Photos of Fifth Piece

Manufacture of Fifth Piece

First I took plate and bent it up into a petal shape using a pitch bowl.

I then soldered the ends together and filed off the excess.

I then drew the pattern onto the petals with shellac and etched the design onto the metal using nitric acid.

After enamelling these petals I found that the enamel colours I wanted to use, red and purple, did not show up as well when they have a backing ,as the colours distorted, so I decided to change the pattern and decorate the petals with the “plique-a-jour” enamelling technique which requires no backing.

I therefore pierced out the pattern on the petals,

And I only enamelled some of the pierced sections so as to create interest with the use of negative space.

I then put the petals together as seen here.

To link the wire together I bent the ends to form loops.

Fifth Piece Inspired by Tibet

I wanted to use the lotus petal in my next piece and I wanted to incorporate enamel that was on a round object as opposed to on a flat shape.

I also wanted to make my piece a very long chain as I was inspired by the rosary worn by Buddhist Tibetans.

This was the method that I wanted to use to connect each section of my piece.