Crafting the Image of Elizabeth I Part Two

After soldering, pieces can often look completely hopeless. Sometimes I think I've completely destroyed something until I've pickled (cleaned in a weak acid) and polished it. Below you can see that Elizabeth looks quite mucky and not particularly regal!

After a lot of elbow grease and polishing with sandpapers of various grades, the design becomes clearer and the brooch starts to looks much more wearable. Although the brooch in the photo below has clearly been polished a lot, it still needs a lot of work. I use 240 grade emery paper to take away any fire stains and then work down to finer grades of paper such as 1000 and sometimes even 2000 to get that high shine. It takes a lot of time but at least you can do this whilst watching a film! In fact, sometimes I find that I associate pieces forever with what I've watched whilst polishing them! Today it was The Simpsons. Perhaps I should have watched something a little more historical?

Finally, this is the finished brooch (below). It has been polished to a very high shine. The detailing is clear and I'm pretty pleased with the result! I would like to see if I could make a smaller version to have as earrings and perhaps as cufflinks or a pendant? This is a basic version and I could set gemstones and make more elaborate ruffs as well, which might be fun!

Crafting the Image of Elizabeth I Part One

Queen Elizabeth I was very aware of how important her image was to her subjects and to the rest of the world. She cultivated her appearance as the Virgin Queen by applying make up and wearing elaborate wigs and gowns. She famously never married, choosing to retain sole power as Queen of England.

Inspired by surviving portraits of Elizabeth I, I decided to see if I could recreate her image in copper and silver. The portrait below was a particular inspiration. It dates from c. 1588 and commemorates the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It part of the National Portrait Gallery's collection although it is rarely on display.

© National Portrait Gallery, London

First, I had to pare down the design to make it easier to pierce from silver sheet. I drew my design onto the sheet and drilled tiny holes where the eyes, eyebrows and mouth were going to be. The next stage was to pass a saw blade through the holes and sketch out the design by cutting into the metal. This is incredibly fiddly and you need an exceptionally steady hand! There is an added sense of fear because if you make a mistake, you cannot rectify it and you have to start again. 

Next, I needed to cut out a heart shaped piece of copper for the hair. I wanted it to cover the detail in the face and to strengthen the design so it had to be big enough to fit neatly behind the ruff.

The fear of filling the pierced design with solder is very real and so I've found the best way to achieve good results is to use very tiny pieces of solder positioned very carefully. I then laid the silver Elizabeth onto the copper sheet and moved the flame continuously whilst checking to see if the two metals were fixed together.

After soldering, Elizabeth I looked quite like a zombie! The flux has reacted here to provide a greenish tinge and the copper is demonstrating the beautiful fire patterns that can be achieved through heating copper and then quenching in cold water very quickly.

I've included a photo below of the process of soldering a brooch pin onto the back of Elizabeth. I used silver solder to solder between a silver pin and the copper sheet.

My New Favourite Etsy Shop

Given the amount of time I spend searching etsy for unusual little trinkets, I thought it might be nice to promote fellow artisans in my blog so this will the first of my recommendations (I'm sure there will be many more!)

I rather love this hand drawn badge from Elizabeth Pawle Illustration. Just the right amount of quirky cute and a British based designer too so very fast shipping!

I have purchased one of her original drawings

as a little present to myself but I am strongly contemplating getting a few Christmas presents from her shop over the next month or so.

What etsy/folksy shops make you smile? :-)

P.S. All photographs copyright of Elizabeth Pawle Illustrations.

Mother of Pearl Brooch

I picked up this gaming counter today at an Antiques Collector Fair.

It is probably 18th century and made in China from mother of pearl. I think it is really beautiful and will make a really lovely brooch when I fit it with a silver bezel and brooch back.

Treasure Hunting...

Sometimes I wonder whether I was a pirate in a past life because (and I quote Captain Jack Sparrow) "I'm really obsessed with treasure!"

Recently I've been trying to expand my collection of vintage brooches by trawling vintage fairs looking for a particular maker, the mysterious 'BJL'. There are some personal reasons for why I love these brooches largely inspired by my Great Grandmother's collection of extremely sparkly costume brooches that used to captivate me as a child but I specifically love BJL because my Gran once found me an enamelled peacock brooch by BJL on a market stall years ago and I've always loved the tiny marcasite stones and the swirling green blue enamelling.

There's something about vintage jewellery that is very inspiring as a jewellery designer not least because it has survived the test of time and I wonder sometimes whether my designs will hold that magic for someone else in the future. Whether these brooches are desirable objects and are worth something in monetary value, to me it doesn't really matter because if I like something that much, I am going to keep it because selling it would leave me with that feeling of loss that everyone feels when they lose a treasured piece of jewellery with sentimental value. I almost feel that it is my responsibility to make sure that these little jewels survive another fifty years!

I do sell some of my vintage finds but I suspect that I will keep a hoard for myself as there is that element of a treasure seeker and collector to my personality that derives pleasure from finding something beautiful and using it as inspiration to attempt to create other beautiful things. Often times, a good story and a hint of mystery behind a piece of jewellery is worth as much as the piece itself!