Angela O’Kelly: “Tufty Necklaces”, hand dyed paper cord, felt, wire

Ever since I came across Angela O Kelly’s work for the first time in Sarah Kelly’s book Paper Jewellery I’ve been a huge fan. Angela is a contemporary jeweller working with different mixed media materials – paper and even paper yarns are only two of the materials she uses but they do appear on a regular basis in her work. Angela’s homepage is full of wonderfully photographed pictures of her pieces.

Angela O’Kelly: “Arm Pieces” and “Paper and Silver Neck Pieces and Bangle”, fabric paper, paper, silver, felt, elastic/steel wire

Angela studied Jewellery and Silversmithing at the Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh and Arts Management and Cultural Policy in University College Dublin. As Angela explains herself her “… work in paper jewellery began when experimenting with paper making and paper manipulation while studying for a jewellery degree at Edinburgh (…). I found that I could achieve a spontaneous, light, tactile and colourful effect when working with paper.” Today Angela combines paper with other materials – e.g. fabric, felt, metal and cord – and uses a wide range of textile and jewelry techniques constantly crossing the boundaries between sculpture, textile art and jewelry design.

Angela O’Kelly: “Sculptural Neck Piece”, Financial Times newspaper, “Stack”, recycled postcards and “Navy Neck Scarf” dyed paper yarn, plastic (top) and Angela O’Kelly: “Sculptural Neck Pieces”, dyed paper yarn, plastic (bottom)

It’s not too hard to see Angela’s fascination with simple shapes, textures and repetition in her work. Living in Ireland a lot of her inspiration is taken from observing landscapes, boglands, rock formations and sea life. “Colour is very important, with earthy browns and greys, and vivid greens, blues and reds from the sea, featuring throughout my work. Texture is my main consideration, acheived by layering hard and soft fibres and knotting and sewing paper cord.”

As you might imagine I find Angela’s pieces fascinating. Once again paper is a medium that allows to cross the boundaries – in this case between sculpture, textile design and jewelry arts. Also the combination of paper with other materials is underlining the qualitites of paper – it’s structural soundness and only perceived fragility – and of course the play of colors in Angela’s work is just amazing.

One of our current projects: Paper Twine I-Cord Necklaces (DIY Kits)

Sometimes life in the studio is slightly crazy – or rather it’s crazy most of the time but sometimes even more so. The girls and I still have some difficulties concentrating on Christmas in July while Vienna is suffering from a heat wave. But Christmas is a busy time for us and things need to be prepared well in advance (buy all supplies, get boxes for packing, labels printed, necklaces knitted and pictures taken, etc.) not to mention the design process until a product gets the approval by the whole studio and is therefore deemed worthy to be presented to you.

One of the new things we’re working on are DIY Paper Twine Necklace – Kits. Easy and fun to make, available soon (so you can get a head-start on your self-made Christmas presents!) and with nearly endless possibilities to combine colors.

We’ll keep you informed – and now I’m off to get some ice cream (current favorite: lemon) so that thinking about the colder months is not that difficult.

We like to work with our customers to create special and unique pieces. In this case the request was for an all-in-white-piece for the summer of our signature crochet paper yarn necklaces. In the detail shot you can see the small, opaque glass beads that add a special touch to the necklace that is already worn with joy by the new owner!

Thanks to Ann and her blog All Things Paper we discovered the paper jewelry by Sydney’s Rowan Shaw of Frank Ideas. Rowan’s work is very special and inspiring especially for the paper twine enthousiast so we want to quickly share some pictures with you.

Rowan not only works with paper but with a wide range of materials including felt, rubber, buttons, textiles, recycled plastic, color and fabric (we only show you the paper jewelry here). Ann also asked Rowan why she enjoys creating with paper:

“…because of the colours and textures. As you can tell I’m quite eclectic, both in my taste and the materials I use for making jewellery. I find working with paper therapeutic when I’m in the right mood. You have to to be patient and gentle to create with paper and since most of my life is a chaotic flurry of activity, occasionally it’s nice to take time to think and be quiet and work at a slower pace.

You can see more of Rowan’s jewelry here. Also Ann has been very busy the last year putting together a first All Things Paper book and we’re already very excited about it. The book is due to be released in 2013 and we’ll surely keep you posted about it.

Anne Franke: “Blanc de Neige” – paper jewelry collection (details; all photography in this blog article by Anne Franke and Frank M. Göldner)

What shall we tell you – we’re still blown away ourselves!

To give it a try at least: all the mind-blowing paper jewelry pieces in this blog article are by German communications designer Anne Franke. Having to deal with different papers in her job every day (and obviously quite passionate about it) Anne started to make these gorgeous necklaces one leaf at a time… yes, indeed: one leaf at a time by embossing them by hand onto white natural paper. The leaves are then joined together with subtle components made of silver and stainless steel to form the ephermal looking pieces. More of them can be seen over at the website.

These pictures are actually some pages of the stunning catalogue Anne Franke designed herself for her jewelry giving insight into her highly sophisticated visual universe. A paper phantasy becoming true…. If you’re interested in having a look into the full catalogue as .pdf (and we highly recommend it!) please get in touch with Anne at eigenart (at) art-des-hauses.com

By now Anne’s pieces have been featured in quiet a few international magazines and we do imagine that you’ll see a lot more of her work in the paper world soon.

After the photoshoot: new paper yarn earrings

Have you seen – we’ve made new paper yarn earrings that are now available in the etsy shop. For the first time we’ve also made olive-shaped ones and we hope you like them!

Tia Kramer: Damsel bracelet (Sterling and Handmade Paper) and color samples

The story behind Tia Kramer‘s paper jewelry is intriguing. Defining herself as a “multi-media, installation, sound, and adornment artist” her jewelry emerged directly from experiments with sulpture. When Tia was comissioned to create two huge, free-hanging sculptures in 2003 she decided to work with handmade paper.

Small-scale samples to see how light would filter through the paper and details of Tia Kramer’s finished installation “Suspended Flight” (2003/2004)

While working on the large commisson Tia made a lot of small samples to see how light would filter through the paper. Again this is a main point of working with paper: how it transforms the qualities of light and how it actually changes when the light changes (remember the blog article about the origami lampshades by Studio Snowpuppe – it was also a main concern there). Even though Tia’s first jewelry objects were basically by-products of her larger commission she stays true to herself and still treats them like little sculptures: “Inspired by our relationships to the natural and architectural environment, I create jewelry objects that make visible our interactions with structure and movement. My adornments are performative sculptures for one’s ears, architecture for the body.”

Looking behind the scenes with tools and supplies ready at hand to create a big variety of necklaces, earrings, bracelets and more

There is a lot to discover on Tia’s website and the range of colors her pieces come in is amazing. You can even order a custom design in case you’re looking for something very special.

Jewellery on the cover by Janine Eisenhauer: Etikette Necklace, 2004 and by Saloukee (designed by Sarah Kelly): Solitary Bracelet, 2010. (Photography by Friedmann Rink and Gemma Dewson)

We were really excited when we heard about a book project by Sarah Kelly who is the owner and designer of Saloukee last year and we jumped for joy when we heard that one of our paper yarn bracelets was to be included in the book. This autumn we finally received our copy of Paper Jewellery. Design & Make by Sarah Kelly and by now everybody in the studio owns a copy so that the discussion who was allowed to take home the initial copy finally came to an end (thanks Mrs. Accountant for understanding our business expenses).

One of the pieces that are explained in-depth in the book: Paula Tew: Bound Paper Object, re-purposed paper, thread (Photography: Gemma Dewson). Each step of the instructions is accompanied by a clear and detailed picture that is easy to understand and follow.

The really nice thing about this book is that it really inspires you to start making and creating. There are six chapters that cover different techniques with one project covered and explained in detail and a picture gallery with works by international artists:
- sculpt, fold flaunt (Sarah Kelly)
- twist, knit, knot (Sally Collins)
- repurpose, collate, combine (Paula Tew)
- find, encapsulate, keep (Jessica Mason)
- layer, form, finish (Clare Goddard)
- cut, stack, repeat (Sarah Kelly and Soner Ozenc)
As you can see the projects and instructions were designed and explained by specialists in their respective field – e.g. Sarah herself explains how sculptural pleating works in the first chapter and in another chapter how to create a necklace using laser-cutting multiples. The designers/makers themselves are introduced in the last chapter followed by a paper list, extensive glossary and a list of recommended suppliers. So all the information you might need to get started can be found in the book.

The piece of jewellery explained in the “twist, knit, knot” chapter: Sally Collins: Superfrilly Crocheted Necklace, paper yarn (Photography: Gemma Dawson) and some of the tools and supplies that Sally Collins recommends for these techniques.

The techniques used and explained in the chapters include encasing, crocheting, moulding, sculpting, cutting and binding, with paper types ranging from origami papers, to found papers, to paper yarn so you will surely find something you want to try out for yourself, too. On the PaperPhine blog we already introduced some of the paper jewellery artists and makers so if you’ve been following us you might recognize some of the names and we’ll keep introducing more of them – or you can get a copy of Paper Jewellery. Design & Make and start creating yourself.

Thanks again to Sarah for all her enthousiasm and work – and for a wonderful book!

Website of paper artists and jewellery makers mentionned in this blog article:
Sarah Kelly: saloukee.com
Janine Eisenhauer: www.etikette.biz
Paula Tew: www.paulatew.co.uk
Sally Collins: www.sallycollins.co.uk
Jessica Mason:www.jessicaelizabeth.co.uk
Clare Goddard: www.claregoddard.com

The readers of our summer newsletter are already familiar with this DIY project but it might still be interesting for our new blog readers – and of course for all the people in the Southern Hemnisphere where summer is about to be in full swing.

A little Paper Twine, a piece of a fine hose and some drops of glue: Paper Twine Bangles in all color variations you can think of!

You need:

Measure the right lenght of hose around your hand, cut it and make a loop. To secure the loop we use a small piece of either thick paper twine or wire covered with glue and put into the both cut ends of the tube.

Fix the ends of your chosen Paper Twines with some drops of glue onto your “hose bangle”, leave to dry a bit and then the winding starts! To be on the safe side fix the windings with a drop of glue from time to time. Once the whole bangle is wrapped in Paper Twine cut the twines so that the ends are on the inside, use some more glue to secure and leave to dry.

And now show off your new bangles on the pool side (in the South) or of course at any of the upcoming parties in fall and winter. Stripey Paper Twine Bangles can get wet but please rather take them off when jumping into the pool to keep them in perfect condition for a long long time.

Last week we promised here to show you Ruth’s knitted paper yarn necklace in natural hues – and today we keep this promise. The Paper Yarn in Natural/Kraft works very well with the cherry pits that Ruth filled into the handknitted hose. Thanks to the paper yarn’s smoothness and elegance the necklace doesn’t look overly “eco” either – it’s a finely balanced piece that combines natural materials to their greatest effect.

This necklace was knitted by hand by Ruth who owns the etsy shop RefinedByRuth. Her pieces can also be bought in the Hintere Gasse in Gmünd, Carinthia (Austria) till the end of the month.