Coast ring from Hannah Louise Lamb

I came across a wonderful piece of jewellery featured in Coast magazine. The Coast ring by Hannah Louise Lamb has two interlocking parts, one part is polished and the other textured. The two parts represents the land and the sea, and the join is a wiggly line that represents a stretch of coastline. Purchasers can even specify which bit of coastline should be used.

Preliminary designs from Coast theme materials

I have started to makes some preliminary sketches for jewellery designs based on the photos collected as part of my Coast theme design project. So far I have extracted some pleasing shapes from photos of ripples in the sand (left) and puffins (below).

I have already got some promising shapes, but I do need to go through the process of trying variations on the shapes, and also to think about scale.

The shape of puffins

Puffins in the Farne Islands, June 2007

I've had these photos in the back of my mind since deciding on the Coast theme for this design project. I think I'd like to use shapes from the puffins, particularly that glorious beak, in a jewellery design. The end result probably wouldn't be puffin-shaped.

Pacific wave

A photo for my Coast theme design project, taken in La Jolla, California in February this year. More lovely blues, and a whole range of wave shapes. Even a tiny bird silhouette!

Scallop earrings before polishing

I made these following the project on p68-69 in Creative Silver Chains by Chantal Lise Saunders. They still need to be tumble polished, but I think they look pretty good already. Each one has two curved pieces of wire, and the fish shape is not fixed because each curved bit of wire can move independently where it hangs from the ear wire.

I made these because I was looking for rather quicker gratification than I can get from my evening class pieces, which may take weeks to complete. However, as a side benefit, making these earrings has given me some ideas for the Coast design project, particularly regarding making jewellery based on the shapes of waves and ripples.

Globetrotting ring

This ring of mine gets about a bit! It was last seen posing in North Yorkshire in this post. Now here it is in La Jolla, California. Click on the picture to enlarge. The ring has a rather splendid shadow in this picture.

Inspired by the sea: three websites from Orkney

Sheila Fleet's jewellery is inspired by the sky and seascape around Orkney, and in the case of this collection by a photograph of a wave (http://www.sheilafleet.co.uk/NewWave1.asp). Wonderful shapes and enamel colours.

Shoreline by Emma Thomson With textures inspired by cockle and limpet shells. (http://www.aurora-jewellery.co.uk/shoreline.asp).

Machair range from Ola Gorie. Delightful designs inspired by the machair: the sandy meadows on the Scottish west coast. (http://olagorieshop.com/finder.html?rangename=Machair:price_start=1:id=cugTN6wc)

Winter beach collage

Photos for my Coast theme design project. I like the cold blue colours here, the shape of the breaking wave and the textural patterns of the shells. The photos were taken in February a few years ago at Gullane, East Lothian.

Brief number 3: Design project, a learning journal

Patterns in the sand, Gullane, East Lothian

Brief number three is a project to be done outside college hours. Here's the start of the brief "You need to create a Learning Journal based on a theme ...".

My chosen theme is Coast

I've decided to organise my material in two parts. There will be thematic entries in this blog and I shall also build up a book of pictures and other material which, for copyright or other reasons, would be unsuitable for the blog.