Me, My Process, and I.

Order

Self-Assurance

This was meant to be a Tuesday post, but my Internet connection was literally on hiatus for the entire day (I guess that makes me official) so hello Wednesday.  Going forward, I'm thinking of designating Tuesday as my day to comment on pop culture issues that viscerally impact me (i.e, "The Black Allure" spread in Italian Vogue), but, since this is my inaugural week, I wanted the "this is me" vibe established in my first post to carry over.  The two above pics are the latest additions to my new Tyramade to Order collection, which features hand cut brass charms, vintage chain, and vintage beads.  Because the charms are 1)based on ancient West African symbols, called Adinkra, used for a variety of ceremonial and decorative purposes and 2)cut from a solid sheet of brass by me, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about when and where this collection enters...

In 2007, I quit my job as a middle school English teacher (I had taught for 4yrs as an NYC Teaching Fellow and decided not to get certified), and enrolled in the 2-Year Jewelry Design Program at FIT.  At the time, I had already opened my Etsy shop and had two wholesale accounts.  I saw this associates program as an opportunity to learn metalsmithing techniques and expand my business.  Then, the recession happened  one of my wholesale accounts went out of business, and most of the techniques I learned proved to be expensive, time consuming, and messy (I'm looking at you soldering).  Eventually, I dropped out. Yes, I am an art school dropout (I have a BA and MA in English; I'm stored up with difficult-to-market-in-a-recession degrees).  Luckily, there is one technique that I fell in love with and used to create my current collection, "piercing and sawing", which involves sawing shapes out of sheet metal and then "piercing" openings into the shapes for a dramatic effect.

 To start, I sketch out the symbols I want to use in my sketch book.  I chose Adinkra symbols because I knew they would be both beautiful and dramatic when cut from the metal.

I gather all of my supplies...

which include my protective goggles, special blades, and my saw,

my bench pin (which holds the metal while I'm sawing) and flexible shaft for drilling holes,

and finally 4x6 sheet of 22ge brass sheet metal ready to cut.

To render the design to the metal, I trace over the sketches I made in my book with transparent tracing paper, glue the design to the metal (the glue will easily clean off  later), drill holes to slip my saw blades through, and literally saw around the lines of the sketch to cut out the shape.  This piece is almost done.

This cuff, pendant, and earrings are pieces I made for projects in some of my FIT classes.  Yes, that is wood, and yes I did pierce and saw it by hand.  The cuff was made using a combination of etching and piercing.

Tyramade to Order, at the risk of sounding cliche (which is cliche), is a labor of love.  Though I am not the  only person using the Adinkra symbols in jewelry design, I do want to emphasize how each shape represents a positive state of human nature such as self-assurance or order or perseverance. As I work towards adding more of these elements to my own life, hopefully, through the beauty of the Adinkra, I can offer more than just simple adornment.