In between classes Estela had set aside some tasks to prompt thinking and making. The aim was to take the skills we used in our first class and put them to work. We were to undertake a complete recreation of an old or incomplete object we had made and create something new. I chose to begin with a bag of bits and pieces that was once going to be a sterling silver link chain. All the elements were there, but I was never enthused about the idea enough to complete it. This homework allowed for me to give the object a second life, so to speak, other than living in the back of a draw.
Found material in the back of the bench draw.
With the spirit of “complete transformation” in mind, I decided to melt down the sterling silver and cast it into an ingot. This is one of the things I love working with precious metals. As long as there are not additives (like solder other materials) you can remelt and start again. By melting down the metal to an ingot I could roll the material create my own sheet.
The materials to be cast in the crucible.
The casting process.
The sterling silver ingot created from found material.
The sterling silver ingot once it had be put through the roller many many times.
For my object I took inspiration from the maker Mari Funaki (1950-2010). I was introduced to her work at Mari Funaki: Objects exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (2010). https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/mari-funaki/. I was so taken with Funaki’s mild steel sculptures on display. The almost anthropomorphic sculptural forms that seems so expressive were abstract geometric forms. I was intrigued with how Funaki achieve imbuing her work with a sense of emotion. Some works seemed like they were a mount captured in time. In Funaki’s wearable objects she creates spaces for humans to inhabit the piece, but the objects on their own stood alone.
For my object I decided to play with the aim to create an object that captured “a moment captured in time”. To achieve this I built up the form of the ring over layers. I constructed two rings from sheet material I created with the ingot. As I only melted a relatively small amount of material there was not a large amount of sheet to play with. I tried to create the ring in the confines of the sheet material.
Cutting plan for the sheet material.
The material guided my making. The rings utilised the curves of the sheet I constructed. I decided to accentuate the curves of the material to create a dynamic between the rings. Once I completed the two rings I sat and reflected.
The two rings constructed from the cutting plan.
The two rings bought together to make one ring. I examined the ring and felt lit was were missing something.
I decided to create another ingot from the left over materials for a third and final layer. This final ring bound the other two. Again, I accented the curves. With no straight lines the curved lines undulate around the ring to create movement and flow in the piece.
An image of all sides of the ring at once.
Material transformation: The before and after.
This was the final ring I presented to Estela and the Handshake8 cohort. Upon reflection I would have enjoyed extra time and material to push some of the ideas further. I would have had a chance to create spaces in between the each of the ring’s layers. Allowing more room for them to sit with one another. I would have loved to try and put the rings askew from one another to accentuate the illusion of movement.
Watch this space…