Balance Necklaces Autumn 2021

Part of the joy for me of working with acrylic in my jewellery is the challenge of how to join components in a pleasing and simple way. I avoid complicated fittings and joins that obstruct the flow and ease of a piece of jewellery. A necklace can consist of components strung continuously onto a necklet or hung from a chain. This year I wanted to make some bolder statement necklaces that are also easy and comfortable to wear every day, and to move away from the traditional strung beads concept.
In January I looked through pieces made on my degree course, which inspired me to recapture the spirit of fun and play in my new designs. I also browsed the book ‘The American Dream: Pop to Present’ from the British Museum exhibition of the same name, where my jewellery was sold in the exhibition gift shop. Heavily featuring Jim Dine, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, I loved the energy, composition, and colour of the prints.
My ‘Graffiti’ necklace, designed in 2016 uses horizontal acrylic components hung from two black nylon covered stainless steel cables, and I wanted to explore this method further. I can combine shapes to make larger pieces despite the constraints of drill hole length in acrylic.
I laser cut some geometric shaped components…semi-circle, circle, rectangle, and triangle which I hand etched and dyed with my signature black lines in various sizes. I had great fun combining these with smaller coloured acrylic circle and rectangles in pleasingly asymmetric ‘balanced’ compositions.
I have been delighted by comments of visitors to Craft Fairs where I have exhibited them this year likening them to Mondrian paintings and mini artworks.