Celebrating my journey and recovery: Soulful Reliquary

Tomorrow (April 5) will be a year from the date I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. Although it was a little shocking to found this out I also knew this type of cancer had a bigger positive outcome and I was ready for the battle.

The best way I have to express my feelings is through my art and I wanted to make a piece of jewelry that will be a symbol of my journey and recovery during 2013; I am still working on getting my energy better but I am sure I will get there very soon.

The symbols I wanted to have in my pendant have been with me during my whole journey as an artists and I have represented them a lot in my work. Now they have a stronger meaning for me and this makes my work have more soul.

The tree of life on top with the Milagro heart is the representation of the family and friends's support during this journey with the heart symbolizing all the love I have received and also my own love and passion for my family and life. The two birds looking at the tree represent my husband and me; he was and still is my best friend and companion but they also represent my two kids, my great loves in my life!

Thank You to all for your love and positive energy!!!

The big butterfly in the center represents my thyroid but mostly is a representation of my transformation, faith and soul. the butterfly is the bigger element because I am stronger and ready to fly again!

The pearls are the tears I had shared with my love ones but they were not only sad tears they also symbolized the happiness tears we had when I was told after my surgery that they were able to take all the cancer out. The red coral are a strong statement symbolizing my passion, love and courage.

SOULFUL RELIQUARY
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze, pearls and red coral beads
2.82 by 2.06 inches

Thanks again to all for making me feel loved during this experience in my life!

Louise's Calavera (brooch/pendant)

I have always design pieces inspired in my Mexican culture and almost always they reflect an experience in my life. This new piece was made honoring a wonderful person who I lost this month; I never imagined how hard this news will be for me. Louise was an amazing and talented jeweler but most of all she was a very kind and dear lady. I met her almost 8 years ago in the school of art here in San Antonio, her jewelry was so beautiful.
Every minute I spent with her was valuable for me, I respected her a lot and all her comments about my work meant a lot to me.

In Mexico, we honor our family members who passed away in the Day of the dead; this was the reason I wanted to create a piece with the sugar skull inspiration from day of the dead.

This skull has crosses and butterflies which represent transformation, her soul and faith. The tree of life on top of the skull has a Milagros heart symbolizing Louise big love for her family, friends and her craft, it also has butterflies. In Mexico we have a saying that when you see a butterfly someone has come to visit you, their souls come to visit you.

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze and steel wire (pin)

Louise, I love you and I thank you for every word of support during my journey with thyroid cancer and for making me feel that my work was valuable! ♥

Cafe Estrella, 2002.

Sterling silver, found object, patina; cast, constructed.

1  7/8 x 1 7/8 x 3/8 in.

Photo: Alex Jordan

Corazon Renacer , my journey.

Corazon Renacer (reborn heart) symbolizes the journey I experienced last year, the sensation of feeling scare for the unknown and what the future will be and the way how all the pain and insecurities transformed into faith and a strong will to keep moving forward.

One of the new symbolic elements that I am adding to my work is the use of the butterflies. I am using the butterflies because they embrace the will to accept transformation in the best way possible, to enjoy every minute of your life with faith and positivism, to overcome any obstacles and learn from them and focus only in the positive.

In my brooch-pendant "Corazon Renacer" I wanted to include the Milagro Hearts with the butterflies, I added a scar in the center of the big heart and all the butterflies which symbolizes any obstacle or problem that has made us stronger and that has transformed us into better people.

Corazon Renacer (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo 
Bronze (Goldie Bronze)
3.18 inches by 2.85 inches by 0.33 inches

Corazon Renacer (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo 
Bronze (Goldie Bronze)
3.18 inches by 2.85 inches by 0.33 inches

"We all have the power to transform pain into something good, we are the ones who decide to sit and suffer or stand up and choose to live life to the fullest no matter what. "

PMC Sterling

I got the great opportunity to play with the new PMC Sterling in November and I will love to share with all of you my experience and what I think about this new type of clay.
The clay looks very similar to the PMC Pro, the color is darker than the original PMC.

When I took the clay out I noticed the texture is great and very easy to work with, I decided to make a ring first and I made a snake with some of the clay to form the band for the ring. I used a plexiglass to make a long snake and I rolled it around a mandrel.

I went 3.5 sizes bigger to get the size I was looking for, a size 9.

I do not used any inserts in my ring when I fired it.

The PMC Sterling has a longer working time than the PMC3 (this is the type of clay I usually use in all my silver work.) In case the clay gets dry, you can add a little water and it gets soft very fast, almost immediately.

Carving is also great in this type of clay, it goes very easy. This is something I was very eager to try since most of my work has carving into the designs.

It carves very smoothly and with no problems at all.

TIP: Always save the carving scraps, these can make a great texture in your work, you will see it in my finished pieces at the end of this post.

Hand sculpting and forming is fantastic because the clay does not dry fast. This gives you the perfect time to hand form flowers or other things. I hand sculpt a lot in my work and I was very happy to see how easy it is to do it with PMC Sterling.

I also made earrings and a pendant. For the earrings I decided to add some fire in place CZs and I embedded two sterling jump rings into each earring.

I used my carving scraps to add texture in my heart pendant.

Because my pieces were more than 3mm thick I decided to fire them to a longer time that the suggested time in the package.

I first fired them in the open shelf, like we do with any other type of PMC (except PMC Pro), fast ramp to 1000F and hold there for 40 minutes. I waited until the pieces were cool inside the kiln; I also waited until the pieces were cool because I had fired two CZ Hessonite Garnets and we always have to be careful not to take the pieces very fast because the change of temperature may crack the stones.

The second firing was done with a steel pot and activated carbon. I added half an inch at the bottom and added my pieces in one layer, covered them with another half an inch and added the top of the pot.

I fired them inside the pot fast ramp to 1500F and hold for 45 minutes.

I left the pieces cool down inside the pot in the kiln before I took them out.

This is how the sterling looks like when you take them out of the kiln

I brushed them with soapy water and a brass brush. After this I added LOS Gel patina and brushed some of the patina off before I added the pieces inside a tumbler. 

I usually use a rotatory tumbler but this time I decided to give it a try to a magnetic tumbler. I was AMAZED at how fast this wonderful polishing machine can give your pieces a beautiful shine. I will have to start saving money to get myself a bigger size, since some of my pieces are bigger and do not fit in this size tumbler I have now. It is worth it !!!

These are all the pieces I made with 25 grams of PMC Sterling. They are not very thin, so if you make pieces that are thinner and small in size you will be able to make more out of the 25 grams of PMC Sterling.

The cost is very similar to the PMC3 and I feel it is great to have it like that. Now you will be able to create pieces that can be mark as .925 (sterling) and they will be stronger than fine silver.

I do want to mention I will be firing for almost two hours on the second step firing of the PMC Sterling. I want to be 100% sure they are totally fired to their best strength. I am saying this because I tested the little Calla Lily and I felt the piece was not fully sintered when I tried to curl up the point of the flower after fired. I will let you know of my future firings.

The pieces are beautiful and easy to polish and I am sure you will enjoy working with it.

EL CORAZON
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling
photo: Speedy Peacock

ROSAS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling
photo: Speedy Peacock

FLOR
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling, pearls, CZ Hessonite  Garnets, embedded jump rings
photo: Speedy Peacock

Pin It