i still want my hula hoop

Ever heard this song from the animated film Alvin and the Chipmunks? I went crazy when I heard it first.. specially on this line. 

CN 43 - inspired by Vajra

CN 79 - texture and layering inspired by fish scales

CN 44

Hoops...... classy and crazy! You can find all sorts. I suddenly noticed that I too have made a lot of hoops over the years. 

CN 25

CR 67

CR 33 - with carved turquoise flowers

The good part about them... is that they are so versatile! They can be clubbed on any outfit... be it Indian or otherwise.

CN 100 + CN 101

CN 100 + CN 105

CR 32 + CN 102

 ...and they suit all face cuts!

CN 159

CN 133 - with blue chalcedony

CY 20

The most lo-hass piece in a jewellery box!

CN 155 - carved in turquoise with carnelians

How many hoops do you have?

ring -a -ring -a roses...

I love rings! And have a very-almost enviable personal collection of some 40 odd silver rings.


Sharing pictures of some rings, not all, that I made with a very generous heart (a complete lie!!) to sell...


Silver.....

with amethyst

with spice topaz

guy ring - made for my boyfriend that time

with citrine

Stones and silver.....

amethyst shivlinga

cz topaz onyx

onyxes

 Silver gold plated.....

with (now extinct) rice pearls and baroque pearl

with peridots

inspired by lotus - love the shank!

inspired by lotus - shank of this one is the shape of the top of the above ring

had to! had to! add these.....

Got any interesting silver rings you love?! If you share yours... I'll share them here along with my personal ones... mail me!


happy finger-ring!

industrial design.... exploring on

I started the other way around. Put the final products in the 1st post, trials in the 2nd and the ones I love the most... explorations and experiments... for this one! 


As soon as I got my brief, I reached Amrapali's export factory called 'Rajiv Arora'. Later they opened up another factory right besides the export one and its called 'Amrapali'. This one is for the local market's production. But nothing beats the charm of 'Rajiv Arora' factory! 

the 'un-holed' ball

Although I had worked briefly with silver and other metals before then, at the institute, this was completely new! There were 3 girls in the design department. They kept on telling me things... possibilities and the impossibles. The first thing thrown at me was... You cant make complete ball of silver! It may burst... so you have to puncture it and the go about your work. Now that was a challenge for me... and the result was the piece in the picture above. Holes were made later and stones were set into it. But there was an 'un-holed' ball 1st!

the jaali ball

Next statement was... You can never set stones before the soldering! It always has to be after. This one required some thinking and some bit of researching about properties of various stones. The result was a jaali ball with a stone inside it (picture above).

golf-ish ball

As I started playing with stones and silver, I was told... To set 2mm stones (in flush setting) the silver sheet has to be of at least 21-22 gauge. No less will do. The tone of 2 gurls in particular was challenging in an unfathomable way or so I thought. For the rest of it I'll say, I always have been the questioning kinds. I feel very strongly that... every-bloody-problem has a loophole! I explored stamping around the same time. And the result (answer) was 23 gauge silver sheet with 2mm stones in flush setting (with stamps behind the stones)... This idea is brilliantly relevant today! thanks to the soaring silver prices. Its 51.50/- INR per gram as I type.

silver coin with copper stamps (and the black marks)

My first brush with stamping (picture above). They dint poke me after that or maybe I was too excited about newness around to notice. I felt like a little girl (with a sweet tooth... that I really have!) left alone in a candy store...

Tried to make the above piece look as if the stone was tearing up on to the surface. Failed miserably at that! But I created this crushed foil like texture with my own hands and soldered it on to another thin flat sheet for strength. So no casting or repousse was employed. 

pendant - settings etc.

double sided pendant - exploring curves

ring - gold plated copper inlayed (not really)/ tricked in to silver

double finger ring

Fished out this stone during a market visit that time. Freaked out at the brightness of pink. Many of these were made by me... not all the way to the end but a lot of processes. I fell in love with these pieces so much that I offered them to keep my remuneration and let me take these pieces back. They took it. And a 'Happy Ending' it was...

industrial training.... ideas galore

Photo frames.... last post ended with it and this one begins with it. By now, my greed to learn, discover, explore and execute was at its peak!

3 inches high photo frame with silver and copper stamps

Stamping is a technique used in precious and non-precious metals to save time, energy and the metal. Difficult to solder it properly though! Its a kind of die cutting. I was trying to mix copper and brass with silver, using this time saver. Copper and silver frame follows below. Understood their melting points and differences. Brass was melting so fast it almost got disfigured! 

Don't miss the black-ish marks inside the ashtray! It was a trouble I faced throughout. Later, after much R&C (reading - checking) I figured out the reason. Different kinds of impurities that get missed while purifying silver results in different coloured marks... red-ish, green-ish and black-ish.

Let me not bore you! The above piece triggered off another product idea...

2 3/4inches long photo frame in silver with copper stamps

condiment dish from 'droplets' series has a similar black mark issue around the stone caps

3 inches wide textured photo frame in silver with brass stamps and moonstone

Amrapali factory has a treasure of handmade beads in silver and copper. I was given a full day to play with them! I danced around in a tribal madness, had my fun and made a few things too...

silver picke jar + lid + spoon set with copper beads

The pickle jar turned out adorable! Just about 3 and 1/2 inches in diameter. A 2 day old silver turning set up provided the idea. Added a coiled copper wire on the spoon for a similar language.

3 inches long silver fruit picks with silver and copper beads

a few styles of copper + silver beads

silver beads linked - 3 1/2inches

with colored round beads

The piece above came to life as I added color beads. Thought of making a coaster out of it. But the beads disagreed with my idea. It had a life of its own! I have a feeling, this idea can be made into a fabulous silver stole... Given a chance (loads of silver beads and money too!) I'd love to take it forward.

I was playing around with it and yet another idea struck...

silver beads' bracelet

This was the last product I made there. By the way... I did design and make at least, a good 7-8 pieces more that I dint bother clicking/documenting! "These are not very important! I can always make them again" ...that was the kind of high I was on!

Let me know how you like the pieces so far. Shall come back with more! Wondering what remains when the last product picture is right above...?

The best pieces still crave a debut...
Happy flirting!

Layers

Wire work on sheet 

A few more of my designs... Sterling silver and 22k gold plated. I wanted to try and work with layers. So I designed some everyday pieces. Small ones. Now small ones in my dictionary are atleast about 1.5 inches. Dont feel they show, if they are any smaller.

Layering on silver is easy. But cleaning up the mess around...never! It can be quite a task! Be it layering with wire, sheet or stamps. I had fun trying these pieces. They failed the quality check so many times, that they had to be cleaned over and over! 

Stamping on sheet

 

The pair above is reversible. It is gold plated on one side and silver on the other.

Now that I had tried my hand at these. I decided to push my luck. Planned another piece. This time it was wire on 'textured sheet'. I know I was taking a chance and the pieces could be totally inferior in quality. But now that the idea had occurred, I had to make an attempt. The result was not very pleasing in the first go. Turned out worth it all, in the end...

Wire work on textured sheet

Have a superb weekend!