colours

In my explorations to capture the appearence of fragility I found that sterling silver was not the best option for these delicate fragile flowers due of many reasons so I decided to use fine silver because:

1. Fine silver created a soft white when left in the acid whereas sterling silver created a dirty white or a harsh white depending on the state of the acid.
   

Sterling silver links and unpolished white fine silver flowers. The thin burnished edges of the flower allows for a delicate feeling because it shows how thin the flowers are.

To keep the flowers unpolished whilst making the links highly polished I had to protect the flowers surface as seen below. I felt that this black colour was such a contrast to the white flowers. It reminded me of when I was thinking of contrasts and contradictions for example my soldiers and flowers with the contradiction or the contrast being in the subject matter. This time I created a contrast or contradiction using colour.

The black flowers ( a very harsh and un-natural colour for a flower) sharing one necklace with the white soft feeling of the unpolished silver flowers. The pure, uncontaminated, delicate flowers become whiter as the black, dark and harsh flowers move in. It shows dark vs light. The dark being the realisation of the real world around me that is swallowing up my pure, fresh, uncontaminated view I have on life, as I get older and start to understand what is going on around me. The black contradicts the meaning of the flower which is a meatphor for life.

I am wanting to explore making different coloured hydrangeas with different methods. I have tried the enamel which gives beautiful bright colours.

My hydrangea Workings leading up to design indaba

electroformed hydrangea Rings

I was not sure about these electroformed hydrangeas when I was making jewellery and trying to incorporate them into designs, but after usin 2 of them to make rings that fit together I am pleased with how they look on the hand. My first hesitations were beacuse I was not sure if the flowers would look too stiff or "formal in metal" but now I like the way the flowers look as if they have been captured.

More Hydrangea pieces for an order

So I have finished the order for Denmark and have learnt alot. From having to ship the order, to receiving a foreign currency into your account, to bubble wrapping and to communicating, there is alot of info to find out and is not as easy as it may seem, but once you have done it once it will be alot easier for the next time! I was really weary about shipping my jewellery just using the speed services at the normal SAPO but turns out they are actually organised and you can insure the items that you send. I guess this will make life easier for my etsy shop as I now have some information on shipping costs/postage procedures!

From first order that I sent to denmark to this order now I feel that my jewellery has improved a whole lot. For instance, my catches on the bracelets were made with more awarness on the safety element of the bracelet to insure that it does not come off once it is on the wrist. I used a wider range of sizes of hydrangeas which gave the bracelet more of a feel of flowers being around your wrist and and I used alot of small flowers which i find distinguish the shape of the stylized hydrangea better, but there needs to be a mix of sizes which is what I did.

Enamelled delicate flowers

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Another order from Denmark, Yay!

I have got another order from Denmark for my Hydrangea jewellery so the fun begins again. the shop needs the jewellery asap so I have started today! Here is my beginings I love the look of these hydrangeas when the paper burns away!