybe put a nice swirly R in that corner. hmmmm Or leave it as is? I like how this photo turned out. 

Record Player pendant #3: A Jack White record player pendant with the mythical number three stamped in one corner. Minimalist, stripped down and simple.

My little birdie came back from castings today. Oh, she is sweet! She has a whole series of pieces devoted to her lovely self, or is it his lovely self? I’ll have to look that up in the story…Which story is it from? – it’s a secret, today anyways, I may tell you tomorrow when I post pictures of it being carved, the wax, the unfinished castings, the in process casting and the finished charm. The final pieces will stay under wraps though until the launch…

I am so excited about the Kuriosities line – a total departure from my current work, but very much me. I am hoping it will be like a visit to an enchanted junk shop, full of oddities and whimsicalities that spark the imagination and lead you to believe that magic may still exist. I hope it will be the perfect mix of child-like innocence with just a little hint of the sinister to keep you on your toes…

This was the view out of our kitchen the other day…does having a beat up old junker Dodge Ram and a pet pig in your drive mean you are a red neck? Yikes. I hope not, but it was the perfect redneck scene that’s for sure. A big fat pig napping in the shade of a pick-up. But just so you do know – the pick-up is just for picking up round bales for the horses (not for gadding about town in), and the piggie is a fancypants vietnamese pot belly pig, and a fully housebroken trained pet, not the kind that you eat. He comes when you call him, goes to bed when you tell him to, and will sit on command. And his name is Mr. Portobello. Do these details make it any better?? Secretly I love to sit behind the wheel of that pick-up, though it is monstrously too big for my petite statured self. I have to shove things behind my back to be able to reach the pedals!

I have developed a passion for sundresses, now that the warmth is upon us. I wore my vintage inspired purple flowered one yesterday, with the swirly skirt. I felt the most childish joy in it, twirling so that the skirt flew wide and pretty around me when no one was watching. I even wore it to the barn with my rubber boots on, which made me even more exceedingly happy. I felt a proper country cowgirl miss with my swirly skirts and my muck-a-luck boots, tossing hay and rounding up restless ponies (well horses too, my biggest girl is a full 16h1h! huge!). I love moments like that, when I first looked down at the contrast of purpley skirts and black rubber boots, and my eyes grow wide and a smile spreads across my face. I did those chores with a bounce to my step!

Two old but recently found poems:

#1: 

PS. Who ARE you faithful readers, who read, and read, but never write? I am dying of the mystery of it! But maybe that is more inspiring? Maybe I will just imagine who you are…make up imaginary occupations, imaginary lives for all of you! This Gentleman wears a top hat and sports a dandy cane, this Miss also adores swirly skirts and has a parrot named Esmeralda, and perhaps you are a street busker taking tea in a cafe in London…OR you could leave a comment every blue moon <hint, hint> 

Sorting through all of my little watch gears and parts last night, I suddenly saw this piece in my mind’s eye – a little steampunked record player pendant. I love it! If you move the large gear in the centre, the two little gears to the side move. The little hand on the needle arm moves to on a little gage that shifts from F to S. I hammered in two tiny little gears for volume and speed dials. Every thing was riveted together with sterling silver rivets, onto a copper base. These gears have so thoroughly captured my imagination, and that no two pieces will be the same…

This particular record player may be spoken for (details are not firmed up yet at the moment), but if you want one of your very own I can make another similarily inspired , just email me- but the pieces will be unique antique watch parts from different broken watches, so no two will be exactly alike – which is their charm , I think. It certainly is for making them!

Some fun with broken antique watches….the rivets on one of the bail parts is a bit wonky, but I couldn’t fix it without messing up all of the other parts, so it will have to do on this one – but this was so fun to play around with. I will make another with a perfect bail later…

All of the parts are riveted to the copper. I notice that most people working in steampunk usually just use glue. I am not a fan of gluing jewelry parts, and it kind of goes against the whole aesthetic if you ask me. So sterling silver rivets!

My time-travelling clockwork steampunk’d heart.

I have been thinking a great deal about Muses – and now considering a different perspective. We always see the Muse as portrayed by the Artist… this beautiful beyond all expression woman – but she is so often distant, she spurns his advances, she is sometimes contemptful, or is simply beyond reach. The poor artist is wounded, but love-sick, compelled to follow her cruel beauty to the ends of the earth. Oh, dear spurned sad poet! O cruel hearted woman!

I find I am wondering more about how the Muse feels about all of this attention. These “gifts” made in her image…seeing someone paint how they see her in their mind’s eye, with words, with brush strokes. Immortalising her in a way she has little, if any, control over.The cage of idealisation that allows no room for her true humanity to enter. The precariousness of a pedestal.

On one level, and at some point, the attention of a brilliant man could be flattering and welcomed. And certainly there are Muses who fall in love with their artists, who are won and wooed, flattered and bask in the glow. But I think it could also be very unwelcomed. What about the muse who has given her heart to another, or the simply disinterested muse. I am coming to believe that carrying the burden of another’s obsession could be overwhelmingly horrible, in fact. To know that you are a constant in the thoughts of another, that their life and their work revolve around who they think you are. That they are influenced by your actions, your life, even though they may not be at all in your thoughts. Even though they may hold no attraction for you at all. I find this a frightening and disturbing prospect, and would not at all be flattering. It is actually not very romantic or poetic at all… the difference between an eager lover who woos with serenades, and a stalker lurking beneath the window.

So, I am going to be considering the reluctant Muse with new eyes for a while. The tension of being attracted to the brilliance, and being repulsed by the romantic overture -  the lure and the horror of the pedestal. I am going to consider her.

in the silent dark
she let your fingers adore her
trace each line of her face she felt
them tremble across her lips
tentative and furtive they lingered
and she let them, and knew
what was shaking you, did
not move her at all.

later, alone, she made tea
wrote poems about the sea, the green meadow,
you went home and drew the contours
of her face, traced them carefully into words
penned her unwilling
and stiff to the page

“o god…”
the broken voice on the phone
all those scrawling pages!     pages, and pages,
desperate spiderwebs she frantically tries to brush off
and the stain of your adoration
seeping into the fabric of sticky skeins
suffocates, steals
the air from the room.