goldsmith | Eileen Moylan

What to do with unworn gold jewellery?

05.28.2012 by Eileen Moylan //

This week I’m melting down a customers gold to transform it into a new piece of jewellery. Many people disregard this option as they think they don’t have enough gold jewellery to recycle. But how many broken chains and odd earrings do you have that will never be worn again? This is a perfect way to de-clutter your jewellery box and also give yourself a guilt free gift of jewellery!

Here are some photos of the melting and re modelling process. I begin my weighing the customers gold, making sure I have enough to make the requested design. I’m turning this gold into charms for a bracelet.

For these charms I need a length of D shaped wire. This is done by rolling the gold through my trusty rolling mill to form a length of wire. It’s a slow process with the gold needing to be annealed ( heated to soften) after every few rolls.

Once the gold is at the correct thickness I cut it into the required lengths and start rounding it up. This also has to be done in stages and annealed as the gold wire is very thick for the size of the charm.

I will post pictures of the finished charms next week…

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

Majoral

04.04.2011 by Eileen Moylan //

On this wet and windy Monday I went looking for some summery silver to brighten my day. The great people at Majoral definitely gave me the summer feeling I needed.

This Spanish based jewellers get their inspiration from nature and their Mediterranean surroundings. The company was set up by Enric Majoral who designs the jewellery along with his son Roc Majoral and Abril Ribera. As well as amazing jewellery, the pieces are so beautifully photographed the website is a joy to explore.

Here are some of my favourite pieces and photographs.

Majoral 'Papallones' — Majoral ‘Papallones’

The work has been described as

full of vitality and energy that are capable of transporting us to the orange groves on a warm and ripe autumn afternoon

Hope it brightens your day too. If you want to see the workshop that produces all these amazing pieces have a look at Mar de Color Rosa blog. She has a great piece about Enric Majoral as well as lots of photos of the workshop.