Rubina Panjwani: Jewelry Artist

Rubina Panjwani will be at the Oak Ridges Community Center on the 17 and 18 of October for the Richmond Hill Studio Tour and this is her blog post.

I am a creative person and familiar with a variety of crafts. With respect to jewelry design, I am very interested in wire wrapping techniques, which is a technique that dates back thousands of years. Wire wrapping requires the use different kinds and shape of wires, cabochon, beads,and an array of tools.

This is a piece of jewelry as it is being created.

Here it is completed.

My motivations come from Mother Nature. A hoping frog, Fall colours, trees in the winter-time, colourful flowers, majestic birds, and beautiful butterflies - anyone of these sights can prove inspiring. When I make jewelry, I don't usually draw first. In the past I have tried that, but drawing a pre-set notion of what I want to create often feels restricting. When I just follow my train of thoughts and let my hands keep up, the wire-wrapping takes me in unique directions, and then I add-in beads or work on cabochon. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why I never repeat my designs. All my designs come from my heart and soul, and a place of freedom. In fact, I do my best work when I too am happy and at peace. Making jewelry is certainly not as easy as it may seem. You require imagination, yes - but it also needs patience, effort, hard-work and persistence. An important piece of advice for aspiring wire-wrappers is to remember that wire has a soft nature. When you stress wire, it becomes hard and stiff; it refuses to listen to you and bend to your whims and becomes difficult to work with. Be gentle in your approach.

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend. Please click here to see the brochure so that you can visit the Richmond Hill Studio Tour artists this weekend.