Automata as jewelry - pendant automaton by Kimberly Nogueira

Here is a small mechanical piece of jewelry by metalsmith Kim Nogueira. The piece, a pendant to be exact, recently won first place in a design contest held by Metal Clay Artist Magazine. This year's annual design competition was called "Metal Clay Plus...". The magazine was looking for work that incorporated innovative combinations of metal clay and non-metal materials.

Nogueira's piece, entitled Lost Point of Origin, is made from fine silver, sterling and bronze clays, mica, vitreous glass enamel, faper, thread, tourmaline, a found object, pearl, etched and pierced copper sheet, fine silver wire, sterling silver sheet, wire and tubing. That's a lot of different materials!

From the artist:

When I made this piece, I had no idea that others would be interested in what I thought was a beautiful but very odd box. I was just excited to have an excuse to push myself to use whatever materials my heart desired to tell a story.

You can see more jewelry by Kim Nogueira on her web site.

---