It is not a wonder to me that over the past 16 years my way of thinking has changed. It also is easy to understand that I have been massively influenced by my travels and exposure to a multicultural environment. However, I did get a bit surprised to notice that my aesthetics have altered more than what I expected. The Discovery series of rings and necklaces is an image of a reverse of what I would be attracted to several years ago. Organic shape, mat finish and pearls were just not me. Yet, it appeals so attractively to me in this present moment. The Series is an exploration of casting technique (that I very rarely use) and a playful and accidental approach to the investigation of the form rather than carefully planned execution of developed sketches. Gumtree bark is representing the Australian nature on the land and pearls are representing the ocean that I got so much addicted to. The pearls used were donated to me by my good friend.
This is how the process went.
1 – inspiration. It was in the Blue Mountains at Blackheath when my partner was paragliding. I was enjoying the local lookout when I “tripped” over a gumtree bark on the forest floor. I loved its forms and dynamics instantly!
2 – formation of the bark into wearables. I picked random pieces of the bark and formed it into rings and pendants.
3 – sprueing of the model. Once bark was shaped into the form I sprued it to the base of the flask. As these models were so organic and irregular I did use bit more sprues and placed them instinctively into a position.
4 – when the model was sprued and placed in its base into the flask, the flask was filled with an investment, debubbled and after required resting time burned.
5 – when the time was right and burning cycle was over, I vacuum cast the work on this awesome machine.
6 – results exceeded my expectations! Casting turned out really well. Texture and form worked well. I also have got a few unplanned air bubbles cast in pendants that actually work perfectly.
7 – cleaning and refining the form after casting took some time. I guess, when you do it yourself you need to count with the time lost on this.
8 – decision making on the final look. Now, that I had the ring and a pendant shapes in front of me, I needed to decide how am I going to finish them. I knew I wanted to include pearls in some of them. I also needed to decide on the suspension of the pendants…….interestingly enough, here I revisited industrial looking aesthetics that I used to such a big fond of in past.
9 – construction of cups for pearls. As each pearl is a uniquely shaped so was each cup.
10 – chain for pendant suspension was simple but as usual time-consuming.
11 – finish of the work. Liver of sulphur gel was used to blacken some of the pieces and rest was depletion plated.
12 – so what do you think?
