Cultural Elegance Designs

These are my Peaceful Squiggle Earrings. I had no idea of what style of earrings these would be, other than I wanted to make something that looked cultural and elegant.  All the jewellery I make, I make with the intention of wearing one from a batch of three, test driving it, to see how it feels and how it looks.   I never imagined that I could get so much pleasure from working with wire, making jewellery that will not affect  my skin or turn my ear lobs into little mounds of  gently weeping pain. A couple of years ago, I use  to sport earrings so chunky that I could have knocked myself out if  I made a sharp turn. Now, I can and will make earrings that might be big and flashy but  are comfortable to wear.

Peaceful Squiggle 1 is the first version, these are made in 2mm silver aluminium wire and are so light, that I have forgotten to take them out at night. Peaceful Squiggle 2 are longer with a tighter swirl at the ends. One thing I have learnt from this job is to have a note book to hand. It’s not that I am not firing on all cylinders, but rather that trying to keep track of other things as well as to keep visualizing a design, is no longer possible.

And why Peaceful Squiggle, you may ask. Funnily enough, when I looked at these finished pair of earrings , I just thought ah..Peaceful Squiggle. The flowing and curvy shape just seems peaceful  to me.

Peaceful Squiggle 2 Earrings

Peaceful Squiggle 1

As I was on a bit of a role after making Peaceful Squiggle 2 earrings, I thought I would have a go at making knuckle or mid finger rings. These rings are made with 2mm Aluminium Wire, which I have found to be a wee bit thick. I think I will try making some in 1.5mm. I have also made some knuckle / mid finger rings with silver and gold plated copper wire and will share this in my next post.

And I have just remembered the reason for this post …….Cultural Elegance Designs will be the name of my collection of handmade jewellery.

SpiriCulArts – Statement Rings so far

Just sharing my newest work, big and bold rings! All of these are made with non tarnish wire, glass  and semi precious gemstones beads.

SpiriCulArts – Jewellery By Imani

For the last couple of months, I have discovered a new hobby, making jewellery from wire. I just love working with various types of wire to create rings, earrings and bangles, I never knew I could have so much fun, each piece is unique and I am always surprised at the finished result! The following photos are just a small selection of my work so far.

This is my ‘ Whirl A Whirl’ design, earrings, bangle and ring set

Onyx Ring and Whirl A Whirl

Tiger’s Eye, Tourmaline, Mexican Opal and Glass Beads ringsRed Glass bead ring

SpiriCulArts Handmade Jewellery

I have found a new creative passion, taking my love of metallic ink to a whole new level, designing and making my own jewellery, So far I have made earrings and a couple of chain bracelets and these rings are just a part of a growing collection.

SpiriCulArts – Moon Of My Soul

‘Moon Of My Soul 2 ‘ by Imani aka EmpressFaith c 2012

Gold, Silver, Green and Pink metallic ink on black card

‘Moon Of My Soul ‘by Imani aka EmpressFaith c 1999

This is one of my smaller pieces which I had designed for my CD compilation collection back in1999.  I love music and have an extensive collection, in fact I use to be a member of a women’s Sound System. I only came across this a few weeks ago, hidden in a plastic box with a couple of other covers. They all looked a bit dull, so I decided to brighten them up. I used silver and gold Uni Paint Markers as well as Signo  Uniball  green and pink metallic ink pens.  ‘Moon Of My Soul 2’ is the result.

SpiriCulArts – Question and Answer

Question and Answer  c 1989 Empressfaith aka MJA

HB4, HB5 pencils and water colour crayons.

Quiet Chatter

Quiet Chatter

There is a quiet chatter going on in my head

So many thoughts spring to life in flashing lights

seeking form to come into reality

and tattoo their status with permanence.

Ink inscribed hopes and dreams

swirl  organic over blank silent space

to reveal rainbow coloured  beads and shapes

decorated with silver or silenced in gold.

Empressfaith c 2012

SpiriCulArts – Ahh..NotOh

I have no idea of what each picture will look like until I finish it. And even then, I don’t make an effort to name them. I have decided to call this one ‘Ah..NotOh’ to remind me to be more positive.

I am trying to be the sort of person who greets every day with a smile, not a groan and to greet every situation with an “Ah'” ( mind you though, this can get a wee bit tedious when wading through my inbox) but this seems to work. I use to say ‘”Ohh” a lot which was usually followed by “No” which in turn would affect my whole body language to one of despair or anger. I have never been able to start a picture when I am in my ‘ Can’t Be Asked’ mood. Once I hit that road, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to ” Abandon Hope All Ye That Enter Here” and ” If I’m Going Down, I’m Taking You With Me ” Now I am aware of  why I feel that way I do, that this is due to a shortage of certain chemicals in my brain, I am less critical of myself and my art.

This is my second one of 2012 and is a celebration of colour. I  bought a new pack of Signo Metallic Ink Pens as in my experience, these pens are the best for brightness and colour.And this experience was no mean feat either, I didn’t know that all the art shops in  my local area of Lewisham and Bromley had closed down and I had to travel to the wilds of Old Kent Road.

I tend to work in stages, sometimes shapes just flow onto the page, usually aided by a good supply of Mike ‘n’ Ikes and at other times……nothing. The first image is where I came to a dead  stop and felt that it was complete. After a while though, I couldn’t ignore all that blank space and decided to fill it in.

I cannot find Mike ‘n’ Ike’s anywhere……

SpiriCulArts – Ladydee & Good Times

‘Laydee’ by Imani c 2000

‘Good Times’ by Imani c 2000

These are just two of my smaller works and are both on yellow neon card.

SpiriCulArts – Africa I

‘ Africa I’ Black, gold and silver metallic ink on white card

Two views of  ‘Africa I’ by Imani c 1997