In the making…
The process behind the Silver Loom collections has been a journey of discovery and experimentation. Beginning from hand forging silver sheet into flowing draped shapes to exploring the benefits of incorporating elements of digital design, the process developed to become a hybrid of the two. Although mainly developed and finished through traditional hand-making techniques, the addition of some CAD elements allowed greater freedom in prototyping and streamlining details that felt important to these particular designs.
Initial ideas turn into some weeks of gathering sources, imagery and sketching. Sketches are a fantastic place to start visualising the direction, they can identify key elements that will unify the collection. I like to imagine pieces that will go together, sometimes there are more sketches of rings that naturally come forward from the idea phase, so I will come back to favourites and see if I can develop a necklace and earrings that complement the form of the ring or vice versa.
Sketches can be misleading when designing three dimensional objects as we tend to choose a favourable angle or just enjoy drawing specific shapes that may or may not be as appealing in reality. I try to use the sketching time to pull together many more options and direction than ever end up being developed. From these, a handful that stand out, or work the best together as a cohesive set, are prototyped. Because I later scanned the prototypes in to finesse in CAD I was able to play around with a variety of materials that are not necessarily associated with jewellery making-like steamed paper and clay. I do not use CAD to develop the form of the design and very much prefer the physical quality that manipulating physical materials by hand creates. However, it has allowed me to add functional details in a seamless way or test the size and scale of a piece without having to recreate iterations.
Final designs were 3D printed to verify any details that have been tweaked or added. These prints are made in a specific quality resin that allow them to withstand the high pressures of mold making. Before being sent to the casters each printed piece has to be cleaned, cured and sanded to get rid of any residue from the supporting structures of the printing process.
I work with casting specialists who create molds and use these molds to create wax copies for the traditional lost-wax casting technique.
Once the pieces are cast they are sent to be assayed at Dublin Caste, confirming the quality of the metal and adding makers marks.
After casting and assaying I get the pieces back to the studio to begin cleaning up the casts. Starting with filing off the sprue where each piece was connected to the casting ‘tree’, soldering earring pins and continuing through the various grits of sanding and polishing required to bring them to their final mirror polish. Polishing can take hours & hours but it is hugely rewarding to finally reveal the piece in all it’s glory, especially seeing the cast of a new collection for the very first time!
