Etsy

Housewares returning to our shop soon n the form of new, brightly colored, urethane dishes cast from vintage carved monkeypod designs. For more details and photos, keep it tuned to our Facebook page (where you'll also get first crack at each new listing): http://www.facebook.com/DaveSheelyDesigns

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I'm Dave Sheely.

Each time I open a mold to uncover a new piece of jewelry, it’s like Christmas morning—one where almost every present will be something I love. When I started working in rapid prototyping in the late ‘90s, I daydreamed about finding creative uses for the urethane that I cast into computer, car, and medical parts. In 2004, I finally took that step, making a silicone mold of one of my earliest polymer clay sculptures—a small tiki head—and casting it in urethane. The result was so striking , I thought I might be onto something. Six years later, my tikis live on as rings and pendants, and have been joined by an ever-evolving selection of jewelry in all sizes and colors. Each piece is hand made from pressure-cast, industrial grade urethane, so each is UV stable and heat tolerant—no fading or warping. The beauty of the material is that it possesses the color vibrancy and clarity of glass but in a lightweight, super durable package. I’m still thrilled by the color variants I discover as I design and cast jewelry in my small home shop in Chicago.

Each piece in my shop is a unique work cast individually in my studio. The material I use to cast my work is a high-end, industrial grade urethane. Unlike the cast resin that most other ring makers use, urethane is UV stable with a high heat tolerance (won't yellow in the sun, and it won't soften with body heat). It is also much stronger and long-lasting -- could you drop a regular resin ring on a cement surface, watch it bounce a few times, and then pick it up and put it on your finger as if nothing had happened?

Visit me on my Flickr page to see more: ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/davesheelydesigns/

Follow me on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/DaveSheelyDesigns

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http://twitter.com/davesheelydsign