Collage board

I found this inspiration board on all*over*print which I thought was fantastic! It's a hanging of plastic sleaves that has just been filled with bits and pieces. What a fabulous mosaic of memories and inspiration! Not to mention the layers!

Platinum Bangle

I am busy working on a piece for AngloPlat, and the theme of the competition is Aniverssaries. I decided to celebrate the anniversary of New Life and so I wanted my design to have lots of flowing lines, freshness, life, patterns and layers. So I began by designing this pattern...












Because I am working in platinum, I needed to cut the pattern out of steel, which I then roll milled onto the platinum. I was quite surprised at how much the steel distorted and how insipid the pattern came out on the plat! This is the steel piece...














So, I was left with a long strip of very thin, faintly patterned platinum that I had to turn into something beautiful...hmm! After playing around with the piece, folding it and bending it I decided I was going to make a pendant, but after bending it around my wrist I realized it would work well as a bangle.

























So then I worked with introducing layers which I did using a piece of etched silver but was a little stumped at how to attatch the layers together. Originally I thought bout using forged wires soldered to the two plates to connect them, but was worried about the different melting points of the silver and platinum. So I decided to try sewing them together with fine silver wire! This would also introduce another kind of layering, but very subtle. It proved to be a lot harder than I thought but, with alot of patience, it worked out ok.

Ideas

A couple of ideas have been running through my head lately, and I thought it was about time I put some of them to paper. I am trying to engage more with trying to create and enhance an aesthetic in my pieces, and capture more of an essence of the themes that run through them. So here's some sketches of what may come...

Patterned Bangle

Inspired by a patterned clay pot I bought earlier this year (see older posts) I designed a pattern and pierced it out to use as an impression. When it came out on the pieces I cast it was so beautiful! Some areas had been pushed out of the pattern while others held and it had such and old worldly, Victorian feel. As soon as I saw the piece I knew it had to be a bangle! so, voila!!!

Reflections...You Made an Impression on Me

One Face has many Profiles

How true is it that one thing can be seen in so many different ways, similarly- one person or object may only reflect a certain characteristic or side to them depending on their environment or influence. So is it possible for one to be a true reflection of themself at one particular moment in time? Yes, maybe an aspect may shine through from their true character, but how many layers and depth of character does one person have...so then, do we choose our environments according to which of our own characteristics we want to shine through?

The more we look at something, the more we find because we look from different perspectives. The longer we know someone the more profiles we see to their faces. The more characteristics that shine through, the greater the impression.

I have applied this concept to the next two pieces. They are a reflection of different characteristics in different ways, and I used one method of creating the pattern to make an impression of the other.... I feel a good title to these pieces are:

Reflections...You made an impression on me.

BANGLE



























EARRINGS

Brooch time!

After making the layered cuff that I experimented with, I was fueled with ideas using my textured pieces I had cast! The first result was this brooch....












It was irritating me a bit that my work always ends up rather large and irregular, don't get me wrong, it's how I am, but I wanted to challenge myself and give myself a boundary to work within instead of relying on what the pattern or the metal felt like it should do. So the outcome of this process was this little square shaped brooch which I was very pleased with :o)

Inspiration!

Recently I was at a braai at my friends place and saw this garden furniture which I found so inspirational! At first it was just the high detail of patterning and texture that I loved, but when I started taking photographs of it and shot them at different angles, I realised I could use the shadows of one pattern to create a layer against another, and these photographs became very inspiring for my work!

Not just a cup of tea! ......

Sitting in my kitchen this morning I was in a daze of thought as my eyes brushed over my tea cup that was on the table. Almost subconsciously they focused on a reflection in the tea of the lacey curtain that shades the window above, and then the different reflections of light bouncing off the surface. Immediately I thought of a discussion I had yesterday with Chris about if our eyes consciously focus on something, they often miss everything else that is around that thing, or all the factors in the atmosphere around it that contribute to what that thing actually is. If we 'look' at something, however, but make our eye aware of the surroundings- we get a vague understanding of other layers that play a part in the context of that which we are looking at. So this morning when I was not purposefully 'looking' at my tea cup, my eyes were focusing on and picking up other things which normally would not have been noticed.

The reflection of the lace licking the surface of the tea while shapes of reflections, shadows and light bounced off and sunk into it had such a beautiful effect with all the different layers it created. What seemed to just be tea, turned into a collage of elements abstracted from my surroundings. This was such a delightful connection for me to my work at the moment, layers of elements that ignite recognition....

Layers

Layers.... could they be described as many different elements combined to make one entity? The dictionary describes a layer as a depth or level, I like that! Layers create depth...or I'm not so sure if they 'create' it as such, but rather assure that there is depth, that there is something beneath.

I like to relate this concept to people, and life in general really...we all know onions have layers! but have you actually sat and pealed away at all those layers to find what lies in the centre? Eventually you arrive at nothing! So in reality it's the layers that actually make up the onion! Is this not true with people and cercumstances? We try so hard to peal off all the layers in our lives and in situations to look 'deeper' for what's in the core and 'find ourselves' but is it not all those influences and characteristics that are the very things that define us and represent who we are?

According to the thesaurus, a synonym for layer is story. I think it is a very apt word and think it could lead me in some form of direction with my jewellery....layered jewelery as a representation of my story perhaps?

Experimenting with photography

I'm trying to figure out the best ways to photograph my jewellery. Obviously I realize this will change according to the subject matter, but I've been doing a little experimentation with different lighting and atmospheres. I by no means consider myself a photographer of any sort! but have considerably enjoyed this process 8) .... I am, however, struggling to decide on which ones work best, so I thought I'd ask everyone who views this post to give me some feedback on the pictures and what they think. Constructive criticism is very welcome and any suggestions would be great!

Layered Cuff with Gold Detail

Since I have so many bits of test pieces and things that I've been playing around with, I thought it was about time I made up something! So here's the result! A cuff put together with my cast patterned wax pieces, etched plate, wire work and a couple of things thrown in here and there, and I have to say that I really like it! Of course while making it I realized there were many weak spots and areas that could have been done better so although it is not necessarily a wearable piece, it is a beautiful juxtaposition of elements I have been working with, and definitely the first exciting step for me in some form of a direction! =)

Just from working on the piece and analyzing the result, I have had some exciting sparks of new ideas and think that this could lead to a range of different cuffs.

Clay Pieces

This is just a bit of fun I had with oxiding the patterns left into the clay pieces I used. I think it has such a nice effect.

Clay -> Wax -> Silver

I've been having so much fun with a new technique I came across. What I like about it is that it allows one the freedom to play and explore the matter they're working with and literally be able to 'draw' your pattern straight onto the metal. I found it quite therapeutic and love the layered affect. I really enjoy the element of surprise at the end because you never know exactly how the outcome is going to turn out...I like that!
You basically press, draw or imprint whatever you like into a piece of rolled out clay. You then pour some melted wax onto the clay and press it across the patters with the palm of your hand, pressing the wax into the dents. Once the patterned wax flakes are all peeled off, they are invested and cast in silver and TA DA!!!













Wax elements to be cast

I've come to a little bit of a realization... I've always had an intrigue with layers, in all forms; be it physical layers in art, architecture, nature and all the everyday things we come into contact with, or symbolic layers, layers to personalities and stories etc
After much thinking and discussion, it dawned on me that my quest of experimentation with different techniques to create pattern in jewellery could be spurred by this enjoyment of layers. I think that through all this experimentation I have been subconsciously trying to find different ways of creating depth and ways to bring about layers into my work.... just a thought, will see where it leads!