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Palette
1: Olive Fire Agate
d
Palette 2:
Brown Fire Agate
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BEZELWORKS
PENDANT with STRAP
About the Kit...
If
jewelry is "art", is the entire
piece the art, or only the center piece, or
central focal part the art? Classical art
theory holds that the fringe, strap, edging,
bail, and other similar parts should supplement
or support the center piece or focal center.
This theory holds that these jewelry structures
are not art. They should function
like a frame to a painting, or a pedestal
to a sculpture.
It
is, however, often difficult to separate the
jewelry's anatomy like this, with one part
important and the other parts supplemental.
This BezelWorks Pendant project is, in part,
designed to foster ideas, discussion and debate
about the roles of fringe, edge, strap, bail
and surface embellishment. Each of these is
critical to the finished piece.
For
each of these anatomical parts or extensions
to our piece of jewelry, we need to understand
it in terms of:
- What it is, its purpose, its role
- What value it has to the piece
- How it makes the piece more or less satisfying
- What principles should regulate it
- Whether it is part of the art or not
Center
Piece
The
central project: A BezelWorks Pendant, with
open-back peyote bezel. How do we go about
designing an aesthetically pleasing, well-functioning,
center piece? What functions does the center
piece serve? How do we make choices about
size, design, proportions, placement?
Edge,
Frame, Boundary, Line
The
Center Piece has a bezel, creating an interior
edge encircling our stone. In addition, the
we weave a frame around the entire Center
Piece, creating an additional key edging component.
Edging
is used to give a finished look to the piece.
It might be used to hide threads. It might
be used to hide any irregularities in how
beads line up or are juxtaposed. An edging
strategy is especially critical, however,
for creating, preserving, blurring, or otherwise
affecting the boundary line, line curvature,
and/or silhouette of the center piece or the
piece of jewelry as a whole.
What
role does the “border” of a piece
play? Does it mark a beginning/ending? How
does it help the viewer appreciate the emotional
content of the piece?
What
kinds of positioning issues are associated
with the placement on an edge, boundary, border
or line?
Fringe
and Surface Embellishment
We
weave Fringe Embellishment off our Frame.
So what exactly is fringe, and what can fringe
be? How does the fringe make the piece more
or less satisfying? There are numerous possibilities.
In good jewelry design, the Fringe and/or
other Surface Embellishment would play either
a supporting, or a co-equal role, with the
center piece. It would not overwhelm or be
overdone. It would seem as if the fringe were
organic part of the piece. It would not seem
like an afterthought. If it's primary purpose
is to hide flaws, no one should notice. Too
often, designers overdo the fringe.
Straps
The
Center Piece hangs from a thin, twisted Ndebele
tube Strap. What are the visual and functional
purposes of the strap? What should the strap
look like? How should the strap be connected
to the piece? Where should the strap be connected
to the piece? To what extent is or should
the strap be as an integral part of the piece
of jewelry as art? How does the strap define
a silhouette? How does the strap make the
piece more or less satisfying?
Bails
In
our piece, a Bail is connected directly to
the Center Piece, and the strap moves through
it. A bail changes the visual and artistic
relationship between the strap and the center
piece. How might this be helpful, and how
not? The bail poses similar design challenges
as the strap -- size, proportion, placement
and attachment. However, it has to succeed
at one additional task -- it has to control
the visual, aethestic and functional transitioning
between the center piece and the strap.
The
Canvas
We
have two things which serve as "Canvas".
The most obvious is the stringing material.
In this project, we use beading thread for
some parts, and a cable thread for others.
The other part which serves as "Canvas"
are the woven beads which for the basis of
our Frame, and off of which we add Fringe.
The
"canvas" in a piece of jewelry may
be the stringing material, and how it is worked
off of. It might be another piece of beadwork,
such as a beaded base, off of which some center
piece is developed. It might be a core line
of beads. It might be a piece of fabric or
other material. How does the canvas influence
the interpretation of jewelry as art? How
should the canvas interact with the main piece
and its components? To what extent should
it become part of the artwork itself; and
to what extent, not? Classic Art theory suggests
that the canvas should NOT be a part of the
artwork at all.
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