Enamelling: Collaborative Assignment Stage 3

This week we selected a piece of paper which had a number written on it. Then working backwards, from the highest number to the lowest, each person in the class had the opportunity to select an enamelled piece to work on.

I drew number one, which meant that I was lucky last. This worked well for me, because I truly don't know which object I would've selected had I the choice. And I ended up with Tamika's piece, that had recently been worked on by Candy.

Candy's rational for her enamelled colours was that the shape reminded her of flames, so she re-enamelled it from yellow through to red.

Funnily enough, this piece caused me many sleepless nights, as I pondered on how I was going to create some changes acknowledging the work done by Candy, but also make it sympathetic to Tamika and her personality and design aesthetic.

I found that the strong almost primary colours were too much for the delicate nature of the piece. In addition the enamel was starting to chip off some of the smaller areas.

So I removed all the enamel using a sand blaster. I had forgotten that there was texture on the original piece (Tamika had enamelled it using transparent colours which allowed the texture to come through)

Tamika's artwork back to copper

Because of the fragile nature of one of the joins, I decided to cut it up into three pieces. I turned two pieces into an asymmetrical pair of earrings. 

The shape and patterning of Tamika's original design always made me think of water, so I wanted to use enamels that had those qualities. I combined transparent turquoise with copper green to get depth in colour, and used the pull though technique with opaque white. 

Detail of the opaque white pull through

Tiny bits of torn sterling silver foil was also added to give extra depth and reflective qualities.

Another detail of the earrings. 

The third piece I turned into a necklace.

Detail of necklace

When we had to present our changes to the class, I was really nervous. I didn't want to offend Candy.

But thankfully she was ok with my changes. Phew!

I have found this project to be incredibly enlightening. It has taught me that I am more concerned about working on another person's artwork, than I am on my own pieces. This is an outcome I find fascinating, since the concept of the project was to let go of ownership of your artwork and creativity.

Next week we get our original designs back for the original creator to finish. I wonder what mine will look like....