Twin Celtic Cats a creation in many forms

Wax carving with design sketch

Silver master casting

Signature on back

 

A few months ago I posted about a wax carving for my new jewellery design. You can read the post here.

The carving was cast into silver master copies; those were used to create a vulcanised rubber spin cast mold for centrifugal casting in lead-free pewter.

I have made these pewter castings into a range of adorable cat jewelry items and accessories.

Twin Cats KeyChain

 

Two Cats Statement Ring

 

The two little twin cats are sleeping with their tails entwined in a Celtic style knot. i was remembering how my two cats used to sleep together…. This is one of the smaller jewelry designs I have attempted – I like it’s simplicity and the fact that it can be translated into quite a few different designs.

 

Twin Cat earrings

 

Cats remain for me the most delightful animals to depict artistically ~ whether in paint, sculpture, jewelry or etching. Their enigmatic beauty is so peaceful, and being able to wear these totem animals as a piece of jewelry is something quite magical !

Two Cats Necklace Cat Pendant

 

Twin Cats Bracelet

 

 

Twin Cats Pin Two Cats Brooch

 

These would make beautifully special gifts for a cat lover, and you can purchase any of these on my website shop : LizaPaizis.com

 

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave any comments below !

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Gorgeous Lizard and Cat bracelet cast in pewter from my original design

I love lizards, and this bracelet was one I just had to make from an original design of mine. It is cast in lead-free pewter and has a beautiful curve that sits snug on the wrist. It’s inspired by the sinuous designs of Art Nouveau jewellery, which drew so much on Nature’s creations.

It has chain on both sides that allow for shortening or lengthening, and is finished with a little silver finding.

A perfect jewelry gift for any other lizard or gecko lover ! It’s available for sale in my online shop here and the price includes free shipping.

I have also transformed my cat design into a bracelet for cat lovers :

…you can buy it on Etsy here !

Cat Dreaming : Stunning cat beaded necklace, with birds and fish

Today is National Cat Day !!

This is my “Cat Dreaming” necklace I made inspired by my love of Cats.

I have used a selection of gorgeous Czech glass beads, as well as Turquoise gemstones, to compliment the little silver tones bird and fish charms. I wonder what this cat is dreaming about….!?

I have also created some adorable little bird earrings to match with turquoise beads. I have been making a lot of very unique jewellery pieces lately for the local galleries here in Iowa and Wisconsin, along the beautiful Mississippi Valley where I live. These items feature my unique pewter original castings, from my hand carved designs. I carve the designs from a hard jeweller’s wax – you can read more about the process on my website here.

Both are available in my Etsy shop here.

I have been carving wax designs and casting these in lead-free pewter for about 10 years now. I am largely self taught, having gone to a 4 hour workshop at a music festival in Australia to learn the basics, I really took to it with a passion and developed my style from there – and I am still learning! It is a process I love and my original pieces of jewellery are becoming increasingly popular, as they are exclusive, hand made and entirely original. They include cats, a dragonfly, moth, lizard, butterfly, tree of life, pixie, owl and mermaid jewellery designs in lead-free semi precious pewter.

Tree Brooch

Dragonfly brooch

I get a master caster to create and cast the molds in South Africa, where pewter casting and design is very popular, from items such a cutlery, to jewellery and giftware…Below are some more creations I have been working on which feature my exclusive pewter designs and carvings, all of which you can find in my shop:

Cat face pin

Owl pendant

Lizard necklace

Art Deco Moth keychain

Pixie keychain

Owl Earrings with green glass eyes

Cat Face Ring

A Silver Cat picture, and a little Dog portrait

I have completed two new works for an exhibition titled “It’s Raining Cats, Dogs and Cows”

at my wonderful local art gallery The McGregor Marquette Centre for the Arts.

“Silver Cat”

This is Pewter Repousse or embossing, a lovely form of art which I learned in my home country of South Africa. It is a very popular craft there, and I immediately took to it, as I love working with pewter in any form. I have made many jewellery pieces  cast in pewter from my original wax carvings, it is considered a semi-precious metal, and it very mouldable, shiny and has a gorgeous feel to it.

This piece measures about 9 x 7 inches, and it’s basically a form of relief modelling with this soft metal, pushing out from the back as well as the front to give shape and detail.

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“Simon”

This is the completed Dachshund watercolor and ink painting shown in my earlier post. It is available for sale as an archival giclee print here.

I loved to use gentle line work in the sky reminiscent of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” , with naive art style motifs to match the gorgeous frame I found especially for it. Both of these original framed pieces are for sale – please contact me if you are interested!

Dachshund Painting, and other Animal Portraits

“Simon”

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I love to do portrait commissions.

I am currently working on this little painting of a Dachshund, done in a whimsical Folk art style, for an upcoming exhibition at my local art gallery. It is based on a wonderful dog my family owned called Simon, who loved to run outside and chase all sorts of creatures in his path. He was a very special pet, and this is my tribute to him.

I have done a few animal portraits in the past, and am always inspired to capture its spirit in a style that reflects its uniqueness. Here are some of them – and I do have a penchant for owls and cats! I do custom commissions for any kind of portrait, painting, tattoo design etc – please contact me if you are interested.

 

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.

Tree of Life original drawing in green ~ commissioned artwork

I have recently finished this lovely commissioned original drawing of the Tree of Life for a wonderful customer in Germany. It has been done in pigment coloured pencil (I use Swiss made Caran d’Ache) and pigment ink pens and measures 6.5 x 6.5 inches. She  loved my original pencil drawing of the Tree of Life with a sun and moon in the leaves and a dryad or tree spirit subtly portayed in the image which had been sold, so we decided to do one just for here with slight alterations and in vibrant greens, purples and blues:

I am currently accepting commissions for paintings, tattoo designs, business logos and wedding invitations to name but a few of the artworks I do as custom orders. You can view a selection of my previous artistic commissions here!

 

Cat Folk Art Painting Art Nouveau style with poppies, butterflies and ladybugs

This is my completed Art Nouveau style Cat painting. It is watercolor with gold and colored pigment ink and is inspired by folk art as well as the illustrations of the Art Nouveau period which had a wonderful flowing style and often incorporated natural elements within the diverse themes depicted.

It is for sale as a beautiful print in my online shop here and the original painting is for sale here – I have not come up with a name for it, so any suggestions are welcome!

Cat with Red Poppies : a new Original Painting!

I have a fascination with red poppies and with cats, and have often portrayed them together in little montages and pieces of art, but have never done a full painting of these two lovely themes together.

Here are the beginnings of a watercolour based painting that I have been working on, Art Nouveau style, with pigment inks and white gesso highlights. The paper I use is Stonehenge cream paper – great for mixed media and especially good for etching and watercolors. I painted a yellow wash with touches of orange for a base design of colours to set the tone for what looks to be a folk-art kind of painting.                                         ~ More photos as I go along !

Cat and Moth new Choker style necklaces from my original designs

These necklaces have just been cast in beautiful shiny lead-free pewter right here in South Africa, from designs and wax carvings that I had made a few years ago. I loved the idea of turning my little cat into an unusual necklace, and the moth, or butterfly, was inspired  by the bold designs of the Art Deco era.

The whole process of carving an original design from jeweller’s wax, then casting it with the lost wax process and centrifugal casting is an amazing process and one which I have learned over the last 5 years. I hope to be able to make many more unique and soulful design in the near future…!

The choker style necklaces are really stunning, and are adjustable in length. You can see more of my own jewellery designs: Necklaces, Brooches and even Keyrings here on my online shop.            Or view my exclusive range on the menu bar to the left!