Sunday, November 16, 2008

THIS IS IT, Master...

Here IT IS!


[Double click the photos to enlarge them.]

The bell holding the poetry of James Broughton about which I've been posting the last month has been cast & carefully finished out into its new metal state! There is always a huge relief to see the work of many many hours secured in a safely solid, more durable material than the wax which relative softness allows me to carve.

I wrote earlier this year about this stage of raw casting.

While this photograph is a bit brutal in showing the less than ideal surface...



The casting is basically sound & looks quite legible after I began working the surface. Here in mid-process I used ink to darken the background as a test to help see which details needed strengthening



I vulcanized the silicon molds around the masters, [about which process you may read more here] of the THIS IS IT Bell, the FROG RING & the MEDIUM LILY HOOP EARRING before making photographs of the finished masters. I cut those molds this evening & look forward to seeing how the first production waxes look when I begin injecting them tomorrow.

Meanwhile here is the FROG perching on the edge of new life in metal...




Friday, November 07, 2008

BELL EARRINGS...

I recently had a query from a client requesting help to replace her GRB BELL earrings, which had disappeared. This is not the first time I have needed photographs for such communication, so I've made some rather casual shots of the current samples to show for such discussion & consideration. I did not take the time necessary for properly lighting the pieces to show them in a neutral view without some reflections & high contrasts, but they do show the ideas in useful detail.

While earrings have always been ancillary to my line of bell pendants I have never really featured them. For most of these many years I had no more than a half-dozen pair made up. I sold them only on request & usually as special order. Now, for various reasons, I find myself with a wider selection than ever before, so I post them now as a bit of a catalogue which the web site for GRB BELLS does not yet have...

The ANEMONE Bell Earrings...
Petals spreading & draping to form
A delicate umbrella of sound…


The BONNET Bell Earrings...
Flower of protective enclosure
Perfect form for a hat or a bell
Shelters a chorus of blossoming voices


The SMALLER CHOCOLATE LILY Bell Earrings...
The common name of the Fritillaria Biflora
Brings a delicious rich flavor to its sweet form
Describing this bell’s tone as well


The MEDIUM CHOCOLATE LILY Bell Earrings...
The common name of the Fritillaria Biflora
Brings a delicious rich flavor to its sweet form
Describing this bell’s tone as well


The EUPHORBIA Bell Earrings...
Huge herbaceous family rich in
Spurges & purges & medicines too
Complex in form… A single blossom
Finds fascination for bell


The FAE POD Bell Earrings...
Long wishing to live miniature fantasy in
Southwestern sandstone caves … such
Rocky dreams find resonant voice now
As a silver bell home


The MEDIUM FRANCIS Bell Earrings...
A name made noble by history
So each of us may remember richly
Others who have carried it


The GINGKO Bell Earrings...
Ancient biology fans through this leaf’s veins
Inspiring complications on its simplicity
One graceful gesture
Practiced for millions of years


The GOTHIC Bell Earrings...
Gothic trefoil & lofty ribbed vault
Choir song & organ voice
Resonance & romance
Medieval strength & grace


The HOLLY & IVY Bell Earrings....
Ancient symbolic plants
Acquiring newer attributes
As archetypes of holiday romance
Red Holly Boy... White Ivy Girl


The LACE Bell Earrings...
Bell song woven by faerie fingers
For christenings
& Weddings of harmony & soul


The LATTICE Bell Earrings...
A Universal Truth
Weaving strength & flexibility
Whether in fiber or in metal
Those are the principles of resonance


The TRILLIUM Bell Earrings...
A trio of petals trilling
Thrillingly...


The WEE BLOSSOM Bell Earrings...
Petals spiking bravely
To contain & protect
Such minute notes sharing
Only closest privacy