Silver Linings

It's been a bit crazy these past couple of weeks.  I've had quite a few visitors and have been juggling school while feeling the need to entertain my guests as well.  Okay, truthfully entertaining my guests was more of an excuse to avoid my school work but now I am paying the price.  The good news is, I work well under pressure and have completely immersed myself in my studies (the two days before I started my pre-birthday and birthday and post-birthday binging).  The other good news is that I finally completed the hollow ring!  The last few phases included filling the holes with resin, filing and polishing.  

Using resin is literally like watching paint dry. 

The finished piece

It's pretty cool to see the colors with the sun shining through it.  Oh la la!

Even better news is we have moved on to silver!  This project is a set of earrings with a stone setting.  We started off with a small strip and have progressed quite quickly already. 

Silver prepped to make spheres

After I cut the pieces, I annealed them so that I could hammer them into half spheres.

After much hammering and filing, we end up with perfectly sized spheres. 

Once the spheres were soldered together, I filed them to make the surface smooth.  We chose two small stones and created a setting for them with the remaining silver left over from the spheres.

This week, we will create a piece to connect the balls and stone setting so more to come on this project. 

In the meantime and in between time, I am spending time sketching.  This has proven to be more challenging than making jewelry.  I used to think I was a decent artist but now I am having second thoughts about this. 

Square in Lucca, Tuscany

My sketch.  You be the judge

Maybe it's not so bad; I'm hopeful it will get better in time. 
That's all I have for now.  I'll post something else soon.  Ciao!

Rings and Things

Ciao a tutti!  I am now finishing my third week of school, yet oddly it feels like it's been more like three months.  It seems as though time is moving quite faster than normal.  I guess a good measure would be the amount of work I have accomplished, which doesn't seem like much but the learning curve is high so perfection will take time.  Here is what I've done thus far--

My first project was an assignment on right angles, sawing straight lines and drilling.  We were all given a piece of brass to cut, anneal (process of heating metal to make it more workable), hammer and file into a square.  Then we had to drill small holes into the metal and saw straight lines from one end to the other.  It's not so complicated, it just take a lot of patience and accuracy. 

The next assignment was to make a ring.  Fairly simple, and since my first piece was a ring I thought is would be more like a refresher for me but turns out I didn't remember much of anything.  Here is a photo of the first and second assignments after completion.

First and Second Assignments

Now I am into my 3rd assignment.  It's starting to get a bit more complicated.  We are creating a hollow ring.  This one should be interesting, as there are many components to it.  I'm still in the process of making it, but here of some photos of the progress I've made thus far.

This will be a hollow ring.  Lots of components to this one.

Hard at work

This should be completed soon.  I'll post photos of the end result next time.  Now, I will leave you with a couple of random shots of Florence in the fall. 

The Storekeeper

Lady walking dog

Street Walkers

Buona giornata!

Let The Fun Begin

Buongiorno a tutti! This past week has been quite a busy one.  I thought I would be enjoying my final days of leisure relaxing around my apartment, eating gelato.  Alas, I ended up having a semi-full schedule of events that I am still trying to recover from in the midst of starting school.  Now I find myself looking forward to the weekend to correct my sleep deprivation.  It’s a hard knock life.

The trouble all started last Thursday.  A few friends planned to get together for the Vogue Italia's Fashion’s Night Out, Firenze, which the local stores had been aggressively advertising in the days prior.  We had actually planned to go salsa dancing at the Rotunda that night and thought that Fashion’s Night would be a great way to start the evening off before dancing the night away.  Little did we know just how fabulous Fashion’s Night would be.  I guess we should have taken cues from the fact that the "local stores" are all the top designers and we are in Italy, the design capitol of the world.  In fact, I really don’t quite remember what I expected because my thoughts about the event from the time right before the event are now a complete blur.  It is like I was reborn on Fashion's Night Out because it was full of so much fantasy and wonder.  The best way I can describe it is like being Cinderella arriving at the ball--FABULOUS!  The Italians were all decked out in their best, stylish, evening attire.  There was Prosecco being served in volumes on the streets and in the stores, with food, sweets, you name it.  A crowd of paparazzi flocked the rich and famous down the cobble stone streets.  There were DJs playing music in the stores and under tents.  Stores were giving away freebies, or special items at discounted prices specifically for the event.  Store merchants were shaking their groove-thangs in the streets.  It was like a fashion amusement park, just tons of attractions.  Needless to say, it completely blew us away and we never made it to the Rotunda.  We hung out on the streets until it all ended, not wanting to miss a moment of the excitement and we topped off the evening with a Model For A Day photo shoot for Bongi Eyewear.  We had our makeup done and did a quick photo shoot.  Crazy.  But did I mention that it was fabulous?  Check out the pics.   

Fashion's Night Out

Franca Sozzani, Vogue Italia, Editor-in-Chief

Aniya--Live and On Air

I stumbled out of the pumpkin and into my bed in the wee hours of the morning despondent because fashion fantasy land had abruptly come to an end and a few hours later I started orientation for design school.  By that point, I was operating on pure adrenaline but I got through it.  I met my classmates and and some of my teachers, who are an awesome group of people from all over the world. 

There are 14 students with whom I will be studying, from varying backgrounds.  What we all have in common is a true passion to explore this exciting, yet vague concept of contemporary jewelry design.  One of my teachers described contemporary jewelry as almost every type of jewelry yet at the same time undefined because contemporary essentially only means “now.”  So anything that is not “traditional” would qualify.  It seems overly broad but I think that’s what I like about it.  You can create whatever you want and still get recognition for it.  In fact, the more different you are, the more you are lauded for your work.  So unlike my past occupational endeavors.  

My Smock! 

Following orientation, since I had only a few hours of sleep following Fashion’s Night and wanted to feel rested and ready by Monday for the first day of class, I decided that I should take care of a few things around the house and buy my supplies for school over the weekend.  Exactly what a good student should do, right?  Not Aniya.  Instead, I decided my time would be better spent on Castiglioncello Beach with my friends Maria and Kayla, soaking up the sun and enjoying the last days of summer with a spritz in hand, Italian style.  The beach was beautiful.  It felt like I was on a little holiday break.   

Last Days of Summer 2013

The next day, I celebrated El Grito with Maria and other friends at Ristorante Messicano Tijuana’s.  I am happy to report that Tequila and I got along very well; I can fully recall all the events that transpired that night and woke up early the next morning alone in my bed. 

My Date for El Grito-- Maracuja Margarita

Hangover-less but still a bit tired because I'm not a 26 year-old anymore although I've been acting like one, off I went to the first day of school with a tiny pep in my step rather than Mary-Poppins-three-heel-clicks-in-the-air style like I had hoped for. 

Gold Workshop was my first class of the day.  I would have taken pictures of each machine but I don’t know that it really would have captured the complete effect of the type of work that goes into creating jewelry.  For those of you who still have the image of me stringing beads on a thin wire in your head, it is my goal to disabuse you of this notion.  There are so many elements that are necessary to create a piece, including very high temperatures of heat, acids, machines that pull, machines that pound, saws, hooks, screws, measuring devices, swatting mosquitoes, etc.  So the first day we spent time talking about safety precautions and what we could and could not do in the workshop.  We eventually did start working on our first assignment but didn’t get far because the start-up process is slow due to safety considerations.  I’ll share more about the first project in my next entry to give you something to look forward to.  All in all, it was uneventful, which is a good thing considering it was the first day of class; however, I did cut my finger so there was blood shed but it just solidified my veteran status in the workroom. 
 

The Workshop

Another shot of the workshop

Antique engraving machine.  There are only a few of them in the world. 

My design class met later that afternoon.  It was very, very interesting to say the least.  I haven’t really sketched since I was...a child so needless to say, I’m gonna need to put some extra time in in that department.  The good news is the quality was comparable to that of my colleagues, which means that it wasn’t so bad...or it could mean that all of us are not so good.  I’m banking on it being that we weren't so bad but could be a lot better but I know we’ll find out soon enough.  The biggest takeaway from this lesson was when my teacher told us that now is our time to be free.  This time in our careers as designers is the best time because now we can do whatever we feel inspired to do.  We don’t have to worry about following rules or working within “the lines.”  She encouraged us to remove our boundaries and push ourselves farther than we thought we could go.  This is exactly how I feel about my life right now.  It was so inspiring to hear her say those words and to know that my colleagues felt just as moved by them as did I.  I think we are off to a great start.

My Workstation.  I love my tools!

Guess Who’s Back

Hey People.  For those of you still holding your breath, you can exhale now...I’m back on the blog!  I must say, I am surprisingly excited to be blogging again.  It’s been well over a year since I last blogged and believe me when I tell you that that time was needed and well utilized. 

For those who tracked me on my two prior blogs, I was traveling a lot to Spain and Brazil for love, food, and spiritual growth.  It was an amazing time in my life but that chapter didn’t end as fancifully as Julia Roberts’s character in Eat, Pray, Love.  My story was a much grittier version of that tale and ended with me living in an eco-village "community" in a jungle in Brazil praying for guidance and strength to get over hostile feelings following another bitter ending of a mad love affair.  Eighty days later I reemerged 25 lbs lighter (not necessarily the result I was looking for but why look a gift horse in the mouth?), more certain of the choices I had made about my new direction in life, and so much happier.  

Since then, I made some great connections in Argentina, developed a new interest, and consequently got enrolled in a great program to further develop that interest in Italy!  Yea!!! I’m so excited.  I’ve gotten past the clapping my hands and jumping up and down like a five-year-old every time I say that I live in Italy, but it still happens in my mind.  And what is my new interest you ask (if you haven’t already figured it out from the blog title and About Me section)?  Contemporary jewelry design [insert big ol' cheesy smiley face here]. 

I know, I know, your first response was probably a quizzical and dumbfounded, “oh” or “okay...” while thinking, that confirms it, she has lost her mind.   Don’t pretend like it wasn’t.  Now you’re thinking, she spent all that money on law school, and doesn’t she have a masters in something else, and now she wants to learn how to make jewelry? Wtf?  And to this I have to say, yes...that is exactly what I am doing...and I love it!  I LOVE IT!  i love it.  I was just tired and bored of being my analytical, controlled thinking self and I saw this as a way to free my mind of stressful yet pointless and ofttimes depressing thoughts like: how can I make more money so that I can buy nicer things; the who's who in politics even though I really don't give a rat's ass because they are all full of "it" anyway; and the "I want to poke my eyes out because this is so boring" practice of law.  That’s right, I said it. 

I decided that it was time to give myself permission to think freely and creatively, and to continue to push my boundaries and create the life that I really want as opposed to letting society dictate what my life should be.  Can you relate to that in some way?  I feel we probably all can and if you don’t, then perhaps you are one of the lucky ones.  But if you do relate, then I am sure the shock has quickly settled in and the confirmation of my loose grip on sanity is fading, so I’ll move on to the details.

I see contemporary jewelry design as an outlet creative expression.  I love art, fashion, and sparkly things, so it seemed like a great way for me to tap into my creative side and get my juices flowing.   I’ll be doing a three-year program in Florence, Italy (perhaps accelerated in two-years because of all of my other work) learning from some of the best in the field at Alchimia, School of Contemporary Jewelry.  This blog will track my time in Florence and my journey on this path of becoming a contemporary jewelry designer.  What’s in it for you you ask?  Well, it’s a great escape for those of you not in Italy and an opportunity to learn more about the field of contemporary jewelry design.  Most importantly, because it’s a blog, it’s a great way for us to interact while we are miles or oceans apart.  I love comments, questions, feedback so feel free to chime in when the need to do so moves you.   

That pretty much sums it up.  I'll try to post once a week and upload pictures often.  You can also receive an email notification when I post something if you don't feel like repeatedly checking in to see if there is anything new.  And if you like the content, please recommend it to your friends.

Mi vedrete presto.  

Ciao!
Aniya