Wire Artist of the Month December 2011: Darlene Davis

My name is Darlene, I have two grown children and one grand baby that I enjoy very much. My husband and I have been together for 24 years now, he is still my best friend and #1 fan of all my artful endeavors without complaint - even when my art takes over an entire room in the house, or the tons of rock my mom and I have carried into the yard, or even that the knickknacks on our shelves consist of special rocks that I've found. A true rock hound will understand where I'm coming from.

Making jewelry is a hobby right now; I have a fulltime job as an electro polisher so I work with metals all day. I haven't tried to sell my jewelry seriously. I've sold a few pieces to friends and co-workers and given them as gifts to my family. My family is very supportive of my work - it's sometimes hard to get my pieces past them; they either want them for themselves, or just don't want the piece leaving the family. It gets quite humorous when I'm showing them a new piece. I love that they are so enthusiastic about my jewelry, even making special visits just to see what new piece I've done. One day I will probably put more effort into selling them but right now I'm still in the euphoric zone of making them, as I've only been doing this since 2010.

Rock On is a pendant by Darlene Davis in sterling silver filled wire
with a bloodstone or green agate cabochon. (click the image to view the necklace full-size)

The inspiration for this piece is the stone itself; when I first received this stone, I knew I was going to do a wire guitar because the stone looked like the shape of a guitar pick.

I had had the stone for months. But I was a little nervous about attempting this in silver wire, as this design is approximately eight feet of wire, so when I got the email from wirejewelry that they now had silver-filled wire, I jumped on it and walla! The guitar took shape for everyone else to see what I could see in my mind. As you might have guessed, this is not for sale per my mom and my sister.

Darlene's pendant made from a Poppy Jasper cabochon, yellow brass wire, and black agate beads

Imperial Autumn, a pendant wrapped by Darlene Davis made of autumn jasper, Argentium® Silver wire, and red agate beads

I have always been into to art as far back as I can remember; it seems to be something I need in my life whether it's sketching, sculpting, painting or some other crafty thing I have come across. My art background added to being an avid rock hound has led me to this road I'm now on; merging two great passions in my life feels very natural and satisfying.

Darlene wrapped this pendant for her daughter, complete with intricate weaving of Argentium® Silver wire and green rice pearls in the bail.

The comical side to this is I've never been one to wear much jewelry. In my life I've probably bought 3 or 4 necklaces, a few earrings, and my husband has bought me a few rings, all of which are hardly ever worn. Now I find myself having a necklace to wear with every outfit, to fit any mood I'm in, and a different one every day of the month - and I'm actually wearing them.

Darlene wire wrapped this banded red jasper and hematite cabochon with copper wire, and created a stylish Greek key design on the cabochon frame.

Rock On: Really awesome, TRUE wire "sculpture"!! Good symmetry, nice transformation of wires from one angle to the other in the neck; good capture of the pic-shaped cabochon.
Constructive critique: maybe either replace the wraps that represent the frets with a half-hard half-round, or tighten those that are there.

About wirejewelry's Wire Artist of the Month Program

Each month, we pick a talented wire jewelry artist and their work to highlight. We know we have some incredibly talented customers, and we seek to encourage and highlight those members of our community by highlighting one wire artist every month.

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