This past fall semester I was so excited to finally take advantage of my art studio electives by taking a metal jewelry course. I remember before attending Marywood wanting to take part in jewelry making after being shown the studio on a student interest tour. Now in my senor year I am finally able to work with this medium and take part in this different process while working three dimensional.

My first piece I created was a metal bow necklace. Although its design was simple, the process was quite extensive as you can read about in my “It’s a Process” blog post. However, it is incredible how far you can go in a certain medium when you choose to adapt to its process. My newest piece in comparison with my first project has progressed much further in complexity and craft. I love both pieces but I love even more that I can compare the two and see my progression just one project later.

My newest piece is both a sculptural and functional piece.  It is comprised of three metal crafted sunflowers that are different sizes and have different functions.I intentionally used copper metal for the middle piece of the sunflower and brass as its petals to be interpreted easily as a sunflower. For the copper pieces I imprinted screen onto the metal to add a textured middle to the sunflower.  For the sun ray petals of the sunflower I imprinted leaves on brass metal and hand cut each leaf, all together cutting out 35 metal leaves by hand. I wanted to use leaves as an unconventional flower petal to take the original assignment of a piece derived from nature to have a sort of nature driven by nature art piece.

The largest sunflower functions as an arm cuff, the middle sized sunflower functions as a bracelet, and the smallest sunflower functions as a ring. All of the sunflowers can be worn but still are a part of a sculptural piece that can be taken away from and added to. Once again using leaves as a key element to these pieces, each cuff is comprised of more cut out leaves.

As a way of displaying this piece all together, I decided to work with a concept of a sunflower field while still acknowledging the fact that these can be worn jewelry pieces. With that concept in mind, I covered a necklace jewelry holder with grass and moss material. With that I cut out spaces for each flower to go into, taking into account the composition. The sunflowers are not completely on the holder because they are blooming off of their base and also flowing from largest to smallest in an upward, circular, counterclockwise direction.

I have grown incredibly attached to this piece because I am in love with the concept of it being a a functional sculpture that can be played with. The many extra studio hours and time devoted to this piece was well worth it to be able to have my own field of sunflowers year round, especially with bitter winter coming to Scranton soon.