SoWheretoo?

I really want to create jewellery that is fully hand-made and really has that special hand-made essence to it. I want it to be quite visible that it has been hand-made yet I want it to still be high in quality and originality, in other words I want to stay away from flee market craft-like jewellery. My hopes and dreams are to one day build a Hand-made empire where people can buy something that is soulful and meaningful and has not been mass-produced over and over again.

The transformation

Through the lost wax casting my jewellery started taking a more organic form as I began using forms from the ocean as reference for design. Towards the end of the year I started moving away from organic jewellery as it had been over done so many times that I really wanted to do something different, I was still very interested in the mysteries of nature and what causes things to take the forms that they do. I then started researching Sacred Geometry which I found to be quite amazing, it gave me a few explanations as to the reasons nature manifests itself in certain ways.

Around the same time I found a new technique that had not been used alot which involved punching shapes through metal, this enabled me to create patterns in metal with a more 3 dimensional feel. I welcomed this technique with open arms as I love anything that is different and has not been replicated by many people, I love to be original.

I really loved the more hands-on approach and watching the transformation of the metal from start to finish, I felt as though I had a closer relationship with the metal as apposed to wax moulding, it also was much more successful in terms of manufacture than casting was.

This technique also pushed me to create my own punching tools which I have always enjoyed making. The making of the tools is just as important as the making of the jewellery, without the punches I would not have been able create all my different patterns on metal. The punching is also very repetitive especially with the Flower of Life pattern and when I begin punching it almost becomes like a mantra for meditation just as mandala's in Sacred Geometry are an aid to meditation so is the punching.

In the beginning

I started off with experimenting with spirals, I really love working with spirals and I enjoyed using wax rolling and moulding as an interesting way of creating spiral patterns.

I loved the technique and the jewellery that I made but found it to be very time consuming, the lost wax casting method was also not always successful.

During this time I researched the purposes of jewellery amongst ethnic communities as I wanted to find the original purposes of jewellery, I did this because I felt as though jewellery may have lost its true purpose in this day and age as most of it amounts to diamonds and gold, a mere show of wealth. Researching this topic brought me to find that it doesn't really matter that there is 'bling' jewellery what matters is that there are still jewellers out there making it for the right reasons

Commercial Jewellery designs

These are some of the designs that I have been doing for the jewellery store where I am working, they are requests from clients to be made up, I am enjoying this part of the job.

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.

Rose Window Mandala bracelet

I am in the process of making a bracelet which will form part of a set for my Rose Window Mandala jewellery. There are a few issues which have arisen and are delaying me from finishing it. The main problem is that the enamel becomes dark and dull when placed on the arm whereas with the earrings the light was allowed to shine through and illuminate the colours.
This brought me to a few options I can either use a backing plate or enamel the back white.