Robur Wedding Rings

I just married sculptor and mechanical extraordinaire Russell Anderson, and moved to acreage near Maleny.

We decided to make our own wedding rings and we wanted something that reflected our shared love of botany and the natural world and combined my jewellery skills with Russ's skills in 3d modelling. So we used rapid prototyping techniques and designed them (really Russ did all the slaving and swearing at the computer) and had waxes produced and cast in 18 carat yellow gold.

The original image was taken earlier this year during a visit to Cooloola National Park where a particular Robur Banksia (Swamp Banksia) caught our eye. Russ was able to overlay the image onto a model of the ringshank. On the morning of the wedding foul curses could be heard as I hunted though packing boxes for tools to remove the sprues and sharp edges from the castings in my brand new studio!

For a process so digital and printerly, the rings are satisfyingly heavy and tactile. Though the contour lines of production betray the method of manufacture, they echo the serrations of the banksia leaves and evoke cuttlefish patterning.

New Studio in the Treetops

When waking up to this inspiration in the mornings, it is important to have a jewellery studio with a great outlook.

With this in mind, I have set up temporary digs in our garage which has the luxury of space and concrete floors, a step up from my previous studio. And I can watch the lizards and snakes basking on the gravel as I swat away at the relentless march flies (in the ointment).

As we are on stand alone solar power, I have to take care to only use heavy consumption power tools on sunny days or in the mornings on wet days. Not too difficult as I hate working at nights!

Now I can safely say that in my creative practice not only is all the silver I use recycled, but all the power is solar.

Expect to see some new shoots.