Congratulations to Susan Gini-Jones, winner of the Intermediate Category in the Great Combinations Challenge! Her winning entry is a pendant showing a happy couple watching the sunset. When not being worn, the pendant transforms into a piece of art to sit upon her desk, complete with a small pocket on the back to hold the chain. This complex piece is made of fine silver, gold powder, mother of pearl, crushed rough opals, and an orange cabochon. Join us for an interview with Susan about her winning creation.
“Watching the sunset is my husband’s and my happy place,” says Susan, “and I wanted to create a piece of jewellery of us for our 31st wedding anniversary. I sculpted us watching the sunset on the breakwater wall in Grand Cayman, as we take sunset pictures every night when we are there.”
“The frame idea was inspired by a piece of art I purchased on a recent cruise that has a large ornate frame. I love working with opals, and I have rough opals that I use as accents on my ocean series. I got the idea of crushing some of my rough opals to look like sand from attending Stephanie Chavez’s presentation on inlay and how she crushes rocks in her work. To use mother of pearl as the sky/water was inspired by working with mother of pearl at Etsuko Nakayama’s workshop at Sinter24.”
“I also wanted a piece that I could wear, but when not wearing, would be a piece of art that sits on my desk. The chain is stored in the pouch at the back of the frame when sitting as an art piece.”
“I generally don’t sketch, but I knew I wanted to do the frame idea. I love a good baroque/paisley pattern in anything, so I knew I wanted the frame to be ornate. I also wanted it to be 3D so I could have the couple sitting on the edge and have enough room to lay the crushed opals for sand. The back I wanted to have a pouch to store the chain when the frame sits and is not being worn.”
“Finding the pipes for crushing the rocks is somewhat amusing now but was very frustrating at the time. I was traveling most of the summer and I went to six hardware/plumbing stores trying to find the right sizes. I ended up hauling them back in my suitcase when I finally found them on vacation. I also had to have a couple of tries to get the gold to stay and look even.”
“I will be definitely be using crushed rough opals more in my bread and butter line of jewellery I sell. I will need to do some more research on creating the inlay for pieces to do this effectively.”
Her advice to others about entering challenge? “Challenges make you think,” says Susan. “You should enter them to challenge yourself to do something new. It’s not for anyone but you. Life is too short to worry about what people think. Do it for your own challenge!”
“Until I closed my retail store, I had very little time to do anything but my bread and butter line of jewellery with a couple of new pieces each year. Now, working from home and after rejoining AMCAW, I have been in a learning and a creating mode. I love taking two-day workshops. I am slowly getting used to online learning (of which there is so much available through AMCAW). I do prefer the hands-on workshop with others for the camaraderie. Sinter24 was fantastic!”
About Susan
Susan lives in downtown Toronto, Canada, but longs to go back to a lake to live when her husband retires. In the meantime, you can find Susan online at FiveIslandStudio.com, on Facebook as Five Island Studio, and on Instagram at @fiveislandstudio.
