Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : unusual materials

Video interview with Robert Dancik: jeweler, sculptor, and originator of Faux Bone

Kristin Sutter — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:54:00 GMT

At the 2008 Bead&Button Show in June, Senior Editor/Online Linda Augsburg was able to catch a few minutes with Robert Dancik to talk to him about how he got started making jewelry, where he's taking the craft, and how he uses Faux Bone. To watch the video, click here. If you're interested in learning how you can incorporate Faux Bone into your work, check out Robert's article, "Chart Your Own Mixed-Media Odyssey," page 28, in the September 2008 issue of Art Jewelry. The article will teach you how to make this bangle:

If this project inspires you to make a piece of jewelry, we'd love to see what you've come up with! Just post it in the Show Us Your Work thread in the Art Jewelry forum.

Green Jewelry: if you're into pieces made from recycled, repurposed materials, check out jewelry by Mana Bernardes and the Touch NY show

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:35:00 GMT

Personally, I get excited about anything green — I mean both the color (my favorite) and the concept. I learned about Touch, a group of eco-minded designers, a few months ago when I came across jewelry by Mana Bernardes, whose jewelry is showcased on the Touch Web site. For anyone in the New York area today and tomorrow (May 19th and 20th), you can check out the Touch NY show from noon to 7 p.m. at 148 11th Ave. According to the Touch Web site, they'll have products and installations made from recycled materials. Judging from the pictures on their flyer, the show looks like a great place to find fresh ideas and inspiration.

Have you ever made jewelry with the intention of making it green? I'd love to hear about it — and see pictures!!

—Kristin

Hair-Raising Find?

Katie Streeter — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:57:00 GMT

On the weekends, I often work at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor living-history museum in Eagle, Wisconsin. While there, I usually wear a reproduction bustle dress, the fashion of the 1870s.

While researching what kinds of jewelry I could wear with the dress, I found that Victorians often adorned themselves with hair! Hairwork was very popular as mourning jewelry and also as love tokens. Hair was woven or crocheted around wires or cords to make tubes of hair, which were then used for bracelets, necklaces, watch chains, and more. This hair jewelry was given to a loved one as a keepsake or, in the case of mourning jewelry, made from the hair of the deceased and saved. If you want to see some hairwork or learn more about it, visit the Victorian Hair Artists Guild or the Victorian Hairwork Society.

Some people think it's odd, but I think it's a wonderful tradition. I've never been a scrapbooker, but I might try making a bit of hairwork to remember loved ones by.

So tell me, would you make hairwork jewelry? Have you made jewelry out of unusual materials before?