Lover's Locks

History[edit]

The history of love padlocks dates back at least 100 years to a melancholy Serbian tale of World War I, with an attribution for the bridge Most Ljubavi (lit. the Bridge of Love) in spa town of Vrnjačka Banja.^[2] A local schoolmistress named Nada, who was from Vrnjačka Banja, fell in love with a Serbian officer named Relja. After they committed to each other Relja went to war in Greece where he fell in love with a local woman from Corfu. As a consequence, Relja and Nada broke off their engagement. Nada never recovered from that devastating blow, and after some time she died due to heartbreak from her unfortunate love. As young women from Vrnjačka Banja wanted to protect their own loves, they started writing down their names, with the names of their loved ones, on padlocks and affixing them to the railings of the bridge where Nada and Relja used to meet.^[3][4]
In rest of Europe, love padlocks started appearing in the early 2000s.^[5] The reasons love padlocks started to appear vary between locations and in many instances are unclear. However, in Rome, the ritual of affixing love padlocks to the bridge Ponte Milvio can be attributed to the 2006 book I Want You by Italian author Federico Moccia, who made a film adaptation in 2007.<sup>[6][7]

Good old Wikipedia!</sup>

^{Happy Valentines Day!}


Onward and Upward on both fronts!

The tree pendant is in the investment cabinet awaiting next weeks pour when all of the students are done.   It's time for me to create a bail for the pendant and go back to working on a set of ravens I have.  In the meantime I managed a tree full of possible earring parts.  They're flirty to me - a suggestion of spring.  I wish I had my equipment here to finish them but it's in NC waiting for me to unpack it.  Soon little tool shop...soon.

These are my spunky earring parts.  Waiting to be parted from their sprues and get cleaned up and polished.  That wax work is keeping me moving in the right direction while I continue on this quest to get all things packed and moved in a reasonable manner. 

I've shown these in the directions that the earrings will go.  Hard to tell this is silver before it's polished.

LOL - is there anything about packing and moving that's reasonable when you're doing it yourself?  Oh why oh why didn't I work for a big company that would send in a team of people to do this.  Experts in packing who will say, "Stand aside little woman (hahahahha) and let me get that for you!"

Thank goodness for imagination.

Finishing up a complicated wax carving.

Today I had to go and have my left eye lasered clear.  the new lens from the cataract surgery is just fine - but the capsule it has been placed in has grown cloddy and a bit like cellophane to look though.  That is so not fun when you are using needles as wax tools.  You really need to know where to place that point so you can redefine some places and gentling nudge others into position.  thank the heavens, the cloud has been in lifted in that eye - the worst.  Maybe next week we can get the right eye done too.  Fingers crossed please.

I had to say it certainly had the desired affect.  I finished the things that were bothering me about this wax.  My tree spirit was missing an eye....and personality.  Now I think it's back in order.  I still have two branches to straighten out and the left hand corner to square off again but after that I can go ahead and sprue this piece and get it cast.  Whoot   whoot.  Thursday it's back to the packing!

In this one you can see the varieties if waxes I have uses t sculpt this piece,  each, is a different color and has different properties.  Maybe I can do a blog post of why I've chosen them for this piece.

Changing the picture to black and white always helps me notice any of the little things that are "off" in the design or execution of the wax.  You aren't distracted by the variety of colors in front of you so I often stop and get a quick phone photo.

By tomorrow I should be sprueing this piece and getting it ready to be cast next week.  There is a bail at the top created with the branches but I think I need to make a different type of bail and attach that to it.  I'll be working on that tomorrow.

 

Feeding the Art Urge

I can't speak for anyone else but when I'm away from creating for any amount of time I get edgy.  Do you get like that?  To help stave off that feelings and keep from creeping everyone else around me out I held back my wax tools from the packing frenzy around here.  I thought of leaving back some clay but figured that would be wrought with problems without a kiln at hand to fire the green ware once I sculpted it.

To do casting you need a heck of a lot of equipment too - but to make wax pieces to cast you need very few tools.  Old dental probes or needles, an alcohol lamp, and wax.  And, in my case some Optivisors.  So it was as easy as leaving a bag back packed with essentials. 

Luckily I can still cast at the Art Center with my friends.  That was as easy as signing up for class. 

I have a few large pieces I'd like to finish while I'm packing and a couple of small pieces.  I've been making earring castings and I'd like to make a whole lot more.  Parts.  Parts that I'd like to use with lampwork or clay beads at a later date.  At least that's the plan...oh, everyone look out, Sharon might have a plan!

The earring here is actually upside down.  It's how I sprued it.  Eventually it will have a stone in it.

Three variations on the tree. 

Regardless of all the boxes it's such a release to be able to do something while this transition is taking place.  Casting more than fits that bill : - ).