I rarely listen to my clients recording as I know they are personal expressions. I want people to feel comfortable and free to fully express themselves during the recording process. Creating a piece of Custom Soundwave Jewellery is an expeirence
and believe they should be kept so. I don't want people to edit themselves, they should be free to express themselves fully.
This client choose this shape to match a piece of jewellery she owned. I love that I can create my clients visions. It's all part of being a custom goldsmith.
I sent this piece off to Abu Dhabi yesterday, hope it has a safe flight. ✈️
#SoundwaveJewellery est. 2005
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Early this year our Soundwave Ring was featured along with other unique personal rings on Buzzfeed's " 17 wedding rings that go above and beyond" . Check it out here:
The author seems to think that your encrypted sound wave message can not be read. In her words: " ....because seriously, there is no real way for them to know what you said." Guess what? Sound waves can be read!
There is no question about how instrumental Alexander Graham Bell research in the field of sound, sound waves and communication was. Did you know he worked closely with the deaf? It was his goal to teach the deaf how to perfect their speech. His early research included drawing sound waves on smoked glass by tracing their vibrations. He word use the image of the sound wave to teach the deaf how to pronounce the word properly.
Patrick Feaster has done some fascinating research into images and sound and has successful been able to play back old recordings which can be heard on his blog post: "how to play back a picture of a sound wave" .
And of course there is an app for that! This app can read images of sound waves and translate them into sounds: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/watch-this-magical-app-translate-analog-images-into-sou-1580732709
While each sound wave is unique to the individual the all have defining properties. After working with sound waves and people in love for over 15 years I can identify the the words " I love you" from looking at the image of the sound wave. People who study linguistics are actually taught how to read the variations in sound waves to identify vowel sounds and consonants. For example vowel sounds are elongated and consonants are tall and sharp peaks. This Soundwave Necklace says "Love". You can see how the hard letter "L" sound is a higher peak then the "ove" sound.
For those of you who do not feel like studying linguistics to read your Custom Soundwave Ring rest assured all Soundwave Jewellery comes packaged with an audio CD so you can still hear your loved ones message.
It was a pleasure to welcome back Milo's parents into the studio to create a second piece for this dog tag necklace. It features the voice of their third child. (Don't worry the second one wasn't forgotten! I was blessed enough to have made a piece for Milo's mother as well.)
I wrote about having little Milo in the studio for one of my first blog posts back in 2012.
https://soundwavejewellery.com/baby-milos-first-words/
I love making this type of Soundwave Jewellery because I feel it is truly something to be cherished as a family heirloom and something can be passed on in future years.
Every parent waits patiently for their baby's first words. In general baby's start talking between the ages of 12-18 month. It is not uncommon for baby's first words to be momma or dada. Science has linked this occurrence to sound patterns.
http://www.livescience.com/32191-why-are-mama-and-dada-a-babys-first-words.html
Check out these funny first words:
http://www.parents.com/baby/development/talking/moms-speak-out-on-babys-hilarious-first-words/
What were your baby's firsts words? Or maybe they haven't spoken them yet? If so get your smart phone ready so you can capture a piece of their history!
Custom Soundwave Dog Tags and Custom Soundwave Necklaces are perfect ways to commemorate the occasion.
After last night election results many Americans are facing a challenging future. It is easy to think about moving up to Canada but how easy is it to actually emigrant to Canada?
Having travelled extensively I often hear other travellers stories about how difficult Canadian immigration can actually be. And as anyone traveller knows we are constraint in this world by borders, laws, visa, work permits ect...
There are a lot of great things about Canada, the nature, the relatively low crime rate, the people. However to keep things running clean and proper Canada has a lot of rules so it was no surprise to me to discover that Canada is not all that easy to emigrant to.
Even though a large majority of our population is built on immigrants the influx of them are highly controlled and calculated.
The truth is it is not that easy to just pack up and move to Canada. The process is slow and expensive.
Americans do not qualify for refugee status. This is reserved for people from countries in try states of emergency. No matter how you feel about a Trump government you cannot argue that America is in a worse state then Syria, for example.
Canada doesn't just let anyone in. Business Insiders lays it out for you here:
You also may want to do a little research before moving to Canada. In my experience Canada is not as inexpensive as the USA for food, clothing or rent. Canada's unemployment rate is high then the USA. Health care isn't "free" it is paid for using our taxes and is reserved for citizen's and permanent residents which can take 5 years to secure. There is also long waits for services such as an MRI. You can not pay to skip the line which is why some Canadian will travel to the US for their medical needs.
Canada is a great country to live in and I am proud to be born in Canada but just like every other country there are pros and cons. And for Americans from the south don't forget about the long cold winters!
Custom jewellery design is a special way to create a truly one of a kind piece to celebrate meaningful occasions in your life. In this age of disposable mediums and instant gratification it is nice to invest in a process which requires you to really think about what occasion you are commemorating and how to best express yourself.
One of the most interesting aspects of creating custom jewellery is working with clients visions. Sometimes clients help me to think outside of the box and look at things from a different perspective. This allows me to break out of my cycle and helps to expand my own creativity.
Design options are offered to help clients with their end results but unique suggestions are always appreciated. Being trained as a classical goldsmith give me lots of tools to work with in order to achieve clients visions.
I like to think of Soundwave Jewellery as a collaboration between me and the client. After all without your voice there would be no sound wave to work with!
The beauty in custom jewellery design is seeing all the ideas come to life. The best part is knowing you nailed and hearing the client say "Its perfect!".
Check out the collection when you are ready to create your custom piece of soundwave jewellery, of course your creative suggestions are always welcome!
This special little dog tag is made for an young man attending his parents weddings. The bride and groom will be wearing soundwave rings and wanted a little something special for him.
In this picture I am using a brass brush to brush this silver dog tag in between applying layers of liver of sulphur ( which makes the sound wave turn black). It is important to brush the metal to insure even coverage and long lasting of the black surface treatment.
All pieces of Soundwave Jewellery are made with longevity in mind. It is important to me to celebrate life experiences and achievements with something meaningful which will stand the test of time and not go out of fashion.
There will be times in this young man's life wear he may wear his dog dog everyday, there will be times when he pulls it out for special occasion and there will be years which he doesn't even look at it. However it is not something that he will throw away or easily part with. It is a special gift from his mom that he will cherish for his life.
This sterling silver Soundwave Bracelet is a real beauty.
The cuff bracelets take a lot of work to complete but when they are finished its really worth it. They truly are unique pieces of art.
This is a sterling silver bracelet is inset with palladium. Palladium is a grey metal and silver is a bright white metal. This gives a nice subtle contrast between the wave and the polished outside.
The pieces are all run through a magnetic tumbler. This is a different tumbler then the first tumbler used. The first tumbler hardens the metal after soldering or casting. This second tumble has smaller shot which can make its way into the small crevasses of the sound wave.
It brightens up the sound wave and adds a texture which makes the sound wave sparkle like snow on a sunny winters days!
I have started a new collection! This is a sneek peak of the first piece in the new Soundwave Jewelry roster: "Love Necklace"
In order to get the colour inside the sound waves of the soundwave jewellery I create I use a process called electroplating. In the jewellery industry we simply call it plating. Plating uses an electronic current to coat one metal in another metal. In this picture I am getting these necklaces ready for plating.
Pieces need to be nice and clean in order for the second metal to adhere to the first metal. They need to be free of all grease and dirt. Part of the process to get them nice and clean is the use of the ultrasonic cleaner. This is a machine that uses sound waves to clean grease and dirt off the surface of metal. Soundwaves cleaning Soundwave Jewelry !! I love it
This personalized soundwave necklace was commissioned by a young man as a gift for his girlfriend. He put a lot of thought into the design and wanted it to be just right for her. We created a truly one of kind piece of custom jewellery for her to treasure. In addition to his personal sound wave he wanted to include her birthstone stone set in the bail of the necklace. This work in progress picture shows you a quick glimpse of how its made.
"Here I am soldering a custom bail so I can include the stone setting. The trick here is to solder the bail to the stone setting without soldering it to the pendant itself. I want the bail to be free to give the whole piece movement. To achieve this I am using yellow ochre, a pigment which protects the soldering from flowing where you do not want it to go.
Solder will only flow if a surface is clean. The yellow ochre 'dirties up' the area where you do not want the solder to flow. Sometimes the yellow ochre runs right into the joint you are trying to solder. It can be a challenge but with proper application the stuff really works!"
Working at the bench!
While it may look like my pinky finger is ready to casually hold a tea biscuit, in reality it is helping to keep my hand steady. Filing metal requires pressure. It is not soft and malleable like clay, you need to put some strength behind it. As I am pushing the file into this ring I am also pushing my hand against the bench pin. This helps to stabilize the ring so I can out some pressure on it and file away. My little finger is up in the air to help with the balance of the whole procedure.
Every action requires balance.
Creating using our hands reminds us of the importance of process. As we advance through the process of anything we see improvement. We learn techniques to make things more efficient and more precise. We refine our process by discovering ways to create balance.
Balance is what allows is to stand on one foot effortlessly. It is why sports professionals, musicians, artists and teachers make things look easy. It is balance that is the key to achieving excellence. To create balance in a part of your life you feel it is missing mindfully focus on your process and strive for excellence.
