Plat Africa (Gold Plating)

After I completed my Pods, I was ready to see what it would look like with the large open pod containing the pearl.  The pearl is not a bright white pearl, it is more off white and I wanted to see if it had a reaction to the colours that would be reflected on the inside of the shiny surface of the pod. I placed the pearl into the pod and compared it to an image of the pod without a pearl. There was a large difference:
The image showing the inside of the pod containing the pearl almost has a dull brown or beige sheen to it where the image of the pod containing no pearl has a whiter sheen. The pearl definitely has an affect of the sheen on the inside of the pearl

Pod containing pearl appears dull

Pod with no pearl has a white sheen

To combat this dull sheen, I gold plated the inside of the pod to accommodate the warm tones. I had to cover the outside of the pod with nail varnish to act as a resist when the pod was placed into the gold plating bath so that the outside surface remains unaffected.

Result after gold plating

PlatAfrica Free Writing

This was the third year that I had the opportunity to work with platinum and each year I end up loving the process. At first it is always daunting working with platinum because its physical properties are vastly different to those of silver or copper it is much harder than other metals making it difficult to bend and polish as it requires sanding in much higher grades than silver and gold. . It is also much more valuable  and one always has to be extra cautious not to lose  scraps, bits and filings as your loss cannot be greater than 5% of the total metal weight. Because platinum having such a high melting point, It is also very difficult to remelt the metal so you cannot afford to have wrong calculations regarding the metal preparation.  Because of these two factors, a jeweller learns to respect this metal.  

Apart from these fearsome properties, platinum also has many amazing properties that the other metals do not have. I used these properties to my advantage in the creation of my PlatAfrica 2019 Brooch. Platinum has the ability to fuse, which helped me to create a strong branch without having any solder joints to weaken the structure. The twigs and branches were fully fused onto the main branch to create one solid brooch. Platinum also stays shiny after being exposed to heat and this property saved me quite a few steps in the polishing process, I was able to pre-polish each part and assemble each shiny part individually. Platinum's great strength also allowed me to make a brooch pin that does not lose it's tension and I could roll my sheet metal paper thin so that I could cut out my templates using a regular pair of scissors. No filings. 

Regular scissors being used to cut out templates on a 0.15mm sheet

It felt very wrong to use a pair of scissors to cut out my templates, it also felt terrible to roll-mill the surface of the platinum as opposed to having a shiny polished surface, It felt like I was disrespecting Platinum, Almost like wearing takkies to go and see the queen. I also realize that the stereotype in my mind and in the minds of others, must be broken. Platinum or Gold is mostly associated with Shiny BLING BLING, no It does not necessarily have to shine, as I am making contemporary jewellery, I can use contemporary methods in my creation to break away from the norm. 

PlatAfrica 2019 Manufacturing (Texture)

This post covers the section of texture that was used for my PlatAfrica 2019 Piece

 Above is the texture that was used in my silver prototype This texture was achieved in two parts, first the sheet metal of  0.15mm was roll milled with 800 sandpaper before piercing out the flower shaped template. After the pod was formed and bent, a hot flame was used to reticulate the surface to appear more organic (this is not possible to go on copper or platinum)

 The Above texture was used on the platinum version. after the star template was cut out of a sheet of platinum 0.15mm thick,  the pod was brilliantly polished to create a shiny surface and then a sharp scribe was used to draw on cells onto the surface of the pod. Thereafter the pod was punched and bent to shape. The shiny pods created a brilliant contrast against the more dull twigs and leaves.

The above texture was used on the leaves of my gooseberry pod leaves. First the leaves were hand drawn onto a sheet of platinum (0.15mm thick) in shapes of  hearts. These hearts were cut out with scissors then roll milled with 80 sand paper to give this rough texture and to elongate the leaves. They were then punched on a leather pad using a rounded flat punch to create the skeleton of the leaves.

Personal Meaning of PlatAfrica 2019 Piece

On a personal level, I decided to use the Gooseberry as my source of inspiration because over the past few weeks, gooseberry pods have become a sort of metaphor of my thoughts and feelings. I have noticed that I tend to hide my emotions away in fear of peoples' reactions or hurting their feelings. I have started working on this problem by making a point of sharing my inner feelings and thoughts to others. Sometimes it helps to share a good thought and it is an important skill to have in personal relationships.

On my final design, I have placed three platinum pods ascending from small to large, with the large one that is open exposing a magnificent pearl and a gold plated inside. The three closed pods represent my mind or my thoughts that are concealed to the world and the three different sized pods represent me as a person (growing). The large pod containing the pearl represent the expression of my emotions, feelings or thoughts. When viewing one of my previous posts, titled Holiday Jewellery,  I give a meaning to the use of pearls:"The pearl represents suffering, as a pearl is grown inside an oyster’s flesh. It starts off as a piece of sand or debris that the oyster coats in nacre to smooth out the grain’s sharp and painful edges."  The pod exposing the pearl represents my release of suffering or internal debate experienced when emotions or feelings are kept inside. The gold plating brings with a sense of warmth , joy or relief that is experienced when the internal turmoil is expelled. 

Blooming

Blooming.

'Blessings of Love' is the theme of the 2018 PlatAfrica competition and I chose the subordinate theme of 'Spirit of Nature' as the influence of my ring design. My design consists of a hammered texture, domed shank embellished with an arrangement of petals of different sizes to resemble a floral structure which makes up the eye-catching top of the ring. The shank and most of the petals are constructed out of platinum and three of the petals are made up of gold plated sterling silver. Each petal is connected to the shank with a hinge system (consisting of jump rings soldered to the shank) so they are able to gracefully move with the motion of the wearer. This allows my design to metaphorically represent the development of a baby girl into a woman through the growth of a flower from a bud into a blossom. 

During the design and manufacture process, I learned a number of new things that I feel have changed the way that I design. For me, the most significant aspect of my ring was the way that the petals were connected to the shank with a hinge system which brought forth a new notions or titles that I can explore, movement, development, growth. In previous designs, I felt that a static piece would not fully capture the metaphor of development which is why I was led into the exploration of kinetic or movement jewellery. This new concept is essential to me as a designer as I feel that incorporating movement into future designs can lead to exciting new outcomes