laurieopal

Amber from Estonia

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 02:40:57 GMT

I was visiting in Estonia.Which is why I haven't posted lately, to see a featured performance of work by my daughter, Cid Pearlman,the choreographer, at a major arts festival in Estonia. I went with both my daughters and other than the 10 hour time difference it was marvelous.

I was able to find some antique amber that was very special. The triangular piece I'm going to set in a one of a kind design. The rock is going to be the base for a leaping artic fox commission with emerald eyes. I had another base planned for this but the amber is perfect. The red amber beads are a gift for my daughter Shayin.

I'll be back posting normally after a little more recovery time. I saw some exceptional art there and will be posting about that as well.

comments

Three Very Different Stones

Fri, 21 May 2021 04:59:35 GMT

I've finished the Japanese landscape with the red jasper and the octopus kami in the waterfall. It came out beautifully and conceptually it was great to make. If I get a good picture I'll put it up after Jean Marie Ward, who commissioned it, receives it.

And I've also finished an Indonesian plume pendant with a design of flowing abstract curves.

And I'm close to finishing the wax for the coin from her book Everfair for Nisi Shawl. It's being intensely busy but good.

I was going through my stones tonight and decided to make photos of these three. They are very different and all very beautiful.
..

This is boron jasper. The patterning is amazing. I got it on a trip to the outback in Oregon, where I can still occasionally find old school lapidaries.
..

..

This is a brilliant piece of Baltic amber. I love the deep color and and the fascinating inclusions.

..

This was new to me when I got it. It's a bridewell stone. They are fused quartz and the patterns in them are intricate, complex and very beautiful.

I'm working on a couple of other designs right now. Like I said - life is very full.

comments

Busy Days

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 01:29:45 GMT

I've been too caught up in work and didn't realize how long it's been since I posted. I'll do better from here.

I'm doing some very nuanced polishing on two pendant before the stones are set. Sometimes polishing is very straightforward and most of the art is really in the carving. But sometimes the polishing and it's nuances are central to the art. It can be very delicate.

I've mostly finished a wax of a Chinese phoenix. Most often after consideration and time, the image in my head is fundamentally how the final carving looks. But sometimes it develops in a different direction as it's being carved. The phoenix is close to done, but I need it to rest for a little while, so I come back to it very clear and then I'll finish it both aesthetically and technically.

And I am working on some other waxes as well. And I cut myself polishing, It happens so rarely that I forget it can happen.

Photo is of a beautiful amber I just received. It's about 1.5" long.

comments

Coming to Fogcon

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 06:23:03 GMT

I'm getting ready for Fogcon and thought I'd post photos of a couple of the designs I'll have with me that are fossils.

Pendant is amber with insect inclusions from 50 - 100 million year ago. Setting is sterling silver.

Close up of bug.

Large opal is a fossilized clam shell.

Both designs are about 2 " wide. I love designing with fossils.

comments

Lava, Amber, Icelandic Spar Pendants

Sat, 24 Aug 2013 07:20:53 GMT

I'll have both of these at Worldcon. Both pendants are in sterling and are about 1.5" to 2".

I'm bringing 2 velvet bags to Worldcon. One with the oceanic shaped polished Baltic amber pieces and one with lave I gathered in Iceland. Ask mei f you're there and you'd like to see them.

Amber and Icelandic Spar (double prismatic). the rainbows don't show in the photo.

Lava, sunstone and diamond. Lava is blacker in the original.

comments

Baltic Amber From My Trip

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 03:34:15 GMT

When I was in Finland I found by pure accident, the shop of an amber obsessive lapidary. It was tucked away on a street near a bus station that I was exploring as an alternate way back to where I was staying. I was in the older part of Helsinki many of the streets are maze like. (Especially on your first day. )

I went back the next day when I had time to seriously look. He had amber exactly as it had come from the Baltic, polished but otherwise untouched. I'd never seen these before and i loved them.They varied greatly in quality and I went through about 200 of them and chose the stunning pieces.

The photo below is the group. The actual amber pieces are mostly 1" to 1.5".

It feels like my "soul" has finally come back. I'm doing the post Wiscon work and my head is full of designs for the amber and the lava.

comments

Bronze Octopus and Back Yet Again

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:34:09 GMT

Last time I posted 2 weeks ago I thought I was fine and back at work. That was followed by a pinched nerve (May that never happen to me again.) The worst of it was over quickly but it took a while to be able to be back at work. But now, hopefully, I am.

Photo is of a bronze and natural garnet crystal pendant that I made for SJ Alexander. She had the stone for years and wanted some thing very special for it and like me she loves octopi.

Width is about 3.5". The garnet really needed bronze. There are beautiful gold highlights in in that are not visible in the photo.

I've just gotten a commission for amber earrings to match one of my amber pendants from some years ago. Had the stones cut for them and was very fortunate to get one of the stones with a 50 million year old fly. The design will include period appropriate cycads. I love including time appropriate plants when I set fossils.

I saw my daughter Cid's dance concert Your Body Is Like A Shark both at ODC in San Francisco and in Santa Cruz. It was was complex and marvelous. the collaboration of dance, music and poetry really flowed.

comments