Sunflower cuff

Figure 1 shows an ear cuff made that was moulded in wax and cast in sterling silver.

Figure 2- Bowes, K., (2021). Wearing the cuff.

Figure 1- Bowes, K.,(2021). Finished cuff.

The sunflower collection was inspired by a set of detailed ceramic tiles. I used these tiles to digitally design an earpiece, to personalise the design I edited it to incorporate a sunflower as at the time I was growing sunflowers in my garden.

I spent a lot of time moulding different sized sunflowers in soft wax, cast them and used them to make moulds. On my third attempt, I managed to make a sunflower small enough for the cuff, as seen in Figure 2. The earpiece only got as far as the cuff, as seen in Figure 1. I spent so much time trying to get the sunflower right and would like to spend some time getting the buds and leaves proportionate to the sunflower.

 The other sunflowers I kept and used to make spin-off pieces. Thus going against  Michelle Pujol's advice to complete the original design first because all the sunflowers were already cast and I did not want them to go unused.