Killer Jewels

Hand made jewellery

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Wood-Floral

The Wood-Floral is simple round earrings and the whole idea I created this piece was to make sure it is black but feminine. This is a flower but the black is wood. this is just to bring a floral side to Music. The reason for the black is that various artists especially woman groups are wore a lot of black. They also wore clothes to raise awareness about domestic violence. This piece hopefully brings out the fact that we are still woman and shouldn't be disrespected.

Please comment below what you think.

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Geo-Claw

This name is the combination of the Geometric shape and the claw setting to create Geo-Claw. This is a 6-claw square setting with a black faceted oval stone. The name is mostly inspired by music history art work and the jewellery with all the bling in them. I created this piece to make the audience feel sophisticated and still be wearing “Music-jewellery”. 

Please comment below what you think about the name? 

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Hip-Hop Earrings

These earrings are not to be worn but contemporary. This is to bring an old school feel to a new era. These earrings are straight forward what they look like. It is inspired by a very few Hip-Hop artists who specifically wore the Bamboo  hooped earrings. I just chose the word Hip-Hop to bring a reminder to the public that Hip-Hop today is still a big influence in our lives. 

Here’s an example of the Bamboo Hallow Hooped earrings in Gold.

Hope You could understand my concept of the earrings I made. Please dont hesitate to comment below what do you think of my Earrings name?.

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Tri-Dia-Nity

relationship 

These are a pair of earrings that are inspired by the in sync relationship between musicians and the jewellery that they wore. They always wore jewellery with whatever occasion they went to and for me that was a very important statement. Wearing the jewellery was a way to show off their fame and money. These earrings has the same concept because it is the words Triangle, Diamond and Infinity broken up to create the word Tri-Dia-Nity the way the Diamond and the Triangle shape are linked together as it is also a Infinite relationship between the shapes of the earrings.

What do you think of the of the name for these earrings.?

Please comment below.

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Half The Circle

This Piece is one of three distilled pieces. The name Half the Circle is inspired by the fact that not a single musician today can say that they had n smooth music career from the start. It reminds me of a full circle with many wholes (obstacles) that they had to go through to become a popular musician. This is a reality in our daily lives. Life is never a full circle. It will always have obstacles.

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Box Block

This is one of the forced rings that I have filled with perspex which is black and white. The reason for black and white is that it has that it has that contrast and that it reminds me of Piano Keys in the music industry. To see more about this picture please check out the Killer Jewels website for more detail.

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Names Are Here

These are three forced rings and the name I chose for them was The S.E.X Collection. This got inspired by the way the music industry has always made us think of Sex, Drug, Rock & Roll. In my case I chose to take each action of the music industry and make it into a Jewellery piece. The S.E.X Collection are custom madse but can also be used as Name Letter rings for individuals. 

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Naming my jewellery.

For each piece of my range I want to name them all and make sure it has it’s very own unique identity. 

I would mainly look at the piece itself and name it to what I think is a edgy and catchy name for it. I would really like to incorporate the music in each name. Lets see how it goes. Check out the next post to see what i Have named my pieces and a brief explanation of why I did it.

This is the most difficult part of creating a jewellery range because you want it to pull peoples attention.

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Latin and Afro-Cuban Jazz

This was beyond the border. I would say that this era in the 1950’s, Jazz artists really went out of their comfort zone, thinking outside the box to create satisfactory music for the people. This united all the other rhythms like blues, ragtime, swing and Cuban music to create unique music. This was a collaboration of African, Spanish and Latin-American cultures to blend an extraordinary mixture of sound. This was their way of finding common grounds and they succeeded.

Comment Below what you think of the sound track, and don’t forget to like please.

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Bebop:

This style of music was the expression of freedom. In the 1940′s this changed for the big groups of Jazz music and the new style of this genre came to life. Smaller groups were coming together to perform and this time not to swing(dance) but to listen. Their market was mostly intelligent people that would listen to the fast rhythm, complicated harmonies and complex melodies and absolutely enjoy listening to this this type of Jazz.

Charlie Parker was the founder of Bebop, along with Dizzy Gillespie. He brought a new feel to Jazz, with different harmonies, melodies and rhythm structure.

To read more about Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie click on the link below.

https://www.thoughtco.com/ten-bebop-musicians-2039549

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The Swing

In the mid-1930’s, Swing was the tempo of Jazz music. This originated during the Great Depression and people used this to engage with others going through the same thing and make them feel better in times of being low. This became a dance that everyone enjoyed and bands continued to play this style of music.

Here a short example of The swing and this was a piece of Louis Armstrong the songs name All of me.

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Improvisation:

This term was a highly familiar term in the jazz industry, especially in Jazz groups. It means making up music as you go along. In our era we would know this as free styling, but back then Jazz groups used improvisation as it was also a way of not cutting one of the group members off. 

This Video is a solo improvisation piece but gives you an idea of what it sounded like. Hope you enjoy listening to this. Please comment below what you think.

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History: Jazz

Jazz music is closely related to the R&B genre. In my opinion, I would classify them as being “sibling-genres”. Both genre’s are different in terms of terms of its execution, yet some sounds and elements are very much similar. Jazz was created back in the 1800’s. African-American found inspiration through the R&B music and invented Jazz as we know it today.

In the 1900’s, New Orleans (United States) was called the town of its exciting, due to its live and colorful street festivals. In this case, it was not just a festival, but a tradition for all citizens of the town. They all enjoyed celebrating with military marching bands through the streets, folk music, the blues, church music and echoes of the African drums, “as all these different types of sounds came together it merged and Jazz was born”, said Wynton Marsalis.

Louis Armstrong was a great man of creating solo Jazz performances and he started when he was 13 years old. He is still today a big influence on the history of Jazz music but passed away July 6th 1971. It was also mentioned that there are four types of jazz.

The next blog will be giving you examples of the way different types of Jazz expressions sound. Hope you enjoyed reading more about the history of Jazz. Tell me what do you think, comment below.

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History: R&B/Soul

 in the 1900′s that still According to ThoughtCo. (2017), this genre known as R&B Soul, is the abbreviation for Rhythm and Blues. It is a genre that was introduced in the 1930’s and has mainly been performed by African-Americans. It was originally created by Billboards magazine as a marketing platform for music. This genre is a combination of blues and Jazz.

During the 1940’s, this genre was made to deal with racism and therefore replacing “race music” which blacks had to overcome. In offence of the term “race music” Billboard started to use the term rhythm and blues. Rhythm and blues was mainly established for the younger generation who went to night clubs the same as Hip hop/Rap but this time expressing their style of art and to express themselves. After Hip hop music appeared, R&B were now more referred to as love songs (ThoughtCo., 2017).

Being so closely related to Hip Hop/ Rap, I found it very appropriate to use this genre as my second inspiration to my jewellery collection. It has a sense of direct emotional attachments, thus I believe it rings close to its cohesiveness.

Attached is a video explaining the influence of R&B in the 1900′s that still influence this genre today. 

Hope this video was helpful. 

Comment below what you think

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History: Hip-Hop

Introducing this genre to my jewellery designs, I believe that my love will be showcased effectively – in a way for people to wear it as elegant pieces and not as literally as the genre suggests.

In the 1960’s ‘DJ’s’ known as disc jokey’s started to remove the faults that songs had and created their own breaks (meaning different songs from the faults in other songs) which would then be a whole new version of a song. This particular way or style of music was commonly found in Jamaican music. After immigrants from the Caribbean came and made new work familiar with the technique. DJ Kool Herc was part of the familiar immigrants that made this all happen.

In the 1970’s this genre was created in the housing projects of New York and ever since then it has expanded into a global influence still today. This genre is known for one of the most popular musical forms in the whole world. Specifically no one can take the credit for founding this genre but New York DJ Kool Herc was an important figure in the early years of the genre but still can’t claim that he created it all.

DJ Kool Herc Conversation

The basic beat of rap music comes from hard funk. There are various forms of rap of which boast raps, insult raps, news raps, message raps and party raps are the main ones. Around the 1980’s, rap music assisted poor black Americans to jump into the music industry and make a living out of it.

Rap music was also a way for black Americans to tell their stories, of the oppression caused by government, of the immediate situations they were going through and to tell the world bout their pride. A great example of such an artist is Tupac Shakur (2 Pac).

The Evolution of Hip-Hop 1979 - 2017

This is where you hear rappers would speak about their life’s and situations they were in. 

My approach to designing and manufacturing my music inspired jewellery is to dive straight into the genre and expressing it in an elegant way for both men and women to wear. At the exact same time, the Hip Hop/ Rap genre will be highlighted. This idea I would like to pursue in order to make fascinating pieces, genre inspired.

Symbolic aspects, line work, fashion and arts will be my working point, considering all of these elements to create my pieces.

Hope you find the Videos interesting.

comment below what you think 

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Trying to define music.

Music is essentially one of the most important aspects of any life. It has a way of conjuring up emotions that might be appropriate to the immediate scenery. Music is ancient, pan-cultural and given the spontaneous emergence of song in children, virtually universal (Ball, 2010).

Levinson (1990:273) says that music is “sounds temporarily organised by a person for the purpose of enriching or intensifying experience through active engagement (e.g.listening, dancing, and performing) with the sounds regarded primarily, or in significant measure, as sounds”.

Trying to define music, I have noted that with elements and structural features of music, features that arise from their combination are the approach that occurs to musicologists and philosophers.

Music has a way of uplifting people, change emotions (sad, happy, angry, scared etc) and bringing communities together. Everyone can relate to a song or sound, even a deaf person.

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Why the three genres?

Hip-Hop/Rap

is a genre that I have chosen due to my personal love of it. The fashion within this genre is also a contributing factor to why I have chosen this, along with the chunky jewellery they wore. This genre is closely related to the criminal actions of African American men (stereotypes) – thus laying claim to the hardcore and gangster feel of it.

Here’s a link to instrumental of old school Hip-Hop beat, feel free to listen to it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5dXH3__eos]

R&B/Soul

is the second genre that I have chosen as inspiration to my jewellery pieces. This is because of the sensual feeling that this genre evokes when a person listens to it. Although this genre is not as soothing as Classical music, it brings forth similar emotions. This genre also goes hand-in-hand with Hip Hop/ Rap and to me can be considered as the toned down version of it.

Here’s one for R&B, just hear how it sounds similar to Hip-Hop [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IfUM_nlhqo]

Jazz

is another music genre that I love. The laid back sound and instrumentals made me choose it as being the third inspired element to my jewellery collection. Visually, I believe that this design speaks to the feminine side of a woman – relating to their sexual and seductive sides. This genre is calm and relaxing and at the same time represents power in emotion and vocal ability.

Here’s a Jazz instrumental link that is combined with a Hip-Hop like beat but you here the trumpet and piano. it sounds like the hip-hop beat is just combined with the Jazz. [instrumentals.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tjNKbpSbjY]

Hope you enjoy listening to the beats.