Brooch a Week Challenge 2013 BAW52/1, BAW52/3

It has been a really long time, 3 or 4 years since I made a brooch. This is because I never wore them and never had an order for one. But since the beginning of this challenge I started to think about design ideas and the "brooch project" became more and more interesting. Until now I was thinking mainly rings and earrings, but brooches offer new possibilities. The brooches that I'm going to make will be more like test pieces (about materials, design and process) than finals. I'll try to explore them and continue this challenge each week until the end of the year. 

Since I didn't post my first brooch when I made it, I will write a few words now.
BAW 52/1 - Leaf Brooch
On week-1 I made a leaf inspired brooch.  I used silver and plexiglass and used rivets to connect the two parts together. I like how it turned out and I love the transparency of plexiglass but I'm not sure if I will use it again many times. The reason is that when plexiglass is sawed or filed it produces a very thin dust. It sticks everywhere. And even if I wear a mask for protection I feel a little cautious about it and not very comfortable working with it.
This is my first brooch:

 

BAW52/1

Leaf Brooch ✳ Jewellietta

Sterling silver and plexiglass.

Soldered and riveted.

BAW 52/2

I missed this one grrrrrrr

BAW 52/3 - Tiny Garden Brooch

For this week's brooch I continued to use plants and flowers as inspiration. Also this time I wanted to make a 3-dimensional piece. So I built a rectangular metal fence (or wall) and I put little copper flowers with swirling stamens to crawl on top of it. For contrast I oxidized the fence and left the flowers with the natural colour of copper and silver. I enjoyed making this brooch very much, I like 3-dimensionality in jewelry and I'll try to incorporate it more in my pieces.

BAW52/3 

Tiny Garden Brooch ✳ Jewellietta

Sterling silver and copper.

BAW Challenge is a year-long project for 2013, created by the EtsyMetal Team. 

It is open to everyone! See what we do and join the flickr group: Brooch a week