A Catwalk Show.

Attachment 9028Attachment 9029Attachment 9030Attachment 9034Towards the end of this term our advanced textile students will be presenting their catwalk show and the jewellery department has been asked to make some accessories for it. The theme will be water and the fabrics will be green and blue green in colour.

We were advised to find inexpensive materials, so I opted for copper wire extracted from a metre of earth cable from our local electrical wholesaler.
As my interest in fabric design is limited I decided just to make a large chain with a buckle or pendant, about 65 inches (165cm) long which could be worn as a belt or a necklace, in the hope that it would fit the bill for one of the students.

The round and oval links were made from 2.0mm round wire lightly hammered after soldering, so as to harden them and provide texture. This can be quite painful on fingers, so I was pleased to have my bent nosed pliers to hold them.

The double connecting jump rings make it easier to align the links. They were wound from 1.2mm wire and left unsoldered, as copper quickly becomes hard when worked. Fingers crossed that they will remain closed.

For the pendant, I made some strip from 3x1mm wires lightly flattened in the mill and woven, intending it to be decorative, but still quite neutral. As my copper coloured solder did not arrive in time, I used silver easy solder. While it looks a bit messy in close up, I quite like the highlight effect when worn.

There is a hook at each end, to make it as versatile a possible.

Components and o/s diameters:
18 oval links 28x17mm. 54 round links 18mm,
144 jump rings 8mm. One pendant/buckle 38mm. Dennis.

Sorry I tried t show the last two pictures upright, but no luck.

Interesting Dennis. It will be good to see photos of them on the models.

Excellent work, as usual, Dennis

Thank you Metalsmith.
Yes, I'd like to see how it's used too Carole, but unfortunately I shan't be there on the night. Maybe I can get some pictures. Dennis.

More great pieces Dennis. On the weaved item, did you use a graver or a punch to incise the lines?

Nick

What I did, Nick was to make a strip by soldering together three straight wires and then weaving with portions of the strip. I am still hoping to find a picture of it worn at the show, as I could not attend.

Another interesting sequel was that my composite pictures are collages scanned in, showing my lack of ability with Photoshop. As I mistakenly scanned them in portrait format, they could not be rotated for the Forum.

Thank you for your interest. Dennis.

Ah of course.. good thinking and less labour intensive. May well give that idea a try sometime on one of my creations as its a lovely effect.

Thanks for explaining the process.

Nick