The Big Make

Back in June Cockpit Arts hosted an online event in lieu of our usual Summer Open Studios. With almost all in-person jewellery events on ice this year these online events are going to become our ‘new normal’ for a while I think. Many Cockpit makers contributed different content across the weekend and my contribution was to document the making of a piece in real-time through photos and little video clips via Instagram stories.

I chose to make one of my ‘Angles’ rings as there are some lovely, subtle details in the process of this piece that give it an appearance of pared-back simplicity once complete. It was a sharp learning curve to try and work out how to film while I was genuinely working as opposed to staged shots for a camera and so this really is very basic but I enjoyed making in this way, posting each stage and then receiving comments and questions from those who were following on Instagram so I might try it again in future.

I thought it would be nice to gather the photos and clips together as a short film that I could host here on my website as a record of the process.

The stone I chose for this project was a moonstone I picked up on one of my stone buying trips to India, a grey moonstone but very translucent and with beautiful flashes of green. I haven’t had grey moonstones so clear as this before and I am now carefully considering what to do with the 2 other similar stones I bought now that I’ve seen how this one works in a finished piece.

I’ve made a number of these rings over the years and always enjoy making slight alternations to the design to accommodate the different qualities of the stone I’m working with. Here are a few members of the ‘Angles’ ring family from the last couple of years.