new works in titanium

A couple of pendants on silver chain. Still more to come, including another pendant and some brooches (one currently in pieces on my bench, waiting to be assembled…)

These guys will be on display in e.g. etal shortly, as will their friends. They’re all part of the pattern we know-and-love, the sieve.

The improvements in this series (from the previous one, showcased in the Return exhibition, amongst other venues) include blackened silver chains rather than the steel cable neck-pieces from earlier works, and a double sandblasting. The first blast, with aluminum oxide as the abrasive, is to remove ‘laser-splatter’ that forms on the surface of the metal during the cutting process, and the second, with glass beads, is to give it a more polished finish. The sum effect? It gives the final work more shine. It helps to see them ‘in the flesh’ to really notice, since it’s something that is hard to capture in a photograph.

I’m really proud of these pieces, as it’s the first time in a set of laser-cut works that I’ve made these two little changes. So far I’ve used chain and glass blasting only in my hand-cut works, as these are traditionally my exhibition ‘showstoppers’ (which, conversely, don’t seem to sell as consistently).

Owing to these changes, and my increasing familiarity with the diligent making process that such precise pieces demand (the knowledge of which comes in part from refining my own emerging visual language), I think they are the most stable, and therefore most wearable, works I have made to date.