Motifs: Pods

Motifs

Seedpods

In addition to flowers and plants, a great portion of my inspiration comes from Seedpods. I am fascinated by the way that the pods have a ‘hidden’ surprise encapsulated within them. I am also drawn to the forms and textures that make up seed pods. One of the largest sources of inspiration has been the Gooseberry pod, which is a lantern like, airy pod that covers a growing gooseberry. One morning while I went for a walk in the garden, I spotted a gooseberry plant growing amongst some potted plants so I picked a twig off of the plant and I hung it upside down to dry.  Looking at the gooseberry plant with its delicate outer leaves and spider veins, protecting its precious treasure, soon to burst out into a bright orange berry, I was eager to recreate these pods in metal.  

Cape Gooseberry Pods

Another seedpod that has sparked up my creative interests is the coral tree’s tough bean-like ligneous pods that house tiny bright orange seeds, growing up I called them lucky beans. I am eager to recreate these pods in metal to be able to house gemstones and beads.

Open and Closed pods

Coral Tree Seed Pods, Photo by Glenice Ebedes

Coral Tree

Earlier this week, I was taking a drive and I noticed that all the coral trees in my town were bare of leaves, Only seedpods and flowers were left to decorate the trees. I don't like the coral tree's leaves as they are a dull brown green colour and they always seem to have warts on them. I stopped in the middle of the road to pick some flowers and pods for some new inspiration. I decided to play with some copper to recreate one of these pods.

Here are the pods of the coral tree in different stages

A pod that I made in Copper

Gooseberry Pod Branch

In the past few days I worked on this Gooseberry Twig Piece. It did not seem quite finished to me so I added a few more twiglets to make it look more realistic. I found it very difficult to reticulate these twiglets in the same way I did the larger branches, so I came up with another solution to put grooves into the wire to make them appear more branch-like, I used a 4mm setting burr on its side to create lines or grooves into the metal. I also attached the pods and drilled the holes on the pods larger than the diameter of the wire so that they dangled more.

Gooseberry Twig Before

Gooseberry Twig After

Pod Elements Turning into Jewellery

A While back, I made quite a few elements of Gooseberry Pods in copper and I started making them into finished pieces to add to my Btech Collection. The below Image is a brooch that was inspired by a pencil drawing that I made a while back. I ordered a batch of 10mm pearls to substitute as the gooseberries inside the open pods. I also blackened the Copper pods as in the drawing I made in May.

Brooch in Sterling silver, Copper and a Freshwater Pearl. 

Inspiration Drawing

Process Work

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. 

PlatAfrica 2019

For this year's theme, Love in Platinum, I decided to go with the design hook of Rhapsodies of Nature. I created a stunning spray brooch made entirely out of platinum which was inspired by a photograph of a gooseberry twig that I hung upside down to dry. My brooch is representational to a gooseberry twig with three platinum gooseberry pods hanging from it. Each of the pod twigs are able to rotate and move with the body of the wearer. The three gooseberries are arranged in descending sizes, the two smaller gooseberry pods are closed up and the largest one is slightly open with a large pearl on the inside. the inside of this pod was gold plated to give a hint to the gooseberry's golden yellow colour.

Inspirational Image behind my final design

I decided to make a gooseberry twig brooch, not only does the gooseberry have a very personal meaning in my life, but also because it fit the theme of this year's competition. We were tasked to create a customer profile for the imaginary person purchasing this item. I created a profile of a young man looking to purchase the perfect gift for his wife on their fourth wedding anniversary, which traditionally, flowers or fruit are gifted on this year, making this fruitful piece a very fitting gift.

Final Plat Africa Brooch Design in Platinum, with gold plating and Pearl

Plat Africa 2

Plat Africa

The theme for the Plat Africa 2019 competition is “love in Platinum”, I will be creating a spray brooch resembling a gooseberry twig in sterling silver carrying three gooseberry pods made from platinum. The reason that I have chosen to make a spray brooch is because of their meaning when given to someone. A spray brooch is a brooch made out of gold or platinum to look like twigs or a bunch of flowers. When someone receives a spray brooch, it is like receiving an everlasting bunch of flowers, a metaphor to undying love as platinum does not tarnish. I have chosen to use Gooseberry pods as the pods resemble the concealment of thoughts or emotions. The three pods in platinum, growing in size, and the largest one broken open to reveal a pearl resembles the expression of thought. The use of platinum represents the strength of these barriers. I have chosen to use a pearl in place of a gooseberry because pearls are a symbol of suffering; they are formed by a grievance in the flesh of oysters. The pod releasing the pearl shows the release of grievance which allows the relationship to grow.

Pod prototype problems

Prototype Problems

I was very hopeful and optimistic about this project, after finding a heap load of aluminium scraps in our garage roof. The metal seemed so perfect to be used for my pods as it was at the perfect thickness and it was in abundance, I could cut out and shape a heap full of these little pods to be used in an elaborate necklace. I tediously cut out about three dozens of these flowers to be shaped into pods and when it came to shaping them, the metal just would not work. Compared to the copper, the aluminium is much more brittle and it is very difficult to anneal it without melting it entirely (especially being so thin). The metal also has thousands of little 'rust' spots on the surface, at first I thought that these spots would scrub right off with my brass brush and that the metal would be usable, but only after bending the metal into shape, I realized that these spots were rusted quite deeply and that they would very easily tear when bent. Also, the colour of the aluminium is dull and dreary and it cannot be oxidised like copper and silver, I put one little test piece in jik water and the other in sugar soap water for quite a while and nothing really happened. I will be sticking with copper for the metal of choice in making my pods

Gooseberry pod Inspiration

Gooseberry:

Inspiration Image
Gooseberry Pods

The above image is of a gooseberry pod that I snapped off my plant last night, and I pinned it upside down to my inspiration board so that it can dry beautifully, that is why it looks upside-down but in actual fact it is the right way. I noticed the interesting silhouette that the shadow of the twig created and I took this snapshot. If my main light in my bedroom hadn't fused, I wouldn't have had this beautiful image, this was created through a light beaming from a 90 degree angle next to the plant. sometimes inspiration can come from the most random occurrences. 

Objects created from the silhouette inspiration
oxidized copper

How the pods were constructed:

I dissected one of the pods to examine the components. I noticed that the bods have a 5 way leaf pattern and I made a little design on paper to be placed on a sheet of copper. I had to redo this design so that i could get the correct shape of the actual pod. 

 I then  textured some 0.4mm copper sheet using cardboard that I scratched in different directions to create this interesting texture. I roll-milled the texture onto the surface of the cardboard.



















Here is my little "flower" after creating the grooves on the surface using a round chisel shaped punch