Just back from the caster!

"Mistakes Were Made" pieces just came back from the caster! 19 rings and one awesome brooch. *please note these images are just iPhone images.

OMG, have you seen this sh*!!

TOP Digital Ring, available in sterling silver and gold-plated steel!
These rings were created using found 3-D model files from Google 3-D Warehouse. The individual files were then digitally stacked and 3-D printed. One version is printed in wax and cast in silver and the other is printed in steel and gold plated. Evidence of process can been seen in the texture of the rings. Based on the condition of the found 3-D files we believe these rings were intended to exist only in the virtual world, perhaps as a gift in Second Life, or a prize on a 3-D gaming site? They are related to our earlier COSTUME COSTUME Cocktail Rings, both playing with themes of authentic versus simulated and real versus fake.

Get ready...

SHARE 14 - Mistakes Were Made

We just sent 21 rings to be cast! "Mistakes Were Made" rings are the result of our participation in SHARE 14!

SHARE is a bi-monthly event in Portland, Oregon that brings a small group of artists together to create in a shared space. We were excited to be asked to participate! AND we are excited about the outcome! We had two hours to create from the one-word prompt, CRASH.

“CRASH” sent us spiraling in a number of different directions. We had spent the week working on a product line for Valentine's Day, thus we both thought about crash related to love and romance. Then, we thought about opposing forces and what happens when they connect. We thought about objects crashing physically and conceptually. We thought about cars crashing, waves crashing and worlds crashing. We thought about noise and violence. Really, there were a lot of places we could go. Our resulting projects were two different studies that considered these themes.

Making wax models is the first step in casting metal jewelry. In our case, we often make rubber molds of existing jewelry and inject the molds with wax over and over again. Generally, we manipulate the original in some way after the model is cast in metal. It is not always possible to pull the perfect wax model out of a mold so we are left with many, many rejects. Some are near perfect, some are hardly recognizable and others are anywhere in between. They are all accidents. We used these accidental waxes to create a variety of forms and objects which will be cast in bronze and silver.

View additional images of waxes, studies, ect. made by us at SHARE 14:

bismuth=love

Love is not unlike science, wouldn’t you agree? Both are mysterious, inexplicable and uncontrollable… and each time we convince ourselves otherwise, they both make fools of us! With each impossibility that is defied a new reality is forged; leaving our perception of the world forever altered. We understand little about love or science, but we claim to know truths and realities. Our theories always prove faulty, and yet still we believe. For our faith we are rewarded with awe.

Bismuth, atomic number 83, is one billion years older than the universe. It is a metallic element with some interesting properties. When conditions are just right, impossibilities become realities. What better a metaphor for love? So for Valentines Day TOP has made (with much trial and error) a limited edition of these love crystals. There is no way to replicate these pieces with any exactness and in fact getting one at all could at times seem miraculous (just like love right?). Buy one for your sweetheart, nothing is quite like it. A diamond is forever, but bismuth is for way longer.

This is a limited edition project for lovers..................................
We made the metal bismuth crystals in our studio! Half of the crystals came out with color & half are white. Each piece is one of a kind and available for purchase through Supermarket for a limited time. http://supermarkethq.com/designer/3005/collection/3859

Summer Recap!

We would like to invite you to our studio this First Thursday (10/6/2011 5-8pm) for a Summer Recap!
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Our summer was busy, yet gratifying... at one point we had three shows happening simultaneously! We developed new work, organized two exhibitions, traveled to the East Coast and Germany, were written about in blogs and magazines... however we were SO busy we could not keep our own blog up to date! So Summer Recap! We are doing one massive update on the blog and on Thursday opening our studio to show a selection of work produced this summer.
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More information at our facebook invitation:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=230998493625220

Talents at Tendence

Talents at Tendence
Frankfurt, Germany

The Opulent Project was honored to be sponsored by Messe Frankfurt and travel to Germany to represent jewelry design from the US. We spent a week exhibiting our work in the Talents section at Tendence trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany. Talents is an international platform for young, emerging designers to expose their designs and make connections with industry. Here we debuted a few new projects as well as a few additional pieces for our luxury based silhouette series!