Emelie Koshland’s spring 2012 collection looking for feedback! ;) thanks!

I  am so excited to FINALLY share with you some of my more recently finished pieces of jewelry.  These pieces have a special place in me because of the truly enormous amount of time and work that it takes to complete one of them.  Mind you, i do not forge the copper or hammer it into nice even round wire, but beyond that, i do everything else.

The beads are these pieces main focus.  The process for these (which i think is the funnest part of it all!) is to start with (usually) a piece of translucent polymer clay.  From there they get hand mixed with other polymer clay to create 100% unique beads.  There are not 2 alike.  I make canes sometimes and slice those into discs, (you can see these in the photo of the bracelet at the bottom of the page) which allow for a repeating pattern, but even those are hand tooled and slightly different from each other.

The wire chain is hand made links assembled by hand.  This is probably the hardest part on my hands.  When i am working on assemblage, my hands are usually blistered and cut up.  I do not mind though.  It is exciting to see these creations start to really take form so, on goes a band-aid as well as the show!

The final part is creating the clasp and clear coating the piece.  I used to buy clasps to use on my pieces until i started to see a trend in weak material.  They just didnt hold up so i began making my own clasp.  It works well because it allows a continuity to the piece.

I used to sell these at a gallery here in the Mission District in San francisco but havent in a while (after the inventory started to get thin and needed to do a new collection).  I would love to hear any feedback on wether you think it worth my time to try and sell these again.  Otherwise, i am stocked up for all of the females in my life for all kinds of gift needing holidays.  It is kinda a known thing.  I have been giving gifts like this for many years.  But it is okay as long as your motto is you can never have too much fun durable jewelry!

bracelet by E. Koshland

supplies that have already been made.

the process of making a necklace with hand made links

e.koshland necklace

bracelet with discs.

A new year, a new piece of jewelry for me to make…

I started back about 5 or 6 years ago making some jewelry when i had to drop out of school and move down to my dad’s house for a year due to a apt. fire.  While living down there in the south bay, i was going stir crazy.  I could not do sculpture, ceramics, print making, or any other really messy heavy equipment involved arts due to the lack of space.  I started discovering the joys of polymer clay.

I am a true color girl.  I LOVE color.  I like the way they react with one another, i like how they make us feel, i like how, kinda like music, can either make or break a mood.

I began making some jewelry using copper wire (that is sealed so not to tarnish) because i could afford it along with polymer clay.  The degree of complexity one can do with polymer clay is immense (sorta how ceramics is).  It may be a form of plastic and you may be able to cure it in a 220 degree oven, but it does not lack the difficulty i crave.  There are a lot of little things that got improved or adjusted over the years.  The beads are still not totally round, the links are not exactally the same size, etc, but i really think that that is what i LOVE about these pieces.  They are truly one of a kind.  They are TOTALLY hand made.  They are made with true passion and care.  AND they are just cool.

I have decided to post one of my pieces for you to see and see a little of the process.  I hope you like it!  If you do, please let me know and leave a comment.  Thanks everyone!  Happy new year!