Dragonflies ~ and more dragonflies !

Since moving to America, I have had little time to paint much new work. I have been setting up business here in beautiful Iowa, on the Mississippi river, getting my art and jewellery into local galleries, selling my products on various websites, and also doing a large number of tattoo designs.

I have also sourced some lovely new pieces for my jewellery making, including these cute and delicate dragonfly charms which I have made into earrings. I am fascinated by dragonflies, as are many other people. In all the places I have lived and sold my work, dragonflies remain consistently one the best sellers, whether it be necklaces, pins, earrings, t-shirts, prints, paintings earrings. Midwest America is no exception, where I have had a great response from customers who have bought my work at the wonderful local galleries.

Here are all the dragonfly drawings, paintings and jewellery I have produced over the years, most are available online from Etsy, and my Website :

Dragonfly brooch

Gorgeous new fantasy Art Nouveau jewelry designs!

I have been hard at work creating some unique jewelry items, most from my own carvings which have then been cast in beautiful semi-precious lead free pewter using centrifugal casting. I have made brooches, pendants, choker necklaces, keyrings and earrings featuring an owl, fairies, a mermaid, flower girl, lizard, cats and even a little pixie.

A very talented metal caster here in Johannesburg casts these pieces for me, some of which were carved in wax, or in silver clay, and even in Pratley Putty! Centrifugal or spin casting uses centrifugal force to produce metal castings from a rubber mold and is able to capture a great deal of detail, which is very suited to my work.
Below are some examples of my new creations; some are also replicas of original Art Nouveau jewelry designs. All of these, and many more, are available in my shop here.

New Art Deco Butterfly Brooch

well !

I have been plundering my collection of glorious Art Deco books and have designed a new brooch. It is cast in lead-free pewter right here in South Africa from my original design which is based on a butterfly-moth combination. You can purchase it internationally by clicking on my online Shop.

Here are some examples of this amazingly versatile art movement which was prevalent for some decades after the end of the First World War. It lent itself imaginatively to many areas of every day life and if I had my way I would lead a resurgence of both this and the Art nouveau movement in contemporary art & design – things are just not as lovingly and originally crafted as they were in these times….!

a beautifully bold chocolate wrapper

an exuberantly colourful painted tile

Tree Jewelry Design for Necklace & Brooch

I have finally finished the Tree design – the master copy has been cast from my wax carving.

I had previously posted the initial wax carving and sketch – see Jewelry Designs to the left – and here is the final piece cast in solid silver after the wax carving was finished. I used the hard green carving wax and filled in details with pink relief wax – wax is such a wonderful medium to work with. The finished piece or master copy is used to create a silicone mold to be cast centrifugally in pewter, and the design will be a brooch, a choker, a keyring and a pendant. Exciting!

I love depicting trees in all forms; their sinuous trunks and branches are perfect for translation into Art Nouveau style designs, and trees have powerful symbolism in their soulful beauty.

I decided to put two little birds in the branches of this tree so it would have company….

Tree Necklace and Tree Brooch Design

New Jewellery Design – Tree Necklace and Brooch

well- that says it all….

I have all the paraphanalia spread out before me…gas burner, hard and soft wax, old dentist tools, craft knife, sand paper –

here is a photo of the sketched idea and the current state of the carving…it should be finished in a month or so- and will be here on our website amongst all my other original jewellery designs when it is!

My inspiration, again, is Nature – the all embodying Tree. I want something that is both lyrical in form but also functional as a totem piece of jewellery, so hopefully I can realise this….