20 Years in Business - How I made the new Suffragette brooch

I have recently made a limited edition Sufragette brooch to celebrate 100 years of since some women obtained the right to vote.

The brooch is a limited edition run of 20 to celebrate my 20 years in business.

The original imagery for the decorative aspects of the brooch are from sketches of the scrolls on which the Parliamentary Acts are written. This imagery was inspired by and also the starting point for the 'New Dawn' light sculpture conceived by Mary Branson and installed in Westminster Hall in London. The disks incorporated into the sculpture are made by Adam Aaronson Glass studio.

How I made the original New Dawn brooch for the Houses of Parliament shops and website is featured in a previous blog.

Each piece is made from hand dyed resist printed aluminium. Hand drawn transfers are used to mask off part of the aluminium and then it is dip dyed in pink then blue to create a beautiful purple hue. The strips are then boiled in water to fix the dye.

 

 Each disk was individually riveted to the white circular base with the brooch bar also connected this way.

Drilling each hole for the rivets.

Each disk is riveted to the white base.

    

The last step was to polish each rivet and the silver brooch bar at the back of the brooch.

 

 You can buy the new Suffragette brooch online

and it will be available at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford for their Vote 100 - Suffragettes and Propaganda exhibition from 18th April until 4th September 2018.

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