Outside Inspiration: Paper Mokume

In polymer, we borrow from the many long standing craft and art traditions, adapting the treatments, designs and processes to our material. However, we are not the only ones doing this kind of appropriating of methods and looks.

Although they could easily be polymer, these mokume bracelets are actually made from paper. How cool is that?

Liz Hamman makes all of her jewelry from paper – not plain paper, but printed matter like books, maps, and sheet music. The text and printed images become part of the design, as in part of the patterning, and are not always recognizable as text or map markings. These bracelets are from Ladybird books, a series of British children’s books popular in the 1970’s. So besides having a delicate, intricate visual texture, there is a literal story buried in the layers of the piece. On the inside of the bangles, you can see actual illustrations from the books. The color and pattern on the top side come from images like these.

The idea of layers in a piece actually having more to them than just the visual elements from the material’s treatment intrigued me. It might seem like a lot of unnecessary work to add layers of images or text transfers to clay, much which will not be visible. But the history of a piece – for instance, something that has been in the family for years – adds value even though the piece may not have changed in appearance over time, simply because its history has imbued it with a little something extra. An unseen element such as a story or an object in something we own can make a even a simple piece extraordinary for the one who knows its secret. I was just thinking that would also be a little something else to help sell a piece … embedding text, objects with stories, or images into your work that you can tell a buyer about. Wouldn’t that make a person more curious and interested? Don’t we all like a secret?