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.

Cola-Cola Plastic

 Melting Coca-Cola Caps

Cola-Cola caps are still amongst the best plastic to be used on my projects, the cherry red contrast has more accessible elements on a jewellery piece like the PlatAfrica bangle. I have provided some pictures to show how the cherry red plastic is achieved when melting Cola-Cola caps inside the oven kiln seen in figure 1.

Figure 1 - Mbeje A. 2020. raw plastic oxidized plastic. Cola-Cola  melted caps, 

Figure 2 - Mbeje A. 2020 raw plastic. Cola-Cola Caps prints, 

If you melting plastic caps at the correct temperature at the oven kiln, you will see the printing of Cola-Cola in the plastic mold as seen in figure 2. Cola-Cola Caps are made of HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene). I have been testing plastic caps for months and I have found that coke bottle caps are melting at a great temperature of 200 to 231c. however, if the plastic is melted inside the mold as seen in figure 1, it does not get enough air to start to oxidize.

Township Domestic Waste

Township Waste 

Figure 1 - Mbeje A. 2020 Township Domestic Waste Plastic. Plastic bottles

The reason why I chose to use domestic waste plastic as part of my research, I have always been affected by the environmental waste around my township area in sidewalks and river streams. My goal is to use domestic waste plastic that is found around communities and CDBs as a way of incorporating non-precious materials into my art-jewellery work.

Figure 2 - Mbeje A. 2020 Raw plastic. HDPE Plastic (coca-cola caps)

This is the raw plastic material coming from domestic waste plastic which I was cleaning and also melted in the oven.

Topic/Theme Explanation

Plastic Waster Jewellery

Figure 1 - Albrecht. M. 2019. Brooch. Polyethylene (plastic bags & packaging films), silver, dental steel

Figure 2 - Givenchy. J. 2019 Taffin's Earring. Ceramics, gold or silver, and diamonds 

 

My topic/theme will be focusing on plastic waste recycling, through the process of melting HDPE plastic (high-density polyethylene) into flat sheets or 3D moulds. I want to make contemporary jewellery pieces that relate to Albrecht and Givenchy (earring and ring made with ceramics as seen in figure 1, but not using ceramics to incorporate my work. I want my jewellery pieces to include 80% of non-precious materials, such as plastic waste like Mario Albrecht art-jewellery work in figure 2 and also use 20% of precious materials such as silver, copper, and brass.

My research title topic

Plastic Waste Jewellery

Figure 1 - Mbeje .A. 2019. RING. Rendering - Silver (gold-plated), Resin and PET(Polyethene)

Figure 2 - Mbeje .A. 2019. NECKPIECE. Rendering - Silver (gold-plated), Resin and PET(Polyethene)

Recycling has always been my goal as a jewellery designer to reduce high rates of pollution while putting less pressure on virgin materials to produce brand new products. Recycling plays a bigger role in the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products. Plastic pollution is currently one of the biggest environmental concerns in the world. 

I have always wanted to do a jewellery collection that will bring awareness in the society by melting waste plastic into precious jewellery. My goal is to do a jewellery collection that has recycled plastic with resin and also uses precious metals as a support structure in the manufacturing process, which refers to rebuilding and assembling, I designed the above jewellery collection prototype in figures 1 and 2, while I was in Italy. I wanted to design a jewellery collection that involves geometric shapes and contrast elements of colour, such as light, dark; soft, hard; warm, and cool.