Playing with watercolours

To explore my subject matter/references more closely, i decided to look at sections of them, and then paint it...
The photo below shows one of my favourite pictures, burrowing clams. I looked at the shapes around the edges of the clams, and the detail on the inside of them...

Mirjam Hiller

While browsing through The Carrot Box Blog, I found a Jeweller called Mirjim Hiller from Germany. These rings are interesting and I find that they relate to my work because the emphasis to detail on the shanks is as much as on top of the ring itself...

Completed Ring

Looking at my finished piece, I am not entirely happy with the setting. I enjoyed experimenting and learning what NOT to do though... The edges of the setting did not fold in the way I had intended, this might have been because I forged the setting before bending it up and soldering, and possibly because my metal was slightly too thick.

The underneath of the setting though I am very happy with! I feel that the shank being bent to the shape of the pierced out sections worked out very well. Since the focus of this piece was to bring detail to the hidden areas of jewellery, much like the hidden world beneath the surface of the sea, I feel that the piece was successful...

attaching the shank...

To make sure the shank flowed into the setting I tapered and forged the ends, then moulded them around the shapes that i had previously pierced out. Additional wire was added to the shank so that it could form a complete frame around the pierced out sections on the setting.

View from the back...

Seeing as the focus with these rings is what happens underneath the ring, i decided to pierce sections of the setting out. This was because the underneath of the pearl was as pretty as the top, and it would be a waste to cover it up.

Setting...

The picture below shows the uneven sides of the blister pearl.

To stay true to the organic nature of the pearl as well as the sea from which it came I am going to experiment with my setting by forging the edges, and then setting it. Once set i would like the silver edges to over lap sections of the pearl and some sections of the pearl not covered by the setting...

Ring Designs...

The pictures below show drawings for the design of the first ring of the series I will be making. The Stone that I will be setting is a blister pearl, the edges or the pearl are raised and lower in some parts, which will make it difficult to set...