December Show Posters

Hey! Here's the posters from the two shows I listed in my last post. Please click o the poster to see the image larger.

December Shows

The holiday season is coming, or its here, depending on who you talk to! Just wanted to let everyone know about the two shows I will be participating in this December. Here they are:

Sassy Little Craft Show
The Victory Cafe, 2nd floor
581 Markham St.(near Bloor and Bathurst)
Toronto, ON
Friday, December 7th, 7pm - 12:30am
Saturday, December 8th, 12pm - 5:30pm

Stitch 'N' Kitsch Show & Sale
First United Church
Waterloo, ON
Saturday December 15th, 11am - 7pm

Hope to see you there! As always check out my website for the latest designs: www.wilkdesigns.com

Upcoming Show

My next upcoming show will be the Lunchtime Beauty Bazaar at the Design Exchange in the Financial District of Toronto. Please check out the shows website here:

http://www.beautyandbliss.ca/events/lbb.html

The show runs on Wednesday November 14th from 11am until 4pm. Hope to see you there!

New Work

With all of the shows which happened during September, I didn't get a chance to post up some of the new work which I made for the shows. Below you will find some unique gemstone pendants and other miscellaneous types of jewellery. I will also have my website (www.wilkdesigns.com) updated soon with new work and a brand new loose stones section. Below you will also find some of those loose stones whcih will appear at wilkdesigns.com. Enjoy!









Quartz with possible chlorite inclusions, sterling silver















Quartz with possible chlorite inclusions, sterling silver


















Rutilated Quartz, Sterling Silver















Sterling Silver Cuff Links
















Rose Quartz
















Golden Quartz

September Shows and show in November

Just wanted to post a quick note to say thanks to everyone who came out to the shows this past month and showed enormous support for Wilk Jewellery Designs! I was happy to see many familiar faces, and many new faces as well! Also a huge thanks to my wife Jolene, Dave G., and Paul M. for helping with setup, take down, and booth assistance. Couldn't have done it without you.

The next show I will be attending will be mid Novemeber at the Design Exchange in the Financial District in Toronto. More info about this show will be posted soon.

Upcoming Shows

I have three shows coming up in the month of September and I'd love to see you at one of them! Here's the list:

Queen West Art Crawl
September 15th and 16th(Sat and Sun)
Trinity Bellwoods Park
Queen St. W at Strachan
Toronto, ON
11am - 6pm

Stitch 'N' Kitsch
Saturday, September 22nd
First United Church
Waterloo, ON
10am - 5pm

St.Clair Artwalk
Saturday, September 29th and Sunday, September 30th
Corner of Wychwood Ave. South & St. Clair West
Toronto, ON
10am - 5pm


I hope to see lots of familiar and unfamiliar faces! As always, check my website www.wilkdesigns.com for the latest pieces from my workshop.

Gemmology Exam Results

It's been almost a month since my last post which is really unforgivable, but hopefully this news will make up for my negligence. I am now a gemmologist! Yay! It was a tough exam but I squeaked through on the theory portion and did moderately well on the practical section. I'd like to say thanks to all the people in my class, I know without their support, it would have been much tougher. Also, Circle and Jennifer, good job filling my brain with science. So after all this, whats next? Pretty much the same as it always was except now I can put FCGmA after my name and have people ask "What the hell is that?". And thanks to Jolene, you knew I could pass even when I didn't think it was possible. If you'd like to become a gemmologist too, the course I took was great! Check out their website www.canadiangemmological.com

The Galleries List

Hello!

Just though I'd put together a listing of all the galleries which carry my work across the United States and Canada. Here they are:

MetalUrge: A Metal Arts Company
1225 Yonge St. Toronto, ON
www.metalurge.ca
416-323-0047

Influx Jewellery Gallery
201-100 7 Avenue SW Calgary, AB
www.influxgallery.com
403-266-7527

The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts
200 South Madison St. Wilmington, DE USA
www.thedcca.org
302-656-6466

Made You Look
1338 Queen St W. Toronto, ON
www.madeyoulook.ca
416-463-2136

A.K. Collings Gallery
41 John Street Port Hope, ON
www.akcollings.com
905-885-2001

The Red Pepper Squirrel
215 S. Second St Clarksville, TN USA
www.theredpeppersquirrel.com
931-648-5547

And the newest addition:

Glitz
586 Academy Rd. Winnipeg, MB
204-487-3444

New Work update

Since the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition is finished, I thought I'd take some time and update my website with some of the new jewellery I made for the show. Unfortunately not all the pieces have made it up on the website because I sold some of them at the show before I took pictures, but I will be making more of them soon(especially more cuff links). So I thought I would post some of the new work here on my blog as well, and if you like what you see, please go on over to my website and check out the rest!








Sterling Silver, 10k gold watch, leather strap


















Detail of the engraving on the back of the watch
















59.5ct Sacred Seven Quartz, Sterling Silver















Sterling Silver, Colourless Topaz















43ct Tourmalated Quartz, Sterling Silver

















65.5ct Rutilated Quartz, Sterling Silver

After the TOAE

Just thought I'd write a post to say thanks to all the people who helped me at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition which helped to make it an outstanding success! Thanks to the 'rents, Taryn, Dave, and Paul for all your help with manning the booth and setup, couldn't have done it without you. Of course, I also have to thank my wife Jolene, I wouldn't be making jewellery and other baubles if it wasn't for her. She also helped me with setup and take down of the show almost every day! She's an amazing person, and I'm a lucky guy. Anyways, if you couldn't make it to the show, here's some pictures of my booth and the show early one morning before the show started.

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition is quickly approaching. It is taking place at Nathan Philips Square on July 6, 7, & 8, which is less than a week away. I'll be participating in the show this year and have been given booth # 511 which is right beside the Peace Garden. Check out their website at www.torontooutdoorart.org. With over 450 vendors, its bound to be a great show. Hope to see you there!

Also, I'd like to congratulate a couple of my clients on their engagement. Unfortunately I was unable to post the entire amount of work I had made for them because the ring box I made for them had the bride-to-be's new fashion label logo engraved on the side of it. So, to make sure I didn't spoil the surprise, I withheld the photos of the ring and box and only posted the pictures of the ring. Here are all the photos for your perusal.

Sassy Little Craft Show Poster

Here's the poster for the Sassy Little Craft Show. Yay!

Sassy Little Craft Show & Sacred Seven-a-thon

The work just keeps pouring off my bench in anticipation of two upcoming shows. The first is the Sassy Little Craft Show held in Toronto on Friday, June 22nd starting around 7:30ish at the Victory Cafe & Bar on Markham St, just near Bathurst and Bloor. Its a one night affair, nothing fancy, just a bunch of people selling their wares, "maybe" having a drink or two. Second show is of course the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, which I mentioned in a previous post, but now they have posted all the vendors for the show, including me! Anyways, here's another Sacred Seven piece.








Sterling Silver, Sacred Seven Quartz

Rutilated Quartz

More new work! Here's two pieces I made with some good sized(around 40 carats each) rutilated quartz.








Sterling Silver, Rutilated Quartz
















Sterling Silver, Rutilated Quartz

Ammolite, Quartz and Sapphire

I just finished a bunch of new work and thought some of you might like to take a gander. More Sacred Seven pieces which are going to be bridesmaids gifts, an ammolite pendant for the mother of the groom, and a custom order for a set of earrings and pendant with blue sapphire. Enjoy!









Sacred Seven Quartz, sterling silver
















Sacred Seven Quartz, sterling silver
















Sacred Seven Quartz, sterling silver
















Ammolite, sterling silver
















Blue Sapphire, sterling silver

















Blue Sapphire, sterling silver

SNAP Beaches Magazine

The studio where I teach some classes got a little bit of press recently about its grand opening in SNAP Beaches Magazine. Theres a really awful picture of me with the other metalsmithing teacher Suzanne. Anyways, check out the link.

http://www.snapbeaches.com/display/7161/124/

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've been accepted into the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition this year. It takes place at Nathan Phillips Square(just in front of city hall) on July 6, 7, & 8, 2007. I'll be in booth # 511 right beside the Peace Garden. Hope to see you there!

On a side note, I didn't get into the Archiving Beauty Show, but if you are in Calgary, go check it out anyways!

Archiving Beauty Show

Just wanted to show a piece I'm submitting for the Archiving Beauty Show at Influx Jewellery Gallery in Calgary. They are having this show to celebrate "2007 Year of Craft in Canada". Its another piece using the sacred seven quartz. Hopefully my piece makes it in the show!

Wedding Band from Tattoos

A client came to me a while back and asked me to create a custom wedding band based on his tattoos on his wrist. I've made a pictorial comparison showing his tattoos versus the different sides of the ring I made. This is one of the few instances where I cast the ring because I couldn't make it any other way. The stones in the piece are ruby and emerald.

Two Pendants

Just wanted to post up a couple of pendants that I made a little while back but never got around to posting. Both stones in the pieces are Sacred Seven Quartz which I mentioned in a previous post. Here they are:







An interesting cut with inclusions unlike any I have seen so far in this type of stone















A large stone(around 45-50 carats) with a fantastic amount of amethyst.

Jewellery Fabrication Classes

I'm proud to announce that I will be teaching some jewellery making classes at a new studio opening up in Toronto called Margie Jewellery Studio. The classes should commence in the middle of March and continue from then on. Other classes including Glass Flameworking, Glass Fusing, and Beading are also available. Please check out the studio website for all the info including dates, times and pricing!

Margie Jewellery Studio

Hope to see you in one of my classes!

Step by Step Ring

So I decided with one of my clients to take step by step pictures of her ring being made. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have hoped and I also didn't have a tripod at the time. In the near future I will be making another series like this to illustrate the enormous effort that goes into one of these pieces. Its all done by hand folks. This is not how most jewellery is made.

This particular client wanted me to take a diamond from an existing ring she had and make a new ring for it.

Step 1: Cut the diamond out of the old ring.




















Step 2: Gather all of the pieces needed for the ring. This is all 14k white gold.
















Step 3: Take the big piece, measure and cut it to the correct length, bend it around and solder it. The picture is just after soldering.




















Step 4: Time to make the circle design elements which will be on the top of the ring. Take some of the gold, cut small lengths, bend them around and solder them together. This is the same process as making the band, just smaller. The picture show some of the small bits prior to soldering.




















Step 5: Hammer the ring into a round shape and sand it to a nice smoothness. Usually this requires going through at least 4 different grits of emery paper. Do the same process on all the little circles that were made in step 3. Also, take one of the round bits that were made in step 3, solder on some square wire to make a setting for the diamond. Pictured is the main ring after sanding, the circle bits before sanding, and the stone setting before sanding.




















Step 6: Solder all the little bits onto the ring.




















Step 7: Drill out the holes in all the circles and the setting. File down some of the tubing so that they get shorter as the continue around the circumference of the ring. This is necessary so that the little protrusions don't stick into the side of your finger. Drill some extra holes on the band to make it look even better. Sand and polish the ring until nice and shiny. Cut the seat for the diamond, these are the little notches the stone sits in. Set the stone. Round the prongs and sand and polish them. Get the ring plated in rhodium if it needs it and voila! Finished Ring!



















So, the finished ring. In the end it turned out great. The hardest part for me was sanding and polishing in all the little spaces and crevices . That took a lot of patience and was still frustrating. The thing I really like about working like this is that I have a direct connection with the metal I'm working with. I form it, I joint it together, I create its surface. As I said at the beginning, this is very different from the way most jewellery is made.

Most commercial jewellery(ie. Birks, People's, Mappins, Wal-mart, etc...) is made by first creating the jewellery as a wax model. Its then made into a mold and a limitless amount of wax models can then made which are identical to the original. Usually several hundred to a couple thousand wax models are made. These models get put onto a "tree" and a crucible is made. After the crucible is made, its basically a reverse cavity or impression of the wax model. Molten metal is then poured into the crucible and allowed to cool. The mold is removed from casting and you have yourself a "tree" of several hundred to a couple thousand pieces of jewellery. The jewellery is cut off of "tree" and is generally sanded and polished by machine, not by hand. So, in the end, most jewellery is not even touched by someone until the very end. A great place to check out this process with pictures and a much better explanation than my own is: http://pblinc.com/steps.asp

Now I do have to say I use the casting method upon occasion to make items which either cannot be made like the ring I made above, or are just suited to the casting method. I do not use the mass production casting method in my jewellery making, with the exception of pieces, which in my opinion, benefit from the increased stability of structure which casting provides. To date, I have only used this method once, in one of my bracelets. All other uses of casting my jewellery are limited to unique pieces in which I hand carve one wax model which is cast as one single unique piece which I could not have made using a fabrication method. The first wedding bands in the previous post was made this way.

Anyways, that was a rant and then some. If anyone has any questions about my jewellery making methods, please feel to contact me. And as always, check here and my website www.wilkdesigns.com for all my new pieces.

Wow, its been a while

Well, I'm sorry that its been so long since my last post, I guess I'm just really bad at this sort of thing. This is definitely a good way to show ideas and such, but I just get bogged down with other things, mostly of the video game variety. Anyways, here's what I've been doing over the xmas holidays and the beginning of 2007.







A wedding band for a client whom I made an engagement ring for. This band is for him and his fiancee's engagement ring matches it. 14k White Gold










Another wedding band, but this one is like no other ring I've ever made. The client wanted a plaid pattern out of 14k pink and white gold. The pattern penetrates halfway through the ring. It's made through a technique called, ironically enough, marriage of metal. What this means is that different metals are placed side by side, or fitting within each other and soldered together. So each individual line of pink you see on the ring, is a slice of pink metal and the same goes for the white. This probably the most technically challenging ring I've ever made. The pattern continues around the other side of the band.










A sapphire and 14k white gold ring with circle design elements.









Sterling Silver and Sacred Seven Quartz. A piece I made for a the Metal Arts Guild of Canada's travelling exhibition as 2007 is Craft Year in Canada. Now whether or not the piece actually makes it into the show is questionable. Also, about the stone. Its called a Sacred Seven stone because it is supposed to contain seven different minerals within the stone, and its supposed to contain spiritual and psychic properties. If you believe in that stuff, great. What really interests me though, are the seven minerals. They are: amethyst, cacoxenite, clear quartz/rock crystal, smokey quartz, rutile, geothite, and lepidocrocite. An interesting stone to say the least.



Anyways, more to come very soon!