Inspiration
A rainbow is a symbol of hope, inspiration, promise, good fortune and wishes come true. Whichever side you choose this necklace will always come together to form a rainbow, sun and rain, rain and sun, the rainbow will always prevail.
I have been fascinated by rainbows for as long as I can remember, and always look for one when the weather is right. Although I have made many pendants whilst working with silver clay I have never actually created a complete piece. When I saw the theme for the International Silver Accessories Contest 2021 was inspiration I decided to create a complete necklace inspired by a rainbow.
Techniques
I designed the three main sections of the necklace to be a sun with a gold centre, a cloud containing raindrops and a large raindrop holding rainbow coloured cubic zirconia, and I wanted them all to be free moving.
The sun was created using a texture mat but I wanted the ‘face’ part to be 3d so cut out the centre and formed it over a dome shape before attaching it to the suns rays. The outer rays of the sun were filed into shape and after firing the centre was embellished with 24k gold foil using the keum boo technique. The cloud was formed in a similar way to create the 3d shape but this time the outer cloud shape is textured and the centre of the cloud is not to give a high polish look to accentuate the tiny raindrops.
The raindrop in the centre is set with 7 cubic zirconia representing each of the colours of the rainbow. The original design was for just the clean edges of the raindrop but during the creating of the piece I added sun rays to one side and a cloud effect to the other, with the addition of the word rainbow on the outer cloud, to balance out the size of the piece. This also prompted the design to change to the sun on the left and the cloud on the right so the rainbow is balanced each side, sun to cloud and cloud to sun, the rainbow is in the centre on either branch of the necklace.
All three elements are brought together by lightly curved raindrops which are attached to a piece on the back so they slide over the discs and are free moving. The clasp was also created in fine silver clay and the chain is created with two different sizes of jumprings, each one soldered, not my favourite thing but it was very good practice!
Materials
Fine silver clay
24k gold foil
Cubic zirconia
Sterling silver jumprings
Joy has always had an interest in craft hobbies including cake decorating, dressmaking, painting, beading and glass fusing. She began her love of creating jewellery in 2014 by learning different beading skills, and went on to write a few tutorials to allow others to create and develop their own ideas. Since finding metal clay in 2017 she has won awards for her designs and has been able to incorporate many of her skills into her metal clay and glass designs. She now works predominantly in silver clay and enjoys designing and creating one of a kind pieces incorporating gemstones, glass and gold embelishments.
She is an enthusiastic hobbyist who enjoys pushing her creativity and likes to design pieces that might be a little bit different. Joy loves the challenge of dry construction, building and creating complex pieces.
Superbly Sintered: Masterful Designs in Metal Clay celebrated the very best designs from metal clay artists around the world.
22 pieces of exceptional work were chosen by a distinguished jury. The exhibition was shown at the Sinter Conference in Pittsburgh, May 2022
