Assignment #7 tasked us with the designing and creation of a necklace with the primary focal points needing to be crafted out of wood. Also, this assignment was an opportunity to experiment with mechanical connectors and how we could use them to enhance our designs.
Concept:
For my design, I immediately was drawn to traditional Omani necklaces as I am always trying to bring aspects of my culture into my work. Below is an example of one.
Traditional Omani Silver Necklace (Sumt Mukahhal)
http://omanisilver.com/contents/en-us/d236_Omani_silver_necklaces.html
In my initial sketches of the wooden necklace, I toyed with the idea of recreating the jewelry in my aesthetic.
Idea Sketches
In the end, I chose to create a combination of ideas two and five as I felt that I was able to achieve it in the given timeframe.
Execution:
The process of making the necklace can be broken down into three phases: cutting of the wood, painting of the wood, and construction of the necklace. In the first phase, I drew my designs on a piece of MDF (a composite material made of small pieces of wood). After sketching them out, I used the mechanical saws in the Making Center to cut the pieces out.
My Sketched Out Design on The Piece of MDF
To cut the pieces out, I first cut them into little squares so that I could be as precise as possible when cutting the shapes out. For the large circle, I cut into the design multiple times to make it easier for me to cut the rounded shape out with more ease. After cutting the large circle, I attempted to cut the smaller squares out, but I found that it could be a safety hazard as my fingers would get to close to the mechanical saw. Therefore, I decided to check out a hand saw and cut the pieces out by hand. After cutting the pieces, I used a file to smoothen out the edges of all the parts.
An Example of The Pre-cut Smaller Circle & A Smaller Circle in The Process of Filing
After filing the pieces, I sanded down the tab I created on the top of the wooden circles to give it the appearance of a second piece that was inserted into the circle, thus creating a more intricate design. Once done, the last thing to do would be to drill the holes into each piece. Using scraps of wood and clamps I was able to drill holes into pieces. I first used the smaller drill bit and then gradually moved up two sizes to create a whole big enough.
The Large Circle Before Being Drilled
With the pieces of wood ready it was time to transition to phase 2. To prep the wooden parts for painting I sanded them down with 340-grain sandpaper and then painted with two layers of white paint (achieving the same goal as a wood primer). Then I created a mix of paint consisting of Titanium White, Burnt Umber, and Primary Yellow. I did this to match the color of yarn I wanted to use as the chain for the necklace and create a coherent color palette.
Yarn Sample and Custom Paint Mix
After painting the wooden pieces, it was time to prepare the yarn to act as the chain. By doubling the yarn twice, I was able to thicken the yarn enough to make it stiff and stable. To keep the strands together, I decided to braid them resulting in the two pieces seen above. Now it was time to join everything together, and I decided to do this with metal. For phase 3, I decided to use a flexible wire (19 Gauge Annealed Wire) to act as the mechanical connector.
Using a pair of needle nose pliers, I twisted the wire to create a small hook to one end of the yarn. Then I bent the wire once again to create a hoop and slipped the wire into the first small wooden circle. The wire hoops were used as blockers to prevent the wood pieces from colliding into one another. I repeated this process until all the wooden circles and the second piece of yarn was connected.
Lastly, the other ends of the yarn were just hanging with no clean ends. To remedy this, I used another piece of wire to join the two ends together. I did this by creating one hook on either end of the wire and connected it to the ends of the yarn. This resulted in the final product shown below.
Final Product Shots of Assignment #7
Reflection:
With the completed necklace ready for group critique, I began to feel that the piece was very drab. The color was not very interesting and not very indicative of who I am as a designer.
After presenting our pieces in class, I saw all the other designs that my peers created – some were very inspiring. In particular, there was a necklace that had a pendant in the shape of an eye. It was very well executed with sharply contrasting colors and a nod to the punk aesthetic of the late 20th century. Seeing this pushed me to think about how I could revise my design and that night I remade it.
Using two pocket chains, I purchased from a hardware store I created a chain which I could use instead of the wire and yarn I used in the first version. The pocket chains came with a clasp which I decided to use as a jewelry clasp.
Photo of The Metal Clasp From The Pocket Chain
Furthermore, by reusing the two key rings, I was able to add another style element to the necklace by mimicking the smaller wooden circles and adding more dimension to the piece. Once that was done, I added more details to the circles by painting them with black paint. The black and cream contrasted with one another quite well adding to the dimension I felt was absent.
Me Using The End of a Paintbrush to Create Decorative Dots on The Large Wood Circle
Me Using a Sharpie to Emphasize Small Details on The Design
With the paint dried, the revised piece was finally completed. Below is the styling shot of my necklace.
Styling Shot of Final Iteration of Assignment #7
I feel that this piece much better represents my design aesthetic and I’m happy that I decided to revise it.
