necklace

All handmade

/ Yvonne de Wit / 2 Comments

From melting the Sterling Silver pellets and flattering/shaping the bars to the making of my designer jewellery is all manual work. Except for the use of a drill, a soldering iron and a polish machine my jewellery is created under my hands. No laser cuttings or production punching just working with hand tools. Most of my jewellery are single pieces or in limited series and because of the manual labour every item of a small series differ from the others.

After numerous days of Lockdown the South African government allowed businesses to order at their suppliers and so, at last, I was able to stock some Sterling Silver again. I’m working on it; first the design followed by melting the pellets into bars and shaping these into the desired elements. Next these elements are laid out and at the moment I am soldering them together. After that I pre-polish the different items and fill these with my own paste of soil-particles. The paste is derived from the sap of different plants like the Euphorbia resinifera and others. The paste binds the soil-particles but need a natural drying period of up to two weeks. The end result is frost, water and heat resistant.

Now you also understand that it does not come cheap like mass produced jewellery. My designs are original mine; that’s an extra.

Except via a few selected shops and galleries I retail directly from home (Private Gallery Napier) and at special art related markets in the Western Cape, South Africa. As soon as the borders are open I can also mail order my jewellery again to virtually any destination around the world.

 

New models

/ Yvonne de Wit / 1 Comment

After more than 50 days lockdown I was able to buy silver pellets. The first batch I have shaped in strips and these are designated for pendants and bracelets. The pictures below show a few unfinished examples. Now I have to weld them together and add the home made earth paste (soil particles combined with fluidised plant material; when dried: frost, heat and water resistant.

Figurines

/ Yvonne de Wit / 3 Comments

New series of necklace figurines in the making. South African Sterling Silver combined with natural bonded earth minerals. All own design and handmade from scratch the old fashioned way. These new figurines will be presented at the Baardskeerdersbos Art Route (18-19 April) where I am the guest artist of Amanda Isadora Jephson.

Retrospective 2019

/ Yvonne de Wit / Leave a comment

Well …. I started 2019 in slow motion and ended up high speed. The last week of December I had time to contemplate and yes; 2020 is a new year with lots of opportunities. I think more unique single pieces and limited series. No casting; all handmade from scratch (from melting sterling silver pellets to the shaping of every single piece).

The second line (recycling) is in an upwards trend amongst the group between 40 and eternity.

Another activity is workshops where groups between 5 and 10 participants learn to make jewellery from treasures of the sea such as shells, driftwood and kelp. The first bookings (including from overseas) are in. It’s an ideal opportunity for people who want to celebrate their birthdays in an unusual setting, for corporate functions and for more adventurous travellers who want to avoid the tourist traps, etc. etc.

Anyways here a compilation of a few new designs of last year, some ‘bestsellers’ and activities such as workshops and displays at art events and so on.