Monday 13 May 2013

Lotus collection


Following on from my scarf ring design, keeping the geometric architectural theme in mind I began experimenting with forming smaller pieces by using the same process of filing and folding metal after making numerous amounts of paper models.




I used one component taken from my research to create many different jewellery pieces in order to give my collection a varied range, once I had constructed some shapes I then developed them into nets, as I was planning to create these pieces in sterling silver, I wanted to have minimum waste, so I thought the best way was to use circles, scoring and filing them to bend in order to create one solid form.

I then began to make a mock up of the form within copper before starting in sterling silver (as excited as I was, I wanted to be patient so not to make any expensive mistakes!)

I had to alter my design slightly, as the sections that are rounded in the above photo were originally supposed to be scored to create a line also, but this was proving very difficult to achieve and so I developed the design slightly. But I think the small elements of curves complement the rest of the rigorous, linear design.


First experience using sterling silver
 

Once the basics of the shape were formed I began to heat and solder silver for the first time (very scary experience as I didn't want to melt it!)

However I found it wasn't too indifferent from working in Copper, it was, of course a lot nicer to work with and I found I seemed to take more care with my piece. I also found when soldering the silver, the beautiful blue colours caused by the flux were amazing so I took a few snaps to capture these wonderful colours.





I removed a section of the 5 pieced structure in order to be able to bend and form the shape the way I wanted to, as with the piece being one full shape I found it difficult to shape as the piece wasn't very malleable.

I found silver to be very wonderful to work in, however the pressure was on when soldering jump rings etc not to rush it and end up reticulating the piece! (But I'd like to experiment with a silver sample to see how it would look)

White baking
 




White baking is a technique I was taught in order to remove 'fire stain' or 'fire scale', a process which is used in the FINAL stages of finishing. Fire stain is when silver appears dull and sections of white fine silver spots appear on the surface, but the 'dullness' within the silver is the copper oxides.

It isn't a difficult procedure, but quite a lengthy one. The above image shows small spots of white - this is the fine silver, ideally I'd like this white colourant to appear all over the piece. The fire stain isn't too noticable but it needs to be removed in order for the piece to be finished to it's full potential! I have managed to get this image by placing the silver on a piece of white paper and bending the paper over the top of the piece.

This procedure of 'white baking' is used by gently heating the piece (avoiding heating up solder lines and jump rings too much) until small spots of the metal oxidise. Once the oxides have appeared, leave the metal to cool slightly then put in the pickle solution, and then repeat this process 4-6 times until the piece seems to brighten up and there are no spots appearing.




I am very pleased with the final outcomes, as this was my first attempt with making silver jewellery. I attached some small silver jump rings to the back of the pieces so they were able to be worn as pendants! More pieces to be added to the collection soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.