Valentines Sweetheart

It's that time of year when we remind the ones we cherish of our love for them.

I don't usually have holiday themes in mind as an artist. In fact, lately I have been avoiding very literal representations of things in my work (ex. love as hearts). But this years Valentines was different mostly because I happened upon a broken bracelet my girlfriend Laura gave me while back.

Side note: although this might not be my typical route to designing jewelry I find value in doing things 'not me'. It is kind of like playing, experimenting if you will...you never know what you might find out about yourself.

I was in my studio one late evening and the ideas started coming all at once....

1. Slice the silver hearts from the broken bracelet in half (they seemed thick enough to make 2 from 1)

2. Contrast the silver by soldering it to copper

3. Solder hearts on silver and use patina to add depth and character

First I started a copper pendant...I'd soldered the heart on and as I was filling away it immediately dawned on me that it would be great to make a similar ring.

Even though I don't wear rings a lot (I wear gloves at work), I like making them. This one in particular I liked, not only for it's modern feel but because the open ring allows for slight size adjustment.

I wanted to use the same idea in this ring. Similar in style to the pendant, I kept the tilt in the heart and the width of the copper similar for this ring.

Lastly, playing with a patina to make the silver pop. I wanted to make either a pendant or a ring. Since I have to restock my chain, I went for a ring. But also I have really been loving this ring, and I thought I'd do something similar here.

This whole style is a bit on the 'cutie' side, so I thought I'd call them 'sweet heart'. It was fun to pursue these, but in the end I don't find them very...'me'...I suppose because the hearts. I did like using the patina, I'm still getting the hang of its application and effects.

What do you think, was it worth the experimentation? Tell me your thoughts in the the comments below...