From Concept To Commission

From Concept To Commission

In a previous post I talked about a how a conceptual ‘Bangle Of Tears’ that I made a few years ago for an exhibition went on to inspire a series of commission pieces – you can read about my concept bangle HERE.

The ‘Tears Bangle’ was not originally made with the intention of selling but whilst I was working on it a client had come in to talk to me about having a bangle made up for her birthday. She wanted something big and chunky that would ‘jingle’ when she walked along – a statement piece, but one that she could wear everyday.

At the time I was working on how to make the actual form of my ‘tears bangle’ using a technique called anti-clastic raising – which basically means I was hand-hammering a flat sheet of metal into the circular flared form of the shape you see in the photo.

My client and I spent some time looking at photos of bangles I had made previously and in an inspiration book I had but, she kept coming back to the form I was working on. Hence the original concept piece became the whole basis for the commission piece.

Now as the concept bangle hadn’t been made with the intention of it being wearable, (rather it was an exhibition piece), I had to make sure the new bangle was sturdy and would put up with everyday wear. To get the ‘jingles’ into the piece you can see in the photo that I ran a square bangle the whole way through the center of the flare of this piece and it has a number of small ‘jingle jangle’ rings at the front.

This piece was the first in a further series of matching pieces that the client had commissioned! So although I don’t believe that exhibition work is always the best way to make a living (as its harder to sell) don’t underestimate it – as these ‘show’ pieces often filter down into our ‘more sellable’ pieces!!!

#commission #concept #bangle #makemoney #mentortip

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