Linda Connelly Enamels

Category: Pendant

  • Coral Reef Brooch/Pendant

    Coral Reef Brooch/Pendant

    Coral Reef brooch/pendant

    I have recently finished another brooch/pendant in my new series of pieces designed to raise awareness of environmental issues. This depicts a coral reef in cloisonné enamel on basse-taille silver. The edges are grey and dark symbolising the damage they are suffering due to climate change and pollution. The centre is vibrant as a sign of hope and the whole piece is designed to raise awareness of the issue. The world needs to act now and I want this brooch to help spark conversations on the issue between the wearer and people around them.

    The reverse of the brooch has been engraved and it has a double pin and a loop for a chain so it can be worn as a pendant. The brooch stands up so it can be displayed when it isn’t being worn.

    I was inspired to make this as a follow up to the Seahorse in Kelp Forest pendant and brooch that featured in a previous post. I plan to make more in this series. The idea came to me following a trip to London Zoo with my son for our joint birthday. They have a super aquarium display that really captured my imagination. Later I visited the Seaworld centre in London to draw the coral in their display there. Maybe I will need to learn to dive one day so I can see habitats like this in the sea but in the meantime being able to see them in aquariums helps me to gain an understanding of how to depict them.

    Here are a few images of the piece being made. The colours were developed over many firings before finally the piece was ground and polished to finish the enamel ready for me to construct the setting.

  • Seahorse in Kelp Forest Pendant and Brooch

    Seahorse in Kelp Forest Pendant and Brooch

    Seahorse in Kelp Forest Pendant and Brooch

    I have long been interested in environmental issues and when I was tasked with making a piece for an exhibition entitled “Underwater Flora and Fauna”, I remembered hearing about Kelp Forests and I decided to investigate further.

    I learned that these are found all over the world but I was particularly interested to discover that they exist off the Sussex coast which is near to where I live. Kelp forests provide a vital habitat for a host of sealife, from tiny worms to young fish and help protect coastal areas from storm surges. Threats to them include climate change, pollution and over fishing. David Attenborough made a film for BBC South called “Save Magical Kelp Forests”. There is a campaign by Sussex Wildlife Trust highlighting this issue and I wanted to help by raising awareness. Jewellery has been used throughout history to convey messages and this piece follows  this tradition to help initiate conversations about the cause.

    Sketch book designs for Kelp Forest jewellery

    I began by making lots of drawings to decide the shape and the design. The first piece I made was a smaller pendant measuring 40mm x 26mm. This enabled me to try out the colours and the design before I committed to a larger piece of silver.

    Small Seahorse in Kelp Forest pendant

    I wanted to make the next piece able to be worn both as a brooch and a pendant. This makes it more versatile and adaptable, plus brooches/badges are particularly associated with messages and protest. It took a lot of planning to ensure the shape worked for both, as well as working to help create the illusion of depth to the sea. Here is the design I chose to make.



    Seahorse in Kelp Forest Pendant/brooch

    The enamel comprises fine gold and fine silver cloisonné on basse taille fine silver, set in a bezel with jelly fish on the back. There is a loop for a chain and a double pin brooch fastening. The pin fastening can be used as a stand to display the piece when it is not being worn. It measures 56mm x 28mm.

    Seahorse in Kelp Forest Pendant
    Reverse of Seahorse in Kelp ForestBrooch/pendant
    Seahorse in Kelp Forest Pendant/brooch on display

    I am planning for this to be part of a new series of pieces entitled “Let’s Talk”. There are too many instances of individuals, businesses and governments quietly getting on with polluting our planet in pursuit of profit, without a care for the consequences. “Let’s Talk” will be a range of pieces designed to promote conversation about environmental issues and to raise awareness. With knowledge and coming together there is a real hope that we can work together for the good of nature and to promote a better, healthier future for us, our children and for generations yet to come. Knowledge is power and we can use it to work together for a better future.

  • New ‘Irises’ Cloisonné Enamel Jewellery

    New ‘Irises’ Cloisonné Enamel Jewellery

    Here is a selection of my latest work featuring Irises in cloisonné enamel jewellery. For the past six months I have been working on a succession of cloisonné enamel pendants, necklaces and earrings which are inspired by Irises. I especially love the look of these flowers, particularly the bearded irises. It is a flower that has had a profound effect on artists of all genres over the centuries. I have never been fortunate enough to see Van Goghs painting of Irises in real life but this came to my mind at the beginning of my journey. Luckily I was able to find a beautiful second hand book with a good illustration of the painting. Last year I attended a session on Arts and Crafts Jewellery at the Goldsmiths’ Hall library and this reignited my interest in the Arts and Crafts era. This is the British expression of what later came to be called the Art Nouveau movement, which it strongly influenced. I was particularly taken by the jewellery of Edith and Nelson Dawson who together made some stunning examples of enamelled jewellery at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

    Here are a few of my latest cloisonne enamel iris earrings, necklaces and pendants.

    Purple Iris Necklace with Peacock freshwater pearls. Gold cloisonne enamel on silver.
    Purple and Apricot Iris necklace with fresh water pearls. Gold cloisonne enamel on silver
    Small Purple and Apricot Iris pendant. Gold cloisonne with moissanite set in 18ct.
    Pink and Purple Iris earrings. Gold cloisonne on silver and moissanites set in 18ct.
    Violet and Pinky-Mauve small Iris Pendant. Gold cloisonne on silver
    Violet and Pinky-Mauve Iris Earrings. Gold cloisonne on silver.

    I would love to know what you think. Send me a message. Don’t forget you can keep up with all my latest news including shows, exhibitions and classes by subscribing to my newsletter. You can also click the links to follow me on Facebook and Instagram where I share all my new works.

  • Dragonfly Pendant Commission

    Dragonfly Pendant Commission

    Before Christmas I was very excited to be asked to design and make a silver and enamel Dragonfly Pendant. I worked with the client over several months to produce the eventual design. It is always a huge honour to be asked to make something special like this which hopefully will become a family heirloom of the future. Here are some photos of the work in progress.

     

    Pierced, etched and engraved silver ready for enamelling

    First layer of enamel has been carefully wet laid in place and is ready for firing

    First layer of enamel has been fired to orange peel

    Second layer of enamel has been wetlaid and then fired to continue building up shading and depth of colour

    The Pendant has had several more layers of enamel and now is ready for the final stages. The surface will be meticulously ground until it is even and Matt, before being polished with diamond pads. In this case I chose to have the enamel surface an eggshell finish.

    Here the Pendant is complete with the silver polished to a subtle shine.

  • Jyp’s Jewels – Ladybird Magic Carpet Pendant

    Jyp’s Jewels – Ladybird Magic Carpet Pendant

    Jyp DogIntroducing Jyp the dog, my faithful Workshop Apprentice and Chief Watch Dog. This year, following on from my occasional Blog Post series, ‘Jyp’s Jewels’ I have decided to make him a monthly feature. Every month, Jyp will present to you his favourite piece. I have insisted that he only chooses jewellery and not bones or balls!

    Ladybird Magic Carpet Pendant

    The first piece for 2016, is a custom ‘Magic Carpet’ pendant in one of my hand made silver moon settings. This was commission for a client who was giving it as a special birthday gift to a lady who loved Ladybirds.

    magic carpet pendant ladybird

    I had lots of fun designing it and you can see I have included flowers and leaves too. The piece is cloisonne enamel on fine silver, in a sterling silver silver moon setting. We decided to do just one colour and let the silver wire delineate the design, making it a more sophisticated piece than having it bright colours. The design has been highlighted with flecks of pure gold before rubbing down and finely polishing.

  • Pets on Jewellery

    Pets on Jewellery

    I have been working on a new idea. Cufflinks for my husband with our dog Jyp on. They are cloisonne enamel on fine silver, set in hallmarked sterling silver cufflinks and they measure 14 mm in diameter. The idea would also work well as earrings or as a pendant too. Each side could have a different pet on or as here, a motif with the pet’s name. I plan to offer them as a commission piece.

    Jyp-Cufflinks

    Jyp-cufflinks-box

    Jyp-dog

  • April ‘Critter of the Month’ 2015

    April ‘Critter of the Month’ 2015

    Two new Dragonfly pendants for this month. They are both enamel on silver and hang on a leather thong. One is cloisonné enamel and the other has painted under-glaze details. Hope you like them.

    Dragonfly-Pendant-cloisonne Dragonfly-Pendant-Silver

  • New Ammonite ‘Fossil’ Pendants

    New Ammonite ‘Fossil’ Pendants

    I have been working on some new ‘statement’ Ammonite ‘Fossil’ necklaces that I would like to share with you. The enamels have been created using Sgraffitto techniques. They are all on copper and I have set them in silver, sometimes with the addition of 18ct gold prongs.  Hope you like them.

    Small Turquoise Enamel ‘Fossil’ set in Silver bezel

    • Hand-made silver clasp
    • Matt Turquoise Beads on hand knotted silk
    • Enamel is approximately 45mm x 40mm
    • Length of necklace is approximately 48 cm

    Turquoise Enamel Ammonite Fossil with Turquoise Beads
    Turquoise Enamel Ammonite Fossil with Turquoise Beads

    Turquoise-Fossil-with-Knotted-Turquoise-beads-2 Turquoise-Fossil-with-Knotted-Turquoise-beads-3

     

    Large Orange Enamel’ Fossil’ with 18ct gold prong setting on sterling silver

    • Hand-made silver clasp, bail and chain
    • Matt ‘Dragon Skin’ beads
    • Enamel is approximately 65mm x 55mm
    • Length of necklace is approximately 68mm

    Orange Ammonite Fossil Necklace with Dragon Skin Beads
    Orange Ammonite Fossil Necklace with Dragon Skin Beads

    Orange-Fossil-with-Dragon-Skin-Beads-and-chain-2 Orange-Fossil-with-Dragon-Skin-Beads-and-chain-3

    Large Blue Enamel ‘Fossil’ with 18ct gold prong setting on sterling silver

    • Hand-made silver clasp and bail
    • Matt Agate beads on hand knotted silk
    • Enamel is approximately 65mm x 55mm
    • Length of necklace is approximately 50mm

    Blue Ammonite Fossil Necklace with Agate Beads
    Blue Ammonite Fossil Necklace with Agate Beads

    Blue-Fossil-with-Knotted-Agate-Beads-2 Blue-Fossil-with-Knotted-Agate-Beads-3

    Large Turquoise Enamel ‘Fossil’ set in silver bezel

    • Hand-made silver clasp and chain
    • Turquoise beads
    • Enamel is approximately 65mm x 55mm
    • Length of necklace is approximately 68mm

    Large Turquoise Ammonite Fossil with Turquoise Beads
    Large Turquoise Ammonite Fossil with Turquoise Beads

    Turquoise-Fossil-with-Turquoise-beads-and-Coil-Links Turquoise-Fossil-with-Turquoise-beads-and-Coil-Links-2

  • Cloisonné Enamel – The Making of my New Magic Carpet Pendant

    Cloisonné Enamel – The Making of my New Magic Carpet Pendant

    Cloisonné Enamel – The Making of my New Magic Carpet Pendant

    Cloisonné enamel is where fine wires are embedded in the enamel to create the design. There are a lot of different stages involved in making a piece using this technique and I decided to use my new Nimbus Cloud Dome to take pictures of the making of my new ‘Magic Carpet’ inspired Cloisonné enamel piece.

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    This shows the wires laid onto the base. In this case I am using fine silver foil on a copper base. I have used Soyer Silver flux over the foil and fired that before starting to add the wires. I have used fine silver and fine gold wires. They were fired into place in two separate firings as the design was too complicated to do all in one. I use Kyre-fire to hold the wires in place to go into the kiln.

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    This shows the first layer of colour fired into place. I have used a light blue under where the pink will go. I find that this helps the pink to fire a better colour.

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    This shows the second layer of colour that has been wet laid into the cells before it is fired. It is quite tricky where the design is complex to keep the colours separate. A good light and  the right glasses are essential!

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    Here the second layer has been fired. I am really pleased with the pink particularly.

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    Here I have added fine gold foils and painted oxides to the design. After firing I will then complete the enamelling with two layers of Blythes Medium flux. The two layers will be fired separately. If you apply it too thick it tends to go cloudy and obscure the colours. After the last firing I use a fine diagrit to rub all over the enamel to remove any excess. The aim is to achieve a level surface with no high spots or depressions. The latter show up as a shiny patch amid an otherwise matte surface. If necessary, I add more medium flux and refine and then repeat this stage. When all is flat and perfect I use a succession of wet and dry paper with lots of water to achieve a soft eggshell finish. I use Renaissance Wax to seal the surface and to protect it.

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    This is the finished piece before setting. There are hours of work involved to get to this stage.

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    The completed Cloisonné Enamel ‘Magic Carpet’ inspired enamel set in a sterling silver surround.

  • Mermaid Necklet

    Mermaid Necklet

    Mermaid Necklet

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    I have just entered my Mermaid Necklet in a Facebook competition for ‘Gifts from the Sea’. It is cloisonné enamel on fine silver. It is in a fine silver bezel with sterling silver fronds of seaweed which were cast from a wax model that I made. A single pearl hangs from a loop and it is suspended on a sterling silver chain. The cloisonné uses fine gold and fine silver wires. I have engraved a texture beneath the enamel and around the outside is written in wire the following words: ‘They dwelt in halls of seaweed and shells’. This is inspired by the words of an Enya song. The whole idea came to me when I was swimming off the coast of Crete. We were told that beneath us was the remains of a Roman city. As I swam, I wondered how they knew it was Roman and perhaps it was the Kingdom of the Merfolk.

    ‘Gifts from the Sea’ for me encompasses the myriad of colours and patterns found in fish; the sinuous, sensuous lines of fronds of sea weed; the intricate, exquisite detail of shells and the luscious bounty of the oyster. However, for me the greatest gift is to our imagination in the guise of Merfolk.  I believe that this necklet truly does represent ‘Gifts from the Sea’ in all it’s forms and I hope you like it.