Making the new Darya Collection

The new Darya collection is all about getting back to what inspires and grounds me in my craft. For my senior show more than 10 year ago I built a table that held water and sand and displayed my designs that were inspired by the ocean. On a road trip last summer up to Morro Bay I wandered in to a shell shop and immediately knew that I needed to revisit the casting from life thread that got me so excited about doing my own casting back in college. 

I had been flipping through Ernst Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature book over and over and just knew I wanted to create my own ocean inspired line again. 

I'm planning to revive a few of my old designs to compliment the new pieces and I'll be adding rings and bracelets in over the next few months. 

The ocean has always been a source of inspiration for me and by casting these pieces in silver I hope that when you wear them them will give you the sense of calm and happiness that the sun, sand and ocean bring to me. 

These pictures show a little of the process that went in to creating the new designs. I would love to know what you think of the new work. 

And if you like seeing the behind the scenes pictures, click over and follow me on Instagram. 

"The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul." -Wyland

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Time to play

photo by me, I just love the way this little girl is interacting with the sculpture.

Life gets so serious at times, and sometimes I just need to take a moment and be silly-to play. I find with my work it really helps when I start experimenting with new ideas. I can sketch and re-sketch but I often need to hold something in my hand. I need to feel it, I want to play with it.

Things have been getting a little overwhelming lately, but when I am at my bench all of my worries and stresses just fall away. I get the same feeling when I am on my bike or snowboard, I feel really lucky to have these getaways in my everyday life.

The good news is I am working on some new designs for the Beckman's West show this summer and am really excited to get everything photographed so I can share it with you.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? I really would love to hear from you.

Have a lovely day.
xo Amanda

What the new year will bring....

do what you want print by Jessica Swift

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.
-
Henry David Thoreau

I saw this quote this morning over on kind over matter and decided I wanted to share it on my blog too.

I have been trying to figure out what I want to blog about over here recently. So far I have decided to keep it simple with things that inspire me and make me feel alive.

I love the idea of offering tutorial videos and posts, but I just can't seem to ever get around to them. So for now little tidbits of inspiration will have to do.

201o was a year of big changes and adventures for me, and I expect no less from the universe and myself for 2011.

The only resolution I made was to make 2011 better than the last. Simple right?

So here's to big adventures and leaning in to all of your dreams for 2011.