Very sad news for our Professor , Tara Nahabetian, who lost her father last week.  Our heartfelt condolences for her and her family during this time of grieving. 

Her husband Dennis has been gracious enough to fill in during her absence to keep our class on track.  His assistance in our LED projects has been greatly appreciated.  In regards to my current project we discussed the possibility of using the original copper mock-up as the basis for another piece to begin a series of similar designs.  I am gratified by his suggestion of using gold and silver in one of the series.   I had been inclined to gold in the current piece, but was dissuaded by my focus group.

He gave us a interim project based on rapid and impromptu design using found objects.  I missed the first round, and thus got last pick for the materials for the second round.  Dennis brought in an assortment of objects arranged in groups from which we chose based on a class vote.  My object was a circuit board from a computer.

I disassembled the board and experimented with the pieces in different configurations. I didn't need much glue and after a number of variations came up with this.

 

My wife Gail is my ultimate source of feedback, and when I asked her what she thought and whether she would wear it, I got a look that, without words, was nonetheless perfectly eloquent.

Somebody, somewhere is making beautiful jewelry from recycled computer parts.  Not me. I don't foresee the jewelry business changing the economic fundamentals of electronic recycling just yet.