My country blog hop

Oh Canada, my home and native land......
There is so much to love about Canada and being Canadian. I am a native of Canada's Capital city, Ottawa, Ontario.  Ontario is a vast province; from east to west it takes about two days to travel by car.
 Part of Ontario is comprised of the Canadian Shield , a HUGE rocky landmass. We are a mineral rich province as one could expect with all those rocks around.

We also have the most gorgeous Maple Trees that give us the best Maple Syrup in the world. In Spring these trees warm up, the sap runs, and we have tree growers who tap the sap and make syrup. Sugar shacks abound and one can visit them, watch maple syrup being made (by boiling the sap for hours and hours and hours in huge metal tanks).





Some fresh snow packed into a plate , pour on some warm sap and we enjoy the most delicious treat, maple syrup taffy on a stick. YUM.


In fall these same Maple trees turn the most amazing shades of red and orange, turning our forests into flaming beauty.

For my entry in this blog hop I've chosen to honour our maple leaf and highlight it with some of our local minerals/gemstones that are abundant in Ontario. I chose Sodalite, Garnet and Amethyst.




I made the pendant from Art Clay silver. It is fine silver .999 pure. It is a metal clay that one can make many different items with. I chose a simple rectangle and while the clay was wet I stamped two tiny maple leaves into it. After firing it becomes pure silver and with much polishing it gets really shiny. I patina'd the leaves with LOS and a tiny brush to keep the patina within the recessed leaf areas. This adds a bit of emphasis to the leaves as they are now a warm golden colour in contrast to the silver.


The stones are joined together with hand made silver wire links., Wire wrapping and wire work is my favourite technique for making jewellery. To keep it simple I finished the necklace with silver rolo chain which mimics the round loops of the wire wrapped connections. The whole piece is about 22 inches long.

To see other designs representing other countries stop by the host's blog Nanmade by Nan Smith. She is the hostess who set up this tour de pays hop. Thanks Nan for this great blog party.

Comments

  1. To be honest, I never know that much about maple tree. So thank you Deb to explain more about the maple.

    I love the final looks of your pendant. Matching with the gemstones =)

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  2. Beautiful pendant. Your necklace design is wonderful. Love the photos of the maple syrup process. (and oh how I love maple syrup on my pancakes).

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    1. thanks for your kind words. I enjoyed making this piece.
      as for maple syrup , I always joke that pancakes are simply a plate to hold lots of maple syrup-cause i get funny looks if i just drink it LOL.

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  3. I love maple leaves and their colors - so vibrant and full of energy and I really like the rustic look of the pendant

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  4. Beautiful pendant, I have wanted to use metal clay and now I am even more inspired. What a wonderful tribute to Canada my home too. The necklace is gorgeous and contains some of my favorite components. Yummmmm maple syrup!!

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  5. That maple syrup taffy on a stick sounds mouthwatering! We love maple syrup on pancakes... or maybe the other way around, as you said :) And when I need some color inspiration, one of the things I look for on the web are pictures of maple trees in autumn. I like the concept behind the necklace, the pendant reminds me of two autumnal maple leaves in a puddle and the gemstones you have used are among my most favorite, especially garnet.

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    Replies
    1. thanks for visiting my blog. My grandmother used to make us taffy on a stick inl winter whenever we would have a fresh snowfall (don't eat the yellow snow!)

      when I see the trees in their autumnal colour glory my heart just sings. even though I know it means the leaves will soon fall .

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  6. Thanks for all your information, especially about the maple leaf! We can buy it here, in The Netherlands too! That taffy really looks very delicious!

    What a beautiful combination did you make for the necklace, with the stones and the Silver Clay. A souvenir for ever :-)

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  7. Really beautiful design Deb! the pendant is Amazing!!! Have a Blessed Day!!!

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  8. I love your maple inspired pendant. In fact, I love the maple tree too, but I think the Canadian trees are more exuberant in colour than the ones we have here in Portugal.
    I'm a slow hopper but I had to visit all blogs because it's great to expand our horizons and know about more about other countries and the people living in them.
    Have a great day.
    Ana

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