I create my own alloys from which my pieces are made. With this, I build up pictures in the metal, with flowing colours and organic patterns, using a mixture of traditional Japanese and western techniques to come up with my own unique process. I fuse the metal alloys together and then planish them into each other to create a seam free surface on which I can hand engrave and patinate to bring out the contrasting metal colours. All the structures which these are set within are hand built.

Statement-

As a maker, I am fascinated by the topic of craft and identity, the interconnected nature of what we make, who we are and the world we are a part of. How does who we are affect the object’s outcome and how does its outcome affect us in turn? Making helps me to interrogate this question, a constant physical reminder of the connection between our identities and the intuitive creative processes and outcomes. The traditional and ancient skills involved in my making such as hand engraving and the fusing of metals together allow me to bring into focus the integral relationship between body, environment and material.

My collection makes use of traditional Japanese alloys of Shibuichi (comprising copper and silver) and Shakudo (a copper and gold alloy) whose textures and colours recall fabric and fibre, which I add to by engraving stitch marks of gold and silver. With this I am referencing the stitches of past crafters and designers in hopes of reminding the wearer of the relationship between the object and its maker, inviting them to be a part of this.

Tutor -

Teena Ramsay

Ella Hamilton is a Scottish jeweller and silversmith and a recent graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design where she was awarded the school prize, the Sir James Black award, for her research into the application of fusing techniques in combination with alternative alloys. Fascinated by the concept of embodied cognition and how individual identity informs our craft, she uses traditional hand techniques, such as hand engraving and metal alloying, in her practice to interrogate the bond between her head, her hands and the materials.