JOANA MIRANDA STUDIO

I did today’s design a few years ago for a heart-themed jewelry design competition:

I really like this design, although I would redesign a few elements now.  Namely, I’d make the thickness of the metal more obvious (judges like to see a design that is beautiful but also capable of being fabricated), and I’d also find a better solution for the non-pearl end of the “ribbon”.

For this competition, I needed to create a design that showed both front and side views.  I found myself a little at a loss for how to visualize the side view of this rather complicated heart knot.  My husband had the brilliant idea of suggesting that I use some of his lead golf tape.  This tape is usually used to increase the swingweight of a golf club, but it is very useful for us designers and jewelers because it is malleable, yet strong enough to maintain any shape in which it is bent.  In the case of this pendant, I cut the lead tape into long strip which was 4 mm wide.  Then I twisted and looped the length until I produced the shape I had in my mind.  Once created, I could view my lead-tape heart from every angle; this provided me with the visual reference for creating the rendering above and its side view, which I’ll post tomorrow.