almost done carving garnet window

-What is infinite,
-yet impossibly thin?
-find the garnet door,
-find the answer within.

-What is eternal,
-yet shifts like the sand?
-open the garnet door,
-find it if you can.

Translated by Dr. Bard from ancient Tupooli-Mooli song, Pacific Islands

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Well a bit of looking for 'issues' and the garnet door is ready for being molded. Hope to pour the mold today. We will see, as it is nearly 3pm.

to-do to-day

First thing to deal with today is bricking up the back of the above garnet door pendant. The front of the pendant has a square faceted garnet stone as a window. The front is sufficiently finish so that I am able to temporarily set the stone to see what it looks like. So far, it is a bit more impressive than I had first imagined. (This was to be a 'giblet' side project to accompany a larger project at casting time.)

To achieve non-giblet, stand-alone-as-legitimate-work status, a piece must have an accompanying story, or at least a snippet of a story. The story kinda goes:

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"Retracing his step backwards, Dr. Bard slowly retreated from the mysterious and impossible inner world, and out the garnet door. After shutting the door, he once again walked around to the back of the structure, only to be greeted with a solid brick wall.

" 'What sort of trickery could this be?', he exclaimed."

---

Our Dr. Bard is frozen in time and space, having retreated from the inner world, and started his circumnavigation around the pendant, only to come face-to-face with an even scarier fate; the brick wall, his appointment with the back of the pendant, his world, has not yet been completed.

It's off to save Dr. Bard from non-existence.

what I am working on today

As an addition to the pearl pod pendant and earrings, I am working on a matching ring. The ring shank will be made from wild rose twigs. (Part B in pic). The pointy end of the twig wraps around the finger and sits in a fork at the other end of the twig. A pearl pod similar to the pendant and earrings sits atop the forked area of the twig.

I made the rough shape for the pod yesterday using hard wax. I carved the pod by hand, and assumed that would be enough to give me a sufficiently 'organic' shape. I was wrong. It has an artificial look to it, like someone tried to carve a natural looking pod out of hard wax. (Wonder why?)

My first assignment today is to remove the hand carved look from the pod.

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And that's about all I got done in the shop. I turned the exterior from a smooth round sphere, into something just this side of grotesque. Or maybe just the other side. I also glued the pearl's bezel cup to the inside. The pod is pretty much done and ready for a mold, unless the morning sun exposes something I cannot live with.

I did get some work done on a garnet door pendant- bricking up the back. Will explain later

inspiration

We had the 'perfect girl' in our grade school class. Her name was Libby. Libby had beautiful brown hair, and warm golden skin that could distract even the most studious. Libby was the classroom object of desire.

On the opposite end of the beauty spectrum was Cora. Cora had abrupt facial features, and flaming, unkempt hair which matched her caustic personality. Cora was the joke of the school.

At night, after falling asleep, when I had less control, I would stop dreaming of Libby and dream of Cora.

When starting a jewelry design, I usually imagine it in the likeness of Libby. When the piece is finished, it tends to be more in the likeness of Cora.

I am grateful to Libby for some wonderful daydreams. I am grateful to Cora for giving me a soul.

on self image and fame

I find it interesting how those 15 minutes of fame due all modern creatures comes with the mandatory self-portrait. More to the point, terrified. Technology was supposed to free us of ourselves. Just the opposite, it is a magnifying glass that slowly pulls down and focuses on subject. We are no longer hidden behind blurry glass, but exposed in a larger-than-life image. Such is technology/ such is art.