A day in the life of a lantern - Piercing or 'cut-work'

Beep beep! Telegram...

First two workshop days completed in Fes! Here is a little overview of the beginning stages of design and fabrication of a Moroccan lantern.

The initial form is sketched out by the Mallem (workshop master) to his own or his customer's preference and annotated with approximate measurements. One of the questions I hoped visiting these workshops would help me answer is how net patterns of forms that cannot be mocked up in cardboard are worked out (e.g. round forms).

With help from my translator Mohammed I understand that the initial sketch is sent to a third party who renders it in Auto CAD. Originally, the sketch would've been sent to a technical draughtsman who would render the net by hand. I am relieved to hear this- this part of the process is so technical, and needs to be mathematically perfect. It always causes me difficulties, especially when working on more complex hollow forms. The decorative patterns used in the pierced work aren't standard or workshop/mallem specific but rather just sourced from wherever (online, customer's own photos etc). The patterns we were using were hand drawn, but translation skills had been stretched as far as they could go on this matter so left it to guess work!

The patterned paper nets are glued to the brass sheet with a medieval looking amber glue (gotta be animal based...) I'm using both 0.9mm and 1.2mm sheet, I think this might relate to the size of the lantern rather than mixed thicknesses in one lantern. Every space is marked with a dot and drilled on a really juicy pillar drill that feels invincible. They use a conical burr thing rather than a drill bit which is much more sturdy.

Burrs caused by the drilling are ground off the reverse of the brass sheet with an angle grinder. Actually this is a bit of a revelation - I see very little file use whilst in the workshop. I have no angle grinder. So many processes could be sped up with one. I'm getting some cutting discs and sorting my life out when I get back.... Then the sheet's flattened out with a satisfying wooden mallet.

It is bloody impressive that the whole thing is pierced by hand. It's not really what I expected - I thought there would be more automation. Each lantern is imbued with power!

The workshop Mallem Mbaraki and I. He is brilliant and has a mischievous pixie-like giggle that bubbles out spontaneously. Note the spectacular lanterns above us that the workshop has produced:

BMV xx

Artist Residency in Morocco

⤉Blog Resurrection!⤉

As of Wednesday I shall be travelling to Morocco to take part in a 3 week artist Residency based in Fez/Sefrou, working with artisanal coppersmiths.

I shall be attempting a blog resurrection and diary of it/things/stuff.

Proclamation and tentative promise made, that is all.
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//ATOMIC VISIONS// A Pre and Post Apocalyptic Reliquary of Jewellery and Objects

//A pre and post apocalyptic reliquary of Jewellery and objects//

Tues 4th-Sun 9th August,

10-19:00 hrs

Craft Central Showcase gallery

33-35 St John's Square, 

London EC1M 4DS

Jewellery artists Billie M Vigne and Sandra Tepla present a pop up shop of BMV and Tepla Jewellery, exclusively unveiling new works concerned with imminent nuclear apocalypse. Both artists share a distaste for wasteful consumerism and a visual affinity with tribal and ethnic jewellery; their works play with the viewer’s ability to place an object in a particular culture or point in time.

“In a time of potential environmental crisis, of huge unrest in the Middle East, of discord between nuclear powers, our generation doesn’t seem worried about the Nuclear Bomb. We are here to sound the TICK-TOCK of the Doomsday clock.”

Billie M Vigne presents X: The Bomb, the Whale and the Phallus, the first piece from new series M.A.D. modelled on Tamil Nadu marriage necklaces. X is a neckpiece and nuclear dowry bequeathed to a future generation. Intricately hand fabricated in brass, bronze, copper and silver, it tells the murky tale of an unstable nightmare-scape in which the whales know and wait; on the cusp of nuclear warfare, the phallus rises and the bomb is dropped. 

Sandra Tepla will unveil a new bi-part series of works, Part 1: Human Impulse sees her innately dystopian work grow into painstakingly sewn, futuristic textile structures, exploring empowerment/dominance in a pre-apocalyptic ‘rise before the fall’ Part 2: Someone Else’s Memory feels its way through a nuclear landscape, scavenging for scrap metal and curious objects, building alternate permutations of this reality. 

Tamil Nadu Marriage necklaces - Kazhutthuru

Nuclear war thematics aside.... my latest project takes much from the marriage dowry necklaces of Chettiar, Tamil Nadu. A while ago, I found this amongst the pages of my beloved copy of Oppi Untracht’s "Traditional Jewelry of India”. I became enraptured by this image: 

I often came back to it, only opening the book to scan through for this photo. I can't say what exactly it was that held my imagination so- I actually find a stylistic distaste in the finicky, fine, detailing and precise execution of this style of metalsmithing. My love affair with ethnic jewellery is most often located on the indiscernible line between crudeness and finesse, figurative and abstract, stark and decorative. I think perhaps the phallic formation in this example (the individual components can be worn alone or in a different order) and the vaguely industrial/geometric feel struck me as unusual and oddly aggressive.  It was not 'till quite far into my own designing I realised I had misunderstood the scale of these epic pieces. They are huge.

My decision to make use of them as an ‘aesthetic model' for my new piece (to be revealed in August) provides a new way of working for me. Through close analysis, I have been recreating and adapting, picking and choosing the techniques used and transposing them into a very different context. These necklaces make abundant use of hollow forms, which is of primary interest to me, but are compiled in a complex and less obvious way than I am familiar with. As I have been learning, rich ornamentation such as finely fretted sheet and application of fine pearl wires can significantly alter fundamental construction processes. 

Often featuring as the poster girl for ‘Indian jewellery’ as you can see here and here, I suspect these wedding Thalis are widely revered as examples of exquisite craftsmanship. Once zoned in, I start to see them pop up all over. Most recently in the fantastic coffee table tome - “Rare bird of Fashion”, essentially a catalogue of Iris Apfel’s outfits. An ethnic jewellery enthusiast, she owns a positively ravishing example of the Kazhutthuru, also offering one of the most detailed and descriptive photos I’ve found (clearly great minds think alike, Iris).

Check out my modest pinterest board on these fascinating necklaces here and discover more info via the photo's links. 

Foundry visit

Recently I visited my new (best!!) friend and head Patineur at a Foundry in Hampshire to see how the whole business worked. 

They offer two types of casting- sand or lost wax. Taken on a tour through the warehouse, each room has it's own character, yet all  are united by a thick layer of ubiquitous metal and plaster dust. 

The wax room is hot and steamy from the wax 'cauldron' in the corner and the burning of the alcohol lamps. 

The wax cauldron

It's here that the silicon moulds are made from original artist's forms (clay models etc), which are then lined with hot wax. The hot wax is worked into the mould with a paintbrush if fine details need to be picked up. These wax models are attached to wax cups/funnels and sprues. 

The wax used is quite different to the jeweller's carving wax i buy and retains a sort of elastic quality during its cooling period, much like chewing gum.

The investment room has quite a different character. All wax models are taken here to get coated in a ceramic shell that is what will eventually retain the molten metal when the wax melts out.

Wax models get dipped in a liquid, then a ceramic 'dust' or 'investment' repeatedly to build up their shells. The mix increases in coarseness in order to, first, pick up fine details, then to accrue sufficient strength to endure the high pressure and heat of the casting. At this stage, a core is inserted so that the casting will be hollow (a large solid bronze statue would be immovable and ludicrously expensive!) and pins attach the outer shell to the core.

Here the investment is dried, they are all stood on their wax cups.

These little ghostly figures are then taken to the kiln where the wax is melted out. Then they're inverted and packed into a sort of steel box, surrounded by sand and the molten bronze is poured in, via the cups. Once cool, the ceramic is cracked off.

Next..... the boring chasing. My lovely and long suffering friend began as a Chaser at the foundry. Encompassing a massive gamut of processes, Chasing can refer to the grinding, sandblasting, cleaning up, welding shut the pin-holes, polishing up of a piece as well as the traditional silversmithing 'chasing' I was previously aware of. This is a hand-tooling technique using punches and a mallet.

Finally, a bronze sculpture will (usually) be given a patina. Below are some colour samples on cast bronze blanks. The blanks are half smooth, half textured for comparison of finish.

The process of patination can only really be understood and developed through practice, it is notoriously unpredictable and difficult to master. The art of a patineur lies somewhere between a painter and an alchemist, skilfully balancing the constant movement of the flame and brush with consistent concentration, removing heat and applying more at exactly the right moment. Often patinas are the result of many, many layers of chemicals and also circumstantial effects such as atmosphere, humidity and metal temperature.

Insider tip: although there are infinite chemicals recommended for use in patination, my friend recommends that pretty much the whole rainbow can be achieved through only four: ferric nitrate, cupric nitrate, bismuth and Liver of Sulfur. 

The toilet graveyard

This is where I hang out in my spare time.

The UK's largest holder of new and salvaged bathroom suites.... phwoar.

Art in Translation, CityLit jewellery alumni exhibition.

The journey from Flat to Hat.

Section of Eduardo Paolozzi's 1969-70 screenprint Zero Energy Experimental Pile: Will the Future Rulers of the Earth Come from the Ranks of Insects?

In response to the Art in Translation brief, I selected Eduardo Paolozzi as my research basis for some new aluminium hats. A small segment of "Z.E.E.P....." as pictured above forms the inspiration for my work. Z.E.E.P. is actually a composition of 12 of these rectangular frames, each housing disparate graphics and imagery. I find this particular frame magnetic - visually it's relative to many of my aesthetic interests- Memphis, 80s graphics etc. My intent was to 'evolve' the collage in the way that Paolozzi had arrived at the shapes in the first place. Opening back out sections he originally stuck down, new ones are formed by the shadows cast and the negative spaces left behind.

Sketchbook folds

Taking one element of the print, I enlarged it over and over on a photocopier 'till I had several distinct shapes to serve as a foundation.

After copious model-making, I transferred designs to sheet aluminium and began cutting out - anything intricate or curved done by hand but larger parts that were too deep for my saw frame, I took to the scrollsaw.

Filing and sanding nearly did me in and I soon aborted my Health and Safety boycott when I think I got a touch of metal fume fever and whacked a mask on. It turns out, aluminium is impossible to get a good finish on. I sanded up to 1600, soaped and pumiced, tried autosol, silver polish and hyfin, all to a dirty cloudy ugly glare. Hurrah!

To the powder coaters with some of the components to emulate the bolshy colours of the print:

They were all then baked at 200 degrees in an amazing hand-built, walk-in kiln.

I got to watch the coating at close range which was super exciting and even have a little say in the distribution of colour on the mixed pieces.

Finally, the raw aluminium was finished up, the pieces were assembled, invisible headbands wrapped in fabric, some crazy neoprene was attached to a couple of the parts and all components were screwed together with anodised aluminium nuts and bolts.

Here they are:

Ranks of Insects Hat

Experimental Pile Hat 

Zero Energy Hat

All pieces will be on display at CityLit until 17th March 2014