Nihal Shah
A part-time student at Dut studying towards my B-Tech In Jewellery design and manufacture
Wednesday 12 August 2015
Outsourced Casting
During last weeks meeting, Chris suggested that I should get going with the production of my jewellery. Even though some of the designs are already done on Rhino, I still need to physically produce them, but due to my casting not up and ready yet, I was unable to get anything done. I have sent 5 of my rings to be cast by Metcon and I should be expecting them by next week.
Plat Africa 2015 – Complete
Artist Statement:
According to Hindu scriptures, a typical Indian woman is
meant to be adorned with 11 pieces of jewellery. Although this age old
tradition is not observed by most. In this day and age it is no longer
practical or feasible to be wearing so many pieces of jewellery at once. Hence
the engagement ring still remains the most important and the focal point of all
matrimonial jewellery.
My design was inspired by the Paisley shape, which in my
opinion is a timeless fusion symbol which culminates the East with the West
which still remains a relevant fashion symbol after all these years. My thought process for using the Paisley
shape as part of my design extends to wanting to create a ring that portrayed
the merging of ‘two lines’ coming together as one. As this talks to the
harmonious culmination of the couples love and commitment to each other.
According to Hindu beliefs, gold is symbolic of luck,
prosperity and wealth. In an attempt to diversify my ring whilst trying to
create a modern piece of Jewellery, I opted to retain traditional aspects to my
ring by using a bit of gold in the design as well as an attempt to use fine
‘filigree work ‘ but modernized the overall look of it by predominantly using
Platinum as the preferred metal.
Plat Africa – Cast take 2
I received the new cast today. It is far better than the
previous casting, however the wirework on either side didn’t cast as well as I
had hoped it would. With there not being much time left before the deadline, I
just have to make it work.
Plat Africa – Failed Cast
There seems to be this constant problem with casting my Plat
Africa pieces, last year and this year too. I received my casting today and it
was horrible. The casters made a mistake on their side and finished the piece
off, however they messed up whilst finishing. The round settings were oval and
missing claws as well as the metal being extremely thin in certain places.
Plat Africa - Rhino Design
Below is a screenshot of my design for the Plat Africa
competition. I have incorporated the wire work from the shining lights pieces
(as I feel it creates the illusion of filigree) as well as using the ‘split’ of
the shank ( 2 parts becoming 1). I have sent the file in to be casted and
should have it by the end of this week.
Plat Africa – Designs
Having
participated in Plat Africa for 2 years prior, I noticed that when they talk
about commercially viable, they actually mean commercial with a little flair.
For this year’s competition, I decided to manufacture an engagement ring
incorporating the paisley design with elements from my shining lights work.
Plat Africa Brief
The theme for the upcoming Plat Africa jewellery competition
is ‘Indian Bridal Jewellery’. During our B-tech meeting, Chris advised me to do
a ‘’follow through’’ of my shining lights competition. With this in mind, I set
off designing but still trying to retain an ‘Indian flare’ to my work.
I created an inspiration board on Pinterest, gathering
references on Indian culture/couture and noticed a fair amount of Paisley
designs in most of the works. Having thought about it, the Paisley has always
been a timeless fusion fashion symbol culminating the east and the west. With
this in mind I set off designing my piece.
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