Simple brooch re-do

This month's PCAGOE guild challenge is "Re-do", or basically to revisit an old idea or project and improve it by changing the old piece or re-designing a new piece based on the same idea.  I didn't have a whole lot of time for this challenge, because as usual, I left it to the last minute and in that last minute I was sick with a cold. But I didn't want to mess up my streak of consistent entries (I think I've had an entry every month for the past 2 years + 2 months!). So I grabbed one of my older pieces that I wasn't quite happy with and quickly did a revision. Here's the original brooch design:

The original piece was designed around a piece of metal window screen that I had moulded into a dome using a jewelry block tool. I never quite liked the red on the outside of this piece, and as you can see above, that red portion ended up breaking... so I decided to pry it off and redo the outside of the piece. Unfortunately, when I pried off the red outer layer, the 2nd pink and purple outer layer also came off, so I lost more than I had intended.

I decided that a nice glossy black would compliment the purples best and I set to work with one layer of black, then added another layer. I decided that I wanted to make the edges of these new layers more organically shaped. I then added a touch of silver ink to give contrast to all of the edges. A coating of verathane added that glossy shine that I wanted.

I do like this version better than the first. I like that it looks more pod-like, but I'm still wondering if it needs something more... What do you think? Leave me a comment below. Voting opens for this challenge on December 1st and is open untill December 7th at midnight EST. I'll post a reminder here on the blog! 

Star Light Star Bright

It's time again for voting.  The March PCAGOE challenge theme was Celestial (Sun, Moon, Stars, etc.).  My idea was a multi-layered, dimensional, star shaped night light. Constructed of 3 layers and various cuts to reveal the different layers and allow the light to shine through.  The base layer is made of translucent clay with gold mica. The second layer is a mixture of red and translucent with the star arms of this layer cut into shapes that would leave an open star shape in the center, revealing first layer. The third layer is a mix of purple and translucent, the star arms again were cut into shapes that would leave another center open star shape, revealing the red layer outlining the original center cut out star. Some circle cut-out shapes were included in the layers on each of the star arms; one to reveal the red layer, one to reveal the first translucent gold layer and 2 smaller holes that were cut through all 3 layers to reveal complete negative space. After curing, sanding and buffing, as a final element, spirals were drawn onto the purple layer using an embossing pen and gold embossing powder which was heat set. I fabricated a clay piece for the light fixture attachment and the final step was to glue that in place. Below are 2 photos of the piece, unlit and lit...  For more views of this piece please visit my flickr photo stream.

 

 And here are the other entries, all stellar examples of how versatile the polymer medium truly is!

Please remember to go vote at the PCAGOE blog before midnight 3/7/13 EST!