Mario Albrecht

 

Figure 1 - Albrecht. M. 2020. Networked Brooch. Polyethylene (plastic bags & packaging films), silver, dental steel

Figure 2 - Albrecht. M. 2019. Overdriven Brooch. Polyethylene (plastic bags & packaging films), silver, dental steel

Albrecht is an art-jeweller from Germany. He uses plastic bags and foils to manufacture his jewellery. “Multi-layered” to creates strong, free forms and patterns that produce high-quality brooches, rings, and necklaces as seen in figures 1 and 2. I was inspired by the strictly geometric pattern that is used in his art-jeweller. By using his process of mixing different plastic materials, I was able to create a piece of jewellery like the Geometric Rat by fly pressing plastic. This is a way of revealing the beauty of plastic waste from the special value, it holds.

James de Givenchy

 

Figure 1- Givenchy J. 2019 Camouflage Bangle. Ceramics, Gold and Gemstones

Figure 2- Givenchy J. (n.d). Cocktail-Rings. Ceramics, Gold and Gemstones

I was inspired by Givenchy's Taffin design collections seen in figure 1 and 2, which was designed to be a bold combination of colour in gemstones. He often employs coloured ceramics, which has become one of his signatures. This has inspired me to choose him as my art-jewellery reference for recycling plastic. My own contemporary jewellery pieces, like the Abstract Art Pendant, are inspired by ceramic colour contrast technique of Givenchy's jewellery, which I am not incorporating on my jewellery pieces but I rather use plastic waste to create a new signature for recycling.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Research Methodology

My Theme:

• Metcalf
• VGCJ
• Mixed Materials
• Recycle
• Topic Explanation

References:

• Mario Albrecht
• James de Givenchy
• Maria Sorokina

Prototype:

• Platinum
• PlatAfrica - 1 Prototype Model Development
• PlatAfrica - 2 Prototype Model Development
• PlatAfrica - 3 Prototype Model Development
• PlatAfrica - “i refuse” Bangle
• "i refuse" means what?
• Casting
• Plastic Oval Flora
• Oval Flora Mould
• Plastic Butterfly
• Signet Ring
• Rhino CAD Renders 
• PlatAfrica 2020 Competition - Bangle for Men
• Oval Flora Mould Prototype
• Geometric Pendant
• Cushion Pendant
• Cushion Ring
• 3D print
• Geometric Butterfly 3D Printer
• Oval Flora 3D Printer
• Mould
• Oval Flora Mould
• Plastic Butterfly
• Fly Pressing
• Frame Pressing
• Plastic Oval Flora

Conclusion

Reference

Plastic Oval Flora

HDPE and ABS Fly Pressing

Figure 1 - Mbeje A. (2020). Oval Flora. Gilding Metal (Mould), ABS Plastic (left-side) and HDPE (right-side).

This is my third experimentation on fly pressing, but what I have noticed so far ABS Plastic has good characteristics on fly pressing, a smooth shiny surface as seen in figure 1 on the right side, and it's lighter than HDPE plastic. ABS plastic cools off very fast from the fly pressed mould and HDPE plastic takes time to cool off and also leaves dark lays inside the mould.

Figure 2 - Mbeje A. (2020). Oval Flora, ABS Plastic (right-side) and HDPE (left-side).

I tried another different technique of mixing ABS and HDPE plastic together to see if these two pieces of plastic will bond together when melted and fly pressed. it didn't happen due to the temperature heat of two plastics, HDPE melt easily and ABS plastic takes time for it to melt,  Therefore it's not possible to mix the two resin plastics together for fly pressing, due to the melting temperature resin of these two plastics as seen in figure 2.

I have learned a lot from this experimentation about plastics. I was able to learn different techniques of approaching this experiment, even if it was difficult for me at first but I was having an understanding of what plastic does when you fly press and also when you are compressing plastic to form a shape, what happens? Those were the things that I wanted to know from this experiment.

 

Oval Flora 3D Printer

Fly Pressing Mould

Figure 1- Mbeje A. (2020). Oval Flora (Mould). ABS Plastic.

The Oval Flora mould was not printed accurately due to the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), which is not designed to print detailed objects. I have seen a lot of issues from these prototypes as seen in figure 1 that ABS plastic it's not a good material for printing highly detailed objects, it's created texture when printing.

I believe that resin is the best solution for printing a highly detailed object like the Oval Flora mould.  
 

Oval Flora Mould Prototype

 Oval Flora Prototype

Figure 1 - Mbeje. A (2020) Oval Flora. 3D CAD rendering mould (Gilding Metal)

I did this design to improve the quality of my work from the previous Oval Flora design. I want to make this prototype as an experimental exercise for me to understand how does fly pressing works, that why I made this prototype smaller and also adding detail inside the mould, even if it is difficult to achieve as I have tried from the previous exercises. This will help me to make the plastic to have a lesser weight from fly pressing.

Oval Flora Mould

 

Fly Pressing Plastic

Figure 1 - Mbeje. A (2020) Oval Flora Pattern. Gilding Mould 

This was my first experimentation of using the fly pressing technique in jewellery, I was using a painted mould to fly press the plastic in figure 1. My explanation of using the mould on plastic was not easy because of the simple pattern design. I wanted to learn how to fly press and what are the challenges of using plastic not metal, but my design mould would have been better if I made it's smaller and detailed from the inside mould.

Figure 2 -  Mbeje. A (2020). Oval Flora Pattern. Plastic HDPE (coca-cola cups) 

Using gilding metal for fly pressing plastic, it's not a problem if you do its right, the temperature remains constant until the plastic cools off.

Plastic Butterfly

HDPE and ABS Fly Pressing

Figure 1 - Mbeje A. (2020). Geometric Butterfly Pendant (Mould), Gilding Metal

The casted mould didn't come out accurately as seen in Figure 1, this was caused by the printing structure of the ABS Plastic. The Geometric Butterfly mould was casted with gilding metal, which created problems for me when I was fly pressing the plastic. The mould lost shape from inside to due shrinkage and porosity.    

 .  

Figure 2 - Mbeje A. (2020). Geometric Butterfly. ABS Plastic (left-side) and HDPE (right-side). 

My aim was to achieve the Geometric Butterfly design prototype by using different type of plastics material to fly press in order to achieve a smooth shiny surface from the mould.  I was able to achieve this finish by using the ABS plastic as seen in Figure 2 on the left side. I was struggling to achieve this from the HDPE plastic as seen on the right side in Figure 2. The plastic surface had a matte finish after being fly pressed, but this was caused by the porosity inside the mould which wasn't affecting the ABS plastic.

Geometric Butterfly 3D Printer

Fly Press Mould 

Figure 1- Mbeje A. (2020). Geometric Butterfly (Mould). ABS Plastic.

The 3D mould was not printed accurately, due to the detail of the mould and size. I printed this mould with a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), which is built to printer layer-by-layer. What I noticed about this 3D printer, it's not designed to print a small object that has too many details, especially on this porotype in figure 1. 

If I have to print this mould again with the same printer, I have to make the mould bigger from its size in order to achieve the detail of the porotype.

Geometric Pendant

 Geometric Butterfly Pendant - CAD Rendering 

Figure 1- Mbeje A. (2020). Geometric Butterfly Pendant (Rendering). HDPE Plastic, Brass and Silver

My prototype design was inspired by geometric shapes. I will be using this mould in figure 2 to fly pressing HDPE Plastic. I am printing this mould with a 3D painter.  I want to create a Geometric Butterfly Pendent as seen in figure 1, which will be a mixed material jewellery piece.

Figure 2 - Mbeje A. (2020). Geometric Mould (Rendering).  HDPE Plastic, Brass and Silver

The mould has two basic structures as seen in figure 2. Plastic will be melted on the female base, then the male base will be used for compressing the thickness of plastic inside mould. 

Frame Pressing

 

Temperature Heat Pressing 

Figure 1- Mbeje A. 2020. Geometric Butterfly. Copper and HDPE (coca-cola)

In this experimentation, I was using the temperature heat of the kiln to compress down the melted plastic with the Geometric Butterfly as a force.

Figure 2 - Mbeje A. 2020. Geometric Butterfly. Copper and HDPE (coca-cola)

When I was using the frame copper, it changes colours from being polished to tarnish, especially as a result of exposure to moisture from temperature heat of the kiln. Some parts of the Geometric Butterfly weren't balanced on top of the plastic when I was experimenting this exercise, as seen in figure 2 the left-hand side has more bubbles and right-side has less plastic due to unbalance melted surface.

Figure 3 - Mbeje A. 2020. Geometric Rat. Copper and HDPE (coca-cola)

My second attempt was achieved by my hands. I had to compress down the surface to create balance on the melted plastic with a flat steel plate then placed the Geometric Rate frame on top of plastic as seen in figure 3.

Abstract Art Pendant

 

 Figure 1 - Mbeje A. 2020 Abstract Art Pendant. HDPE, Silver, Copper and Brass

My jewellery pendant was inspired by the painting of William LaChance called "Beach Buzz". I like creating jewellery that has smooth geometric shapes and different contrast of colours like the Abstract Art Pendant seen in figure 1. This pendant was made with sterling silver, brass, copper, and melted plastic coca-cola cap.

Artistic statement of Plastic Waste Jewellery

 

Figure 1 - Mbeje A. 2020 Abstract Art Pendant. HDPE, Silver, Copper and Brass

 As a jewellery artist, I like to make jewellery that has geometric shapes and contrast like James de Givenchy’s ceramics jewellery, but not using ceramics to incorporate my work. I'm recycling cola-cola plastic caps to capture the beauty of melting plastic waste into wearable jewellery as seen in figure 1.