All That Glitters: Season 1, Episode 3

 

    All that glitters judge Shaun Leane

This post contains SPOILERS, please watch the episode first before reading.

Well, things have been heating up in the workshop! With only 6 jewellers left to get this episode started, it's about to get interesting.

Just to recap, the remaining jewellers are:

Nicola, Dan, Lee, Sonny, Hugo and Tamara

Will Tamara be able to keep up with her complicated ideas and too little time?  Will Lee be able to get a bit more creative?

They kick off with the Bestseller challenge:  

Design and make a Cocktail ring using alternative materials (no silver/gold)

Brass and copper is allowed, Must be size M, 4 Hours

A cocktail ring must make a statement, it must be eye-catching, contemporary and of course oversized.

 The jewellers were allowed to bring some alternative materials from home on top of those provided in the workshop.  

Nicola chose Paper, Dan chose leather and brass, Lee chose dichroic glass, resin and copper, Sonny chose dark hard wood and copper, Hugo chose shell and brass, and Tamara chose Tagua nut and red seeds.

Before this challenge, I have never heard of Tagua nut, but as Tamara said, it is also known as vegetable ivory.  A sustainable source of "ivory-like" material.  Apparently quite hard, it makes for great carving.  This will definitely be on my list of materials to try out soon!

Nicola always has inventive, original and creative ideas, but I think her execution let her down a bit.  I also think if she just scaled it down ever so slightly, it would have worked.  Solange did not approve of Dan's design, and found it "boring", but as always the finish of his piece was 100%.  Personally I found Sonny's ring a bit average and amateur and executed a bit rough.  Hugo's piece was done beautifully, but it seems he prefers to stick to muted monotone colours, and does like using texture to liven things up a bit.  

Honestly I don't know why Lee chose the type of resin that he did, there are so many other resins out there that would have cured enough within the time limit to yield better results than the putty type he used.  Tamara did have a wonderful material, and the simple design (lessons learnt from previous projects) and detail worked in her favour this time.

Lights off for:  Nicola, Dan and Lee

Bespoke challenge:

Design and make a Bib necklace for a Drag queen - Glamru

Must have middle eastern influences (he was born in Iran)

Bib necklaces must make a statement, and sit large over chest

2 alternative materials must be used

4 hours 

 The jewellers were again given a mood and ideas board with photos etc.

This seemed like a FUN challenge as size was not really an issue.  But, working on a much larger scale than usual really stretches your skills as you have to now repeat and enlarge objects without having big open spaces with nothing going on.  It also takes so much longer to make and assemble because of the scale of the piece.

Tamara chose pleather and beetle wings, Dan chose leather (again) but this time in some colour.  Lee chose plexiglass, foam, brass and copper.  

Sonny did not stick to the brief, and made a fatal error when trying to polish a chain on the bench polisher.  This is where experience and training makes the difference.  Because he is self taught, he understands the potential dangers of the polisher, but if he had a few lessons somewhere, he would have known about alternative ways to polish a chain.

Nicola had a wonderful design with cable ties and vegetable leather.  She unfortunately did not adhere to the brief, especially the part about the bib (covering the front of the chest).

Hugo's bib necklace had striking geometric lines, and he chose denim as part of his alternative material, combined with copper.  

In the end the client has the last word, and chose Lee's piece

Jeweller of the week was Tamara (talk about a comeback!), and Nicola was voted out - such a shame, she is so creative.

I saw that Sonny was clearly stressed at the end, because he knew that he was on a knife's edge, if he was not so cute, I would have voted him out!

Tamara is clearly outnumbered by gender now, with 5 jewellers remaining.  Can't wait to see what they come up with next, and who is destined to go home.

Please add your thoughts and if you agree or disagree with me in the comments below.