Mixed material summary

Mixed materials in jewellery refer to the combination of precious and non-precious materials. Non-precious materials are either manipulated to look precious, by plating and other methods, or enhanced with precious materials. Mixing of precious and non-precious materials allows for the contrast of texture and colour. Jamie Bennett's 6th Garden (Fig. 1) is a great example of enhancing and manipulating non-precious materials. Enamel is used to manipulate copper to look precious and the enamel (which is also non-precious) is enhanced by being set in gold. Enamelling, is the fusing of powdered glass to metal, is a technique that I have been experimenting with to bring colour into my work. Mixed materials can be seen as the mixing of the sacred and profane where the precious is sacred and the non-precious is profane. The use of mixed materials is less about jewellers being obliged to use the precious with the non-precious and more about the aesthetic and meaning of the piece (Quickened,2000).

Bennett, J., (1999). 6th Garden. Enamel on copper in a gold brooch.