Irish Arts Blog

Stork Cufflinks

By Lynn Durie

My latest commission was cufflinks for an Obstetrician (baby doctor!)

I went through a whole load of ideas for what I could do including sperm and egg which I think would have been the best. I really liked my design but unfortunately the gift giver wasn’t so enthused!! So we agreed on the safer ‘Stork’ option. (boo hoo! Going to do that sperm and egg thing anyway some other day, too good to be forgotten!)

So I thought it was going to be relatively straight forward (ha! ha! ever the optimist) which it was until I got to the soldering part…Lets just say I underestimated how difficult it is to solder two pieces of flat silver together. I actually hadn’t ever done it before; never the need I suppose. I realise now that I should have practised a little more before endeavouring. To cut a VERY long story short, at one stage unfortunately I lost one cufflink and had to start all over again from scratch. (‘kill-me-now’ scenario)  Soldering is such a tedious business. I liken it to whipping cream with an electric beater. You have to be very careful… a millisecond too long and you have butter or a melted ball of silver in my case. Oh well, you live and learn.

 So after all that trauma the inside of the image was oxidised (blackened) with a hideously poisonous solution which I loath using, ‘et voila’ cufflinks complete! AND it reaffirmed to me that I have definitely found the thing I love to do as even though I was crawling the walls with frustration, oddly I still loved every minute of it!

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Bead Pods

.... or something. I am at a loss as to what to call these!

By Lynn Durie

I very rudely made these whilst we had guests over but I had the idea and I just couldn't wait. (They were good friends and are used to us/me!) These beads are really amazing. I have used them before and am facinated by the way light affects them. Depending on what way the light hits them, they can look like regular glassy beads and then suddenly you move them and they light up like they have their very own little bulb inside them!

Which is beautiful but makes for an extra obstacle when photographing, which I definately do not need!
Mind you, http://www.picnik.com is brilliant. I think Paul may have led me to that site. Anyone who is struggling should have a go and experiment with it. Very user friendly and fun too.

This is not very easy to see in this badly taken photo but the lettering says 'necklace' in a very abstract form! (A double-click on the image is required). Photo complete with a mini-green-pint to celebrate St Patrick's Day albeit in a mini-way!
Lynn

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Circles and Letters

I am obsessed with circles  ...............................and letters!!
I'm really excited about my new series of earrings that I have been working on lately. I'm excited because I seem to have discovered something that I really enjoy making and the best part, it seems, is that it has proven quite a popular design. I have got some really great feedback from some commissions which is a brilliant feeling. I kinda stumbled upon the idea by accident back last summer in jewellery college in Birmingham. It was at the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the course and I wanted to use as many of the amazing tools that were there as possible. So instead of packing all my stuff up and polishing things I had made within an inch of their lives, I decided to try out the disc punch and letter punches and this is what I discovered.

It's quite a simple idea but my 'twist' was to use it to personalise jewellery for people. So instead of random jumbled up letters like the first test piece I made, I jumbled up the names of the people who will wear it. Or their name and date of birth or whatever they so choose, so that no two pairs will be exactly alike. I've always liked the idea of personalising jewellery to fit in with the customer. For me it's more fun than just banging out 10 of the exact same thing.

This last piece was a 'jokey' commission for someone who was always forgetting stuff. It goes 'IN one ear and OUT the other' hence the lettering on each earring!

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Christmas Comissions

I have been a 'busy little bee' this December and thanks to NTL NOT turning up to fix our TV cable
(surprise, surprise), I was house-bound all Saturday waiting for them instead of out shopping, and so I got all of my 'nearly finished' commissions finished. Horrah!

I even got a few non-commission pieces completed that I had been avoiding due to 'stuckness'. I had a particularly interesting time with this necklace and earrings combo. The texturing on the inside of the discs was extremely time consuming and 'trip to the chiropractor' inducing but was worth it in the end. I don't want to see another scriber and ruler for a while though! But most of all I was determined to assemble the beads to the disc without any form of glue or soldering involved. I originally had a bead on the back to act as a washer but it was too bulky, aesthetically unpleasing and I just wasn't happy with it... I eventually came up with my little, mini, engineering concept which I am actually quite proud of! It's not rocket science but it has been trial and error and I have now learned something new.

Happy Christmas to all and good luck with all of your exhibitions and fairs. Lynn x    

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Durie Design: Lynn Durie Jewellery Maker

 One of my favourite things to do, is to create a unique piece based upon a person’s personality or hobby. This was a private commission that I did for a groom. I didn’t know the man at all, only that he was getting married and was into mountain biking. So I fiddled around and presented the bride-to-be with 3 designs, crossing my fingers that she would go for this design as I was most excited about how this one would turn out. To my delight she did indeed choose this design and I got stuck in. The brushed finish was an after-thought but I think it created a more masculine finish than the high polish originally planned.

I just love, love, love making chains. I find them wonderful on two levels... 1) They are incredibly theraputic to create, link after link, slowly building up,until suddenly you look down and you have a whole bracelet... just like that!!! 2) They are wonderfully practical. Chains are like shoes...I believe you can never have too many! The only part I find 'not-so-theraputic' is cutting the wire into jump-rings. Grrrr! I'm always relieved when that part is done.

This is my workstation... A total mess. And this is actually quite tidy! My wish is to have a proper studio to do my work in, with all the gadgets and gizmos that would make it qicker and more economical to produce well finished pieces. A shed would do nicely, but when you live in suburban South Dublin a shed is a luxury. I will have to make do with the corner of our living room for now.(I hope my landlady doesn't read this). Between my workstation and my partners musical instruments (of which there are many) in this very little house.. the cat can barely find a square cm to curl up on!He is not amused.