“The Art of Creating Shard Jewelry”©
Posted: Saturday, November 27, 2010
by Arlene Wright-Correll
http://www.learn-america.com
This week's question was "How can I reuse my grandmother's favorite dish that was just broken and is beyond repair?"
This was a timely question because I had a pretty little saucer hanging on my back patio that fell onto the tile floor when the hanger on the back of it gave out. It was in several pieces and because it was quite colorful I decided to make it into what is called Shard Jewelry.
At one time or another all of us have broken a favorite tea cup, the last piece in your grandmother's cherished china set or basically any other piece of china you love and you feel terrible as you throw them into the trash. You can now memorialize its pieces in a beautiful crafts project rather than having to toss them out with the trash and feel guilty about it. The ability to rescue broken objects and transform them into something beautiful, different, and new can be very satisfying and I like it because it reduces the waste that ends up in the landfills every year. Plus these projects make wonderful, unique and original gifts for anyone in your family. I put them on key chains or tie tacks for the guys or jewelry for the gals.
Shard jewelry is an art form using broken china and simply recycling it into jewelry. Often the shards are put onto small boxes using the mosaic method and creating what are called Shard Boxes. Many crafters have put the pieces on to vases, jugs, tabletops in the mosaic method of crafting. It is an art that is very time consuming when looking for the right shards but completely unique in its look. That in itself isn't the simplest craft to master, but the end result is always exceptionally divine.
However, the technique itself is very simple and anyone can learn to do it. Use a hammer to break up the china and this method breaks the item immediately and into a lot of pieces. You can also drop the item in a secured location, allowing the plate to break where it wants. This can help your plate or cup make its own unique shapes. I often put it into a plastic bag, seal the top and drop it onto my tile floor. You might also choose to use tools to score your own shapes out of the china. Scoring requires some type of glass cutter and breaker-grozier pliers such as the ones we use here at Avalon Stained Glass School & Creativity Center and one may need a grinder to smooth off any jagged or sharp edges. Then one simply uses the copper foil method of foiling the piece of shard. Next flux is applied with a small brush and that allows the solder to cover the copper foil and allow you to apply a small metal ring to create a pendant.
Another method is to grind the edges of the shard very smooth and wrap it with decorative gold or silver jewelry wire thus creating pendants, rings, earrings, bracelets etc. We have had people come in to have us do this for them and suddenly they realize that they can learn to do this themselves right here at the school and create about a dozen pieces of jewelry in about 8 hours. Usually I can do about 5 pieces in a 3 hour period of time and then I come back and do some more at another time. The results are always unique and beautiful and often fascinating and carry memories for not only me but for whomever receive them as a gift.
So the next time you are in our neck of the woods, stop in for a visit where "Art Only is Spoken Here©" and if you have an arts and crafts questions, just email me at askarlene@scrtc.com or call me at 270 524 9567.
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