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. 

Customer Items

Dragonfly Pendant

A customer of mine, Chrissie,  gave me Carte Blanche to design and make a dragonfly pendant for her. The dragonfly represents her late mother who passed away two months ago, right after her death, a dragonfly hovered into the room. Every now and then, when Chrissie longs for her mother, she seems to attract dragonflies, This pendant will serve as a reminder of her late mother.

After making this piece, I thought about what a dragonfly represents in my own life. When I look at a dragonfly, a sense of calamity comes over me and the wings of a dragonfly always remind me of my childhood (I used to collect the wings of insects as I believed that fairies were real, My mother would tell me that fairies used the wings of dragonflies, butterflies and beetles as their own to fly around when human's weren't watching) I also feel a sense of fantasy and nostalgia when I see them in nature. They always seem to hover with so much poise over bodies of water and break the surface to lay their eggs, with so much courage (who knows what's lurking in the waters below) . Perhaps the wings of dragonflies can become a metaphor of self assurance and self awareness.