Thursday, July 31, 2014

Art Deco Diffusion

Trying to diffuse the cost of the piece and not in the size. So for the Art Deco project I played around with this idea of making the same piece (earrings) but with cheaper materials and I also tried to make the pieces less time consuming to produce.

Oxidized sterling silver with fine silver filigree wire.
Copper with red vitreous enamel and sterling silver shepherds hooks.
Patina copper with sterling silver shepherds hooks.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Art Movement


Will mass-produced contemporary jewelry achieve museum-grade credibility? Recent efforts by some makers to adopt gallery codes of conduct insure that it will. But unless jewelry artists concurrently expand their modes of production and reach out to the greater public with affordable work, that enriches their lives with disposable wonders, those museum captions might one day read like epitaphs to an art movement with no circulation. (Lignel, 2008)

While writing my 1st chapter I came across this paragraph in one of the articles in Klimt02. It took me awhile to figure out exactly what he was trying to say but I think Lignel is saying that as jewellers we should be making a concerted effort to make our jewellery more accecessable to the public, it should have a wide appeal and not be only seen as art works to be kept in museums.

Breast feeding Brooch

So I got this order for a brooch, the picture has different levels to it so I thought the best way to tackle this would be by using Rhino. I really enjoy using Rhino, I love watching it cut and then seeing the end result. Although today we had a slight power outage for about 15 seconds so I had to restart my cut from the beginning.
Picture given to referance

Drawing done in Rhino


Rhino cut roughing done.



Alcohol Ink Fail

These were my 5th piece for the Art Deco exhibition. They were sterling silver earrings with alcohol ink and then coated in a varnish to prevent the ink from coming off the piece, so I spent yesterday spaying on several coated of the varnish to make sure that the ink wouldn't come off but then I was a little silly yesterday because I put the pieces on newspaper and the varnish stuck to it. 
So I started again today and thought I was being very clever when I did it on plastic but on my second to last coat of the varnish a piece got stuck to the plastic and ripped of a piece of the ink. So...I will not be exhibiting these.

Enamel Fail

I tried to do a pair of enameled earrings but I think my metal wad too thin and because of the gaps in the earring it made it a very weak surface to enamel on and when the metal moved to enamel came off. I will have to use a slightly thicker metal next time.

Cost Diffusion

I found a shop on Etsy which does the cost diffusion It is called Shoprarebird and the owner is Pauline Stanley. I am looking into for my Art Deco range. Where you make the same or similar pieces but either your metal cost is lower or your hourly labour cost is lower due to the piece being simplier to make. 
Minimalist Copper Faceted Bead Necklace on Copper Chain
$24.00
Minimalist Silver Faceted Bead Sterling Silver Necklace
$34.00
Minimalist Gold Plated Faceted Bead Gold Filled Necklace
$34.00
Geometric Pyrite Minimalist Sterling Necklace - Oxidized Sterling Silver Chain
$38.00



Art Deco Pendant

This is the pendant I made from the earring which was too heavy. I think this piece turned out very well considering that it was originally meant to be an earring.
The resins ombre technique was effective but if I had to do this again I would not have put the resin in the chased lines because they were very shallow so some of the resin was removed in the sanding process.


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Sunshine Earrings

I used different colours in each gap of these earrings slowly going from red to yellow. I decided not to use a backing because of the weight issue I had earlier but the problem was when I applied pressure to the resin in popped out easily.  So in my next pair I will bur a little ridge in them for the resin to sit in.


Art Deco Earrings with Alcohol Ink

I am very excited to create a finished piece with my alcohol ink because I played around with it before earlier in my Btech but never used it for any completed pieces.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Ombre Resin

This is the earring which I made which was too heavy, playing around with it to see if it could work as a pendant. 
I wanted to try do the resin so that it goes from light to dark. I am very happy with the way it turned out but because the piece is slightly curved I have had to put another layer of resin over the top to get the resin all level.




Art Deco Colours

For my resin piece I wanted to see what colour would work with the Art Deco theme and while searching I came across this image. The colour that stood out to me the most was the red (my favorite colour) but what I liked was how it faded it this colour swatch. It reminds me of ombre which is shaded in tone. http://www.yourdictionary.com/. Hoping I can recreate this in resin.


Earrings Weight

I wanted to do earrings with a resin inlay in the same shape but without the filigree. I soldered on a plate at the back for the resin to sit on but this created too much weight for an earring. So I am going to try do it again but with thinner plates so that it will be lighter, I will play around with this one maybe a pendant?

Diffusion Art deco

For my art deco pieces i want to explore diffusion through the value of the piece and different ways of making the same piece but in a cheaper way to make it more commercially viable. So my first piece was filigree, thinking of doing another with resin, another plain them maybe working with a cheaper metal like copper and then I could enamel one and patina another.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Filigree Art deco earrings in progress

Pierced out silver plate.
Filigree added to silver frame and chased lines inbetween.
Blackened and polished.

Sketches for my Art Deco piece.

These are a few of the ideas that I have for the Art deco exhibition. Not sure hoe many will get done but hopefully Ill be able to make a few of them. 

Monday, July 21, 2014

Art Deco Earring Design

These are the earrings I designed for the Art Deco exhibition. I wanted them to be simplistic like the design in the Art Deco era, I did them in Rhino so they could be symmetrical like the designs from this era. The style of earring I chose will sit to the side inspired by a design I saw earlier in the year by Maike Browning.


Saturday, July 19, 2014

Symmetrical Flower Patterns

For the new Art Deco project I wanted to stick with the floral theme so I have been finding references that are floral or free flowing. 
This is a pattern I found in (Pattern Sourcebook: Chinese Style by Shigeki Nakamura pg 61) It reminds me of Art Deco because of the symmetry. 

Friday, July 18, 2014

Art Deco Inspiration

I found this sketch in a book I was looking at. I was attracted to this piece by the way it goes up in steps. I reminds me slightly of the way the lotus petals gradually go in steps.
(Art Deco Jewelry by Lauren Mouillefarine and Evelyne Posseme Pg 69)

Art Deco Background

We are taking part in the Art Deco exhibition which will be taking place in Durban. I thought to start this project I have to understand Art Deco first. 
Art Deco was started in the 1920's was a time of huge growth in the arts including architecture, furnature, fashion, furnature and fashion. During  the Art Deco period pieces became much simplier and "purer". The main focus of Art Deco is on symmetrical lines and  geometric shapes. 
(Art Deco Jewelry by Lauren Mouillefarine and Evelyne Posseme Pg 6)
This is an example of a Art Deco building in Durban.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Lotus Neckpiece

I'm busy making my lotus neck piece which was inspired by my Thailand trip. The neck piece will one day be a statement piece with 3 lotus flowers which are made from square wire and filled with fine filigree and then strung onto a woven necklace (not finished). I have been frustrated at the moment because I started creating it last term and then a compulsory project came up and after that every time I start on it something else comes up.