Patchwork Fence (working title)

One of the things that I love about farm fences are the ingenious methods that they are fixed and repaired. Generally using little more than a bit of wire, they are stitched and patched to mend the holes.

Inspired by these methods I created a patchwork fence 'necklace' using fine and sterling silver.

Photography by Nasia Vayianou  

The fences were constructed exploring different methods such as fusing (where the silver melts together to join rather than the use of solder to 'glue' it together), milling the silver so that it is almost as thin as aluminium foil, piercing and weaving. 

The milled silver has a lightly textured surface.

When worn on the body it has a certain 'armour' like quality, and it reminds me a little of the notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly's suit of armour. 

Image from National Museum of Australia

Hemmed In

Continuing my exploration into creating fences using different mediums, Hemmed In is created incorporating textiles, ceramics and jewellery techniques.

Knitted cotton within fused silver 'gates'

The first step was to knit (with cotton) some panels of fence that are inspired by wire fences.

Knitted cotton dipped in porcelain slip

Next, I dipped the cotton in a high fire porcelain slip and I laid them out on a canvas board to dry. This worked well, but they had a 'front' and a 'back' from being dried flat. If I was to do this again, I would suspend them so that they had two interesting 'front' sides.

Painted with Cone 06 glaze

I wanted to apply gold lustre, gold leaf and decals onto the surface of them (they need a layer of clear glaze to adhere to the porcelain). So once they were fired (one firing all the way up to cone 10) I painted them with a thin layer of clear glaze.

The pale aqua are covered with clear glaze prior to firing.

I experimented with gold lustre, but wasn't incredibly happy with the results because it came out quite a dark copper gold.

I also experimented with putting gold leaf followed by decals that were fired in an enamel kiln at 1500 F degrees for a couple of minutes. The gold leaf remained light in colour and the decals were reminiscent of the blue willow ware that dates back to dinnerware of the 18th century.

Hemmed In

To attach the ceramic knitted pieces to the fence panels I used very thin silver wire to wrap them into place. I was inspired by the rustic and often ingenious ways fences are repaired. 

Hemmed In (detail)

The ceramic panels were dispersed between panels that were fused together with the fine silver wire.

I joined the fence panels together using a method used by the artist Alexander Calder, who whilst well known for his mobile sculptures, was also a prolific maker of jewellery.

He is one of my heroes because of his unorthodox approach to jewellery.

Enamel Lichen Necklace

Our second assignment for enamel class called for us to incorporate at least four enamelled components, which were to then be created into a piece of jewellery or an object.

With my current fascination into lichen I wanted to continue to explore these effects. I set about undertaking a lot of samples to achieve a similar result looking at the colours and textures in the image below.

Image of lichen used for reference for the project

Working with 0.3mm thick, fine silver 1" discs that were cut and then bent into a conical form. I first enamelled the inside with Orange Red Ruby enamel. I love this particular colour. Gold is one of the colorants in the enamel powder and depending on whether it is against silver or coper determines its colour. Sometimes it is a rich gold, like the images below, and sometimes it is ruby grapefruit. It is delicious!

work in progress: the cones prior to being assembled

The outside of the cone was enamelled with a black layer, followed by a fine sifting of 'Candy'. One of the things I enjoy about Candy is that is easily oxidises in the kiln, giving it a faint green tinge and is a little unpredictable in its results. Perfect for representing lichen. 

detail of the components necklace

I wanted to create a piece of jewellery that could be worn, but also exists by itself as a beautiful object, so I strung all the individual 18 cones onto silk cord.

Components necklace

The idea is that you roughly wrap one cord around the other and the enamelled pieces hang like a pendant. It needs a little refinement to be practical, and Im incredibly excited about its prospects.