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Repoussé
This is a technique where a sheet
of copper is hammered onto an anvil and shaped into a 3 dimensional
form. It is then chased with chisels and punches to complete the detail.
Various elements such as the crowns and earrings are added. The hands
are the only parts that have been cast.
The jewellery is made from genuine
coral, turquoise, garnet gemstones, and Swarovski crystals. A back plate
has also been added making it possible to fill the sculptures with
precious items.
The Different Colours of Gold
These sacred
“objects of support” have been gilded with gold, silver and platinum
leaf. By using a linseed oil based gold-size as an adhesive it
eliminates the mercury used in fire gilding still common on statues from
Nepal. This type of oil gilding allows different types of leaf to be
applied on the same piece and the techniques go back to ancient times.
Pure gold when
alloyed with other metals produces the different colours. Gold mixed
with copper makes red gold, and when mixed with silver makes green gold,
zinc produces a white gold, and when alloyed with palladium produces a
light brown gold. Platinum leaf is a steely white and the purple leaf is
produced by coating silver leaf in a purple resin.
There are
hundreds of possible alloys and mixtures, however a mix of around 50/50
copper and silver gives the range of yellow gold alloys the public is
accustomed to seeing in the marketplace.
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