Technical Specifications

JEWELLERY TYPE	Interchangeable Ring-pendant
GEMSTONE TYPE	20 gemstones= heart shaped center stone, pear shaped gemstone and round brilliant cut stones
GEMSTONE SIZE AND AMOUNT USED	Heart=1 x 6mm by 6mm. Pear= 1 x 4mm by 3mm. Round brilliant cut= 8 x 1.25mm, 4 x 1mm and 5 x 1.5mm.
JEWELLERY DESCRIPTION	Heart ring-pendant, which has a center stone (heart) claw set, a pear bezel set and the round stones have been pave set. The piece of jewellery.

These are the technicals of the pendant part of the ring-pendant. Please note that the rod is wire showing where the wire for mechanism will go through.  

This picture shows the technical information of the ring-pendant as a ring. 

This ring-pendant will also be cast in two parts, so as to make provision for the fact wire needs to go through to allow the ring to move.

Design concept one

With this poem and design I have tried to express a relationship between a girl and her father, who now find themselves in a situation where she is in abusive marriage and he has decided to turn a blind eye to the matter as the husband has decided to pay a penalty for his behaviour and the father has accepted the money since he doesn’t want to be placed in a situation where he has to allow her daughter to come home and be forced to return the labola money.

Ndongeni, S. (2018) CAD/CAM convertible ring pendent

I have been trying to express the idea how the young girl would now feel that her father’s love has now been a situation of disappointment and is no longer the promise of love which she once knew it to be. I have tried to capture this idea in jewellery design by having an interchangeable ring pendant which would embody this shift of love, while at the same time I have designed the pendant positioning of the heart to be upside down, this was done so that it would depict a betrayal of love and the disappointment it has now become. I have included many round gemstones around the heart, which are the indication the beauty which surrounds her life; however they are unable to comfort her now downcast heart.

I have included below some of design aspects and specifications for the piece.
a. Renderings
b. Technical Specifications

How do I deal with them?

A Daughter’s heart

Ndingumtu, with dreams and desires

Ndingumtu, with a heart

 Through you rip it

Still, Ndingumtu

What price have you placed on a lifetime?

Placed on a life time

Placed on a memory

Placed on the heart that loves you

What price have you received?

 So I could love you no more?

Tata, when did you teach your heart to love no more?

Tata, when did you teach your heart to forget ndiyinyanma negazi lakho (your very flesh and blood)

To forget my heart yinhliziyo yakho (is your very heart)

Tata, when did you teach your heart to no longer see a daughter in me?

What kind of Imagery and symbolism have I used?

I had gone on to expand on the labola concept by first designing a cow’s head using the Rhino design programme, I did this with the intentions of printing the cow head so that it would be the most dominate feature in the piece of jewellery which I would make. I have included some of the initial CAD/CAM drawings of the cow head.

Ndongeni, S. (2018) CAD/CAM Cow head

The reason for making the cow the focal point is that it is my way of expressing the idea of it being the most important feature. 

The Ilobola Series

One of the major inspirations for this specific series was a documentary I had watched based on child marriages in Africa. There was this one particular interview which was the core basis of thought. This young girl had actually said that she felt as though her father has valued the cows more than he had valued her life.

This is actually a popular idea  within the Native African cultures where a father would view a son as a legacy as it would be through him the family line would be expand and it would be through the marriage of his daughter he would be able to enlarge his kraal or wealth. Although this may not be how all fathers view their children, it has been then experience of many children and especially young girls who have been forced to marriages and I just this to be an appalling practice. I have tried to convey this in the poem below:

Figure 1: Ndongeni, S (2016). Rendering of A daughter's heart ring-pendant.

A Daughter’s heart

Ndingumtu(I am a person), with dreams and desires

Ndingumtu, with a heart

 Through you rip it

Still, Ndingumtu

What price have you placed on a lifetime?

Placed on a life time

Placed on a memory

Placed on the heart that loves you

What price have you received?

 So I could love you no more?

Tata, when did you teach your heart to love no more?

Tata, when did you teach your heart to forget ndiyinyanma negazi lakho (your very flesh and blood)

To forget my heart yinhliziyo yakho (is your very heart)

Tata (daddy), when did you teach your heart to no longer see a daughter in me?

In order to deal with the issues addressed in this series, I will discuss as follows:

a. Design concept one

b. Design concept two

Labola experimentation

a. The Price

b. Ikhomo

The lobola/bride price

Once I had played around for a while, I decided to play around with both narrative and design. This led me to one of the topics which appeared to be at the center of my bridal narrative, the bride price labola.

I wanted a way in which I could challenge this practice while at the same time make a visual demonstration of its role in the predicaments which young wives evidently find them in as a result of this practice. Not to say that the practice of labola/ dowry is wrong in itself, it has a vital role especially when viewed in the right light, as it can influence how the young wife is received.

I have decided to discuss my approach as follows:

1. Which Issues am I addressing in this series?
2. How do I deal with them?

1. Which materials have I used and why?
2. Which Techniques has I used
3. What kind of Imagery and symbolism has she used?
4. CAD/CAM Exploration

ILobola/ bride price

The practice of paying lobola or dowry is one which is regarded as an integral part of many African marriages; it is, in fact, a practice which is not limited or exclusive to African cultures but is part of other cultures in the world such as the Indian culture and the Jewish people, who refer to it as dowry  (Gullapalli, 2009) (Liebenberg,n.d.).

 

Figure 1 Tina, T. (2018) Three uncles negotiating lobola. [ONLINE] ^[1]

1. Positives

The importance of the payment of the bridal price is seen as an act of respect for the bride and her family; as it is seen as a gesture of gratitude while also displaying his fidelity and commitment to his bride and also displaying good care of her by proving that he values her. Contrary to many false beliefs, the bride price is not a payment of the daughter nor is it the purchase of a bride, it is, however, a gesture which displayed the man would be capable of providing for the bride and that he and his family were people of substance (Magubane, 2001). Also, it was a security bond posted by or on behalf of the bridegroom as a pledge of good treatment; a man was not likely to abandon such a substantial investment, and in most societies, if a divorce resulted because of abuse and ill-treatment, all or most of the lobola was forfeited.

 

Since lobola is a gesture most families do not require the full payment to be made before marriage as it is believed that since no true price can be placed on their priceless daughter. A man can never fully pay lobola but is however responsible to make payments (for a lack of word) to the family for life. These payments come in the form of making sure that the needs and wants of the bride’s family are taken care of when they arise, these thus count as the bottomless lobola price the husband is to pay for the daughter he has taken as a wife (Ngema, 2013).

  i.            Negatives

Although meant to be a gesture of gratitude and a symbol that the daughter will be well taken care of; like many things within society this practice has been abused and the process has been polluted by many people to satisfy their own personal desires and interests. These have been done through the demand of a bridal price which is beyond the means of what the man can afford, or in some cases families may require the man to pay an amount which is too high as the family considers their own personal needs and wants.

In other instances, the process becomes tainted as the daughter becomes a bargaining chip or even an object to be sold to the highest bidder and her family disregards what is in the best interest of their daughter to make money off her marriage. An example of such cases would be the process or the marriage which is the result of ukuthwala (bridal abduction).

Another way the best interest of the bride does not play a key factor is when the family forces her to marry for money or status rather than to marry for love. This type of marriage is then regarded as forced marriage, rather than arranged marriage.

The payment of lobola has been one of the many factors within the African native cultures which has aided in the difficulty of divorce. With a process so flawed and ungoverned by neither law nor many restrictions besides what families decide is just and fair payment, should such a practice be found to be relevant in this contemporary and liberal world we live in? It actually should still be practiced as there are several consequences that are directly linked to the refusal to partake in the practice. One of these being that the couple may not be fully received by both families if they do not choose to adhere or observe important cultural practices. The wife may be ostracized by other family members of the husband’s family and may not be considered a true makoti within the family.

Ikhomo-ilobola

One good thing about the day was my second attempt at the rhino cow.I still need to make a few adjustments before I can getting to cast, but this is a huge improvement from the one that I had made last year. The first picture is the cow's front view, am not sure if I am too happy about it and I might need to tweak it abit, reason being that when worn it will be the first thing a person sees and I need for it to be visibly accurate as I can get.

Cow front view 

The second picture is the cow and the frame, judging from the printing, I must have  made some mistakes because the frame was meant to be connected to the cow, so I will need to work on that and consider how I can make the proportions work for the cow.

Cow and frame

I am happy with my side view, there isn't much that I would like to fix with it.

Cow side view 

Close up view

Design concept two

One of my first design and narrative thoughts was to look at the cow in itself as a key element for inspiration. I started off with looking at the cow pattern and tried to stylize it as seen in the picture below.

Cow pattern 

 I still have to decide what it is that I will make with the elements, but I just loved the idea of using gold and royal blue to depict the cow skin and its patches.

cow faces

I then decided to try the idea of making a cartoon-like cow with the beading and I actually enjoyed the outcome, although I still need to  finish off the piece of jewellery with the beaded cow faces.

I had gone on to expand on the labola concept by first designing a cow’s head using the Rhino design programme, I did this with the intentions of printing the cow head so that it would be the most dominate feature in the piece of jewellery which I would make. I have included some of the initial CAD/CAM drawings of the cow head.

Ndongeni, S. (2018) CAD/CAM Cow head

The reason for making the cow the focal point is that it is my way of expressing the idea of it being the most important features within the negotiations.

Renderings

Figure 1: Ndongeni, S (2016). Interchangeable ring-pendant.

As part of my inter-changeable pieces, I decided to to portray this concept through a ring-pendant design using a heart-shaped gemstone. As seen below, The heart-shaped gemstone is surrounded by pave set round brilliant cut gemstones, while the heart shaped stone will be claw set.

Figure 2: Ndongeni, S (2016). Rendering of A daughter's heart ring-pendant

I have rendered the ring using both yellow and white gold to see the variations. 

Figure 3: Ndongeni, S (2016). Rendering of A daughter's heart ring-pendant

The picture in figure 3 shows how the ring-pendant will look as a pendant.