contemporary Irish silver

Sketching with Metal

04.12.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Sketch in Metal not a finished piece

This week I’m working on a commission piece in silver set with a large oval cut emerald. I’m still in the early days of design but I decided to post some early photos of the work so you can see how it changes through the design and making process.

As you will know I love to sketch but sometimes acutally working out the design directly in metal can be more benificial. This is one of those times! The sketches just weren’t giving me a sense of how the form would flow when translated to metal.

So I cut out some copper and using a cheap oval stone I started to play around with the design. Once I have the rough design worked out in metal it’s back to the sketch pad to refine these ideas and work out dimensions.

Here are a few photos of the rough sketches in metal.

Sketch in Metal not a finished piece

Family Crest Brooch

04.03.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

Last week I posted photos of a brooch I made recently. The design brief was that it would incorporate the crests of the two family names. Unlike most family crest jewellery the customer wanted the crests executed in a contemporary design.

This was a really nice job to work on, not only were the crests lovely but the customer was so appreciative of my designs and sketches. The crests were a bird and a fish so I had to figure out how to incorporate these into a fun design.

Click here to see the making process.

I was really happy with the finished product. I decided to mount the crests in a frame design and make them in gold so they would contrast against the silver. I also added some flowers in silver. I had planned to keep it all polished silver but when I experimented with the surface the black oxidized finished worked better. Anyway here’s the finished piece.

Is your silver too valuable to scrap?

02.08.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

There was an article in last Sunday’s Irish Independent about the scrapping of valuable silver items. It was great to see this highlighted in a national paper. I have heard stories of valuable Irish silver works of art being sold for scrap as their true value was never investigated.

While an old scratched silver spoon might seem only to be worth the weight of silver you might discover you have a collectors item. As all silver has a hallmark it is easy to find out if it is worth considerably more.

Unless ‘Antiques Roadshow’ is in town, checking the value of your silver sounds like a long and complicated process! So here’s a few simple tricks to examine your silverware.

Firstly, Is it silver? Many people over or under estimate the value of their silver. Most commonly they will see a hallmark and assume it’s solid silver. Unfortunatley this isn’t always the case and hallmarks are always better examined with a magnifying glass to read exactly what has been stamped. Some tea sets for example will be stamped with what looks to be a hallmark but on closer inspection will have the letters EPNS. This means that it is not solid silver but Electro Plated Nickel Silver ie. silver plated.

Once you have established that it is silver then look at the hallmark to decipher the country of origin. Here in Ireland it is more likely to have come from either Britain or Ireland. There are a number of assay offices in Britain all with different stamps so if you can make out an emblem like a rose or a lion it is most likely British. I would say before you start buying silver hallmark books the best way to find out what your hallmark means is to Google it! It’s surprising how much information comes up if you put in something as vague as ‘Lion Hallmark’

Then find out who made it. This is the mark that will most likely determine the value of your silver. The more collectible and well known the maker the more money for you! In the hallmark the first mark is the makers mark. The makers mark is made up of the initials of the company or individual. So in my case my makers mark is ‘EM’ for Eileen Moylan.

Again the best way to find out about the maker of your silver is to Google it. Here’s what I found when I put in ‘EM hallmark silver’ I’m just showing a section of the first result. Make sure to look at the shape of the punch so you can match it exactly. You can see from this image that there are a few EM’s differentiated by the shape.

From this you can find the full name of the maker and then search and see what is being written about them, like how much their work is going for.

And once you’ve done all that you can make an informed decision as to whether to scrap your silver or not!

Made in Ireland

11.08.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This week I was featured in the Radio 1 series ‘Made in Ireland’. Each week Ella McSweeney looks at a different craft or skill in Ireland. So this week was the turn of the silversmiths!

As well as calling to Dublin based silversmith Seamus Gill, Ella came down to my workshop in Cork. We discussed the different tools used by silversmiths, the properties of silver and women in the history of silversmithing.

If you want to have a listen to it click on the link below.

Made in Ireland, Silversmiths

Seoid 11

08.31.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

Sabrina Meyns, handmade paper, dandelion seeds, 18ct gold

I’ve been writing alot about the Year of Craft in Ireland which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Crafts Council of Ireland. As well as lots of great events going on around the country Irish craft has been exhibited worldwide. A perfect example of this is the Seoid exhibition which is currently touring Australia. This month the work of eleven Irish jewellery makers is on display in the Pieces of Eight Gallery in Melbourne.

This exhibition which has been curated by maker Claire McAlister showcases the work of both established and emerging contemporary jewellers working in Ireland. The title of the exhibition ‘Seoid’ is from the Irish word for jewel is pronounced ‘showed’.

Angela O'Kelly, Sculptural Arm Pieces fabric and paper

The show has gathered together works in different mediums from Angela O’ Kelly’s vibrant fabric and paper pieces to Eily O’ Connell’s silver organic forms. It is a brilliant display of how different artists draw inspiration from a range of sources and materials. Each interpreted using their own distinctive style and approach to jewellery making. As well as curating the show Claire McAlister also exhibits her intricate jewellery which combines silver and wood veneer. Her work often rivets these two materials together to create movable, geometric forms such as the brooch below.

Eily O’ Connell’s work has received much publicity recently and when you see her dark, organic forms it’s easy to see why. Her work is beautifully crafted, with brightly coloured gemstones emerging from brittle looking forms. She creates these new life forms which replicate organic matter yet they are not quite as they seem.

By acting as the divine creator, Eily O Connell mimicks the power we have to alter nature’s path, which ultimately leads to chaos and the sinister presence lurking throughout her work.

Eily O'Connell, sterling silver, gemstone

If you happen to be in the Melbourne area call in to the gallery and see the work for yourself. If like me that’s a bit far to travel, have a look at the Seoid website to see the other amazing work from the eleven exhibiting artists.

Busy Workshop Day

08.19.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

I’ve been busy with the business side of things this week so I was delighted to get back to the workshop properly today. The break made me all the more productive, I even took some photos to prove it!

Check out my new tapered polishing mop, it’s for polishing inside vessels.

I just took this photo to show off my new pink glitter pliers! Aren’t they amazing and you can’t misplace them on a messy bench.

Synclastic and Anticlastic Forming

08.05.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This is part two in a series on the synclastic and anticlastic Forming class I attended in Birmingham. To read part one click here.

The first two days were spent familiarizing ourselves with synclastic and anticlastic forming. At this stage we were all well settled into the workshop and were making use of our week in the jewellery quarter. It was brilliant to be in the middle of all the jewellery tool shops. Most of my lunchtimes were spent going from shop to shop buying tools. Which I happily dragged home in my bulging suitcase.

So on day three once we got the hang of synclast and anticlast forming we moved on to spiculums. A spiculum is made from a single piece of sheet metal which is formed into a tapering tube. This process involves hammering the metal until it rolls into itself forming a long hollow tube.

Once they had been hammered into a straight tube and soldered closed we were able to curve them. I found curving them the most stressful part of the whole exercise. You have to take this hollow tube that you’ve toiled over and gingerly bend it with your hands. It has too be well softened by annealing before you start. Once you feel you have curved it as much as possible before it buckles you anneal again. You continue like this until you get the curve you require. I decided to quit while I was ahead and opted for a gentle curve!

We also made open seam spiculums, which look very similar to the closed spiculums but are not soldered. These are made using techniques similar to anticlastic ribbons. We also got a chance to make a double helix, the same process used in Bronze Age Torcs.

We packed so much into the five days, I hadn’t expected to learn as much and be able to explore each technique. Cynthia was a great teacher, everything was brilliantly demonstrated and she patiently answered all our questions. She also brought along lots of her own tools for us to use. One hammer in particular I fell in love with (I know, I hear how sad that sounds!) so I’ve added that to my wishlist of tools. Having five days to refine my hammering skills was such a luxury and will definitely influence my future work.

Shimara Carlow

08.03.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

I recently came across the work of Scottish based silversmith Shimara Carlow. It turns out she was born in West Cork so since it’s the Cork Craft Month I thought it was as good a week as any to show you some of her work.

As well as her jewellery collection she has a large range of hand raised vessels. Some of which like the pieces above are oxidised and gold plated. Oxidisation is a process where you blacken silver using a solution called Liver of Sulphur. The solution reacts with the silver to create this deep black finish. I’ve read that you can use food that gives off sulphur like boiled eggs but I haven’t tried it. Apparently you mash up a warm boiled egg and put it in a plastic bag with the silver item. It sounds a bit messy but the Liver of Sulphur smells so bad I’d be happy to try the less smelly alternative. Oxidisation only works on metals like copper and silver so the gold in Carlows bowls remains unaffected.

Here are some more photos of her silversmithing work, have a look at her website to see her jewellery.

Fine Silver Eggshell shots, Shimara Carlow

Fine Silver Perfume Vase, Shimara Carlow

21st Century Icons

07.13.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This month the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny is hosting an exhibition of jewellery entitled 21st Century Icons. The exhibition brings together the work of twenty two artists who have been given the brief to reinvent the traditional Bronze Age torc.

In Bronze Age Ireland the torc was a symbol of wealth and status and was often buried with it’s owner as currency in the next life. The torc has changed from this symbol of wealth and power to a mass produced item of jewellery geared towards tourists. The aim of this exhibtion was to challenge these artists to re investigate this much used image and ask the question what can it convey about the Ireland of today.

Justyna Truchanowska, 21st Century Icons

The results are brilliant in their diversity, with the exhibition displaying a collection of techniques and materials. The piece that stands out for me is Christina Brosnan’s. This flowing leather and brass piece combines the essence of a torc with contemporary forms. I also loved Sam Hamilton’s silver interpretation of ipod headphones. As I haven’t been able to visit the exhibition I have only seen a selection of the work but hopefully when I get back form Birmingham I’ll be able to take a trip to Kilkenny. I decided to include it in my blog so you all get a chance to plan your trip to the National Craft Gallery before the exhibition ends on 28th July. It’s a great time to visit Kilkenny as the graduate show from the jewellery and goldsmithing course will also be running.

Tuula Harrington and Roisin de Buitlear,21st Century Icons

Silver Napkin Rings

07.07.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

This week I’m finishing an order for a set of silver napkin rings. The napkin ring are a simple set of six rings, the only decoration being the hallmark. In my rush to get the order filled I forgot to take photos of the first few stage of the making. I’ll go quickly through what I’ve done already but if you want to see my post on making a silver ring click here. The process is pretty much the same but on a larger scale!

There was a delay in receiving the silver I ordered so I lost a few days of making but thankfully I’m back on schedule. I started by cutting six lengths of silver. I ordered a strip of silver 25mm wide and 1mm thick so all I had to do was cut this strip into six lengths. From napkin rings I’ve made in the past I know that I want the diameter to be between 40-45mm. So I need to work out how long each strip of silver needs to be. Thankfully I remember enough of school maths to know that the circumference of a circle is calculated by multiplying the diameter by Pi (3.14)

So circumference = 3.14 (Pi) x 43mm. So each strip is 135mm in length. These strips are then rounded up on a stake into a rough circle. It doesn’t have to be perfect as the hammering done after they are soldered will give them the perfect round shape. The most important thing at this stage is to get the two ends of the silver sitting perfectly together. The better they meet the tidier your soldering joint will be. Once they are soldered I begin hammering them into their finished shape. Once I’m happy I give them a quick polish and send them off for hallmarking. As there is only one assay office in Ireland they get sent to the Irish assay office in Dublin Castle.

And here they are, back from hallmarking and ready to be finished.

Sterling Silver Napkin Rings back from Hallmarking