Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: artists, My Talented Friends

And speaking of talented friends… here’s another one! Metalsmith Amy Taylor!
She makes great jewelry. She makes me laugh. She also made me this…

In the past, she’s made me two pendants using slices of vintage bowling ball instead
instead of a semi-precious stone! Anyone can use a stone… but a bowling ball, c’mon!
And this time, she’s outdone herself!

All of Amy’s jewelry is based on a creative use of a hinge! So all of her work pivots,
turns & twists. And as an eternal necklace fidgeter, this one is perfect of me!
Flip it, twist it, spin it. Either way you look at it – it’s groovy on both sides!
But what is it you may ask?… and don’t even guess a stone!

The “stone” center of the pendant is a piece of paint slag. Apparently, when they closed
the Ford automobile plant, someone was ingenious enough to chip some of the paint
off the floor. Picture years & years of auto paint, layers & layers… chipped off the floor!
When the chunks were cut down and smoothed into cabochons, the layers of paint
are revealed to show off these groovy patterns of colors. Different on both sides!
So a quick flip of the hinged pendant shows off both sides of the paint slag cabochon!
Brilliant… I told you so! Check out more groovy stuff at www.AmyTaylorJewelry.com

She also made a smaller necklace for my Mom, but she hasn’t seen it yet. Soon…
I’m sure she’s going to love it.

3 Comments

C. Yalater

October 26th, 2010

It’s called “Fordite,” and it has been around for decades.

October 27th, 2010

Now that you mention it, Amy did tell me that it’s called “Fordite.” Thanks for reminding me… and it was NEW to me! Regardless of how long it’s been around.

October 27th, 2010

Wahhh-hoo, thanks for the shout-out Gary! Happy flippin’! Oh, it’s also called “Motor Agate”. Kewl! XO!

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