Influential jewellers summary

 This semester I only looked at two reference jewellers. The first being Michelle Pujol whose work, like mine, is influenced by nature. I observed how she uses her Instagram and website to document and sell her work. The second jeweller I referred to was Nicole Ringgold. She uses fusing to create sculptures that replicate nature. I was interested in how Ringgold utilizes her sculptures in wearable jewellery pieces even though they could be seen as oversized.

Pujol, M., (n.d.). 3 petal flower studs.

Mass production Summary

There are many ways to mass-produce when making jewellery. I practised three different forms of mass production:

1. ArtFlow is an app I used on my tablet to mass-produce designs.
2. I made a jig for the wire earrings I make for the I heart market that sell really well but take time to make individually.
3. The process I used the most was making moulds and lost wax casting.

Lost wax casting became second nature to me as I have been working part-time at Phil Bear Jewellers where I cast at least once a week. I was allowed to do the casting for my own designs with the casting for the business meaning that working part-time didn't interfere with my manufacturing time.

Bowes, K., (2021). Wax trees at Phil Bear Jewellers.

Bowes, K., (2021). Wax and mould.

Platinum 2021 Summary

The design brief provided to us from Anglo Plat contains broad design hooks as guidance for both designing and manufacturing. I generated my own design hooks using my bench displays that echos the work that I have already been doing. 

After brainstorming I settled on looking at my skeleton leaves as fibres like my handmade paper. I started by playing with paper which led me to an aluminium mesh that is a sort of paper done in metal. I tried making my own mesh by plaiting fine silver wire, but I didn’t enjoy it.

When I looking at the pieces made by past winners I realized using mixed materials isn't out of the question in the competition. My aluminium mesh almost resembled the fine veins that appear in my skeleton leaves. I explored the idea of pairing the platinum and a double mesh to make earrings. To create contrast I learnt aluminium can change colour through the process of anodizing. 

Bowes, K.,(2021). Aluminium mesh.

Organic chain Summary

I was making wax trees of chain links, at Phil Bear Jewelers, and decided that I wanted to make my own chain. I really hate drawing each link when designing chains. Luckily, I came across a new feature to make my own brush on my Art Flow app. By changing the settings of the brush slightly, I mass-produced my chain drawings with each chain being different. 

I used the marquis, teardrop and ‘butterfly wing’ shapes as the links. I also generated chain designs that are a mixture of the three links. I have also been playing with using my plant castings from last year as links within my organic chains. I did a rough design of a beaded chain for two of my smaller castings from last year. I am documenting my designs in  mini booklet that I will to eventually bind together. 

Bowes, K.,(2021). Chain segment.

Sunflower Summary

 I was inspired by a set of floral bathroom tiles to design an earpiece. Since I first laid eyes on the tiles I saw it as an earpiece and couldn't unsee it so I had to illustrate it.  The illustration used a flower charm I found at Phil Bear jewellers. I had no connection to the generic flower, so I redrew the design using a photograph of a sunflower that I had grown myself. 

I tried my hand at making the sunflower out of wax. I used the Fibonacci spiral for the centre of the flower as I knew that is how actual sunflower’s seeds are ordered. I attempted to copy the spiral pattern onto the wax but it did not work out. while working in wax I came to some realisations about things like the weight and the number of petals I added. 

I made a medium size flower which I made a mould of with the large sunflower. The wax injections from the moulds weren’t coming out as whole flowers in the beginning, but I liked the broken pieces of wax. I started playing with the wax and layered some pieces which created a new element. I cast a smaller sunflower, that I made, alongside the new element.

Bowes, K., (2021). Dried closed sunflower.

Collaboration Summary

Working with Courtney I had to figure out how to take her digital drawing and translate it into a ring. I learnt that designs can be mapped out on wax by printing the design and using a pin to poke holes through the paper and into the wax. I tested the process on my own ring.

In my collaboration with Leanne Bear, I made fidget rings for her Solace business that is aimed towards people with anxiety. They were pretty simple to make but it gave me the opportunity to practice working in 9ct gold.

My most important collaboration is probably with Amy Pieterse. She taught me to make paper and I made skeleton leaves for her. My collaboration with her is probably the most useful as it influenced the design development of my platinum project.

Bowes, K., (2021). Courtney's rings.

Leaf Skeleton Summary

I have always been interested in art and biology. I made my first skeleton leaf in high school, 2015, and have been trying to incorporate them into my work ever since. Last year I experimented with using the leaf as a stencil for enamel, I also attempted to cast a skeleton leaf. but it did not work out how I expected.   

This year, I incorporated natural skeleton leaves and my made leaves into my handmade paper. Whilst making my paper I discovered an 'eco-friendly' way to make my skeleton leaves compared to my original process that left off toxic fumes. I worked with the pattern on a wax ring that I cast and quite like the outcome. I eventually found a way to somewhat replicate the skeleton leaves by prototyping with aluminium mesh. 

Bowes, K., (2021). Natural leaf skeleton.

Paper Making Summary

 I had so much fun learning to make paper with Amy Pieterse from fine art. My first batch of paper was so beautifully really thin. Due to the paper being made from denim it came out blue meaning the paper is too dark to paint on with watercolours. I did have fun 'painting' with the dye that came out into the water when making the paper.

When I made my second batch of paper I wanted to learn more about the pulp making process that comes before making the paper. I incorporated my leaf skeletons into both batches of paper but I prefer how the leaves stood out on the off-white paper of my second batch of paper.

Bowes, K., (2021). A6 handmade paper.

Watercolour Summary

Before starting my watercolour journey I had to go back to basics and paint a colour wheel to for colour theory when I paint. After the colour wheel, I started painting my enamels from last year. Since I don't have any other jewellery pieces at the point where I can paint them just yet so I did some fun paintings and plant studies. I also did a free mini watercolour course from Etchr on painting botanicals with watercolour paint and ink pens.

Personalising my process I painted petals radially for my dexterity exercises. I learnt how to make my own paper and I made a wearable pallet. I won't be making my own paint but that is ok because I am in love with the Winston and Newton travel paint kit.

Bowes, K., (2021). Layered petals.

Entrepreneurship Summary

At the beginning of the semester, I took part in a ten-week entrepreneurship program where we made a prototype website for a hypothetical business. Compared to the prototype website done in Wix I decided to rather do my website in WordPress as it is more user friendly. Even though WordPress is user friendly I have found that it takes a lot of time to set up a website. I also looked at Halstead's Jewellery Business Toolkit and the ten-week program.

Anon. (n.d.). Wadhwani Ignite.