Next month I will be running some jewellery making workshops in Neath, Port Talbot. The first is this Paper and Silver Jewellery Workshop. Below are some examples of what you can make.
Author Archives: hannahduncan
‘Adorn’ – The Court Cupboard Gallery
Last week I visited The Court Cupboard Gallery for the second time as the jewellery exhibition ‘Adorn’ is now open and I have to say it was looking great! There was some really fantastic jewellery alongside mine and I was really pleased with my display.
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Beside the cabinet of my work you can also see some of my sketches of the beaches, islands and rocks of the south-west coast of Scotland as well as some of my design drawings.
From these you can see how my ideas have developed and the relationship between the designing and making. I hope this adds insight into how much I love the things that inspire me and what I make from that.
Alongside my work there are wonderful collections of jewellery made from various materials – gold, silver, textiles, enamel and recycled materials – by 6 other lovely artists:
Rhi Frankton, Annabel Neilson, Bonnie Mackintosh, Ann Oldfield, Harriet Stiles and Louise O’Neill.
Follow The Court Cupboard Gallery on their Facebook page to see more from this exhibition – they have been sharing photos and artist info every day.
‘Adorn’ Exhibition
The jewellery exhibition ‘Adorn‘ opens at The Court Cupboard Gallery in Abergavenny today.
It displays the work of seven jewellers including myself. The wide range of work demonstrates the disparate nature of contemporary jewellery today. The images below show some of my work that is on display there.
I am also currently showing work at Queen Street Gallery in Neath as part of its first exhibition. It features work by new and established artists – there’s paintings, prints, ceramics, textiles, sculpture, jewellery and more. The exhibition runs until July 28th.
My work is also still available at The Craft Centre and Design Gallery in Leeds. It’s a wonderful gallery and they have an absolutely fantastic range of jewellery and ceramics!
Snowdrops – Now is the Time!
Now is the time to buy my Snowdrop jewellery from Henryka with 30% off all orders over £30 and free delivery! Use code 3030.
Ends tomorrow so get buying!
See all Snowdrop items here:
http://www.henryka.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=snowdrops
Stepwells Body Piece
This body piece was a pain to make! These photos are from before I oxidised the components, making them black, when I was working out how to wire the whole thing.
The shapes I have used are based on the Stepwells of India.
There are no photos of the front of the body piece at this stage as it was actually taped on with masking tape!
What is sad is that to get the piece done in time for our exhibition I had to re-wire it directly onto my mannequin… meaning if I ever want to remove it or use the mannequin for something else I will have to cut the wires! I have plans to try to save it though.
This piece was actually very interesting when left with its natural copper colour. It almost becomes part of the skin.
I wont be posting again in a while as I am away on holiday. However, when I am back I plan to post some more of the work leading up to this piece.
End of Year 2!
I have finally come to the end of my second year. You can probably tell it was incredibly busy and stressful by the slowness of my posts.
Since Christmas I have done work experience at 3 different placements, I have helped curate my class’s exhibition and I made a body jewellery piece, that went into that exhibition, which I am very pleased with. For that final project I received 68 – a strong 2:1.
Here is me with my work at our ‘MidPoint’ exhibition:
To see more from this exhibition go to my dad’s blog here:
https://stillwalks.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/degree-shows-a-week-of-art/
(You can also see some of the work from Hereford’s degree show on his blog here:
https://stillwalks.wordpress.com/2015/06/18/hereford-degree-shows/)
I do intend to post more myself but I am going away in 2 days and won’t be able to post in a while. I may try to schedule a couple of posts before then.
The photos in this post were taken by Claire Smout:
https://www.facebook.com/clairesmoutphotography?fref=photo
Midpoint – Exhibition Madness
I haven’t posted anything from my current project yet, things have just been too crazy! It’s been crazy partly because my class has been organizing an exhibition.
Next week our exhibition Midpoint opens. Come see the diverse work of 14 crafts students. There will be work in metal, ceramics, wood, resin. glass and textiles.
If you want to see a sneak peek then check us out here on Facebook.
Snowdrops
Do you like snowdrops?
Before Christmas my class took part in a competition to design a range of jewellery for Henryka, a silver and amber jewellery shop based in Hereford.
I was one of the chosen winners! And now my Snowdrop designs are for sale in the Henryka shop.
Of the snowdrop jewellery designed by me and made by Henryka, there are brooches, pendants and earrings. The pendants come in three sizes and the brooches in two.
All of these pieces can be bought on the Henryka website: http://www.henryka.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=snowdrops
Pinched and Creased
This is the last post I am going to do on my metal folding project. In the end I did 70 samples all together. I’m just showing you the best and most interesting ones.
These examples include the last couple of techniques I used. They are more of the decorative kind than structural.
This next one was done using the fold forming technique where you fold the metal around a thin strip of metal, then feed it through the rolling mill multiple times till the whole thing is the same thickness. This causes the part with the metal strip to stretch and curve. When you unfold the metal it then has a curved raised fold through the centre.
This was a very interesting technique to experiment with – I tried using different widths of metal for the strip inside as well as cutting the strip of at different points – however I am not sure I actually like this effect.
This last technique is currently my favorite. It is called a pinched line fold. The metal is folded in half by hand and then hit just behind and then upon the fold in the centre with a hammer. This stretches and thins the metal at this point so that when the metal is unfolded there is a thin and gradual raised bit in the centre.
This technique produces a pinched and creased affect which is aesthetically interesting both front and back.
The most interesting thing about all of these techniques, as part of this project, is that they can’t be reproduced in paper – they are unique to metal.
I hope to use the pinched line technique in my next project, I will be posting about it soon.
Two Folds
These are developments of my metal folding experiments, using the wire scoring technique and testing out the effectiveness when doing more than one fold within a square.
Parallel Folds:
Not only did I test the effectiveness of this technique when folding the metal twice but I also compared the results of this with both straight and curved folds.
I found the straight folds to be easier to control as you can use the edges of steel blocks and other tools to shape the corners around. With curved folds this is not possible, once one scored line is folded it is difficult to fold along the other.
Meeting Folds:
Having said that curved folds were harder I actually found them easier in the meeting lines samples. The metal bent along the lines easily and naturally.
I am starting to understand the nature and limitations of folding metal but it is something which can only be learnt from experience and I still have a long way to go.
Crossing Folds:
This idea of crossing folds was an interesting one. If this was attempted in paper it would not hold any shape, it can not be bent both ways at the same time. However, metal is much stiffer and holds it shape. By working the folds a few times I was able to create this more decorative form with subtler folds.
It was much easier and a bit more effective with the straight lines but the curved lines one is still interesting.
Other:
I did a few more samples with two folds, including ones which combined straight and curved lines, but this was the most successful one. Like the curved meeting folds sample it bent naturally along the scored lines and created a smooth form which was very pleasing to the eye.