lone spinnerette.

showing off some lone spinnerettes - honestly i didn't think they would "work" as individual rings, but they totally have a minimalist beauty in their own right.  i wore the one pictured in the top image yesterday and it worked perfectly.  sigh.

(note to self: hammering the little faceted round to excess crushes it. so stop.)

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trio of spinnerettes.

obviously, i'm now obsessed with my spinnerette line (thanks, anne-marie!  see what positive reinforcement will do to a girl?).  today i listed the trinity set - three spinnerette rings, one sterling, one 14K gold fill and one 14K rose gold fill, each with their own little spinner.  i wear mine every day now and love the feeling on them on my finger!  i wonder if anyone in the office has noticed that i am now spinning them like crazy...

want your own set?  check out the listing here!

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jewelry for anxious people. (insert trademark here)

it's funny how you can connect with people over the internet - for a unabomber like me, it gets me my quotient of socialization without having to struggle with the nuances of going out.  and this example just rocks my world.  anne-marie, the fantastic bloggess making that amazing traveling red dress (check out her blog about anxiety, depression and conception here) had ordered some stacking rings from me last year and via the power of the twitter-verse, email, etsy and instagram (damn you, why is there not an instagram for BlackBerry???) we've slowly built a connection. 

i love anne-marie's blog because it is frank and honest and admittedly, she is pretty darn funny.  and now, she is the owner of one of my spinnerette rings - check out the gorgeous pictures above!  she has written the loveliest blog post connecting my ring with cognitive-behavioural techniques (CBT for short) and her own struggles to deal with panic attacks.  not only is it totally relevant, but it resonates with the art therapist/mental health worker in me.  THIS is why i make things.  THIS is why i melt metal.  take THAT, thesis advisor!!!! 

i sense an entire new line of anxious people jewelry. rings, bangles, earrings, necklaces.  because we rock like that, right, anne-marie???

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putting a spin on it.

after digging out from under 30+ orders (thank you, belle chic!), i was going to take a little bit of a break because my hands are finished.  kaput.  destroyed.  however, i couldn't stop fiddling around with some of the new supplies i ordered and came up with a new ring design.

i have to admit that i am defeated when it comes to the spinner ring that i so want to learn how to make.  right now, it just doesn't seem like it is going to happen, so, i thought about the aspects of the spinner ring that i like and made my own simplified version.  you can see them above in a stack, and below on it's own!  using sterling wire and tiny 14K and copper tubes, this is my own take on it!  the silver is a perfect foil to the warm tones of the 14K and copper - and all day, i've been spinning the little tubes around and around.  while it might not be a true spinner ring, these are definitely fidget rings in their own right.  take a look at them here.

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art history lesson - richard serra.

richard serra, "torqued ellipses", 1998.  DIA foundation

i've always been more of a two-dimensional "artist".  i never really was able to think depth-width-length (which probably also explains why i am so awful at math) and all the things i made in Sculpture 101 were sadly only viewable from one angle.  i can definitely appreciate an excellent statue (the nike of samothrace, or bernini's ecstacy of st. theresa, for starters) but anything in three dimensions eludes me from a creative standpoint.  maybe it's a brain thing, maybe it's artistic roadblock, or maybe i should just resign myself to the fact that i'm just better working on a flat surface. 

i did not retain much from the extensive art history curriculum i have under my belt, but i did pay careful attention to modern sculpture movements.  one of my absolute favourite artists from that era is the minimalist/process artist Richard Serra.  not only does he create enormous, fantastic, uber-masculine constructions in steel, but he also has a reputation of being a little bit of a jerk.  (of course, just my type.)  urban legend had it that once, one of his multi-ton sculptures had crashed through a gallery ceiling and killed someone.  RS's alleged response?  "it's part of the art.  so what."  while the story is not 100% true - actually, the truth is that a workman was killed while assisting in the removal of a Serra piece from an installation site; and seriously, no good curator worth his/her salt would ever install something that heavy on the second floor of a gallery - it lends an edge of emotional coldness to RS's already steely works.

i've had the pleasure of experiencing one of Serra's works in person - the husband and i had lucked out and stumbled upon an exhibition of his "torqued ellipses" at the DIA foundation in NYC.  forbidding, huge, silent, pitted with the mark of the machinery that made it and streaked with rust, the huge pieces of cor-ten-steel rested firmly on the cement floor of a gigantic warehouse, but yet, as you looked up from within the sculpture, you couldn't help but feel that, at any minute, the huge pieces of steel would slowly tilt and crush you in the process.  i spent a long time just sitting underneath the steel, marvelling at the size, shape and structure, and hoping i wasn't going to be flattened.

i was thinking about what i said about the fidget rings last night and i realized that they are probably the only pieces of "sculpture" that i have made and truly been somewhat interested in.  i am in love with the irregularities, the folds in the metal, the textures.  the unfinished-ness of them and the twist of the copper.  they make me think of sitting within Serra's steel - but being able to hold that same feeling in my hand.  i am definitely NOT putting myself anywhere near the genius that is he, but it's neat to think that maybe, just maybe, i have a little bit of sculptor in me.

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fidget. ring. spin. part two.

things have been a little quiet in the world of metalsmithing (read: things have been a little slow on the sales front) so i've been experimenting a little again.  for anyone who is interested in how the whole fidget ring thing is going, here is prototype number 2. i think i was marginally more successful this time around.  i also used a half round copper band instead of the twisted one, in the hopes that it would be a little more aerodynamic and more likely to "spin" around the thicker band.  well, as you can see, the finished product is still quite irregular and rustic, and  i probably still am a little heavy handed with the hammer, but it does have a more smoother appearance than the first one i had made.  there is definitely less buckling, and it has a more put together "look".  i do admit, i think i might like the twisted band better - the contrast in texture with that ring is what i like about it.  the joy of prototype two is that i feel i am getting closer to perfecting this technique - plus it is as equally enthralling as a fidget device.

it is kind of interesting because these rings are taking on a primitive, monolithic kind of look - i'm thinking a little stonehenge mixed with rough hewn rock and just the slightest hint of zen.  hmmm.  i'm going to wander down to the studio and see what else i can come up with.

(L - this one is yours, if you want it!)

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fidget. ring. spin.

the spinner ring (also known as a worry ring) is an ancient design, like the puzzle ring.  and by now, you probably know that i have a thing for wearing and making rings. the basic design is a stationary band with a separate, thinner band that spins around the stationary band.  some more elaborate designs have more than one "spinner" band, and some sport more detailed textures and finishes.  some ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) experts suggest using a spinner ring as a fidget device for some patients.

i have been mulling over both figuring out the mechanical logistics of the spinner ring, because i have been dying to make them myself - both for me to wear and to put in my shop.  seeing as that i am largely self-taught and pretty stubborn in regards to doing things myself, it's taken me a while.  but i wanted to share the story of my prototype (see above) with you. 

i definitely was a little smarter in that i used copper instead of wasting sterling silver - believe me, i went through a LOT of metal in figuring this out and the price of sterling is brutally astronomical these days.  and i still don't have the design down properly.  the large copper band is not flared on both ends like it should be - one side is actually buckled, because i smashed it a little too hard (yeah, out of frustration).  the twisted middle band is probably too textured to "spin" and also slightly too small around the larger band, so it doesn't move very much.  while the flat band is even and, surprisingly, smooth and lovely (thank you, metalsmithing class!), i am sure that the rustic, unfinished quality of the twisted band also impedes it's movement.  polished up, however, i quite love it.

i wore it to work on thursday (thursday being the day from h*ll - team meeting day) in the hopes that it would help me concentrate and not get in trouble for texting.  while it isn't a "spinner ring" exactly, it definitely is a fidget ring in it's own right.  perfectly sized, it fits on my index finger and sits comfortably against my skin.  it's easily accessible, and the play in texture between smooth and twisted is fabulous.  i found myself spinning the actual ring between my fingers all morning instead of grabbing my BlackBerry.  and i could fidget with it while doing meeting minutes!  funny enough, whenever i put it down, someone else would pick it up and fidget with it as well.  and the copper, being the conductor that it, picked up the heat of the wearer.  (i've learned that my hands aren't very hot, while M's are extremely warm and K's are quite cool.)

so while i'm still trying to perfect the art of the spinning ring, i'm pretty happy with the "fidget ring" that i ended up with.  stay tuned for more.  (as long as i can put it down long enough to do some work.)

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