Gold earring studs, 2021
COMMISSION
Helen Dilkes, 2021, 999 gold, 6 x 6 x 5mm.
Tanzanite earring studs, 2021
COMMISSION
Helen Dilkes, Tanzanite earring studs, 2021, 750 white gold, tanzanite, 8.5 x 6.5 x 6.0mm.
Arafura snake ring, 2020
COMMISSION
Helen Dilkes, Arafura file snake ring, 2020, 950 platinum, black diamonds, 25 x 25 x 12mm.
Black diamond stud earrings, 2021
COMMISSION
Helen Dilkes, Black diamond earring studs, 2021, Black diamonds 1.6 carats, 750 white gold, 6 x 6 x 6mm.
HB ‘hd’ Argyle diamond ring, 2020
COMMISSION ART JEWELLERY WORK
Helen Dilkes, Argyle diamond ring, 2020, Argyle diamonds, 925 silver, 30 x 25 x 12mm. Photograph: Helen Dilkes
For this commission, I was wearing some of my own earrings, with flat polygonal, white-ish facets, from a body of work from around 2008, when I met with my client. They brought their diamonds. They loved my earrings and said “can you do that in a ring?” that was the flat, angled polygon surfaces of my earrings, “but with a texture?”. Many test pieces later… . My work often involves additive manufacturing, what is popularly called 3d printing, though the evidence is subtle. The surface of this ring was a gorgeous surprise, where in the final piece, there was evidence of my process–myriad dots making a triangulated texture on my polygonal surfaces. This ring is on its way to Majorca… eventually… post-lockdown, Melbourne, Australia.
Exploding surface… boundary 2015-2020
COMMISSION ART JEWELLERY WORK
Helen Dilkes, ‘hd’ Exploding surface… boundary, engagement and wedding rings, 2015/2017, Ceylon sapphire, 950 platinum, 750 white gold, black diamonds, 25 x 20 x 10mm. Photograph: Helen Dilkes
Collaborating with my clients for these rings, they said “I really like that piece” (that was the Exploding surface… boundary, see below, which was now hanging above our heads in my studio). “Can I have that in a ring"?” It was a bit of a feat, and took some time to hand fabricate several test pieces, but it worked and I managed to fit the diamond ring between the rotations.
Helen Dilkes, ‘hd’ Exploding surface… boundary, engagement ring, 2015/2017, Ceylon sapphire, 950 platinum, 25 x 20 x 10mm. Photograph: Helen Dilkes
Helen Dilkes, Exploding surface… boundary, 2015, stainless steel tube, 250 x 230 x 130mm. Exhibition Brunswick Street Gallery. My informal photograph
The above three images are draft photographs taken by me. They show the trajectory of my thinking in my artistic practice in my artwork and for art jewellery commission work. I developed the self-intersecting surface idea during my PhD studies at RMIT, Melbourne. In my mind, this surface continues forever, but to make an ‘actual’ surface I had to bound the infinite surface. The image above shows this conceptual boundary, 2015, as a sculptural piece. Centre above you see my surface boundary, now as a ring with perched claw set sapphire. The top image shows you my wedding band with inset black diamonds, niftily sliding into the engagement ring gap.
Argyle diamond cuttlefish ring, 2016
COMMISSION ART JEWELLERY WORK
Helen Dilkes, Argyle diamond cuttlefish ring, 2016, 750 white gold, Argyle diamond, 25 x 20 x 15mm. Photograph: Helen Dilkes
This ring is part of a body of work that subverts the notion of casting in cuttlefish, a familiar jewellery technique, and the notion of snake ring, a familiar jewellery form. So I like to think of this ring as a cuttlefish ring, not a snake ring. It has the actual impression of cuttlefish’s amazing layering texture, and this references that all of my work involves multiple sorts of layering.