and you are invited...

I participate with my designs in many luxury fairs, charity shows and bazaars. I invite my friends and clients with my special-made-for-the-show invites. Some of them turn out gorgeous!


Thought you would like a dekho...

I love last three... (collage of actual pieces).

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!

chiquita

I forgot to add this work to my 'nid works' post. I made it during the jewellery module. More like jewellery with experimental material... 

braiding bands linked with silver rings

It took me almost two whole months, to make a choker neckpiece and a pair of 3d (tubular) earrings with this technique. Killingly tedious...! to first make the jump rings out of thin silver wire and then plug them onto two bands at a time, plus making sure the bands don't get crushed or too tight anywhere.


It was finally displayed at India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) '2004 and wholly appreciated.


Oh! I named it 'Chiquita'.

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!

industrial training.... in black & white

a set of 2 triangular silver condiment dishes

As a student my industrial training happened at Amrapali Jewels of Jaipur. Those who know about it, would agree it is the Mecca of Indian jewellery. Year after year they belt out perfect pieces favoured by stylish people world over. And yes! I was fortunate enough to train with them.

silver condiment dish from the 'droplets' series

 

photo frame from the 'droplets' series

When I went there I was not sure what was going to emerge or what would I discover. And I am glad and lucky I was there......... would be the understatement of my entire life!

another silver condiment dish from the 'droplets' series

a tiny photo frame with sandblasted technique from the 'droplets' series

 

My brief for those 6 weeks, from my institute, was to just explore and learn. And from the company was to make gift articles in sterling silver that would easily fit in my hand. And I have small hands! 16cms in length to be precise.

ashtray inverted

 

silver ashtray from the 'droplets' series

 

This post would become too too large with way too many pictures if I added all my explorations and my products in one go. So I have decided to break it up... maybe in 3 posts to keep it clean and exciting.

close up of the sandblasted photo frame

Decided to end with a dash of color. Promise to be back with some very exciting things...

Have a birthday party to attend!

pince-nez

Pince-nez is a French word which literally means (it) pinches (the) nose. I just had some fun with a picture... sharing it all here.

Would love to make these things in real some day. Enjoy all the distractions this week!