Hafteam Featured Artist

Handmade Artist Forum has some amazingly talented people who are very devoted to their work and to the handmade movement. One such artist is CJ Grand of The Grand Design.

With her background in sci-fi costuming and her love of jewelry she has managed to combine both worlds and make some wonderful steampunk designs. Truthfully, I have seen a lot of this style of jewelry but never understood it's beginnings until now so I am pleased to be doing a spot on CJ's shop.

So, for those of you who may not know the origins of "steampunk" this is what I found:

"Steampunk comes from the science fiction-fantasy literature world, originating in the 1980's. The term steampunk denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, with elements of science fiction or fantasy added."The meaning of the term has been broadening into a cultural and artistic movement. Steampunk now includes items that have a neo-Victorian steampunk style--clothing, art, jewelry--all using 19th century accents such as time pieces and clockwork parts.


You can definitely feel those two worlds coming together in these first two photos, which are the same piece-front and back. This lovely little lady is surrounded by Swarovski crystal jewels then mounted on an ornate vintage pocketwatch. I think CJ's ideas are truly amazing and I love how she works her designs throughout the piece in stages, right to the very back, as in this one.

To me, this design is the epitome of steampunk jewelry with it's detailed inner workings of a watch mounted on a lovely silver filigree then mounted again onto a warm copper. I really like the two metals working together on this piece.

You can also find CJGrand on her blog and maybe get a little more background on this amazing artist.