For my organic chain/s, I was inspired by Nicole Ringgold to use my castings from last year. I feel that some of Ringgold's chains aren't very proportionate for her forms. I saw Louise Partain's chains and really loved the texture/roughness of the chain.
I want my neckpieces to be a combination of the two, my castings with a somewhat chunky organic chain.
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| Ringgold, N.,(2019). Sea Horse. |
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| Partain, L.,(2021). Seedpod chain. |
I cast these succulents last year but they are very fragile and the leaves move which means they can break off easily. I was thinking about joining the leaves with a wire the same way Fezile Mthethwa used wire to join her petals on her neckpiece. I sketched it on my tablet and the top view made me think of a flower pot so I drew the side view and three-quarter view to see how it would look.
I was inspired by Nicole Ringgold to use my casting and that is why if you look at my organic chain designs I incorporated these succulents as possible likes to be featured in a chain.
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| Bowes, K., (2021). Digital perspective drawing |
Nicole Ringgold is a silversmith that is inspired by plants and objects she finds while hiking. The botanical jewellery may look cast or electroformed but it is all hand made by melting scraps of silver together. "[Ringgold's] intention is not to replicate the plants, but to recreate them with silver with as much detail as possible[; the] goal with every piece is to make the metal appear alive"(Ringgold, n.d.)
Her work interests me as she makes large sculptural pieces, I was under the impression that she made sculptures and that's how the objects stayed but looking at her website I see she uses her sculptures to make wearable pieces. I always worry about the weight of my pieces while making them I get stuck on the thought of would it sell. Ringgold's work has inspired me to take a second look at my castings from last year I didn't use them as I thought they were too large. My castings are tiny compared to Ringgold's sculptures.
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| Ringgold, N., (2021). Silver sunflower. |
