Kiln Fired

Enamel testing 

Up until now, I had been using my bench torch to fire my enamel pieces and i wasn't getting a constant look. This week I started firing my enamels in the kiln and I am really excited with the results. I found that there was more room to play around with different colour and colour combinations because it more controlled. Here are some of my test pieces. 

Anglo Plat designing

Anglo Platinum Earring Designs 

The theme for this years anglo plat competition is Bold minimalism. 

I have decided to make statement earrings which use simple minimalist lines combined with contrasting textured metal. 

Here are some process photos.

Using paper to visualise where the textured plate is going and how I'm going to attach it.

Colours on my street

Bubble Gum Colours 

Just some sunset colour inspiration.

Mixed Materials

Mixed Materials

I have chosen to first look at Mixed Materials in jewellery. The main reason I have done so is to explore colour in jewellery to a greater extent. I believe that by using mixed materials in my jewellery that it’ll be a “greater revelling in colour and freedom of expression in jewellery.”*. There is so much to be explored when it comes to colour in jewellery and this excites me as the possibilities are endless.

 As a starting point, I want to play and experiment with enameling. I want to discover beautiful colour combinations inspired by nature and specifically by the ocean and its close surrounds.

The following pictures were taken in Pringle Bay in the Western Cape and are some examples of colour combination inspiration.

I want to combine the colours created through different methods, with the crispness of sterling silver. I have already started experimenting with enameling. Id like to achieve two things with enamels:

       

                    1)      Achieve a finish/ look that resembles the raw, natural organic look of, for example the dirtiness of the orange on the rocks and the roughness of the ferns green leaves, as in the picture above.

2)      Use clean colours and use pencil to draw plats, rocks, waves on the enamel

The following jewellers have achieved these two desired looks:  

Maria Irene Weinz - ocean inspired rough enamels

Nicolette Absil- botanical drawings on enamel 

“showing an awareness, as other jewellers increasingly have, of the need to satisfy a range of senses. Kessler writes “I search for a kind of mystery within the material and I try to tempt people to come closer and touch the object. First they touch it with their eyes, even with their hands – until  it finally touches their hearts.”* this quote is explains exactly what i want to achieve with this range. I want people to want to touch my jewellery, pick it up and feel like they are discovering something new and beautiful, just like you do when exploring at the beach or in nature in general. 

*quotes taken directly from the Virtual Gallery: Mixed Materials 

Hidden Details

When designing this pendant I first looked at one of my favourite books as a child, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book.  I was (and probably still am) obsessed with fairies and pixies and anything mystical, and this book contained it all. What I love most about this particular book is that the fairies aren’t the stereotypical ones you usually picture; they are distorted, vulgar and almost a little bit ugly. But it’s these details that make them beautiful in a different way.
 I wanted to combine the look and feel of its rough beauty and sense of hidden, secret details into a pendant that one day could be passed on as an heirloom. I wanted it to be a piece of jewellery that could be something that I passed on to my children one day. It was to be a piece that represented a happy memory from my childhood that would give them, or whoever wore it, the same sense of happiness and bliss that Lady Cottingtons diary gave me as a child.  

This is one of the images from the book and one of my favourite. I used this image to get my general shape for the wing shape of my pendant. Like I stated before, these Fairies are not perfect or pretty in the usual way, but its their imperfections that give them their beauty.

I played around with texturing metal in order to try get the feel of a broken wing that was both delicate and beautiful but that also had a rough, "squashed" feel about it. After trying a few different techniques, this is the one that i liked the most. I used a combination of roll milling (to get the veins)  and folding the metal and then rolling it flat to get the ridges. I eventually used a section of this piece of metal in my final design.

I wanted a layered pendant that at first glance looked like a locket and when it was opened or swiveled, revealed the wing and the bottom patterned plate. this was my prototype. After more thought I realized that it needed to much smaller so made a smaller one that made it feel much more delicate and fairy like.

Playing with Pattern 

After choosing my Shweshwe material, I played with pattern and took elements from the fabric and made my own designs. From these designs I isolated an element that I thought would translate well in a piece of jewellery. From this element I create 2D and 3D versions out of clay in order to play around with arrangement, repetition and layering. 

These are the ones that I felt were the most successful.

This is the drawing/doodle that I chose to create my single element from. 

I think that this arrangement works well because of the different heights and how it is almost the start of a mandala. It reminds me a lot of the doodles that I experimented with when exploring the Shweshwe patterns. 

I like the way that this arrangement comes together so well with the combination of the 2D and 3D elements. I think it works well and creates an attractive shape that Id like to explore further. 

What I like most about this arrangement is the negative space that it creates. I think that there is potential for the exploration of this negative space in the form of a new element created from it. 

Sketching the CBD

As a 3rd year class, we ventured into the markets just a few minutes walk from our campus. The aim of this walk was twofold. firstly to sketch and document different patterns that we observed on the way, and secondly to choose and buy a swatch of Shwe Shwe material. 

I always find the markets to be very interesting and you get to see things that you dont normally see on a daily basis. I find it strange that there is this whole other lifestyle so close to where I live and study that is so vastly different to the lifestyle that I lead.

I really enjoyed doing these sketches, as rough as they are, because it really did change the way I looked at everything. I started seeing beautiful patterns and shapes in the negative spaces and amazing surfaces details in places that I wouldn't usually look at. 

The material shop that we went to to purchase the fabric in was beautiful in its own way. full of vibrant colours and patterns that you dont find at other shops.

Pictured below are some photos of the sketches that I did along the way as well as a photograph of the Shwe Shwe fabric that I chose. 

Passion Flower

Susan Mcleary is a florist and jewellery designer who challenges the perception that jewellery always has to be mad entirely of precious metals.

With her knowledge of fauna, Susan creates beautiful necklaces, rings, tiaras and bracelets made from a mixture of succulents, flowers, brass and copper.

These pieces are known as living jewellery as they continue to live and grow while you wear them. after a few weeks, you can remove and plant the succulents.

I really love Susan's work as not only is it beautiful but it is an example of how jewellery doesn't has to be as straight forward as the usual gold, silver, platinum and precious gem stones.

 

Succulent Bracelet



Succulent Necklace

This piece is more of a statement/ fashion photograph piece, but it is so beautiful and shows so wonderfully how vast the  possibilities are of making jewellery with different materials.

 

 

Tattoo Queen

 Using the circus, and specifically the tattooed women of the side shows, I designed this pendent which I have named Tattoo Queen. 

This pendant was a fun one to design and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the different aspects of the circus and being exposed to all is magic and powerful imagery. I was drawn to the tattooed ladies as tattoos are now such a popular and common thing, and I like to think that they were the starting point in making them less of a taboo subject. I don't have a tattoo, but do plan on getting one in the future and these ladies have inspired me to be even bolder with my decisions in this regard. 

While I enjoyed the design process, the manufacturing was a bit more challenging. This is the most intricate piece of jewellery that I have made with the most details and layers. This, coupled with the fact that I generally battle with soldering, meant that the manufacturing process was very difficult for me. But it did give me the practice that I need and has made me a little more confident with soldering delicate pieces.

Overall I really enjoyed this project and am proud of the piece that I have made.

Tattoo Queen
Sterling Silver 

Manufacturing the Pendant 

 Because the design I had decided on was very organic, most of the final design decisions were made during the manufacturing process.

Pictured below are some images of the individual pieces that I made that would eventually be put together to form the pendant. 

Designing the Pendant 

In order to design my pendant I looked at images of tattoos both on the women from the circus and flash cards of traditional tattoos. I was torn between creating a design that either represented the tattoos literally, and a design that used different elements of pattern and motifs and that stood as a figurative visual representation.

Pictured below are some of the images that I explored and some of the drawings that I did in response to them.

I particularly was drawn to the floral tattoos as tattoos are usually masculine and these tattoos brought another aspect to them entirely. 

I then came across this image which brought all my designing together and is where I found my inspiration for my final design. 

A Night at the Circus

At the moment I am busy designing a pendant which is inspired by the circus and which utilises the technique of cannetille. 

The circus's of the 1880's (and for a few decades) had side shows which show cased "freaks" and unusual people, as well as tattooed woman, which I have chosen to use as my inspiration. 

Their entire bodies were covered in intricate traditional tattoos. People found this fascinating. Not only were tattoos uncommon (even more so on women) but in this very conservative time, seeing woman baring flesh was risky and controversial. 

I love these images because they show how people, and in particular woman, have always tried to challenge society and their views of how we should look and how only certain people can do certain things. I think these women were very brave for doing what they did. 

I also particularly love the intricacy and immense detail that their tattoos had. 

My aim is to make a beautiful piece of jewellery which brings one of these intricate tattoos to life.

   

A poster for a Circus side show attraction, La Bella Angora.
This image was found on a blog, which doesn't have much information. This site, however,  has more information about the history of these side shows.
  

After looking at many different traditional tattoos, I chose this one as my main reference and my point of departure to start designing my pendant.