Thursday, April 10, 2008

YOJ 2008, Wk 14...Amazin'(ite) Grace...Work in Progress

I absolutely drool over each new piece created by Iza Malczyk and immediately fell in love with her wire-woven crosses.  I have been wanting to design a wire-wrapped, coiled cross that was beautiful, yet strong enough to possibly include on a rosary.  Most of the other versions I had seen were pretty fragile for that end.  I actually had something similar to Iza's design in my head with a few differences, but just couldn't seem to bring it to fruition.  Imagine my excitement to see Iza's tutorial presenting exactly the concepts and elements I was trying to work out! 

The tutorial was very clear and easy to follow...actually finishing it was more difficult!  If you look closely, the wraps on the top and left arm leave a lot to be desired...you can tell I did those 1st.  My end curls and loops are not exact either.  I need practice working with larger gauge wire.  Also, the back is not as neat as the front.  The necklace part of the design is still in process.  It will include more amazonite rondells, silver and chain...possibly other materials. As soon as that part is completed, I am definitely oxidizing it and will update you on how it turned out.

I can't wait to finish the entire piece so I can start a new one!

This is my 1st entry into the Creative Wire Jewelry Forum's Year of Jewelry 2008 Challenge.  The idea is to create 1 piece per week for a year.  It is divided up into quarters, so you can commit to a little at a time.  This is a good thing for me, as I have attempted to do previous versions, and never was able to keep up!  This go round is all about sticking with the commitment for me; I'm not worried about following themes, and want to try to not get behind by more than 1 week.  My other goal is to get "outside the box" with my techniques...it is "creative wire" after all, so I am attempting to avoid the "bead on a headpin" mentality that I revert to when under pressure to meet a deadline.

I actually had it in my head that next week was the 1st week of 2nd quarter, but I am still within my goal of not being more than a week behind!

 am cross before

1 comment:

  1. This cross is fabulous! I wish you luck on your goal to design one new piece per week. That sounds like a truly ambitious goal!

    ReplyDelete

I love reading your comments!!!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...