My degree work

Over the last six months since my last posts a lot has happened in terms of my work as a jeweller. Some of the units we've worked on have helped me to understand what drives me to make and what I am drawn to in others work. We worked on a commissioning unit and I designed and made a necklace which consisted of woven paper yarn with a sterling silver magnetic clasp and tassel pendant, all handmade.

 

I had some trouble with the magnets initially as they were to be set in the ends of the clasp but they weren't strong enough so I did some digging and Staples yielded a set of super strong magnetic memo holders. I took the magnets out of them and glued them inside the clasp so they are sat behind a layer of silver and still snap together securely. I was happy with the finished piece and enjoyed the challenge of having to work to a set brief, I want to experiment more with woven paper string as this was tricky to produce the circular shape I wanted.

From one of the other units I developed a 'drop-in' range, pendants which could be slotted onto a U shaped tube, which held the chain.

I made some of these pieces in copper and had them silver plated to begin with, then I made later ones in silver. I like the copper interior of the plated pieces though, it gives them a secret lining.

One of my favourite piees was this two-finger ring. It is on a pivot so that it can spin and tilt as it is worn. This one is quite large but I shall be making some smaller versions to sell.

I worked on a design I came up with in college for a U shaped ring to produce a range of rings with double dome tops, each with a different texture interior. These will be going in my shop soon though I need to make more as one of these is sold and I want to keep one of them for myself haha.

 

And last but not least this is another 'drop-in' necklace, one of a series of three made for our graduate exhibition.

There are two plain silver pendants and this one with the embossed handmade paper discs slotted on. I made this one in two halves with a bayonet catch so that they could be separated and the discs interchanged. Each necklace has a plain face and a textured face so that they can reversed as the wearer chooses.