JEWELLERY AND SMALL OBJECTS 3
Practice Journal
WEEK 1
I was excited to start back this trimester. We are learning to use more advanced and specialized tools. We were indicted on the Slab cutter, the wet wheel and the small torch. I have already used the small torch to successfully create a prong setting that I had been struggling with over the break. I am looking at wedding/symbolic jewellery for my project this trimester. I have been searching on AJF for articles but haven't found much.
In class I made a brass hair pin, unfortunately it was too short to work quite effectively. This is the opposite problem to my last hair pin attempt that came out very long. I also cut some amethyst on the slab cutter and have borrowed out a dopper stick to shape it next week.
WEEK 2
This week we were inducted on the tumbler. Several of my knot rings were in the demonstration run. They came out beautifully with minimal effort on my behalf. When I received the dopper stick from my locker during out of hours access it hadn't come with the sealing wax we were taught to attach the stone with, so I used what I had, jeweler's glue, but it took 24 hours to cure. It was ready to grind and polish which I did in class today. I have been gathering research material from the library, AJF and across the web to get a handle on my conceptual background. The physical make up of my collection has remained frustratingly illusive. In class I continued the work I'd started on prong settings over the Summer break.
WEEK 3
This week we had an etching demonstration and had to present some of our research so far.
The etching was pretty exciting. I'm keen to incorporate the technique into my experiments. I'm not sure how easy it would be to implement in a home studio though.
Everyone seemed to have found some good resources for their projects. I loved how different everyone's artists/articles were.
WEEK 4
A snap covid lockdown caused this week's class to be cancelled. But now we are on mid-trimester break. I am using this time for more study and working on some wax casting at home.
​
Over the break I made a number of tiny bat and a rat figure from scupey clay. With those figures I made a silicone mold. When it was ready, I made several copies of each of the figures in brown wax.
After much trial and tribulation with the green wax ring forms, I managed to craft several rings, ready to invest next class.
WEEK 5
This week we learned Chase and Reposse. The technique is difficult and time consuming to learn, but the results can be amazing.
This week I sprued and invested the first lot of rings I made during the break, ready to cast next week. I also did up a design on copper to etch next week.
The etching is for a group exhibition several of us are showing later in the year. The theme is around the home. I'm making a welcome mat set.
​
The rings were different configurations using one or more of the wax bats/rat with either a green wax blank or a sprue wax band.
WEEK 6
This week I cast for the first time in over a year. I cast my set of rings and a ring on behalf of Kirsty Boddington. Both casts came out successfully.
After a quick going over in the sonic cleaner my rings were pickled and cut from the button.
While waiting to cast I put my copper sheet into the etching solution. It took all class and some of the lettering came off. I will try chasing and reposse to get the working to stand out.
Additionally, I finally finished the ring I made with my first successful prong setting. I burred the sides poorly and the prongs are a bit wonky, but I have finally made my first prong set ring.
WEEK 7
Mid-semester Crit.
I'd written up a lot about the history of wedding rings I've been researching before I realised how short the presentation was. I made sure to mention the contemporary jewellers I've been looking at. While I had a lot of work to show, I don't yet have a clear vision of what the work will be. I am focusing on building my skills and iterating on designs towards a final suite of rings that I am both happy to present for critique and to wear for the rest of my life.
WEEK 8
This week Cath showed us an introduction to enameling. I wanted something special to work on as a sample, so I decided to practice my chase and reposee as well. I shaped the word "create". After a lot of trial and error with the technique, I could feel myself occasionally getting it 'right' where the movements were smooth and the metal bent just as I intended.
Unfortunately, the very first layer of enamel almost completely covered the word and by the time the background was evenly coated, the word was illegible. I went back in with wet enamel to rewrite "create" but the hours of effort I put into the shaping is all but gone.
​
Additionally, I had the rings I had made in week 6 in the tumbler after having filed and refined them. The tumbler brings them up to such a beautiful finish with so little effort when polishing mutliple pieces.
WEEK 9
We got our mid-semester critique marks back. The mark was okay but the feedback didn't give me a lot of information on how to improve.
​
I am now working on integrating stone settings into the ring designs with the animals. I have successfully bezeled a 6mm and 4mm cabochon. I spent most of today's class making several more to set into wax.
After several attempts to carve a phrase into the pink wax that would be formed into a ring to be cast and enameled, I found letter stamping to be a more viable option. Will cast next week to test it for my wedding band design.
WEEK 10
I had sculpted 7 rings over the weekend which I invested on Monday. All but one had one of the small bezels made in class included. I have come to rest on a design for my engagement ring. The investment acted oddly and there were issues with the vacuum table as the last person to use it had left it so dirty that it couldn't form a proper seal. I had to dump an entire lot of J4 investment because it was too firm by the time we sorted out the vacuum table.
I spent the class making bezels for the opals I had bought before the semester began. This took some time as they are not regular shapes like the cabochons I was been practicing with are. After casting, I thought the bezel inclusions must have failed as they didn't seem to come out of the investment. It turns out that the investment cures differently on metal and was much harder to remove that the usual stuff. I now have 7 rings to clean up and 3 rings to sculpt over the weekend.
WEEK 11
This week I have been very unwell. On Monday morning I was in the studio to sprue and invest the rings I had sculpted over the weekend. These rings included the bezels I made for the opals. It quickly became apparent that with my cold I should not be in the studio, risking infecting others. Liz very kindly cast my rings while I was away. I have yet to see the results but I have been told they came out well.
Over the weekend I also sculpted my partner's ring digitally. It has been sent off to Palloys for printing and casting. I am excited to see how it comes out.
WEEK 12
This was the final class week. I spent most of the day sculpting my wedding band. I used a sheet of pink wax cut to the length of my finger size and cut a curve to match the bottom profile of the engagement ring. I took several practice goes stamping the phrase before stamping it into the carved wax. On the opposite side I carved a groove down the centre line of the ring. I had joined the sheet into a ring and was cleaning the edges when I carved too deep and cut out some letters.
I had to start again.
This ring took basically the entire class to sculpt but it's ready to take to Morris and Watson tomorrow.
I was too focused on work and forgot to take any photos today.
WEEK 13 ONWARDS
Due to my earlier illness I was able to secure an extension so I have continued working on my project with as much out of hours studio time as I could manage.
I am still somewhat unwell and pain flair ups are frequent.
I received my partner's digitally modeled ring and fabricated by Palloys in the mail and collected my wedding band that was cast at Morris and Watson.
After despruing and cleaning up, I enameled both and worked on cleaning up, polishing and setting the other rings.
My partner's ring, with it's wider enameled band, chipped several times due to mishandling. I was able to mend it and now store it carefully.
More than one of the bezels that were included in wax casts broke. I had to remake those bezels and solder them onto the rings. The engagement ring was one of these, fortunately the stone wasn't damaged and I was able to complete it.
FINAL CRITIQUE
This is where I'll write about how the critique went and post pictures of the set up.
RESEARCH NOTES
Sarah-Abigail Chiappelli
The article tells the story of Chiappelli's engagement ring journey. She commissioned a ring design by Lisa Crowder but ended up wearing a vintage ring from her father-in-law. Shows that the desire for unconventional wedding jewellery isn't unheard of in contemporary culture.
Susan Cummins
I found the artist's philosophy around jewellery and the body rather comforting with quotes like "I want to make rings that encompass a story, become one with the wearer. Intimate, yet clearly of the person." and "The rings I make are intended to be worn a lot and to become part of the wearer’s hands, the shape evolving as they are worn."
She also mentioned not using solder, I found that very interesting.
I found it interesting when these women spoke about their journey to high carat gold. Also, I liked the detail they went into about their approach to sales and their buyers.
Benjamin Lignel
Discovering there is a name for the kinds of stones I am drawn to. I like that they talk about the stones informing the design of the work but not necessarily the focal point. While the stones themselves are extraordinary and the craftsmanship impeccable, I find myself repelled by the idea of making jewellery only for the very wealthy. I want my work to be accessible to those of every tax bracket.
Susan Cummins
Reulecke's work involves animals and narrative, two elements I am drawn to in art. She also describes herself as "... a maker of things." rather than artist or jeweler. That is something I also identify with. As a teacher she asks her students to consider "Ask why do I want to make … jewelry?". As someone who works in many different mediums, it is important for me to understand why I am creating certain works in the medium I've chosen.
CAST
ART AND OBJECTS MADE USING HUMANITY’S MOST TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS
Liesbeth den Besten
Den Besten reviews the book Cast in a fair amount of detail. It explores the conceptual and cultural principals of many different casting methods with little attention to technical detail. There are a number of essays contributed by specialists in their fields. I will have to see if I can find this book online or in a library.
Damian Skinner
This article discusses the state of critical discourse in contemporary art jewellery in contrast to how rt history is written about. He suggests taking a more thoughtful approach to the words we use in our writing and to focus on active relationships rather than passive ones. Some of it went a bit over my head as I am quite new to critical discourse around art jewellery specifically but I think it has given me pointers to keep in mind.
Zoë Gahan
Gahan gives a brief history of the wedding and engagement ring. However, with the complete lack of references this should be taken with a grain of salt.
She mentions the Egyptian origins of the "vein of love" running from the forth finger on the left hand straight to the heart. Materials were also discussed. Rings started as leather or bone etc and only slowly was metal introduced during the Roman empire. Only recently has the wedding ring been eclipsed in grandeur by the engagement ring. The "diamonds are forever" campaign successfully made the stone the most popular choice for decades but that trend is waning in the 21st century.
THE HISTORY OF THE WEDDING BAND
This is a more comprehensive overview compared to the vanity fair article. I even found several sentences the vanity fair writer lifted from this article.
I found the sections on Posy and Gimmel rings most interesting. I like the idea of two rings creating one whole work but feel like the detail of many of them would be too cumbersome for regular wear.
Noreen
Another short, broad article on the history of wedding bands. This one credits the Romans for the "vein of love" not the Egyptians. One of their sources is Wikipedia so...
Monika Auch
This article is about the Museum Arnhem show Beauty of the Beast that featured 51 pieces of taxidermy art from the 19th century to contemporary works. It notes the shift in the work from masculine displays of trophies to the emotionally sympathetic works of mostly female artists, highlighting the complex relationship we have with animals, life and death in the 21st century.
Works of note:
Cecilia Valentine’s necklace Fur Is Alive featuring a live mouse
Reid Peppard Double Rat Headdress
CAST: ART AND OBJECTS MADE USING HUMANITY'S MOST TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS
Renée Zettle-Sterling, Jen Townsend
This book gave me less insight into jewellery than I expected but it did help me articulate the importance of casting as an artistic process in my MSP proposal.
NEW RINGS
Nicolas Estrada
This book as so many great examples of art jewellery rings. It was exciting to see what's out there and so many artists to research in future.
I found a number of artists who's work resonates with my current project.
Marlon Obando Solano- Smooth, machined rings
Vina Rust- Neuvo chenner rings
Julia Deville- sculpted anatomical rings with stone settings
Nicolas Estrada- Sculpted rings, broad style, wearable
MISTAKES WHEN BUYING WEDDING RINGS!
This youtube video was surprisingly helpful with some technical design choices like matching ring profiles and not mixing metalsd.
4 WAYS TO PROTECT ENAMEL JEWELRY
A few tips and tricks for keeping enamel in good repair.
INDUSTRY ACTIVITY LOG
ADAM'S SHOW- FIND TITLE
08/03/21
Adam's doctorate show. Wow, he has worked super hard and has such flair. I like his incorporation of stones, the bronze buttons he recycled and the diversity of techniques he employed to get the desired result.
JSO CABINET DISPLAY
11/03/21
Provided my work Time Piece, 2020, for a display of student works from JSO studio 1.
While the work's imperfections are glaring, it's important to take the opportunity to show work and the idea of encouraging 1st years to take up the subject was tantalizing.
GROUP JEWELLERY EXHIBITION PROPOSAL MEETING
Rebekah Walkarden approached some of the 3rd years about proposing an exhibition for the second half of the year. We set our theme and selected the primary writer and curator. Working together on a group show with a loose but uniting theme is exciting, though I can't let this work get ahead of my class project.
11/03/21
JSO COLLECTIVE MEETING
18/03/21
This meeting was to arrange the change over of administration of the JSO Collective. There was a lot of useless waffle that I wasn't in the mood for. A lot of people with big ideas and no follow through. I had been hesitant to take on a committee role at the collective due to my commitments to other clubs at Griffith. I know that I will be an active member of the club and that I can be reliable, so I put myself forward for vice-president. This is more of a support role as I would prefer to keep things running behind the scenes than lead at this time.
SHAW AND SHAW ARTISAN SHOW
06/04/21
I managed to get in to see the show on the last day, just after the lock down.
I've been trying to do some vlogging or something, get more comfortable with my DSLR. I think I caused a bit of a scene. I photographed almost every work and videoed sweeping shots over every shelf and plinth.
It was hard not to feel inadequate seeing the technical and aesthetic mastery. Even Liz's student work seems out of my grasp. But students had a lot more contact time back then. I'm hoping with time and practice that I can build my skills up to such a level.
CASTING ON BEHALF OF KIRSTY BODDINGTON
Kirsty approached me to cast a ring on her behalf. The casting went well and she generously paid me for my service.
22/04/21
BAD JSO COLLECTIVE MEETING
Met with the JSO collective to organise the stall for the BAD market.
I sent through previous business card designs and looked into a redesign of our displays.
13/05/21
BAD WORKSHOP MEETING
Attended a meeting with Liz, Viv and the other JSO workshop volunteers to go over what we'll be doing during BAD and what prep work needs to be done.
13/05/21
SUBMITTED WORK FOR BAD MARKET
I reviewed my stock, updated my stock sheet and submitted works to be sold at the Collective's stall at BAD.
25/05/21
BRAYER PENDANT COMMISSION
10/06/21
I was contacted for a commission of a pendant shaped like am ink roller.
I suggested that the roller part actually be able to roll, thinking a suitable bead would be easy to find. Unfortunately I couldn't source a bead and have made one using silver chennier and black enamel.
CABOCHON SETTING COMMISSION
I was approached with a request to set a large crystal cabochon. The stone has a hole drilled through it, to be strung as is. I am currently milling over design ideas to incorporate or cover said hole.
Item Subtitle13/06/21