patina test pieces

Purple Snow

I love this time of year, all the pretty Jacaranda flowers falling along my road...

little copper clammies, sweet...

I thought that folding the elements and opening them back up again might make them more interesting and detailed once they have been patinated. And in doing so they will follow on from the last necklace I made, and look like little clams!

copper/patina necklace?

I have never patinated copper before, and thought it might be interesting to incorporate it into a neckpiece. I have lots of these little forged copper 'coral' pieces that i can play around with...


I would like to patinate these elements and work them into a messy/busy chain with irregular links. Depending on what the patinated pieces look like, they could have the appearance of something rusted or crusty that could be found under the sea?

Paua Shell Necklace

Here is the finished chain and pendant...
The most beautiful thing about the ocean, to me, is that everything is hidden. The detail, the beautiful corals and creatures are all hidden beneath a somewhat boring surface.



For my next pieces i want to focus on how the surface can be plain and the underneath detailed and more interesting. I think this piece managed to express that thought a little... I find the back of the setting more beautiful than the front of the shell... I'm hoping to further this idea with my future pieces.

Paua Shell setting

With this project I wanted to play with different materials. in a previous meeting with my lecturer we discussed possibly using actual artifacts from the sea (shells, glass, coral) instead of just using them as reference material. I was given this stunning piece of paua shell by a friend, and thought it would be perfect to use while experimenting with different materials.


For this piece i kept the setting very simple so that it didnt take any focus away from the shell itself. I originally wanted to frame set the back of the shell and set a piece of enamel to make it more interesting, but after playing with forged elements i decided a simple setting could be just as interesting as an elaborate one. This was the back of the shell can also be seen.

Paua shell pendant

With this project I wanted to play with different materials. in a previous meeting with my lecturer we discussed possibly using actual artifacts from the sea (shells, glass, coral) instead of just using them as reference material. For this piece i kept the setting very simple so that it didnt take any focus away from the shell itself. The most beautiful thing about the ocean, to me, is that everything is hidden. The detail, the beautiful corals and creatures are all hidden beneath a somewhat boring surface. For my next pieces i want to focus on how the surface can be plain and the underneath detailed and more interesting. I think this piece managed to express that thought a little... I find the back of the setting more beautiful than the front of the shell... I'm hoping to further this idea with my future pieces.