During the Jewellery Design with Laser Cutting course over Semester 1, I have worked through the design process of investigating, designing, producing and making changes.
First I began by researching a number of jewellery designs and finding out how they function. I then created a mood board to suit the taste and style of jewellery I wanted to add as part of my collection. I then began designing and choosing the pieces I wanted to create.
When laser cutting my first trial, I realised if I were to decrease the size of the orchids, the parts would be too small and fiddly because the acrylic glue was fairly fast setting. However, their size made them a bit too heavy for wearing on the ears and hair, so instead of going with my original plan as earrings or head pieces, I decided to make them the design of brooches. Afterwards, I also made multiple copies with different colours and opacities of acrylic to trial the aesthetics of the piece, concluding that it was difficult to get differing colours and opacities to match well and that I could use the mirror acrylic if I wanted a change in style.
Technical Skills
I learnt invaluable things about laser cutting such as setting the origin point and thickness of the material to ensure that the laser cutter does not break. I also learnt to layer different elements on top of each other in Illustrator. I also learnt to use different functions such as reflect, shear and the tracing tool. I also learnt to import different laser files depending on different materials used (like different thicknesses of wood or acrylic and cut, partial cut and burn).
After the initial laser cutting, I also learnt a technique for glue pieces together. I learnt that I had to use very small amounts of glue and that if the glue left behind a streak, it would be better to leave it alone to prevent further damage of the piece.
I also learnt skills in working with silver such as kneading, bending and cutting it. However, I think I need to work on my silver working skills because I still don’t know what point to stop when using the torch and how the metal bends.
Non-technical Skills (Capabilities)
I learnt to be resilient because when the orchid layers didn’t match up, I thought of different ways to solve it and make it equal then I tried creating it as even as possible but had some issues with reflecting it over properly. I also found that one of the top three small pieces was unable to stay on so I had to modify the second layer to ensure that it stayed.
If there were thinner sheets of acrylic, I could possibly have made smaller versions of the orchid. Otherwise I could’ve worked on adding partial cuts to give the orchid more 3D value.
I also learnt to use the capability of problem solving because when initially creating the heart ring, it was fairly difficult to get the wire to pass through either side without bending the wire out of shape. Then I thought of a different process of beginning from the round side of the ring before working on the heart. By doing this and trialling out different techniques, I think that I have adapted and began creating a new skill set.
Conclusion
Some of the major highlights of this project for me was transferring designs onto illustrator because for me, it was interesting to see the process of creation from paper to digital. It was also very interesting when I had my initial first trial printed and put together because it felt like I was on track to creating something.
I also enjoyed creating the rings because it felt like I was able to create things that were functional and aesthetic which was quite nice.
