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.

Platinum Prototype Two

Texture

I have been experimenting with using sandpaper to create a texture on the surface of leaves. In my previous prototype I used P80 for the leaves and the second P800. I must say that I definitely prefer the texture created by the P80 sandpaper as it lets the leaves appear more hairy. I tried roll milling the wire of the stem with P80 sandpaper in the wire section of the roller to create a texture on the surface but this did not work as well as expected as the piece of wire still came out looking square opposed to rounded as I imagined. I ended up engraving lines on the stem to create a more natural surface. I also discovered a technique to roll out the wire for my stems to make the wire go from thick to thin; this involves rolling the wire up to a marked line and not exceeding that point allowing the wire to have staggered thick to thin areas resembling a branch. The best way pierce out natural looking leaves is to cut them out using tin snips as this allows the ends of the leaves to curl down in a more natural way.

Leaves

staggered thicknesses thin to thick

P80 texture on wire, not even noticeable 

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

Playing with Form and Texture

I have been interested in forms and textures found in nature so when a went for a walk one afternoon, I found some interesting objects that I have kept for inspiration. One is a dried Peanut Butter Cassia twig covered in dried seed pods (it holds such beauty but also so much danger being a seed pod of an invasive alien plant). When photographed on a white background, these seed pods create almost a silhouette like form that can work as a beautiful etch. the other is a little twig covered in lichen which I was so mesmerized by as I imagined capping the twig's ends in silver and soldering a chain with jump rings on to create a natural "living" necklace.

When I was playing around with some clay to create little canvases, I decided to collect some interesting plants and leaves to create impressions into the surface of the clay to add some texture. I will be firing these clay plates and I will use them as little sketch pads or canvases where I will display jewellery on them. Here are some of the impressions that I did:

Btech Heading

Btech Heading

For the past week or so, I have been thinking a lot about where I am in my first year of my Btech and where I came from. Looking back, I have seen some definite trends in my work and specific aspects that have inspired the work that I have made. I have come up with a very liquid title and sub title, but it will definitely become more solid as I progress into my second year. Contemporary Jewellery Inspired by Nature and Organic Contemporary Jewellery were the two headings that I have been thinking about and I have decided that the first title is more suitable for the work that I do. The second title sounds like I’m making jewellery out of organic substances and thus the first title hits the nail on the head because it is what it is. Jewellery. Inspired. By. Nature. Slightly longer but it gets the point across perfectly.

My subtitle is slightly more watery. So far I have looked at the key characteristics that are present in my work and from the beginning I have seen that these few components can be seen in my work, despite the natural component spoken about in the title: Arrangement of simple elements, texture, form and movement. Movement has been the most significant aspect to me as I feel that I want to show or express the metaphor of movement, growth or development using nature and expressing it through my contemporary jewellery designs. Thus I feel that the sub title should be something along the lines of: Expressing/Showing Movement, Development and Growth. Therefore the aspects of Arrangement, texture and form will be discussed not in the title or sub title but in the first or introductory paragraph.

Contemporary Jewellery Inspired By Nature
Expressing Movement, Development and Growth.