Wallum Etch

For the full story go to the Wallum blog.

My Favorite Things: Porcelain, Jewellery, Cheese

I'm popping up in Maleny this weekend with some tasty and nourishing jewellery for the

Shannon Garson Porcelain Studio Sale

Begins....Saturday December the 5th 9 am

23 Cedar St Maleny

featuring ...Jewellery by Rebecca Ward & catering by Cedar St Cheeserie

Studio open for the month of December.

Be there early or I'll have eaten all the cheese!

I want to

And we shall. Though the mode of travel will be surface based. Today we are heading to North Stradbroke Island for 4 days to work on the Wallum project.

I'm looking forward to working with Shannon more intensely than is possible during short trips. Amongst fieldtripping we will do some experiments with clay and molding. And on the Friday we are being guided by Shane Coghill from Mookin Bibonmari Aboriginal Tours and will learn about the indigenous Goenpul culture of the island and visit some wallum areas.

And in between all the hard work I hope to get in a few swims and sleeps to recover from a busy time working and teaching!

Earthing Pebbles

I made a pebble rainbow on the floor but could never really do these worn beach pebbles justice in a piece of jewellery. But that doesn't stop me from trying.

These Pebbles in a Pebble pendants are for new UK stockist Serena Hall Gallery in Suffolk and Framed in Darwin, Australia. I'm hoping that twirling the timeless pebbles will help to earth people in opposite hemispheres. Or at least give them something to do while caught in traffic.

iNana2.0

Months of R&D has resulted in the release of iNana2.0. Let's hope it lasts longer than the ill-famed snack of a similar name since disapproval was expressed at the highest levels .

CNC (computer numerical control) routing is scary new technology for a neo-luddite to be messing around with but I was lucky to have a spirit guide into this strange twilight world in the form of bubble-mage, Russell Anderson and the sexy CNC machine that he built. It just merrily zooms around tracing out the shapes with a drill-like bit while you watch closely to make sure it doesn't go beserk. It certainly beats cutting out the shapes with a jewellers saw! And the time I save on cleaning up the edges can be spent ingratiating myself with the Nana Mouskouri fan club. The shapes (3 different styles of Nana eyewear representing the length and breadth of her career) still get pressed onto 4 different kinds of glass (sparkle, Japanese floret, tarando and starburst) and all the other bits are handmade so don't think I have completely gone to the darkside. I'm just dipping my toes in.A reworking of my nana pins, these nifty summer accessories now sport new slimline stainless steel pins and reinforced bridge. We cut out my latest Nana 100%s from the White Rose of Athens (sung in German) LP. Four of these 12 (Edition No. 14) are already heading off to Athens for a customer over there who has dined with Nana herself at a restaurant in the nations capital! It gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

I've also make snack size versions of the Nana 100% brooches. I will have them all at Brisbane Finders Keepers market although if you want to buy one via mail just drop me a line and you can make your selection.

Wallum Hakea

On a recent trip to Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach I found a forest of Hakea actites and a story to tell. On one side of the road, vegetation was struggling along with old dry woody seedpods and fine needly sheoak type leaves. They'd been heroically carrying the heavy lumpish pods at least a year. The other side of the road was all but wiped out by a scorching fire. In this monotonal landscape of burned sticks, the Hakea pods had opened up to reveal a surprisingly rich interior. The seeds were well protected in these tough old pods just waiting for a fire hot enough to open and release them onto a scorched earth. There they will have little competition and can proliferate in the fertile remains of their ancestors. Sex and death in a nutshell.

Shannon Garson and I have just been awarded an Arts Queensland to explore the Wallum and create new jewellery, porcelain and glass work in response. See our new blog.

Louvre Lovers

Still in Beta testing but with Valentine's day (a great day for louvres) on the horizon I made this louvre-lover bracelet. It moves like a snake and looks a bit like an army of processionary caterpillars cruelly joined into a circle marching towards certain starvation and death. Not that these comparisons are at all metaphorical.

Louvres, much like lovers, are great when they actually work. When the louvre-lever moves easily and opens to let in the cool breezes or closes tight to shut out the storms, burglars and mosquitoes they are indeed a pleasure to have around. But too often the mechanism corrodes and they either shut out the cool breezes or let in the storms, burglars and mosquitoes. Sometimes when panes are missing they cunningly manage to do both. People then opt for the short-term paneless solution: louvres are removed to be replaced by hideous fixed aluminium framed windows and air-con units to speed our headlong march towards aesthetic extinction.

Fortunately this means I've plenty of lovely louvres, more than a decent girl has any right to have. It makes me wish that jewellery made from the goddamned stuff was more popular.

The naughty pee

Come and sea the naughty pee

It may not be your cup of tee

but drink with me and you shall see

How much fun a pea can bee.

More pea poetry here.

Nibble story. *Nibble (by Shannon Garson and Rebecca Ward) @ ADORN, a group ceramic jewellery and glass exhibition of leading Australian makers opens
Friday 6pm -9pm the 23 January 2009, the show runs until Saturday 7 February.

Venue: Fusions Gallery, 483 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley. PH: + 61 7 3358 5122

Marianne Huhn button brooches

These are some brooches I made using 3 gorgeous Marianne Huhn porcelain buttons owned by Shannon . I spent ages looking for her online before I realised I'd missread her signature on the back of the button - Huhn not Kuhn!

Marianne says of her work "I wanted to build on the idea of containment in our lives. I used maps and borders in our landscape and houses and the roles they play in our lives, to speak about the pots function of containment." The buttons certainly fit well here then containing people as they do in swathes of cloth. I also love the translation into buttons of these map fragments- so you can glance down at your coat to get your bearings. It makes me think of the cloth labels we had to wear as children in the first week of school with our name and grade on it.

Anyway I get to keep one. I bags the one with 17 on it (my childhood street number). I know there is always a room for me at number 17 - or so mum threatens! They are made with rubber, st silver and stainless steel. I'd like to say that the rubber discs are a well thought out reference to the streetscape graphics on the porcelain but they were just some bits and bobs I'd collected from Reverse Garbage which happen to conceal the hinge of the pin.

Fabulous Students

My BIA Intro to Gold and Silversmithing students had their final exhibition last week and they made these wonderful pieces ( I was very proud and loved what they did with the etching):Pierce Hirth: Matchbox Cover (etched pattern on side) sterling silver, sterling silver match, paper clip and ring pull, florin set in sterling silver

Melody Chen: Motif 1 (sterling silver, gemstone beads, freshwater pearls). Based on Chinese design motif.

Kristina Sinclair: Three etched pendants and 2 rings. Sterling silver (some oxidised).

Fiona Kurnadi: Paisley Brooch and Hairpin. Sterling silver.

Diana Jamieson: Etched Necklace. Sterling silver (etched), laminex, neoprene.

Ross Carew (who actually did my Found Objects in Jewellery course): Driftwood Pendant. Found driftwood, sterling silver, neoprene.

I'm so lucky to have this arts community on my doorstep. I especially realised this when I popped down yesterday to get these photos and the place was a-buzz. Linda Beck, ceramics tutor was having a studio sale and I picked up this wonderful sexy new teapot and swapped some fresh eggs for their yummy Ashgrovian honey...

BIA classes for summer semester and next year are now online...

the night of the termites

I went to bed early to escape
dealing with
a foolish fancy involving at least one woodenhead and a large quantity of sand
so missed the night of the termites.
but when i awoke
the floor under windows, doors, openings
was drifted with tiny transparent wings
their bold and reckless flight
reaping similar rewards to my own.

Made By Hand @ Kelvin Grove - Sneak Peak

Some of the lovely things on sale this weekend:

Threads Revisited - vintage glass beads, sterling silver, pebbles Uboat- Sterling silver, pebbles, 18K and 24K gold

Sea Jewels Necklaces - Recycled window glass, sterling silver

Drifter Ring- sterling silver (cuttlefish cast)

Drifter Earrings - Sterling silver, NZ beach pebbles

*MADE BY HAND @ KELVIN GROVE URBAN VILLAGE* Brisbane

Fine Porcelain (Shannon Garson)

Contemporary Jewellery (Rebecca Ward)

FRIDAY 28 November 4pm - 8pm
AND
SATURDAY 29 November 9am - 3pm.
Venue: Shop R5b, The Village Centre
cnr Musk Avenue and Caraway Street
Kelvin Grove Urban Village
Undercover parking available via Ramsgate Street (free on weekends).


Cash and cheque payments only please.

For information
Phone: 07 3861 0157 or 0411 213 610
Email: rebeccawardjewellery@optusnet.com.au

East, West, South Rings

A few weeks ago I had a studio visit from Sue Clement from Pomme, a fantastic gallery on Mornington Peninsula that stocks my jewellery. She was taking the time to visit her QLD artists and turned out to be as lovely in real life as in email! She also gave me heaps of excellent advice about my work, delivered in such a charming way that it did not raise my hackles at all! While looking at the mini Pebbles in Pebbles (each around 2.5 - 3cm in diameter) she popped one on top of her finger and said "Have you ever thought of making rings out of these?" "I don't normally make rings", I nearly blurted but it looked so nice on her finger and she does have some experise in retailing jewellery so it started to penetrate my consciousness...

After a few different design ideas I came up with the above trilogy. They are East, West and South for the colours of the pebbles and where they were collected (East=Orange=Katiki Beach; West=Grey=Okarito Beach; South=Green=Orepuki Beach).

For sale at Made By Hand starting on Saturday!

Bookclubbing 30th

I was recently commissioned to make these 9 commemorative brooches for my mother's bookclub. They've be going for 30 years! Each brooch is cut from a piece of wavy cuttlefish-cast sheet and has a freshwater pearl dangling. Because of my inability to control the casting process very well (I get the shakes around molten metal!) some of the books are thicker than others. Much like in my mother's bookclub. The books, not the ladies! Everything from vast sweeping sagas encompassing the lives of 5 generations across 4 continents to racy Jilly Cooper's to Janette Turner Hospital's tales of life in our pig city.

It has to be said though that conversation in bookclub rarely turned to books. 10 or so boxes of them sat there in the middle of the room providing a convenient excuse for a girly get-together just in case they were challenged by a disgruntled husband. There were much more interesting things to talk about than literature, high or low. Life of course was the main topic of conversation as these women grew careers, families and later grand children and compared notes on all of the above.

We used to love it when mum hosted bookclub. We hid under the covers while the ladies cackled, chomped and gulped their way through the evening's program of news, tasty nibblies and vino. Dad beat a hasty retreat to wherever it is that Dads go in these situations. Although our suburb was dry so it couldn't have been the pub.
So if you see anyone wearing one of these pins, you'll know what secret society they belong to!

Made By Hand x 3

You are invited to Made By Hand.
Porcelain artist Shannon Garson and contemporary jeweller Rebecca Ward have created a very special exhibition sale for 2008 with an emphasis on individual, classic, environmentally-aware porcelain and jewellery.
There are four different times spread over three venues leading up to the end of the year.


Made by Hand @ Maleny Studio Sale

Saturday 15 November
9am - 4pm
Venue: The Studio
23 Cedar Street
Maleny



Made by Hand @ Kelvin Grove Urban Village

Friday 28 November 4pm - 8pm &
Saturday 29 November 9am - 3pm.
Venue: Shop R5b, The Village Centre
cnr Musk Avenue and Caraway Street
Kelvin Grove Urban Village
Undercover parking available via Ramsgate Street (free on weekends).


Made by Hand @ GoMA
Gallery Store Christmas Design Market

Saturday 6 December
9am - 5pm
Venue: Gallery Store forecourt
GoMA - Gallery of Modern Art
Stanley Place, South Brisbane


Cash and cheque payments only please.

For information
Phone: 07 3861 0157 or 0411 213 610
Email: shannongarson@yahoo.com
www. shannongarson.com
www.rebeccawardjewellery.com

Toto, I have the feeling...

Opening this Friday night and including jewellery by Rebecca Ward and Eleisha Nylund:

'TOTO I HAVE THE FEELING WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANY MORE .... a lively and diverse exhibition of works from more than twenty artists employed at Brisbane Institute of Art. The exhibition opens at 6.30pm on Friday October 10. Exhibition hours are Monday to Friday 10.00am to 4.00pm, October 6 to October 29.

I've been enjoying teaching at the Brisbane Institute of Art which is handily located around the corner. At the moment I am teaching 2 x 18 week Intro to Gold and Silversmithing classes. We are doing etching for the next 2 weeks, not using nitric acid but ferric chloride (copper/brass) and ferric nitrate (silver) - these are not as hazardous as nitric! I am also taking some short weekend classes coming up. I believe there are still places for people with some jewellery experience avaialable in the Jewellery/ Found Objects weekend course 1 & 2 Nov ...

A Boy Turns 50

A two-sided pendant for a friend of mine. Well it's actually for her hunky I-can't believe-he's-turning-50 bloke who likes to mess around with Studebaker engines.

1. I found this quite wonderful sketch of a souped-up studebaker engine below by a drawing blogger, Zeke Miller:2. Fused it with my rekindled love of Road Killed Metal ( I can feel a new range coming on):

3. Got me some texture- rough manly texture from bashing silver into the road (confounding the postman) and the top texture from rollerprinting stamped/scratched brass:

4. Finally I snuk in a 22 carat gold dome for Mr Heart of Gold, rivetted it all together, did some extra detailing and oxidising and brass brushed.

I was quite chuffed how it turned out- hope he likes it!

Green media

Peppermint Magazine - 1st issue out now

A new Brisbane-based green fashion magazine printed on 100% recycled paper has just been launched and some of my shark shard jewellery is included. Peppermint Magazine can be bought online here.

Also I just discovered another cool new green shopping blog Growing Up Green posting my neo luddite range.

Longreach Trip

Longreach metal dump.

I've just returned from Longreach, in the heart of QLD where I gave a course in Contemporary Jewellery as past of the 40th School of Creative Arts for Arts West. It was a remarkable experience- a 4-day workshop teaching students with a range of abilities how to incorporate non-traditional materials with more standard jewellery-making techniques.

The students were different from city students. For a start they were very, very strong. "Tighten the clamp," I said to the tall genteel-looking Sue from the 70 000acre property. Next thing, SNAP and she'd broken that heavy cast iron g-clamp just by tightening the wing nut! My half-round pliers met a similar fate in the hands of a sapphire miner. This was a man who had no use for hand moisturiser preferring to repair the cracks on his fingers and thumb with super-glue, so I should have been warned! After that my mantra became "gently, gently": these people had a dangerous affinity for heavy tools.

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting my student Cayley's farm where she showed off her orphaned joeys, emu chick and the amazing bottle dumps and metal dumps on the property. There was hours of fossicking to be done but the sun was slowly setting- my eyes were drawn particularly to the solarised amethyst glass. It was the introduction of manganese as a decolourant to the flux (most common during 1870's - 1915 and later between the wars) that gives it the purple colour. Some of it started off as clear glass but exposure to many years of hot baking sun has turned it ever more purple. Back over the years, standard practice on a property was to gather the rubbish every so often and haul it off to a different spot each time and dump it on the surface. So Cayley's place is dotted with these dumps that she keeps finding. While this seems unacceptable in a culture that prefers to bury its huge amounts of waste like it never happened, exposure to light and air is essential for many organics and plastics to biodegrade and that some cities are starting to allow this to happen after munching up all the waste first and putting in in rows to compost.

A visit to the cemetery was another highlight, especially to the keeping place of indigenous remains only just recently returned to country from museums and universities all over the world. Fellow tutor, Judy Barrass pointed out some poignant memorials on the gibber marked pauper graves: wheel hubs and dustbin lids filled with cement and stamped with homemade lettering tools with messages like "we miss you" and "ernie our old mate". These seemed to encapsulate the sentiment of the people and the strong thread of self-reliant craftsmanship that runs through the bush. I also noted that these cement memorials seemed to be holding up better than some of the marble headstones.

Meeting people who came from all around western QLD and hearing about life on the other side of the great divide was refreshing and humbling. I was reminded of the reasons we are living so high in the city: because in the big backyard of the state the fat of the land and minerals are being stripped out with little of the profits seeming to find their way back over the range. I keep wondering when the bubble will burst.

Some more Longshore Drifter jewellery making its way north and me collecting the greywacke and schist pebbles at Okarito Beach. Thanks Wayne for the photos of Okarito.

These tiny Okarito pebbles were collected during my last trip to NZ. When we 1st arrived at Okarito Beach which is renowned for its alpine views, a big storm had been through and instead of Alps, we found Falps- F for foam. This kept Wayne busy with the camera for some time chuckling away at his pun.

Okarito is a sad place for me and it was difficult making these pieces, even after a year. But as photos help me remember, the morning after the terrible storm, the weather cleared and the alps revealed themselves as I took tea on the beach and managed a smile. And there were the lenticular clouds, lenses of icecrystals, always forming in the path of turbulence. Or in the case of New Zealand, always forming!