This is the first piece I made for Year of Plastic, my BFA thesis collection. At the time, I didn't yet know exactly what that body of work would become, but many of the ideas that would define the series began here.
The inspiration came after watching a nature documentary that captured the flight of maple seeds and other winged seeds in slow motion. I was especially fascinated by how the overall shape looked so similar to a winged bug or bird.
Although the concept behind Year of Plastic was still taking shape, this ring established many of the visual decisions that carried throughout the collection. I was drawn to the transparency of recycled PET plastic and the way it catches and filters light when you sand and layer it. Rather than hiding the material's previous life, I intentionally left traces of it visible. The embossed recycling symbol and bits of molded text remain part of the design, quietly revealing that the piece was once an ordinary salad container.
I used a ring clamp to clean up the lower edges and the cut out before adding the silver ring
this ring was featured in Society of North American Goldsmiths : Jewelry and Metals Survey, Vol 3. 2019
a later iteration of this design was made into a necklace where each layer of the plastic could be moved and repositioned to create different designs.
