draped head accessory

 

figure 1

 

figure 2

Initially when I design this head piece, the main idea was for the elements to look like chain. Figure 1 and 2 shows the initial design of the elements.

 figure 3

figure 3 shows the elements that were made by forging wire and soldering balls together with a jumpring at the ends as to attach to each other. These were all made individually by hand and no casting included,this was taking a long time to make. The connection between the two elements were quite weak because there were to many solder joints.

figure 4

figure 4 shows a different element that might work better. I want to use the batik wax tool to draw the pattern so that it is delicate and detailed.

figure 5

figure 5 shows the final element that im going to attempt drawing with the batik tool

mehndi with batik tools

I used beeswax that was melted and poured onto the batik tool,the copper batik tool needs to be heated up before melted wax is poured in, reason being is that the wax cools quickly so heat needs to be maintained for this technique to work.

What temp does the wax need to be?

Im not sure ,but its not in its runny form or in its hardening form its slightly cooler than runny.

I used wax paper as the working surface but on the non shiny or non waxy suface. Reason being wax sticks to wax and i dont want it to stick i need to be able to take the wax patterns out easily.

here was a test to see runny form to slightly cooler.when its runny the blob flows out and expands whilst when it gets cooler it sits.

This one worked out beautifully i did this without reheating the tool. this means that i had to work quickly

I made i little scapper to gently lift off the elements,this was made from a copper strip that was tapered.

the beeswax is beaking,need to make it either harder or softer by adding different waxes

anglo plat prototypes

 I started off by linking these curvy forged elements and see what pattern it creates.This long chain could be a layered bracelet or a necklace or both.

the only problem was, they were  to flat,if i use them i have to forge them in a way that it looks 3 dimensional.I began using thin wire in various strands and tried twisting them around and linking them into each other and amazing things started happening.

I want to incorporate black sari fabric so that the platinum stands out.I want the fabric to be draped and pleated to represent a sari.The elements represent a paisley and the balls knotted with red string symbolizes the protection of Hindu goddess Lakshmi.

copper bracelets

I pierced after months,I cant believe it took me the entire day to pierce this.This just takes way too long.No way am I gonna make 3 of these,im gonna have to find another option to make these bracelets.
Im thinking of etching the same patterns.Im going to apply bitchumen on my plates,scribble patterns,etch and them turn them into bracelets.

wedding souvenirs

Making the souvenirs were not easy as I thought it would be,the ink of the pictures were running because I used laquer that had thinners,the pictures were losing their stickiness for the same reason.I had to print them with a lazer printer so the ink did not run.I bought jumprings and keyrings so I dont spend anymore time working on them.
They do look attractive and feel light, I know people will use them because people at tech saw me working with them and they asked to have one.
It took me about 2 months to complete them whilst now I think the casting option would of worked quicker.

colombo jewellery is art too exhibition

My first display attempt was not really attractive because you could see the jewellery pinned to the sari,and did not want to draw attension to the pins. Therefore I used old jewellery boxes that belonged to my mum and one that belonged to Chris.I re-lined the inside with black veklvet and sewed my jewellery onto the velvet .

There were many changes that were made to get my exibit looking like this,many changes still could have been made like better stands with better patterns,better arrangements, but there was no extra time,but it was a learning experience that will be useful in the future.Some times we have the best of objects around us that can be used for good displays that we turn a bling eye to because we dont see it the way other people do, and its really important to view all the options and have people view your stuff and see what works and what doesnt. Tryind to display jewellery in its context can be abit difficult,people see things differently,nothing ever works out according to the way I planned, I realised things fall in place when you start moving things around and when you have lots to work with and lots to choose from as opposed to having a few things and forcing them to work.

 The exhibition was successful, the display area was never empty people were sociable.Me applying mehndi at the exhibition also drew lots of attension to my jewellery and to mehndi itself. Many people already know what it is and how its works.Viewers saw the connection between my jewellery and the patterns that were on their hands.

colombo jewellery is art too exhibition

It was a last minute idea to decorate the stand dont think it was a good idea,i should have spent more time doing mehndi on the stands than using glitter glue,infact it did look quite untidy.I should plan these things in the future,have a set design and technique

arabic gold bracelet

when designing the bracelet,it seemed as though it would be firm when its bent up into its bangle form,however it felt fragile and bent easily.In the future if I happen to make this piece again or something similar I would make a inner sleeve,or outside frame to give it more stability.It was my first time gold plating and I think it worked quite well, I realised if you plate many times and for a shorter period the plateing looks better and it probably last longer

Surinder Marbha (All about Henna)

Mehndi by Surinder Marbha allabouthenna.blogspot.com/

Looking at mehndi designs by Surinder Marbha is Intriguing I can spend hours just gazing at her mehndi designs.This seahorse pattern really facinates me,the way its been stylised but you can still see the creature.I know I want to make that seahorse real but I dont know what piece of jewellery should I turn it into.Maybe I should make it and then see what I can do with it.

Below is my design and process of creating a mehndi sea horse.I used silver and 18ct yellow gold wire to create this sea horse.I think the fun part of making jewellery based on mehndi is that they all dont need to be perfect and accurate,it looks hand-applied and hand-made.I bent my wires and swirls with caution although I wanted it to look hand-made, I did not want it to look untidy.I really took pride in soldering,tried not to melt anything,but unfortuatley I did melt a few wires along the way.

By this stage I was tired working with the sea horse I forgot why I wanted to make it in the first place.I feel as though I wasted so much time and effort just to chuck the idea away,I want to start something new im not enjoying this anymore.I thought it will work out according to this idea I had in my mind and when i saw things were falling apart I knew this was not going to work. I still have my sea horse somewhere in my bench locker,maybe I will get inspired in the future to make something off it. For now I just think.....gosh I wasted all that 18ct gold wire,now I would probably need to send this for refining.

mendhi inspired necklace

I arranged the wax elements to see how they will be put together.I modified the elements whilst in its wax form because its alot easier to work with as opposed to casting and piercing them in silver.

These are my elements after casting and cleaning.I soldered three jumprings on each element so that I could string the elements along with swarovski crystals.

I had some trouble attaching the beads with the elements.I re-thread them like four times because the elements were leaning forward so I played around with the number and placement of beads until it set the way I wanted it to set.

Looking at the overall finish of the piece I realise that I could of made my own silver dangle beads instead of buying them,so that it lends itself to the piece.

The catch works quite well with the piece.I used the mendhi elements to create the catch so that the back of the necklace is just as interesting as the front.