Body adornment : the use of traditional forging techniques in jewelry

The primary objective of this creative project was the exploration of the traditional metalsmithing technique referred to as forging in relation to the primary goal of jewelry, which is body ornamentation. Forging is the hammering of metal with a highly polished hammer upon an anvil with varying blows to create thick and thin sections in the metal. The secondary objective was to implement these forging techniques within nine pieces of jewelry designed to accent various parts of the female body. These jewelry pieces include a wrist cuff, foot and hand pieces, a hip piece, a back piece, a neckpiece, and a pair of earrings. In addition to the production of these forged jewelry pieces, this creative project also included the creation of a number of large human figure fragments based on the female body in which to display the jewelry. This body of work also required the use of lost-wax casting, soldering, patination, and complex construction.Department of ArtThesis (M.A.