Shining Lights

The theme for the shining lights awards this year was 'Enduring Bonds'. I tried to Design a piece that suited the theme but that could be linked to my current work too. After Brainstorming i decided to focus on 'enduring bonds' from the sea, i came up with the idea of using the connection between an anenome and a clown fish. A clown fish endures the the stings from the anenome, and these two different species have a habitual bond, they always find each other. The Clown fish is 'kept' safe inside the anenome...in the same way i wanted to keep the diamonds safe inside something. The design i came up with is linked to the piece i am currently working on. The organic Shape or 'pod' holds the diamonds and is supported by a forged tapered shank which will wrap around the pod keeping it secure.

Feeling Bleh...

Over the last few weeks i have been feeling extremely confused and overwhelmed with the idea of concepts and projects for fourth year. I was feeling incredibly dispondent about the current project i was working on, so i decided to just make myself something pretty to get back into manufacturing, yay! Last year i bought myself a gorgeous Labradorite stone from essenwood flea market and have been meaning to use it in a ring. I absolutely love labradorite, its colours are stunning, and remind me of the deep blue colours of the ocean. This is the ring i made...

Possible Settings

For the piece i am going to make, i need to resolve the design of the setting before i can start manufacturing. To help me with this I looked at the 'Stellenbosch University at the Gold of Africa Museum' booklet. The booklet had some innovative ways of setting enamels, stones etc. These are a few of the pieces that i liked...

above is a brooch (silver and enamel) made by Sylvia Von Kuhne. The Piercing detail to the back of the setting is really quite unique and interesting.

The above picture is a silver and enamel brooch by Eric Loubser

This is another silver and enamelled brooch, by Karin Matthee. The claws of her setting are forged but remain clean and neat. They are simple, but very effective in that they add to the overall design of the brooch, as well as serving a function.

My Photos

During my holidays i took photos at the beach and at the aquarium. I snapped away at things i found interesting because of either their colour, texture or shape...

Coral

at the moment i am working on pieces of jewellery that i can incorporate with the colours of the sea (through the use of enamel) and the textures of certain coral. in particular i am looking at this coral i came across in one of my Great Barrier Reef books...



i have tried to recreate the shapes and textures i have seen in this coral by fly pressing thin fine silver, drilling into it, then enamelling it. the fly press mould i made may be too large to use for rings and earrings, but will be suitable for pendants and brooches. at the moment i have made a few test pieces, and i will have to change a few things for the pieces i make in the future, such as the metal thickness and arrangement of surface holes. One of the pieces i experimented with first drilling, then fly pressing, this resulted in a 'happy mistake'. The silver split along where i had drilled when i fly pressed it. This made the metal look like it had 'exploded'. I really like this mistake, it looks lovely and natural (in the way it was formed) and i can still see the connection between it and the coral that is my reference.

Emily Gill

When browsing through the carrot box blog, I stumbled upon a jeweller called Emily Gill. She draws inspiration from the inner workings of plant and marine life, using aspects such as their cellular structure to influence her work. She uses enamel in her work which I enjoy, because I also want to incorporate enamels and colour into my jewellery

Above is a photo of one of Emily Gill's marine inspired brooches.

B-Tech Intentions

During my 3rd year at tech i enjoyed exploring different techniques (enamelling, forging) and ways to create organic pieces of jewellery (rough, imperfect, asymmetrical) while using nature (colour of the sea, layering of the coral) as my reference. Now that i have started 4th year i plan to continue along the same path as i have been in the previous year, only refining/furthering what i have already done, and identifying and exploring new aspects of nature to be used as design reference.

above is a picture showing an enamelled neck piece from last year, next to my 'banana thing' (which is part of a necklace which is made using similar elements as my original neck piece)