Sacred Geometry

Sacred geometry is set of universal patterns which may reflect the way in which life manifests containing a specific numerical design that exists in most natural forms of life.
I am interested in this theory because I feel this may lead me to making more purposeful jewellery. I am hoping that by using sacred geometric shapes, my jewellery may impact some kind of positive change for the wearer, whether it be to heal the wearer or to bring harmony and release negativity. I am also highly drawn to many of the geometric patterns I'm not 100% sure why but I find some of them really beautiful maybe because they are soothing to look at and serve as a key to connecting with the universe to some extent and unlocking spiritual enlightenment. Or maybe they're just nice to look at, who knows...

Sacred Geometry- The Flower of Life

The Flower of Life symbol is considered to be sacred among many cultures around the world, both ancient and modern. Within this symbol can be found all the building blocks of the universe that we call the Platonic Solids. The symbol can be used as a metaphor to illustrate the connectedness of all life and spirit within the universe.Looking into the window of the Flower of Life challenges us to unify our mind, heart, and spirit. When we can truly see all life woven so intimately, we strengthen the embrace of the divine in our lives and we can transform our world through the vision of universal unity. http://www.floweroflife.org/

The flower of life shape contains a secret shape known as the fruit of life that consists of 13 spheres that hold many mathematical and geometrical laws. These laws represent the whole universe. Giving the flower of life to someone is like giving them the whole universe in one jewel.

People reported physical and psychological changes after wearing this pendant - faster heart beats, prophetic dreams, breaking of illusions, seeing the reality as it is and becoming free from long time fears.
The flower of life is one of the strongest sacred geometric shapes! http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_sage1.htm

Natural Mystic Range

This year I have been focusing on wax modeling with a technique called wax rolling and extrusion explained in the equilibrium posts. These pieces are the objects of my exploration from this year It may not seem to be much but there were a lot of blood, sweat and mistakes during the process of making these pieces.

I am influenced strongly by natural forms and patterns and that is where I draw my Inspiration from in the design of my pieces. I like to reflect the rhythm and flow of nature in my jewellery as a tribute to Mother Earth. When I become an established jeweller I would really like to contribute a percentage of my earnings towards global warming and environmental funds.

From a research point of view I wasn't sure which direction I was heading in, I started off with ethnic jewellery and its purpose in in ethnic societies, my aim was to discover the original purpose for jewellery which I found out to be Social Status, Adornment and mutual recognition between fellow tribesmen. I never found It captivating enough to follow on with the subject, but realized from it all that I would like to create meaningful jewellery.

So now I am focusing on the connection between Sacred Geometry and Nature, and through this I hope to create visually pleasing designs that reflect the harmony of nature and may in some way bring ones life into a harmonius existance, such as the flower of life symbol which has been known to do this.

Love and Courtship

The theme for Anglo Platinum was Love and Courtship rituals in South African Cultures one of the requirements for the competition was to have a box to store the jewellery in. I decided to use the same Shwe-Shwe fabric that I retrieved the earring design from and covered my own box that I made, I then used a ribbon and button to bind it.

'Kwa-Nobantu' -for the people

These earrings were the start of a new technique in my jewellery which involved a direct manipulation in the metal; they were brought about by designing for the Anglo platinum competition with a theme of courtship rituals in South Africa.
I love African shwe-shwe fabric and wanted to use this as a design reference for the jewellery I was going to make, I chose this particular design as I was attracted to its interesting circular pattern. I then had to come up with a way of creating this design in metal. My first thought was to pierce out the pattern but it was quite a predictable way of doing it so I tried thinking of other ways in which to portray the pattern. After much thought I went to my 4th year lecturer to speak to him about my design and he showed me a technique he had discovered which was creating a perforated surface with the use of punches, it was a really interesting and different technique so I decided to use it. I roll milled the sheet metal with sandpaper to create an interesting matted texture on my metal; the purpose of this was to generate a contrast between the raised burs which were burnished and the metal below it, so the edges of the burs stood out effectively.
I really enjoyed the overall look of this technique so I decided to pursue it and experiment with patterns from sacred Geometry.

Playing around with shapes

These were just some pictures I took of the shwe-shwe elements. I placed them in different positions to see the interraction between them and to see what other ideas could spring from them.

Anglo Platinum process

This was the start of my anglo platinum earrings.

I first had to forge my own tapering punches into different shapes such as Tear Drop, Marquise and a line punch. They where made by forging the tapers and the sanding and grinding to the shapes needed.

I had to experiment with various textures for my metal I decided that both sides should have contrasting textures so the one side I made polished and the other I rolled through the roll mill with sand paper to give a matted grainy texture. The front side I decided should be the matt texture so that when punched from the polished side, the burs (raised parts) could be burnished and would stand out from the matt finish.

I then had to carefully measure where my punches had to be placed so that the pattern would be evenly spaced . The punched holes also varied in sizes from large in the middle to smaller towards the end so I had to be carefull of how hard I hit them into the metal.