March 22, 2010

From Sketch to Design

I thought you might enjoy seeing how my latest creations came into being.

First my inspirations:
Illustrations from my childhood
From artist's like Gyo Fujikawa and Tasha Tudor.


So with those inspirations rattling around in my brain and the need to create a line of clasps scratching it's way to the surface I sat down with my sketchbook.
I pulled out the clay, my lino block carving tool and my favorite sculpting tools and made the molds.  It took me a few experiments as I've never made a mold or stamp for the clay.  Fun, but I wasted quite bit of polymer clay and mold making stuff in the process, oh well it's part of the journey.

After I had a few molds that I was happy with I threw them in the oven and waited.  From the molds I pressed my toggles. After those baked; I painted them and did some surface treatments to create a 'watercolor' effect. 

Now in a perfect world at this point I would have whipped out my precious metal clay and created bronze or silver branch toggles.  But being kiln deficient, , that didn't happen.  So after some brain storming I created a 'branch' from copper that is hammered for texture and antiqued.  Here are some of the results:




And a necklace designed with the Spring Willow toggle pendant:


Clasps will arrive attached with a small piece of copper chain that can be removed before adding it to your design:
Visit my Etsy shop to view all the new clasps.
Next up is to try the clasps in different colors for the different seasons.

17 comments:

mairedodd said...

these are terrific! i had the nursery rhyme book (still do) by gyo fujikawa... love those illustrations...

Juliette said...

These are absolutely beautiful!! You've really inspired me to work on a few things tonight. Thank you for sharing your inspiration process!!

From a fan,
Juliette :)

Silver Parrot said...

The new clasps are just lovely and what a great insight into your process!

cjvierow said...

These new clasps are terrific! At first I thought the toggle was a ribbon it looked so soft. These will make great focals as well as clasps.

Gardanne said...

These are really beautiful, they should always be front and center.

Alice said...

How inspiring to see an idea evolve from a sketch to the final product. I love the clasp, especially the ingenious metal toggle! The necklace is gorgeous!

Beverly Herman said...

I love the necklace with the toggle you created. It really completes the design and takes center stage!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing how you are inspired to create some beautiful creations! I abolutely love the toggle...what a neat way of making one...lovely.

Pretty Things said...

Those rock!

melanie brooks said...

These are wonderful! And thank you for mentioning my pieces as inspiration!

It's funny, because before you posted this, I had been brainstorming the toggle part for my clasps, and saw your solution. Now your toggle solution is inspiring me to come up with a variation of my own that is similar, yet different. The inspiration comes full circle!

TesoriTrovati said...

How great to see within the mind of a creative. I love the reference to the children's books. Such a great inspiration. Thanks for sharing. Now...when can I buy them?
Enjoy the day!
Erin

Anonymous said...

Oooooh, I love the watercolour effect you achieved there! Awesome colours! I think I would personally prefer pendants in this style, as I rarely use larger toggles, but otherwise I'm quite in love with them!
What kind of finish do you use on the paint? I have a hard time finding something that doesn't melt the clay *and* isn't glossy...

After Hours Art Glass said...

These are just beautiful Heather! I love the "earth" quality they have. I'm glad you shared your creative process, I sketch out all of my beads, it's something I look forward to. I think having a pencil in hand before a glass rod, to design a bead makes me think "out of the box" more and do things I normally wouldn't have thought of in the heat of the moment...literally speaking of course lol! Thanks for sharing :-)
shannon

Beth Hikes said...

I love seeing how you arrived at this design! Super clever with the copper and the finishing is so delicate. A winner :)

Kella said...

These are cleverly beautiful and the design process makes them even more so.

Anonymous said...

Hey Heather!

These are exceptional! Happy that you are merging your love for illustrating and bead making.

Sparkly Wishes!
Juliet

Unknown said...

These are wonderful. The last one is my very most favorite with the pale budding branches.