Rose window Mandala test piece in silver (first)

This was one of the first test pieces I created, it has been enameled which is what I plan to do to with these Mandalas when they're all ready and completed. I wasn't entirely happy with the punching, I think it may be due to the vast spacing between the punches and I also created this piece before I custom made the punches that I wanted to use specifically for these designs so this piece gave me an idea of the type of punches that I needed to make.

Rose window Mandala test pieces in silver

These are test pieces with different design variations of Rose windows, I have punched them from silver which has a much more successful outcome than than aluminium. There are still more to come as I have many different designs in my head that I still want to create, I am finding the success of these designs to be very exciting and motivating which is giving me many ideas for the jewellery I want to make from them.

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.

Backing for mandala bracelet

This element has got a polished backing, as you can see it illuminates the coloured enamel but only in the direction that the light is shining. Initially I thought that if I were to use a backing with a hammered and polished finish it would refract the light in all different directions and would cause the light to illuminate most of the enamel but this didn't really work as I had planned for it to. I also tried using a brushed finish, this seemed to illuminate it well but only really under a flourescent light. It seems as though a polished backing is the best answer although there is one last technique to try and that is to use silver foil with my enamel.

Rose Window Mandala bracelet test piece

This is a test piece to see how the bracelet would look with white enamel on the back, I did this to see how the colour would stand out. Although from the back it looks interesting from the front it looks rather flat and lifeless, this was not the effect that I am looking for but some day I may be able to use it for something else.

Enamelled rose window test piece

This design is derived from the center section of the un-enamelled piece on the left. It is similar to a rose window in that only a portion of the design is used to create the actual window.

Rose Window test pieces

These are some rose window test pieces, I am trying to create more accurate representations of rose windows as apposed to the radiating circles of the first rose window earrings I created.
At the moment I am not sure where to go with these but I plan to draw some rose windows with a maths set to get a deeper understanding of how they are constructed.

Stamped test piece Star of david

This is the beginning pattern of the flower of life, it highly resembles the Star of David.

Flower of Life test piece resembling Islamic art

This is the opposite side of the stamped and punched FOL test piece. The pattern in this test piece resembles the geometric patterns in Islamic art.

Stamped and punched Flower of Life test piece

This piece had a different effect as I punched each petal with a flat marquise stamp and punched through with a triangular punch.

Stamped test piece Flower of Life

I have been making some flat-tipped punches for stamping patterns rather than punching through, the punch used on this piece was made by my father who is an engineer and makes tools and dies, I asked him to make it because it is a concave equilateral triangle which is very difficult to make without proper machinery. I needed this punch because I wanted to try punch out the negative shapes of the flower of life pattern, I normally use a marquise punch to do this, so I asked him to make one that was flat-tipped for stamping and one with a sharp tip for punching through.

I like the way the pattern in the aluminium gets raised, with silver or copper it would be harder to create as it reacts differently and is more dense and rigid than aluminium.

Rose Window paper cut-outs

These are the paper cut-outs that I am using to roll mill onto my metal for the backing plate. I realised that the backing plate for the mandala bracelet needed some point of interest for the visible side which rests against the wrist. This is not necessary as it could've had a plain finish but this is what adds richness to a piece and separates it from being a piece of costume jewellery. After some thought I decided to create these mini rose window paper cut-outs to transfer the pattern onto metal, I had made these for my stand at Design Indaba and knew they were quick and easy to make. The only problem with these is there is a limit to the intricacy of the designs and when they were inprinted on the metal they seemed quite boring. So i'll try using the silver foil technique if that doesn't work then i'll have to come up with another idea.

Enameling with beads

These are test pieces to see how different beads enamel.

Punching Patterns

These were some test pieces I made whilst exploring my new found technique of punch piercing and sacred geometry patterns.
I was very pleased with this new technique and around about this time I had started my investigations with sacred geometry. I came across a very alluring pattern called the flower of life, which up until this time I had struggled to find a way in which to render it in metal without using the likely method of piercing or etching. When I came across this technique I thought of how I could use it to portray this pattern. I then realised that it was made up either of overlapping circles or connecting marquise shapes, this is what brought me to use a marquise shaped punch to render the pattern.