Turritella Designs Receives an Award!!

On Friday afternoon, I received some fantastic news! One of my complex cloisonné designs, ‘In the Rushes’, was awarded the ‘Grand Prize Silver Medal’ in the Fire Mountain Gems 2015 Metals contest. I am absolutely thrilled, and very excited to have been a part of this year’s contest!

'In the Rushes'

‘In the Rushes’ was inspired by a summer afternoon I spent kayaking along the Humber River in Toronto. There were so many things to see hiding in the rushes. I wanted to capture the sense of life I found, and create a necklace with many stories to tell. The champlevé frog on the necklace clasp is hiding from the cloisonné heron center-piece. The blackbird perching on the cat-tail rushes on the back of the pendant is calling out a warning. The blue boulder-opal doublet on the bail of the pendant represents the river, and the rough granulated setting imitates the shore-line.

The pendant was constructed from metal clay, and the setting for the enamel center piece was made from fine silver bezel wire. The chain was created using the Viking-knit method, and finished with hand-made metal clay end-caps. The champlevé and cloisonné enamel pieces were created using a variety of transparent Thompson enamel colours.

You can find more details about the contest, and photos of other winners at this link: http://www.firemountaingems.com/beadingcontests/bc2015metalwinners

Cloisonné Dayflower Earrings with Kyanite and Peridot

These lovely cloisonne earrings were inspired by the vivid blue and green of the Asiatic dayflower. The cloisonne triangle is made from fine silver and Thompson unleaded glass enamel. The earring posts, jumprings and wire findings are sterling silver. Vibrant blue Kyanite drops and olive Peridot beads dangle from the cloisonne frame and add movement to the earrings.

The earrings measure 19 x 49 millimeters from the top of the sterling silver ball stud to the bottom of the Kyanite dangle.