Our newest collection revolves around skulls, symbology that invokes ideas of death, transformation and renewal. This is particularly relevant for this time of year with several festivals from different cultures and religious beliefs celebrating the start of winter where what had existed begins to fade and the wait for the start of new life begins. The most prevalent of these traditions is Halloween, originally a blending of All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day with many of its practices and observances being found in the traditional Celtic festival of Samhain. Apart from the transition from autumn to winter the other aspect that these festivals have in common is a connection with the spirit world whether this is veneration of one’s ancestors, saints or a belief that the veil between the material and spiritual world is at it s thinnest at this time of year.
Drawing inspiration from the ideas of death and renewal linked to this time of year we have referred to Greek mythology for much of our new collection and will start out with the ‘Tartarus ‘ collection. The Greek underworld had different sections where people and beings were sent to spend eternity depending on their actions in life. Tartarus was the deepest abyss within that underground kingdom and was reserved for the punishments of those that had most deeply offended the gods. The large imposing skull dominates each of the pieces in this collection invoking that formidableness those faced with Tartarus may have felt after descending to the deepest section of the Greek underworld.
Another collection contained within this drop is our adorable tiny skulls, again drawing inspiration from the Greek underworld. We picked the name ‘Lethe’, the river of forgetfulness. Many sources indicate that souls would drink from the river before they were able to be sent for reincarnation with the dead losing memories they held in life with this being an aspect of the afterlife that many different cultures share.
The inspirations for these pieces have been simmering away in the background of our studio for multiple months and we are so happy to finally be able to share them with all of you. The same process was used in the creation of all of the skulls used in this drop (i.e.sand-casting where a mould is made by pressing an object into a specific type of sand and then molten metal, in this case Sterling Silver is poured into the mould making the 3D shape). All of the skulls in these collections started out in the same way, as a lump of wax that was carved by the talented in house sculptor. Next a mould is prepared by pressing sand into two separate metal halves and then the wax skull is pressed between the two halves leaving a depression that can then be used into a mould. Several air holes and channels need to be carved in and around the mould as well as a channel to allow for the flow of the metal into the mould. The final step is to melt down the silver that is being recycled into these new pieces in a crucible having to reach 951.8 degrees Celsius to get to its melting point. Once this has been poured into the mould and cooled sufficiently, its opened and if the molten metal has flowed sufficiently, the excess is removed and any remaining finishing such as sanding, polishing and oxidising can be completed. The nature of sand casting means each piece is completely unique and one of a kind. We have 9ct gold options, made to order and we have some options of having black sapphires That can be included when doing the casting. We hope having this insight into the process behind these creations helps you to fall even more in love with them. For more in-depth view of the way these pieces came into being please see our making of videos on our social media pages.
To view our collection, please click below: