Ring
1978 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Ingeborg Bratman’s family fled Nazi Germany and set up a textile business in Yorkshire in the 1940s. Ingeborg learned about the technical side of the textile industry and how to use dyes to colour fabrics. She retrained as a jeweller at Hornsey School of Art under Gerda Flockinger, then progressed to selling her jewellery through the London shop Cameo Corner. Her background in textiles and understanding of colour can be seen in this vivid tantalum ring.
Tantalum is a rare, hard, grey refractive metal which was discovered in 1802. It is more often used in industry than jewellery. Ingeborg Bratman began using it in the 1970s when she produced tantalum jewellery for a touring exhibition organised by Sarah Hosking of East Midlands Arts. Looking for an unusual metal to work with, Bratman collaborated with the industrial firm of Plessey who offered her advice on using tantalum and scrap from their processing plant. She was also able to use the argon gas chambers at BOC in order to weld the tantalum in an inert atmosphere. The natural blue/ grey colour of the metal was transformed through anodisation where a high voltage produces bright colours.
Tantalum is a rare, hard, grey refractive metal which was discovered in 1802. It is more often used in industry than jewellery. Ingeborg Bratman began using it in the 1970s when she produced tantalum jewellery for a touring exhibition organised by Sarah Hosking of East Midlands Arts. Looking for an unusual metal to work with, Bratman collaborated with the industrial firm of Plessey who offered her advice on using tantalum and scrap from their processing plant. She was also able to use the argon gas chambers at BOC in order to weld the tantalum in an inert atmosphere. The natural blue/ grey colour of the metal was transformed through anodisation where a high voltage produces bright colours.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Tantalum and yellow metal |
Brief description | Ring of tantalum, designed and made by Ingeborg Bratman, England, 1978 |
Physical description | The band is made of two pieces of sea-green tantalum wire around which is wrapped a yellow metal wire with a nodule at each end. The bezel is formed of two magenta flowers (sea-green on the reverse) and two sea-green leaves. |
Dimensions |
|
Summary | Ingeborg Bratman’s family fled Nazi Germany and set up a textile business in Yorkshire in the 1940s. Ingeborg learned about the technical side of the textile industry and how to use dyes to colour fabrics. She retrained as a jeweller at Hornsey School of Art under Gerda Flockinger, then progressed to selling her jewellery through the London shop Cameo Corner. Her background in textiles and understanding of colour can be seen in this vivid tantalum ring. Tantalum is a rare, hard, grey refractive metal which was discovered in 1802. It is more often used in industry than jewellery. Ingeborg Bratman began using it in the 1970s when she produced tantalum jewellery for a touring exhibition organised by Sarah Hosking of East Midlands Arts. Looking for an unusual metal to work with, Bratman collaborated with the industrial firm of Plessey who offered her advice on using tantalum and scrap from their processing plant. She was also able to use the argon gas chambers at BOC in order to weld the tantalum in an inert atmosphere. The natural blue/ grey colour of the metal was transformed through anodisation where a high voltage produces bright colours. |
Bibliographic reference | Bartlett, Lynne: Obituary: Ingeborg Bratman - 'Jewellery History Today', Autumn 2015, p. 12 |
Collection | |
Accession number | M.116-1978 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
Record created | June 24, 2009 |
Record URL |
Download as: JSON