Jewelry Inspiration: Rings with a Twist (or Two)

The Carrotbox is a site dedicated to all those wonderful rings made of glass, lucite, resin, plastic, jade, wood, bakelite, metal, and even stone. Alice Matsumoto from Vancouver, BC, Canada has a ring shop and has kindly given us permission to inspire our jewelry lovers at Sheffield with her discoveries. In this post, Alice focuses on rings with twists.

I bet M. Night Shyamalan would love these. Rings, with a twist or two, from Poland's Fruit Bijoux.

Bonus

Brooklyn's In God We Trust (Shana Tabor) has lots of nice, simple pieces, like this "Twisty" ring available in three shades of gold.

Even more jewelry:

• Snake Twist (Seattle) - flexible necklaces
• Sarah Kathleen Warner (New York) - silver bones
• Merilyn Bailey (Australia) - metal & plique-à-jour

 

Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.

DIY Wedding Project: Storybook Paper Roses

You’re going to love today’s DIY project so much that you’re going to want to start tearing pages out from old books tonight! Look at the storybook roses in Shanna + Richard’s wedding. Sweet, right? Floral designer, Cathy Brim of Bloom Floral Design created the elegant branch bouquets seen in their ceremony using Valerie Lloyd’s paper roses design, and now we’re jumping-out-of-the-pages excited that Valerie is sharing her DIY secrets with you!

What You'll Need: Paper of any kind, Grosgrain Ribbon, ½ Width cut to 4 inch lengths   16 Gauge Wire cut to 15 inch lengths, Glue Gun, Glue Sticks (low temp), Scissors, Wire Cutters  
 

Step 1: Gather materials. If you are using vintage books or sheet music as your paper source, make sure the pages are still flexible enough to curl with your fingers. The wire can be found at the hardware store, and is sometimes called “black wire” or “annealed coil wire.” Be sure you are using low temp hot glue because you’ll be able to feel it right through the paper petals as you work.

Step 2: Cutting. You will need to stockpile at least 5 different sizes of petals ranging from about ¾ inch wide to 3 inches wide. I cut freehand, and avoid templates, so that each petal is a unique and organic shape. Think of the shapes as little church windows or arches. Some can be pointy, and some can be rounded. For each flower you will need at least 4 of each size. Make more than you need.

Step 3: Shaping. I really feel that this is the most important step to create natural and soft looking flowers. Roll the edges of each petal, and pinch the base slightly. Each one can be done a little differently to give the petals character and roundness. I shape all of my petals before I even begin gluing anything.

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Jewelry Inspiration: Show Me the Money

Klimt02 is a website that provides an international forum for contemporary jewelry in a creative space that offers knowledge, information, debates, and exchanges - all within the artistic realm of jewelry. Based in Barcelona, Spain, Kilmt02 inspires everyone interested in the selection, quality, art, technology, and creation of art jewelry. Sheffield School has kindly been given permission to share works of global designers here on our website. Today's post focuses on a jewelry designer from New York City, Lauren Tickle, whose "Increasing Value" collection converts actual paper currency into more valuable objects.

Lauren Tickle

Lauren Tickle
Necklace: $300.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted 2011
US Currency, Silver, Latex, Monofilament, Surgical Steel
11.43 x 20.32 x 22.86 cm
Photo Credit: Marc Creedon

Lauren Tickle
Brooch: $54.00 and $22.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted 2012
US Currency, Silver, Latex, Monofilament, Surgical Steel
Photo Credit: Lauren Vanessa Tickle

Lauren Tickle
Brooch: $54.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted 2012
US Currency, Silver, Latex, Monofilament, Surgical Steel
1.9 x 9.53 x 9.53 cm
Photo Credit: Lauren Vanessa Tickle

Lauren Tickle
Necklace: Green With Envy, $350.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted 2011
US Currency, Silver, Latex, Thread
7 x 20.32 x 20.32 cm
Photo Credit: Rachit Shukla

Lauren Tickle
Brooch: $36.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted 2012
US Currency, Silver, Latex, Monofilament, Surgical Steel
1.9 x 8.26 x 8.26 cm
Photo Credit: Lauren Vanessa Tickle

Lauren Tickle
Brooch: $22.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted 2012
1.58 x 6.65 x 9.19 cm
Photo Credit: Lauren Vanessa Tickle

Lauren Tickle
Brooch: $22.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted 2012
US Currency, Silver, Latex, Monofilament, Surgical Steel
1.58 x 6.65 x 9.19 cm
Back side
Photo Credit: Lauren Vanessa Tickle

Lauren Tickle
Brooch: $22.00 US Dollars, Currency Converted (Body) 2012
US Currency, Silver, Latex, Monofilament, Surgical Steel
1.58 x 6.65 x 9.19 cm
Photo Credit: Rachit Shukla

Statement

“INCREASING VALUE”  New Object’s Value > Sum of Currency Converted  My work is an experiment in the concepts of value and adornment. The Values Exploration process takes currency of defined value, distills it to graphic elements, then resynthesizes an object of much greater value. How and why are these notes distanced from their face value? Idea, concept, process, and labor create value. Is this new, finished form a microcosm of industrial production? or a parody?  I force wearers and observers to reflect on the concept of adornment in our society. One of the most conscious actions humans undertake is the decision of what to wear or not. My work takes underlying materialism and makes it explicit, imploring evaluation from all sides in each social context.    - Lauren Tickle   website: www.laurentickle.com mail: ltickle@me.com

If you're interested in learning more about jewelry design, we encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.

Make It Online: Do-It-Yourself Wedding Bouquets

If you're thinking of great wedding inspiration for the coming spring season, look no further than 100 Layer Cake - one of our favorite wedding blogs. They cover a variety of weddings and feature top wedding vendors, from the best photographers to the best florists. We thought it would cool to show you how they used an online resource to design their own DIY wedding bouquets!

Spend just a few minutes on Flower Muse and you’ll get sucked into a wonderland of pretty flowers. They make it so easy to discover new flowers you may have never even heard of. Search by name, color, or just browse their featured, in season, discounted flowers and bulk up. That’s what we did!

Jillian worked with Danielle of Brown Paper Design to create a few bouquet recipes based on some of Flower Muse’s most popular flowers. To help you out, we chose to make bouquets at different price points, from  $75-$200. So, no excuses. If you want to DIY your bridal bouquet, do it! Just pop over to Flower Muse to pick out some of your favorite flowers.

How much do you love these flowers? Ok, so here’s what we made with them:

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Jewelry Inspiration: The Latest Things for Rings

The Carrotbox is a site dedicated to all those wonderful rings made of glass, lucite, resin, plastic, jade, wood, bakelite, metal, and even stone. Alice Matsumoto from Vancouver, BC, Canada has a ring shop and has kindly given us permission to inspire our jewelry lovers at Sheffield with her discoveries. In this post, Alice gives us a round-up of some of the more recent imaginative ways designers are making rings.

First up is IndustRing, "a collection of rings inspired of an industrial production process" created "by cutting brass rectangular profiles in different angles and reconnecting the pieces in various ways." By Israel's Dana Bachar-Schneorson.

Ash wood bow rings by Iceland's Hring Eftir Hring.

Minimalist metal from Croatia's Mirta (Andrea Simic).

"Marrying the Ocean" by the UK's Sadie Chesterman-Bailey, who imagined jewels discovered in the ruins of the Titanic.

Finally, a geometric array from New York's Erica Cho.

Bonus

If you like a little color with your geometry, check out British jeweller Hattie Rickards, who uses gems and enamel to brighten her designs. Shown here is her "Octo" flip ring.

Even more jewelry:

• Limor Reiss (Australia) - geometric cutouts
• Fort Standard (New York) - rope & brass
• Pyür (France) - golden straws

 

Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.