Piece 5

The establishment of piece 5 was inspired by the structure and manufacturing capabilities from the author of piece 4. As piece 4 was more of a statement contemporary jewellery piece. Piece 5 lends hand more to be a more formal contemporary jewellery piece. With unison throughout the piece. This piece is structured and has like elements. This neck piece was chosen to be a short necklace not only to create emphasis on the piece but to create emphasis on the wearer's neck and jaw line. The jewellery piece does not wear the person..

In the process of designing this piece, certain elements from the previous piece were taken and then put in a certain order still leaving the imagination to the fact that this piece is inspired by the cubic system. With the design this piece has the intricate molecule mesh in each Large cube this is however altered in the manufacturing process..

Below an image of the design as originally designed

The manufacturing process

The beginning of this large piece was first metal prep, melting down and rolling in order to get square wire of the desired thickness. Once a large amount of this square wire was produced and having previously prepped metal for the mesh it was time to begin putting it together and assembling and ensuring everything was the correct measurements.

It began with creating two base squares for the cubes. As seen below this was done by measuring 19mm on the first round, marking it and then sawing it and using a square needle file at a 45 degree angle then bending it to a 90 degree angle, creating a right angle, the corner was then soldered with hard solder. To begin the second edge a 20mm length was measured where the process began over again until it was a perfect square with all the corners soldered and the excess metal sawn off.

This was done until twenty squares were produced of 20mm all round. A further 22 squares of 10mm all round were produced, then squares made the cube links In between the larger cubes. 

He assembled get of the cubes, of the 20 large and 22 small squares half of each were put aside for a brief moment.. Whilst the other underwent extensive work. Ensuring that the wire is straight by pulling it straight and the handy parallel pliers the cube construction began, snipping off larger length with a flat filed on one edge and soldering them to the corner perpendicular to the square. For the smaller square the use of typ ex became effective. Once the perpendicular wires were put into place they were all measure and sawn off to the desired height.

The assembling of these pieces became tricky,try to establish a better way to assemble them as the struggles from the previous piece were evident.

Finally discovering an effective way to assemble this. The method was to place the large cube first with a small cube diagonally across from each other on the corners of the larger cube, to which a single square was soldered on to close the cube off.. This process was repeated until each piece was soldered on. 

The link was then manufactured and applied to the neckpiece, the neckpiece can now at this point sit on the neck. Although cube is known for its harsh corners this piece was considered a show it would sit on the wearer, that the corners would be "softened" by rounding the edges.

This piece is still undergoing manufacture but from here the lattice mesh will be manufactured and applied to the cube but in order not to over power the design it won't be done to each large cube but only every second one. 

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John Skotnes

With our lecturer on maternity leave and another busy with an extensive exhibition that deals with a wide variety of South African artists, we were pleased to have a temporary replacement. Although the stay was short we learnt a lot with his input and insight into our work, both theory and practice. John Skotnes a goldsmith and jewellery lecturer at CPUT took us under his wing and looked after us for two very short weeks. With daily "15" minute lectures on basic practical skills and knowledge was abundantly useful, from the metallogy lectures to the chemistry, to uncovering new methods of the way we did things. We now stand two weeks later with a clearer mind as to why things happen a certain way, why our metal reacts like this or like that, whether it is our fault or that's just how metal reacts... It is natural. At first it might seem overwhelming the way he walks around with an opti visor or during a practice crit and is analyzing your piece with the opti visor, yes it is scary but he isn't there to shoot you down but rather to help you improve, he would inform you of other methods to go about manufacturing it in order to get a better finish. John encourages students and applauds their ideas and  helps inspire and has made me enthusiastic to the future pieces that are to be produced.

With fresh input on our thesis it was good to hear a new perspective or an outside perspective on where we were going right or wrong. 

An encouraging, inspirational and remarkable man left the department today and has without a doubt left a mark on the department and the students privileged enough to have learnt something from him.

3d Printing

How To 3D Print

With many printing companies around the world and the increasing numbers of 3D printing in South Africa. It is best to see how the process works. 

Piece 4

Piece 4 is a statement neck piece. This piece speaks particularly to the cluster formation formed from the cubic system. As seen below the original centre piece is seen to be distracting to the eye so the design was then altered in order not to be distracting, as the amount of detail although intricate can become an eye sore. and from this only certain cubes had the incorporation of the lattice design.

Manufacturing process.

The chain.

The chain was assembled with square wire that was measured and then filed down at a 45 degree angle with a square needle file. This process is used to create a sharper corner on the edges as opposed to rounded edges created from bending the wire. Once the links were closed and to the desired length, as well as sanded, the hammered texture was then applied as seen in the image on the left.

The Centre piece.

The centre piece with great difficulty getting in the perfect symmetry on each cube did propose its difficulties and frustrations. Once having the just of each cube, the process of putting them together also became a bit troublesome have to re-open certain joins for another cube to fit into that spot. Once assembled the piece was pre-cleaned for the next technique. the process of applying the lattice mesh.

The lattice mesh

instead of creating one mesh each time for each side, it was decided that it could be more user friendly to create one large lattice mesh and then cut and pick from this mesh that would suite best for that side of the cube. the mesh was created with larger granules created with wire that is 0.5mm thick and coiled twice around a 2.0mm spindle, and then melted to create the granule. once the granule is created a pilot hole was created, this is where the wire would be soldered into. a tiny piece of hard solder is then soldered onto the wire which is then attached to the granule in the pilot hole created.

 The piece is still to be cleaned and polished.

International Jeweller

Silvia WeidenBach

Figure 1 Silvia WeidenBach

International Jeweller Silvia WeidenBach is a designer that experiments with 3D printing as a means of expressing her creativity, by coming up with new and innovative works. WeidenBach’s collection titles “RorschachBurst”, is an exploration of colourful and complex shapes, it is her evolution of her artistic search in the field of object and adornment and exploring these through new media. It challenges existing notions of how things should look and function, taking advantage of the freedom from constraint and convention in so doing. The complexity that characterises many works produced via digital production methods is also evident in the detailed rich surface textures and patterns. This piece is also reminiscent of the pixellation noted by Birdle (Birdle 2011) as being the epitome of the “new aesthetic” which serves to reinforce its status as an “Eruption of the digital” into the physical world (Birdle 2011).

Figure 2 Silvia WeidenBach, "RorschachBurst", 2015, 3D Print.