Creating a pod by form folding.

Trying to make a pod.... looks a little more like an oyster though. Will try form folding starting out with different shapes and see where it takes me.

trying out fold forming

I cut a marquise shape out of .4mm fine silver plate, then folded it in half. Left hand side, forged along the fold and right hand side forged along outside edge. metal moves opposite directions, changing the shape. once opened the one on the left forged along the fold becomes concave shape whilst the other convex type shape. i think this would be an effective technique to use to create pods.

Looking forward..... Where i see my work heading.

Looking forward my focus is on manufacturing jewellery in an Eco friendly way, leaving behind as little an impact as possible. By manufacturing in this way it will no doubt influence the appearance and feel of my work as i will have to cut out certain techniques and common practices (e.g kiln firing for enameling, using the ultra sonic, investment casting, maybe even down to the stardard sandpaper that us jewellers tend to go through like crazy).

My only problem here is that i actually don't yet know much about what makes all these practices "unsustainable". There is a lot of finding out that i have to do, to separate the techniques that leave a negative impact from those which are neutral.

I will continue to make leaves, as they are appropriate imagery to my theme and they make me happy. I am in the process of making a set ( necklace, bracelet, and a few variations of earrings) for the KZNSA Gallery. I am making this set as i would normally make a piece of jewelley, kiln and all. I am documenting this process in full.

Then i think a good place to start is to remake this set using different, more sustainable methods eg replacing enamelled colour leaf elements for that of green PET, and then making another set replacing those elements with found natural objects, then maybe maybe making the same piece again going back to silver but trying a technique such as repousse for the elements. All the while documenting these processes and establishing some sort of a personal method to creating Eco jewellery.

The challenge is to create beautiful therefore desirable jewellery using techniques and materials which may conventionally be seen as neither beautiful nor desirable.

Half way through the year........ looking back

So far i have spent most of this year making orders, which have mostly all been remakes of the range i took with me to Design Indaba. Through this continuous re-production i have become far better with the techniques of chasing and enamelling. I enjoy these techniques and will probably at some stage go back to them, or use them minimly with other techniques, but for now they limit my options ( in terms of "3D" form, i am only able to work on fine flat plate ).

I have not spent very much time designing and experimenting with new ideas, until recently. Working with ceramics and carving have enabled me to realize the potential in producing jewellery in a more sustainable way and with more form.

Fun with ceramics

Really enjoyed working with ceramics, and definitely intend on doing lots more, until they are good enough to use in my jewellery . For eg these carved ceramic
beads i would like to underglaze and glaze in pretty garden colours and maybe even add gold leaf to areas. To use as pendents or rings, could maybe set them in an organic way.











My first carved pot i underglazed with green and iron oxide, then glazed. For the second one i just iron oxide-ed it and then sanded it off in raised areas. prefer this look, its more natural.

I think i enjoyed the ceramics so much because it made me start to think about other options in my jewellery, because i like the idea that with carving you can create different depths/ layers on a single surface , things start to look a little more interactive rather than just flat.

I also like the idea that ceramic elements can be carved and then sand casted(primative casting). This is a sustainable form of casting and elements can be made into dies, allowing for intresting possibilitys.