Playtime: Project C/O/N/N/E/C/T with Vanilla Ink week 2

Life is still on lockdown over here in the UK, and its week 2 for the Vanilla Ink project C/O/N/N/E/C/T

During the Coronavirus lockdown the wonderful Vanilla Ink Studios have been setting some great tasks for the jeweller community to follow along with, try out some new skills and share their processes.

So here is the brief and my submission for week 2...

So, honesty alert, this was totally out of my comfort zone compared to last week. Last week my submission got picked as the winner and I was totally blown away by some really lovely comments from Scott and Kate and lots of lovely followers on social media. I got a total buzz out of it and I am not ashamed to say it was the highlight of my lockdown week. So when this weeks brief was announced my heart sunk a little. BUT I decided I had nothing to loose and just went for it!

I went really organic with long flowing lines in my drawings, and decided I wanted to make it even more difficult and alien to me and go BIG.

I started off with GIANT block of wax and soon learnt its really hard to cut a giant block of wax so enlisted some help from Mike and some power tools.

Over time the shape got refined and plans changed and it became less and less like my original plan and drawing. I do like to work organically with a material, I don’t often draw my designs first, I like to add things and take them away as I work but I am not used to doing this with wax, so I learnt a huge amount working on this piece.

I was a real labour of love and experimental every step, I spent quite a few evenings squirreling away in my workshop playing about with this one, and it definitely became a sort of therapy to destress from a full on day with a 1 year old.

I tried new techniques, I learnt quickly how to repair mistakes, and all in all I grew a lot in confidence.

Truthfully it is not a comfortable or easy to wear ring. I don’t think I will be getting it cast, but I had lots of fun and it will be a great piece to look back on and remember the skills and knowledge I am gaining from this experience.

It really pushed me and I am so glad I did it and didn’t give up when I really wanted to.

Really looking forward to next weeks brief and wondering where it will take me on this lockdown journey next.