Baobab earrings- Vetkat regopstaan

I designed these earrings for the Vetkat Regopstaan exhibition, Vetkat is a Bushman who creates Bushman art, I was intrigued mostly by his drawings of the Baobab and came up with this design after many test pieces.
My aim for these earrings was to create them with a relaxed approach (intentional carelessness), in terms of not being too fussed about little flaws that happened during the manufacturing process. My reasoning behind this was that I imagined Vetkat, being a bushman from a very rural environment, was not tied up in the westernised Ideas of ‘perfection’ and I felt that his work had a very down to earth, unrefined appearance which I wanted to portray in my work.
I used this ‘careless’ approach by stamping the bordering pattern without measuring the position and spacing of each punch. I also used a glass brush to emerge the light silver shade from the black patina in a ‘relaxed’ fashion. After roll milling a taper on the bar for the spiral shepherds hooks, I forged it slightly with the least caution possible and then bent it into a spiral shape, also quite carelessly so it deliberately had sharp curves and kinks in the metal to mimic the zigzag effect of the Baobab's branches. Again with the shepherd’s hooks I wanted to get an overall handmade feel to match the rustic Baobab elements.
When I look at these now, though at the time I didn’t realise when I was designing them, they encompass the characteristics of a Mandala which are a centre point, a circular design and some form of symmetry. Though not a typical Mandala, these earrings still bear the essential qualities of the Mandala.

Rustic Spirals

The last task for these earrings was to design shepards hooks. I wanted to use something strong that would make a statement as they were for an exhibition so I decided to use the forged spiral shepards hooks that I made for the shwe-shwe earrings, but I wanted them to have a rougher more rustic appeal. Once I tapered either side of the bar I forged it slightly with the least caution possible and then bent it into a spiral shape, also quite carelessly so it deliberately had sharp curves and kinks in the metal to mimic the zigzag effect of the Baobab's branches. Again with the shepards hooks I wanted to get an overall handmade feel to match the rustic Baobab elements.

Baobab Sapling

I used the marquise-shaped punch for the leaves of my baobab and decided to slump green coloured glass beads into them for colour. The melted beads worked really well especially the side the beads were placed as the colour appeared much brighter against the silver.




I still really liked the baobab without the leaves so I decided to create 2 pairs, one which represents summer and one to represent winter.


There was just one finishing touch that it needed, an interesting edge. I wanted to try out something different from the dotted edge of the mandala earings as it can be very time consuming, so I tried a concave triangle flat punch and I really liked the effect it created, an almost petal-like shape as it bulged out the metal.

Seedling

I needed to find a way to portray my Baobab that had the most definition and detail. I came up with the Idea of using a tiny dot punch which enabled me to use intricate patterns and fine lines. When hammered on a polished steel block it makes a shiny bump texture. I then drew a few Baobabs and chose the template that I wanted to work with, the first punched tree looked really good apart from the fact that I found the dots to be too big. I realised there were two factors that lead to this result which is the thickness of the metal and the size of the punch tip. I then rolled the plate thinner and used a smaller dot punch. I also tried punching holes straight through another test piece to see the outcome which was quite interesting but I prefered the stamped texture, I may come back to this at a later stage.

Baobab earings- The seed

My first thought for these earings was to make a reticulated tree, reticulation is a technique that resembles the texture of bark when oxidised, I decided after some thought to create a Baobab from technique that I always use which is punching and stamping patterns into silver or copper sheet. I wanted to use this technique instead because it is quite unique and I thought it would bring about a more handmade, rustic feel, almost as though Vetkat himself could have made it out there in the bush.

I started off by just creating a tree shape from one punch only which was a marquise-shaped punch, although it looked interesting it seemed to really lack definition. The next test piece I made a line punch to act as the branches and leaves but I found this to be too uniform and straight, it lacked that natural feeling.

Vetkat Regopstaan Exhibition, The Baobab

The Baobab is native to South Africa and its beauty has inspired a wide range of arts and crafts. With its characteristic wide trunk and zigzag branches resembling a root-system, the Baobab has become somewhat synonymous with Africa and is sometimes refered to as the upside-down tree.

I took part in an exhibition for an original Khoisan Bushman artist who goes by the name of Vetkat Regopstaan Kruiper, we were asked to design and make a piece of jewellery based around his art work which had a strong bushman rock-art style. One drawing in particular captured me the most which was a drawing of the Baobab. I love the Baobab tree it is my favourite of all tree's especially because it is an African tree and it has many uses such as rope being made from the bark and is also a source of food and water.

The Baobab is also a very visually pleasing tree, I am attracted to the shape and I find something quite mystical and sacred about them, I have to wonder if is not the golden mean at work.