Splash project reflections

I was accepted as an Emerging Creative for the Design Indaba expo so I decided to come up with a few new pieces. I have been researching Mandala’s as part of my Sacred Geometry theme and found a really attractive design that resembled a Mandala. I started punching out the pattern on copper and it was lacking that extra quality to it, this brought me to slumping glass beads to fill the open spaces. I found that once fired the opaque beads became transparent which didn’t sit well at first but when I held it to the light, the colours were illuminated which gave it a far more appealing effect. The test piece resembled to me the stained glass of Rose windows found in Gothic Cathedrals, which I find really attractive and appealing and tend to find that something about them resonates within me. This got me into thinking how much Rose Windows resemble Mandala’s, so I thought that there must be a connection between Rose Windows and Mandala’s, this was the start of my new found interest in Rose Windows, which I intend to start researching the connections.
This leads me to believe that most of my research and production is a result of cause and effect. Because of this, I feel that I am being lead on a path to spiritual awareness or enlightenment which is due to the spiritual concepts of my jewellery. To the uninformed spirituality may not be obvious in my Jewellery but may serve as a medium with which one can learn from, but to those who are informed I believe that my jewellery will have some sort of spiritual resonance within them. Maybe what remains unresolved is that I need to find ways of bringing across spirituality in my jewellery in a more unconsealed manner.

Sweet Mozam's

This is a Cast Silver ring set with water Opals, they have a really beautiful colour to them which remind me of the bright blue luminescence of the Ocean in Tofu, Mozambique. I went there in December 2004 and what a beautiful place it was. After a long hot drive from Maputo, we arrived at a Backpackers called Fatima's Nest where we camped at, it had a really relaxed vibe with a beach bar where you can take afternoon naps on the couch, a bon-fire circle and little dried palm tree leaf gazebo's with hammocks strung from it, I thought that this was definately my kind of place, I never wanted to leave and ever since I have been longing to go back. So to anyone reading this post I would strongly recomend taking a visit.

Balance Rings

These rings came about from designing for a client, I came up with a similar design to these and decided to forge it from thick wire, when I bent it up to the shape, it was too big to be worn as a ring so I decided to over lap the two meeting loops side by side to decrease the size. This created a really interesting pattern and It took off from there. I made a few variations and created different finishes such as blackening the metal for contrast, glass brushing for a matted look and forging with a polished hammer for a beaten texture. Over and above this I set one of the rings with a Labradorite gemstone and one with a Moonstone. To me these rings represent the Chinese Yin and Yang which describes the interdependance of opposites which create harmony and balance.

Seed of life

The pattern in this pendant and earrings is a center section of the basic component of the Flower of Life pattern. It is the outcome of 7 circles with a six-fold symetry, so to me it symbolises purity and femeninity as it too has a geometry of 7 such as that of Rose Windows. I would like to make the pendant into a locket because I find something really special about them, I'm not sure why but it may be because they usually contain a significant object within them.

Rose Window Mandala earings

I wanted to experiment with other Mandala patterns other than the flower of life, I had previously found a decorative design on paper which really appealed to me, at a later stage I realised why I was so attracted to it which was because it resembled the squash blossom design found in Native American jewellery, it consists of stones being placed around a central stone and more being placed around the inner circle creating a radiating, circular, Mandala-like pattern.
After a few unsuccessful test pieces I found the piece that worked best; it consisted of 3 rows of larger holes bordered by open pinhole apertures. I created smaller and simplified elements for the large elements to hang from so as to add to the visual appeal of the earrings by creating an elongated quality so they did not appear to be one large clumsy element hanging from the ear.
I wanted to incorporate colour into it as Mandalas usually are colourful, so I slumped opaque glass beads into it which went transparent, when held to the light I was reminded of Rose windows.
I did more experimental test pieces to explore other Mandalas as well as to create accurate depictions of rose windows.

Cause and Effect

This cuff was part of the developmental series of flower of life repetition patterns. During the punching of this cuff the metal formed a clastic curve which I needed to flatten in order to proceed with ease. When I hammered it flat it created a split in the metal, much to my dismay. After the long hours of repetitive punching I had seemingly made a mess of my piece. I then showed it to my lecturer and he told me a story about these wooden bowls made by Korean artists that were used in traditional tea drinking ceremonies. The craftsmen would carve these wooden bowls and when some of the bowls dried out it created a split in the wood which made them useless for tea drinking, so the craftsmen used wire to bind the split, and so from a plain wooden bowl emerged a beautiful work of art. These bowls are now sold as artwork.
This led to me using 18ct gold granules to patch up the split which added to the beauty of this piece.
Hand made beauty is in its flaws but sometimes flaws can be the cause of an effect such as my Flower of Life cuff here.

Enameling with beads

These are test pieces to see how different beads enamel.

Spiral maze bangle

This is a bangle that I have been working on, I love to use spirals in my jewellery, I am really drawn to spirals I'm not sure why, but I intend to find out somehow, I think it may have something to do with Sacred Geometry and the golden ratio but I haven't yet found a link that resonates within me between spirals and Sacred Geometry.

I feel as though I need something more for this design I thought that the design on its own would be enough not to have 3 dimensional curves, but it looks rather flat and basic so I have started experimenting with textures such as a smooth polished surface and a beaten hammered finish but still it lack's form and dimension. So the question is how to create this design with a richer appeal. Perhaps I can file the edges to create a more fluid and flowing curve or construct it using forged wire of varied thickness. I also plan to set water opals in my current bangle which may give it a more 3D appeal.