The natural world gives endless ideas for working in metal and enamel. The shapes of the leaves of the banana plant caught my eye on a recent visit to the botanical Gardens in Tenerife. The way they curved, the colours, the effects of wind and time on the leaves, splitting and discolouring as they age. Trying to capture something from nature is also a challenge.
These copper leaves started off as paper templates cut and recut to try to capture the shape, the folds and the form.
After cutting the shapes in copper then the metal working begins. Annealing and hammering several times to get the desired effect.
The enamelling took around 12 firings for each leaf. Starting with layers of transparent flux I built up different colours of transparent greens browns and gold.
I presented the final piece on a reclaimed wooden box with images from the botanical gardens.
