We're over halfway through my TAFE class now and I've been putting in some hours to catch up a bit. (catch up on my first class here) All the other projects on the go at this time of year - Mental Health Week and TheMHS - have been a bit of a distraction. But I'm making progress. Here's the first three mini projects all done and ready for assessment:
The dull looking silver one is aluminium, and was practice for hand cutting skills. The shiny ones are brass, we've scored the design onto the surface, cut, filed, emery-ed, polished and cleaned. I've been told that they are fine for a beginner.
It's funny, jewellery making can on the one hand be quite organic and experimental. On the other it can have the kind of insane precision a clockmaker needs. Lots of maths and right angles and things that need to fit exactly. That aspect of it I'm not so keen on. I'm not that big a fan of modern minimalist jewellery, I quite like the handmade look where the angles aren't exact or there's hammer marks or other small imperfections. That's not to say that I don't admire the time and craftsmanship that goes into a bowl polished to a mirror shine with exactly the same thickness of metal at every point, I just can't see myself spending my career doing it. But the organic, the bizarre, the experimental, the art nouveau... now that has appeal. I would love a jewellery workshop in my shed. The material costs are prohibitive however! The cost just for the silver for this project is about $50.
So, now I move onto the next piece which must be my own design, may be riveted but not soldered, must be a pendant, and must contain at least one polished surface. We are also being assessed on a studio journal so I've been putting some time into that:
I asked about using other sources of metal and I've been given permission to use old silver spoons if I can find any, genuine silver only though, not silver plated nickel as that's a common skin irritant. Hmmm, always looking for the recycle option...
See what I made at my next class here.
It's funny, jewellery making can on the one hand be quite organic and experimental. On the other it can have the kind of insane precision a clockmaker needs. Lots of maths and right angles and things that need to fit exactly. That aspect of it I'm not so keen on. I'm not that big a fan of modern minimalist jewellery, I quite like the handmade look where the angles aren't exact or there's hammer marks or other small imperfections. That's not to say that I don't admire the time and craftsmanship that goes into a bowl polished to a mirror shine with exactly the same thickness of metal at every point, I just can't see myself spending my career doing it. But the organic, the bizarre, the experimental, the art nouveau... now that has appeal. I would love a jewellery workshop in my shed. The material costs are prohibitive however! The cost just for the silver for this project is about $50.
So, now I move onto the next piece which must be my own design, may be riveted but not soldered, must be a pendant, and must contain at least one polished surface. We are also being assessed on a studio journal so I've been putting some time into that:
See what I made at my next class here.
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