In the same way that the bling of a perfect pair of earrings can put the finishing touch on a little black dress, jeweler/gemologist Diane Rennie of Pensacola Florida has crafted miniature copper tiles that gives lustre and personal meaning to her kitchen renovation.
“I looked at thousands and thousands of tiles that would compliment our cabinets and hardware, but I couldn’t find anything I liked”, says the designer and fabricator of bracelets, pendants and earrings that have a natural North Florida coast echo to them. “Finally I decided to make something myself.”
Indeed, Mrs. KitchenManic and I recently visited a huge, high-end tile store and were awash in a sea of beige and grey. There was nothing unique.
At the same time Diane was kitchen renovating, she was experimenting with copper clay while making jewelry. A recent development, jewelers introduced metal clays in 2009 in different tones and colours. Diane mixed powdered copper with water and an organic binder to make a clay. She then rolled out the clay into a slab of 3-4 mm thick, applied different textures with her sculpting instruments and cut it into tile shapes.
To celebrate Diane’s, and her spouse Mike’s love of wine, she chose a design of what else? – grapes. “We lived in Italy for seven years earlier in our lives and we grew to love that life of great food and wine,” she says with a lilt of reminiscence. “That whole world of Italian culture grabbed us. It seemed a nice part of our lives to be reminded of and it complimented the kitchen.”
Sculpted grapes, leaves and tendrils were attached to the textured slab with slip. The handcrafted tiles were fired in a kiln, one at a time, at 1,800 deg F for 4 hours. Magnifico. The molecules fused together to become a solid metal tile.
Like many female colleagues, Diane’s dream to become a jeweler/gemologist was a gradual process that included marriage, raising two sons, earning a Master’s Degree in Nursing and serving as a U.S. Army Nurse around the world.
“Even as a little girl, I was always making things, painting, drawing, doing artistic things,” she says. “In the ’80s, I took a silversmith course and I fell in love with it. But I had to put things on hold to bring up my two boys and be a nurse.”
Her fav is to make cuff bracelets because they offer a large canvas to add engraving and stones. Even though they’re not for everyone, there is a trend for women to go for the big bracelets.
“I tend to get ideas from my immediate environment,” she says. “In Pensacola, we have sun, sea birds, reeds and sand dunes. My inspiration comes from nature and it’s a passion that I can pour myself into.”
Custom tiles are not Diane’s mainstay, but she’d be happy to chat with anyone who is looking to add a personal touch to their kitchen. She is already talking to others about firing up more tiles.
“The tiles are a great way to add something personal and different to the kitchen,” she says. “I think of jewelry as being little sculptures, so for me, creating the tiles was the same process, only on a little larger scale.”
Diane Rennie can be contacted at: Diane.rennie@jewelspan.com