Cinnamon Jewellery

Having recently become interested in anticlastic forms I was quite excited to come across a pair of synclastic pliers on ebay. Synclastic is basically the opposite of anticlastic in that it is a shape that curves towards the same side in all directions or if you need a more simple explanation {I do!} think of a ring that has a domed profile - the convex shape of the dome and the curve of the ring both go in the same direction. So I bought a pair of the synclastic pliers. They cost about £36. You can see from the photos they are quite a hefty bit of metal. They consist of a convex side and a domed side. The flat piece of metal sits in the convex curve and the handles are squeezed to press the the two sides together. The domed side pushes the metal down into the gap in the convex side resulting in the metal starting to take on that curve. I decided I'd experiment with a soldered mini bangle to see what the pliers could do... I started ...

A couple of weeks ago I made these earrings...  I love this retro-style groovy shape so decided I'd make a bangle using the same sort of shapes. Here's how I did it together with the moments of enlightenment I had along the way :D I started with a 20cm long piece of copper which would be stretched when it was put through the rolling mill so would end up plenty long enough for a medium bangle.{Or so I thought....} I continued with the strange fetish I have for spending a fair amount of time with a scalpel and masking tape in order to get the thin strips I needed for the stripe texture. I rolled the metal through the rolling mill and removed the tape to reveal the stripes. The next stage was to mark the points where I was going to cut into the sides of the copper and then use the saw to do just that. I also had to decide where I was going to put the solder join - in the middle of a section or at the point where it narrows. That was my #1 moment...