Year of Jewelry Week 4

Last weekend I just had a BLAST at Connie Fox's Pins workshop. It was just too much fun: we learned not only how to make our own pins out of wire, but also how to rivet, saw and drill sheet metal. I made 4 pins. Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry to get home to try the new techniques that I FORGOT all my tools and jewelry in San Diego (how could that have happened?).

To find more information on Connie's excellent classes, go to her home page: Jatayu.

Ok, now that I have my tools and jewelry back (Thanks Connie!), here's the picture of one of the pins I made during Connie's class:

It's called BIG FISH, little fish. It reminds me of the strong connection a mother has with a child -- notice how the mother fish is far more abstract (and perhaps for that reason more subjective) than the very figurative and direct child fish. The mother fish also carries a womb, represented by the large shell-shaped bead.

The pin was constructed with 16 ga wire like a safety pin: a triangular spiral hides the clasp hook. The body of the fish was constructed over the initial safety pin structure with slightly thinner wire and hill-tribe beads. The little fish is a charm, sewn on with hair thin 28 ga wire.