Design Ideas: COIL bracelet

Recently, I was nominated to take part in the Facebook Jewelry Art Challenge, which asks jewelry artists to post a picture of a piece of their work each day for five days, while also nominating a different jewelry artist to take part each of those five days. It was fun and inspiring and certainly a pick-me-up as we delve into the toughest part of the winter. 

The act of writing even a little bit about some of my own designs proved satisfying. I have been away from my blog for several years and have missed the power of reflection. (Young children have a way of putting blogs in their place!) So, perhaps as a way of easing back into this blog-space, I have decided to re-share the pieces that I shared in the challenge. I hope to continue sharing more in this space going forward. Will you join me??

This is the COIL bracelet that I designed in 2009/2010 for the Voltage Fashion Amplified show (paired with fashion designer Elena Mercurio) Designing this piece really brought me back to the basics of working with my hands and with a new material. I had been working with the laser-cutter for 2 years, experimenting and developing the base of my jewelry collection.  But, after two years of thinking down one tangent, of working with rigid and flat material with one tool, I longed to experiment in different ways. Dare I say that I even needed to prove to others and myself that I was more than than the laser-cutter. 

I came to wool because it could be laser-cut. When I was paired with Elena for Voltage I was thrilled that she liked my idea of using only wool for the jewelry to go with her collection. I was even more excited when she agreed to keep all the wool jewelry the color GREY.  This created a standard structure for experimentation that allowed the FORMS to stand out. Cutting and sewing entirely by hand I developed many new designs for earrings, necklaces and bracelets. The design process for this COIL bracelet was the most involved and most fulfilling.  To this day, it remains one of the designs I am most proud of!