Thursday 21 July 2011

Cold

A project I have been working on for the last weeks, is my submission to GreenLion Gallery's upcoming exhibition “The Kiss: Inspirations from The Cure”, running from September 15  to October 15, 2011 at GreenLion Gallery, 150 E Fulton, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, to which I have just been informed has been accepted!
Transparent and opalescent enamels over fine silver,
onglaze paints, sterling silver, amethyst, quartz.
 My submission is titled Cold, after the The Cure song of the same name from the album Pornography (1982) which is one of my favourite albums by them.

everything as COLD as silence
Part of the lyrics (below) written on the inside of the piece

Scarred
Your back was turned
Curled like an embryo
Take another face
You will be kissed again
I was cold as I mouthed the words
And crawled across the mirror
I wait
Await the next breath
Your name
Like ice into my heart
A shallow grave
A monument to the ruined age
Ice in my eyes
And eyes like ice don't move
Screaming at the moon
Another past time
Your name
Like ice into my heart
Everything as cold as life
Can no one save you?
Everything
As cold as silence
And you never say a word


Your name
Like ice into my heart
Your name
Like ice into my heart


For this piece I worked over silver, even though I most commonly work over copper, since I wanted to work with very cool hues for obvious reasons, and I also wanted to preserve the reflection of the metal below.
The following are a few work in progress pictures and explanations. The pictures can be clicked to enlarge:


Working from a photoshopping I did years ago,
sketching, choosing enamel colours and stones. 
Shaping the silver base over plasticine.
First two (three) layers. First I enamelled the back and then
the front with silver flux.  Here after firing a layer of purple
enamel for the hair.
Here showing the opalescence, changing with the angle.
This has about 15 layers (firings). 
The system to hang the quartz needles from, and tube rivets
for a cold connexion of the enamel, fabricated in sterling silver.

I had to drill these natural quartz crystals that I have had for
many years, with diamond bits. Quartz is very hard, this long
 job was very hard on my wrists!

I was happy to see the little prisms diffracting the light!
After painting details with onglaze oil paints, another 4 firings.

Lettering on the inside, also done with onglaze oil paints.

Finished!