Dreams of Atlantis
Fabrication metalsmithing, Cast-work, Cloisonné Enamel, labradorite, fluroite, paua Shell, amethyst,
Oct 2019 (All pieces in private collections)
This is the first collection I made for Bring Me My BattleAxe that had cloisonné enamel pieces featured heavily and integral to the theme. I melded them with my ‘Saturn and Cassini’ style ring, already a staple in the BMMBX visual vocabulary - as well with three castwork designs made from my original sculpts, the winged seahorse, the sphinx and the alien head. They joined forces together with sea-shell toned jewels to build a collection around the theme of galactic submerged temples and psychic sanctuary, fixing Atlantis as a spiritual dimension rather than a past civilisation.
Click on each image to see more and read more about individual pieces. Most descriptions were lifted from my captions at the time of sharing. You can hear me talk about this collection live here
Ringed Planet Rings
Home planet. We close our eyes and feel a yearning for a utopia, a certain missing of a place we’ve never been to, that undefined pining the germans call ‘ sehnsuct ‘- a place glimpsed in our collective unconscious when we dream. I wanted to evoke this feeling for the Dreams of Atlantis collection, that half-remembered vision of home, so hazy but oh, so familiar. It presented itself to me as a ringed planet and her moon, and it’s been coalesced into a physical object in this soft reverie in shell-pastel, fluorite and labradorite, gleaming with iridescence in purples whites and blues, part deep sky, part deep sea.
Winged SeaHorse and Home Planet Ring
I created the original sculpture for the winged seahorse in Z-Brush, a 3-D program. For more of my sculpt-work check out the ‘Sculptural and Metalwork’ section of this Museum.
Dreams of Atlantis
Every collection has a signature piece and this would be it for this one - the image of the snaking golden path, no doubt inspired by a great source of inspiration of mine, Dune, as well as the Pyramid under a constellation and the keyhole doorway first appeared here in this design - but would go onto fill pages of my sketchbooks, and be interpreted several times in my work in a kind of archetype I called ‘The Only Path’
Two Winged Seahorse Rings
I created the original sculpture for the winged seahorse in Z-Brush, a 3-D program. For more of my sculpt-work check out the ‘Sculptural and Metalwork’ section of this Museum.
Winged Guardians Necklace
This is my winged guardians necklace, with flying-seahorse castings flanking a gorgeous drop of labradorite with great dark ocean flash. When making this piece for Dreams of Atlantis, I had portals on the mind - a doorway which the seahorses, kind of like sea-angels, are guarding. I wanted to create a ceremonial-looking statement necklace that would seem at home upon the collarbones of an ancient priestess - or, once unearthed by archaeologists, holding it baffled to the sunlight for the first time in millennia - would glow with powerful hidden magic still.
Dreams Of Atlantis Ring
Every collection has a signature piece and this would be it for this one - the image of the snaking golden path, no doubt inspired by a great source of inspiration of mine, Dune, as well as the Pyramid under a constellation and the keyhole doorway first appeared here in this design - but would go onto fill pages of my sketchbooks, and be interpreted several times in my work in a kind of archetype I called ‘The Only Path’
Visions of Atlantis
.. a certain sense of juxtaposed imagery (harder to express in vitreous enamel, incidentally, than in photoshop or even painting) as one might see in a trance, was just what I was trying to achieve when I created the focal for this cuff. Dolphins in the foreground sluice through deep-sea currents, and behind, between, in that dimensional way psychedelics have, we glimpse for a moment a glistening city bathed in impossible sunset light - the peaks of pyramids and temple silhouettes, and a huge alien sky.
Portal Rings
When I worked on this collection, I was at a stage where I would try to create a small range of accessible pieces - both price-wise, as well as size-wise - for daintier budgets and personalities. These portal rings were a cute gateway drug to the BMMBX wonderland.
Atlantean Ring
Split ring featured the alien head casting from my original sculpt, as well as a fabricated moon set with a carved mother-of-pearl. For more about my sculpture work, check out the Museum room ‘Metalwork and Sculptural)