Nailed It Ring

Finally got this ring finished and photographed!

The focal part are some nails.....

I also used amethyst cubes, raw tiny diamonds, shards of pink vintage glass, citrine, sterling silver, NZ merino wool (hand dyed), acrylic paint, resin & a coconut ring.

By Ginga Squid - unique, one-of-a-kind and a small size US3/US 3.5

Dewdrop Felted Ring

I am on a roll today - managed to finish this ring too! Mainly because this was the first day my son (who is 2-and-a-bit) started preschool. He will go 2 mornings a week and so give me a good few hours of daylight time to get some 'making stuff' done. Especially stuff involving hammering and sawing.

My little girl is still at home (just turned 5 last week) but she was on the sofa feeling ill quietly. She's looking a bit spotty and has a temp, so it may well be chickenpox.

The ring base is Faux bone with sterling silver tube rivets. Then I made a wire frame & needle felted and wet felted the wool fibers (with a bit of sari, silk, bamboo & glitzy stuff) in and around it.

After that I coated it in UV resin and then inspired by the Super Secret Stevie B technique (aka the S3) - the highly secret way of achieveing a gloss finish by spraying your piece with a can of 'Gloss Finish'.

Then to finish, I added some sterling wire wrapped spinel gemstones (and oxidised the silver).

Finally, a BIG thanks to Grand Purl Baa for the Blogger formatting tips. Updating my formatting settings worked a treat!

And now off for a cuppa!

Photo of Anemone Ring

This fantastic shot of my Anemone Ring was taken by Melissa Cowan (www.melissacowanphotos.co.nz) for the 'handSTAND' catalogue at this year's New Zealand Jewellery Show.

I love it - its so cool!

Its the first ever photo of my work that has been taken professionally on a model. Very exciting.

Happy Horny Fungi Ring

I am really happy about how the colours came out in this one. Constructed from merino wool which I first wet felted and then needle felted. I also used UV resin at the base of the felted structure with natural rough diamonds.

The ring base is Faux Bone with sterling silver tube rivets.

The ring size is a US 7.5 and stands about 12cm above the wearer's finger.

More Blinking Eye Rings!

Made some more of these rings as I was asked to!

They are all made using cold connection, sterling silver, UV resin with mica powders & glitter, vintage circa. 1940s blinking dolls eyes and the ring bands are adjustable and stamped "eye spy with my...".

Raspberries & Cream Golf Tee Ring

Sorry I have been so quiet for a month - I went back to the UK (from NZ) with my two kiddies to visit my family. Longest flight ever, with just a quick 2 hour rest in Hong Kong for refuelling. My kiddies were great though - not too much vomiting and any vomit made it into the bag(s) provided. Bonus! Had a brilliant time (the weather was fabulous) and we were spoilt rotten by my lovely, untiring parents.

So back to it then!

The focal point of this ring is a plastic yellow golf tee (warning - I have a whole bag of these to use up!) which is filled with shards of vintage pink glass in resin, a natural freshwater pearl and a 'stamen' of 'antiqued' sterling silver.

I have also used merino wool roving (which has been needle felted) in raspberries and cream colours, UV resin, natural rough diamonds, a plastic aquarium plant and a ring base of faux bone.

Still jet lagged though.....

Oh and I was made to watch 'Sleeping Beauty' non-stop all the way from Auckland to London. And back again. Nice.

Diamond Bud Ring with Air Plant

......so I did decide to take this one further - I added an Air Plant!

Now its finished.

Diamond Bud Ring

I'm not sure if this is finished or not - probably not and I will take it further....

But at the moment, here it is my 'Diamond Bud Ring'.

Made using Faux bone, sterling silver tube, UV resin, natural rough diamonds and merino wool roving (wet felted then needle felted).

2 Finger Salute

This ring isn't finished yet, in fact its just the beginning of the process - I thought it would be fun to show some work-in-progress?

I've got the basic Faux bone ring base done and got the wool roving wet felted on and then I've needle felted it to give it some shape and harden it up.

I was trying to get the same shape as my Anemone ring - but the wool had WAY different ideas! I looks like its giving me the Two Finger Salute.
I think it will end up quite a fun one? Fingers crossed.

Evolution Ate My Tee

I am so over-the-moon! My ring series 'Evolution Ate My Tee' is going to be included in a curated exhibition of contemporary work within the wider event of the New Zealand Jewellery Show - the exhibition is curated by Peter Deckers and is called 'Handstand - Unfamiliar & Innovative Contemporary Jewellery'. Finally I have something to put on my art cv!

This happens 16 to 19th July 2009 at the Sky City Convention Center in Auckland, New Zealand.

This ring is a Triffid - and is made from merino wool roving, sterling silver wire, natural freshwater pearls, ruby, rough natural diamond, Thai Karen Hill Tribes fine silver & vermeil beads (Fair Trade), reclaimed watch parts, stainless steel screws, plexiglass, acrylic, UV resin, oil paint, Faux bone, lemon quartz faceted briolettes, yellow plastic golf tee and air plant.

The other rings in this series are my Anemone ring and Crinoid ring (see previous blogs). I forgot to take a photo of the other ring in the series before I posted them off.....
Porridge brain.

Raspberries & Cream Ring

I just finished this one - it reminds me of those 2-tone sweets called Raspberry & Cream I used to eat packets of when I was little.......

Its merino wool (cream and raspberry coloured) wet felted and then needle felted around a Faux bone base. It also features a green plastic aquarium plant, yellow plastic golf tee, UV resin, natural rough diamonds (around ring base), shards of vintage pink glass, old brass washer, natural freshwater white pearl, oxidised sterling silver wire.

Ring size is US 8.

CRINOIDS!

One of my favourite cab suppliers (Heart of Stone Studio) had these amazing crinoid fossils. Crinoids are lovely and graceful-looking sea creatures that resemble fern-like plants but are really animals. Commonly called sea lilies, they're Echinoderms, relatives of sea urchins and starfish, and they are one of Nature's success stories, having been around for 530 million years. Ancient Crinoids sported feathery arms sprouting from a stalk anchored on the ocean floor, while their modern descendants mostly don't have stalks. Their soft , filter-feeding bodies are supported by a framework calcium carbonate segments called ossicles, and it's the ossicles that you see in these fossils.

I needle-felted a bezel around the fossil (bit of a mission!) and gave it a UV resin frame (adding some stability around the stone) - plus it looks like natural diamond/rock....
The ring base is Faux Bone with sterling silver tube rivets and the 'tendrils' are sterling silver wire wrapping (part LOS) with natural freshwater pearls in pink and white on the ends (again from Heart of Stone Studio).

The Faux bone ring base is not a complete circle - so the wool 'jewel' can sit inside and it is held in place with some rough black cotton stitching!

This was an experiment as I had been thinking about how I could hold a stone/cab in place using felt - and it seems to work nicely so I will be taking it on further probably. Although I'm now learning to crochet - so expect some woolly scarves to be posted soon...!

Sea Anenome Ring

This little beastie was fun to make! The ring base is Faux Bone - shaped into something resembling (I think) vertebrae/bone bits and coloured with brown shoe polish. I also riveted some sterling silver tube through it as I liked the contrast - and I love riveting.

The sea anemone top part is made from merino wool roving - wet felted with some green silk bits thrown in.

'Garden' Ring

I am loving learning to felt! This ring (top) is wet felted with needle felted pink 'flower-balls'.
The ring band is adjustable sterling silver. The flower 'pot' is etched copper with prismacolor pencil and the base of the 'pot' is a vintage soda cap - 'My Pops Root Beer'. Cold connected with a brass micro-screw.

Maybe I should wear it when we next go to playschool?

Our First Wet Felted Ring!

We've just made our first wet felted ring! Wet felting is so easy and fun to do (especially with little kiddies). All you need is some bubble wrap, wool (I use Merino as its easy to felt) and soapy water.

No need for any sewing (thank goodness)!

This blog by Keek (Knitting Geek) has some fab wet felting tuorials - http://kneek.wordpress.com

I am making some really unique sterling silver & colourful resin jewellery featuring vintage 'blinking' dolls eyes that I found on Ebay. I love Ebay.....

This is a picture of one of my rings - but I am also making pendants and taking commissions......

love Ginga Squid xxx
(http://www.GingaSquid.com)