Author: Michael

An Ode To The Ever Illuminating Midsummer Night Sky: Shop From Our Exclusive Collection

Written by Michael on September 30, 2021. Posted in Blog. No Comments on An Ode To The Ever Illuminating Midsummer Night Sky: Shop From Our Exclusive Collection

It’s difficult to picture life without Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays and poetry have crossed the world since their creation four hundred years ago, encouraging people who see and read them to make them their own.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of his most well-known and profitable works. We have a tragedy within a comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The subject of children revolting against their parents: Two feuding families who are brought together by their children’s love.

The play is set in Athens and features numerous subplots centred on Theseus and Hippolyta’s marriage. A dispute between four Athenian lovers is one of the subplots. Another film follows a group of six amateur actors as they rehearse the play that will be performed before the wedding. Both parties end themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who influence people while being engrossed in their own family drama.

The play is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known and is often staged.

About Our Midsummer Night’s Dream Jewellery Collection

Every item of jewellery you possess tells a tale about you, a little about your personality and a little about your preferences. In a society when everyone is continuously looking for new ways to show their personality, what better way to do so than with Shakespeare’s wonderful play?

Thaya Jewels is no stranger to crafting magnificent jewellery collections with high detail and accuracy that can only be achieved through years of honing their artisan skills. This time, we were inspired by Shakespeare’s masterwork A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Our artists in France have been developing and creating 100% Pure Sterling Silver creations for us. Each piece is meticulously handcrafted and built to last.

This collection is inspired by William Shakespeare’s tragic love storey, intrigue, and otherworldly mischief that is too strange to be true… yet too vivid to be a dream. Like fairy enchantment, our Midsummer Night’s Dream Jewellery Collection glitters in light beams.

This beautiful collection is reminiscent of a starry night sky and a foggy woodland lit by fireflies. Holding this artwork in your hand transports you to a midsummer night when you go on a voyage of unknown experiences, unravelling the secrets of freedom and compassion and discovering the light of your future aspirations.

We discovered a way to combine our obsession with Shakespeare and lifelong love of the theatre with our passion for working with sterling silver with our Midsummer Night’s Dream Jewellery Collection.

Midsummer Night’s Dream Jewellery Collection

1. Midsummer Night’s Dream Bracelet

Our bracelet is a one-of-a-kind work of art. Each item of jewellery is handcrafted by skilled artisans from historical designs, with each accessory formed, detailed, and decorated utilising the same time-honored processes used by goldsmiths and lapidaries throughout history.
The bracelet’s main body is S925 silver, and the double-chain design adds a feeling of layering. On the necklace, there are fireflies of all sizes waving their wings, and the imitation pearls are plated with a starry blue hue, and the silver outer ring is like a blue planet full of fantasy.
The hand-inlaid zirconium represents Polaris, who grants the request.

The unique colour matching replicates the dazzling stars and tiny fireflies, offering a midsummer night’s fantasy.

2. Midsummer Night’s Dream Necklace

‘Starlight took off the night’s disguise, opened the 101th illusion, and the firefly directed my direction. Even is the starlight falls asleep, I won’t get lost’

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Thaya Jewels strives to bring you Dream jewellery, and this sterling silver necklace with firefly and a blue coloured fake pearl depicting A Midsummer Night’s Dream is given in a lovely and distinctive gift box.
Don’t keep your dreams in cages. The future will light up when you do. We hope you enjoy your trip through Shakespeare’s creativity with this magnificent Midsummer Night’s Dream Necklace from Thaya Jewels.

Takeaway

Creating and designing A Midsummer Night’s Dream Jewelry was one of the most satisfying projects we’ve ever worked on. And it is only the tip of the iceberg. Keep an eye on this section for updates on our future collection.

2024’s Top Stories On Jewelry Trends

Written by Michael on August 10, 2021. Posted in Blog. No Comments on 2024’s Top Stories On Jewelry Trends

Jewelry plays a vital role in our overall look. The kind of jewelleries we choose tells a lot about our outfits and the way we want to present ourselves. While we keep up with the present fashion trends and try blending it with our style, somehow we fail to inculcate the Jewelry trends not only because we prefer minimalist jewelleries as our go to pieces, but often we cut out accessories from our fashion bucket list.

In the article, we’ll be taking you through the year 2024 and the Jewelry trends associated with it. So as you reach towards the end of the article we hope you’ll get a clear idea of how Jewelry becomes a breathtaking part of a glamorous look.

1. Layered Neck Jewelry pieces

While 2024 was all about Quarantine and Lockdown, it didn’t stop people from exploring some never ending fashion aesthetic. One such trend is ‘Layering.’ Whether you’re opting for a bold Turtleneck or a V-neck Top, layered neck-pieces are capable of elevating your entire look. All you’ve got to do is make sure you keep in mind the kind of look you desire: Subtle or Bold. Then pick up perfect pieces for layering to add shimmers to your outfit.

Layered Necklace at Etsy

2. Statement Chokers

Whether you’re opting for a bold and audacious look or simply choosing an effortless look, Chokers can genuinely change your entire outfit game. If you’re up for showing off your ‘bad girl’ outfit, then go for gothic chokers without a doubt. And if you’re keen on witnessing your inner diva, get your hands over adorned chokers that are way too beautiful to be left out.

Rhinestone Decor Choker at Shein

3. Mismatched Earrings

Well, when we say Mismatched Earrings, we don’t actually mean a pair or two totally different Earrings. Mismatched Earrings are made in such a way that they appear different in designs but still look like they belong together. While the fashion industry is evolving every now and then, jewelleries trends are setting up the bars. And amidst all this, mismatched earrings have found their way out. While this trend might seem too weird to be followed, it actually looks great.

Mismatched Earrings at Thaya

4. Charm Bracelets

Picking up charm bracelets over plain ones is a complete mood. These, not only impart a different element to your styling but the charms also speak a lot about your personality because of course, we pick up charms that we feel are relatable to our interests and who we are as a person. And an advantage being: these can never go out of style and are a trendy piece of Jewelry.

Charm Bracelets at Ruby Lane

5. Midi Rings

Wearing just one or two rings went out of style long ago. Now it’s the era of Midi Rings that have taken over the Ring trends. This set of rings impart a bohemian and carefree look to your personality and outfits. So if you’re someone who prefers de-glam Jewelry that aren’t way too funky, these are just made for you. And the best part being: these can go along with a number of outfits.

Midi Rings at Bling Jewellery

There are a lot of Jewelry trends that came to might last year, but not every trend is followable. So we picked up for you 5 Jewelry trends that are easily accessible. Now turn that Jewelry game on!

15 Things You Must Know About Vincent Van Gogh

Written by Michael on January 31, 2020. Posted in Blog. 1 Comment on 15 Things You Must Know About Vincent Van Gogh

The legendary artist Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30th, 1853 in Zundert Netherlands. Vincent was a dutch post-impressionist painter who though remaining undiscovered and unappreciated in his short life is now considered to be one of the most famous and influential artistic figures in the history of Western art. Perhaps one of the saddest figures in art history van Gogh took his own life at the age of 37 following many years of poverty and mental health problems. But we are here to celebrate his genius with 15 things you didn’t know about Vincent van Gogh.

1. There Were Actually Four Vincent van Gogh

Though we can surely state that our Vincent van Gogh is a true one-in-a-million, the truth is that the Dutch artist was named after an older brother who was tragically stillborn. This lost brother in turn named after their grandfather also named Vincent van Gogh. And the name kept going down the family line when one of Vincent’s brothers Theo. Father’s a son and gave him the family name that seemed to be so popular. Van Gogh is still a common dutch surname to this day and we can only imagine how big the temptation must be for families to honor the iconic artist by naming their boys Vincent.

2. He Likely Suffered From Multiple Mental Illnesses

We are all familiar with van Gogh as being a symbol of sadness and the tortured artist archetype but his problems ran much deeper than just common depression. While studying his life and condition modern psychiatrists have determined that van Gogh was likely to have suffered from a large array of conditions including schizophrenia syphilis Hypergraphia a manic depression temporal lobe epilepsy and Geschwind syndrome. Many also believe that van Gogh was autistic as several family accounts have shown him to be a nun communicative and clumsy child. It’s just a shame that such a genius talent and mind had to exist in the period where little help was available for his ailments.

3. He Didn’t Start Painting Until He Was 27

The work of Van Gogh is an example to all of us who think it might be too late to follow their dreams. Though many art prodigies are famed for creating masterpieces in their childhood van Gogh didn’t put pencil or paint to paper until the age of 27. When he was thrown out of his family home after a series of failed and varied career accounts too poor to even afford a set of paints. He relied on a gift from his brother Theo the same brother who actually became responsible for helping van Gogh survive financially over the course of the next decade.

4. He Lived With And Loved A Prostitute

Van Gogh famously had deep and long-lasting crushes in his life including on a widowed cousin and an upper-class woman named Eugenia who was famously disinterested.

The love of his life, however, was a Dutch prostitute named Sien whom he lived with for some time. Van Gogh not only took care of Sien but he also took care of her baby helping to raise the child even though it was not his own.

Sien can be seen in many event gulfs sketched portraits but it is known that this love affair drove a wedge between Vincent and the rest of his family. And after some persuasion from his brother Theo Vincent left Sien in The Hague and moved to Drenthe. Something many believe he always regretted.

5. His Portrait Of Dr. Gachet Sold For $82.5 Million Dollars

Alongside sunflowers and Starry Night, van gulfs painted a portrait of dr. Gachet is undoubted the artist’s most revered work. In his signature style, the oil on canvas painting depicts dr. Paul Gautier the man who took care of Vincent in the final few months of his life.

Interestingly there are two authenticated versions of this portrait both of which were painted in June 1890, in 1990 at an auction house in New York City. The first version of the portrait of dr. Gachet was sold for a record price of eighty-two point five million dollars, that’s one hundred and fifty 1.2 million dollars in today’s money, making it the 13th most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction.

6. He Was A Prolific Artist

During a career that lasted just over a decade, Van Gough created approximately 2,100 pieces of art. This collection included 860 oil paintings and many many sketched drawings. The bulk of his work was completed in France where he spent much of his life including the final two years. The paintings included landscape still lifes self-portraits and portraits of others with some of his most notable unmentioned works being sorrow and bedroom in Aires. When considered mathematically Van Gogh 20100 artworks over 10 years equates to four pieces per week, that is some pace compared to other revered artists like da Vinci for example.

7. The Sunflowers Made Art History

Although by the prices most famous works of art such today 62 million dollars is lightweight when the painting based with 15 sunflowers was sold in 1987. It signified a new direction in art sales and collecting. This was the highest price paid for a painting that was not an old master tripling the previous record.

8. 4 Of The Top 30 Most Expensive Paintings In History Are By Van Gogh

The four paintings by Van Gogh with the highest prices are the portrait of dr. Gachet sold for eighty-two point five million dollars in 1990.

The portrait of Joseph rule in Seoul for 58 million dollars plus the exchange of works in 1989. Irises 450 3.9 million in 1987. And portrait Dale artiste sambar Bay 470 1.5 million dollars in 1998.

The Afra mentioned vase with 15 sunflowers is number 46 on the list.

9. He Only Sold One Painting During His Lifetime

Perhaps the most bittersweet fact of all it is believed that van Gogh only sold a single painting during the course of his life. Painted in 1888 the oil painting red vineyards near Aires was exhibited at the annual exhibition of Les plaintiff in Brussels in 1890 and was purchased by Anna Boch a fellow painter and art collector and friend of van Gogh for the sum of 400 francs. That amount equates to roughly $1,000 in today’s money. And the painting passed in the hands of a Russian collector named Sarah J Shooken before coming to its final resting place in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

10. His Time In Paris Turned Him Into A Master

One viewpoint that is often a South by critics is that van Gogh was made into a true artistic master thanks to his two-year period in Paris France. Whilst van Gogh earlier paintings are rather somber in look and character the works produced between 1886 and 1888 like the sunflowers and self-portrait with a bandaged ear are full of color and thick with excessive oils. Almost a transition from sepia tones to glorious Technicolor van Gogh was sharing an apartment with his brother Theo at the time. And perhaps this period of relative stability helped his artistic senses to flourish.

11. He Was Made Famous By His Sister-In-Law

Though it is hard to contemplate today the truth is that van Gogh remained an unknown artist throughout the entire course of his life. It was not until after his death and after the death of his brother Theo that his widowed sister-in-law Johanna made it her mission to spread his works across galleries and exhibitions.

Johanna inherited most of his pieces and when she died her son aptly named Vincent Jill to remember founded the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 1973 where most of his artwork still remains to this day.

12. He Was The First Selfie King

Though selfies are obviously seen as a recent phenomenon thanks to the invention of front-facing cell phone cameras. There is a strong case to regard van Gogh as the original selfie king. In a period of three years during his decade-long art career then golf produced a total of 43 self-portraits.

Some art critics have labeled this excessive number as an exercise in artistic vanity. Others have argued that due to Van Gogh extreme poverty and dire financial situation one of the subjects that he could always really replicate without having to pay a model or buy props was himself. Due to his lack of interaction with people finding even friends to pose for him would have been a huge challenge.

13. He Painted Some Of His Iconic Works While In An Asylum

Van Gogh had a significant mental breakdown in the winter of 1888 checking himself into the st. Paul Demma soul asylum shortly afterward. It was in this Asylum that he painted some of his most famous works most notably the amazing starry night, though the painting has come to be regarded as one of n golf’s very best. The truth is that the artist himself was not pleased with the final result. Van Gogh considered starry night to be a complete failure along with the rest of the pieces that he created in the asylum. We have to wonder whether his fragile mental state impeded his judgment at this time.

14. He Likely Had An Affair With Artist Paul Gauguin

He likely had an affair with artist Paul Gauguin and he may have been the one who cut off van Gogh ear. While the long-term object of Van Gogh affection was Dutch prostitutes the end. Many believed that he also had a brief affair with the painter at Paul Gauguin the two lived as roommates in the South of France and van Gogh himself described their bond as being electric.

Though there was certainly affection between the two they shared the type of relationship that very often ventured into violence too. We have all heard different conflicting stories about the infamous act of van Gogh cutting his own ear off. The story goes that the two artists became involved in a raging argument that culminated in van Gogh slicing a portion of his own ear off. Later giving it to a prostitute however some scholars believe that go again an accomplished fencer in his day was actually responsible for the injury. Not wanting his roommate and sometime lover to go to jail they argue that van Gogh took the blame to avoid criminal charges.

15. There Is A Theory That Van Gogh Was Murdered

Though the historical consensus has always been that van Gogh killed himself as a result of his poverty and his ailing mental health. There is doubt in some circles that the artists’ fatal gunshot wounds were self-inflicted. History tells us that van Gogh shot himself in the stomach in a field then walked a mile back to the inn in which he was staying to die.

However, some biographers believe that van Gogh was actually shot by a young teenager who used to incessantly mock him. They argue that given his mental state van Gogh might have seen this incident as a favor and therefore chose to die from his injuries rather than seek help. This theory is supported by the fact that there was no gun ever found nor were there painting supplies in the field that van Gogh came from.

Conclusion

He has been immortalized in film and music, Van Gogh has been the subject of several different songs and movies over the years. Some of the most notable being Don McClain’s song Vincent the 1954 film lust for Life starring Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh. The 1990 film Vincent and Theo that focused on the relationship of the two brothers. And a particularly touching episode of Doctor Who in 2010 which saw Van Gogh being brought into the present day to be able to see how beloved his works are compared to the anonymity in which he died.

Aurora Borealis “The Northern Lights” – A Deep Look

Written by Michael on September 25, 2019. Posted in Blog. No Comments on Aurora Borealis “The Northern Lights” – A Deep Look

Aurora borealis … A splendid luminous phenomenon that makes everyone dream. Like all natural events, aurora borealis are unpredictable. Yet there are places in the world where it is easier to see them. State of play from Lapland to Iceland, via Canada, Alaska, and Russia.”

What Is Aurora Borealis?

“Aurora” word comes from Latin meaning sunrise: it is also the name of the Roman goddess of dawn, and “Borealis” refers to the Greek name for the north wind.

The aurora borealis is part of the polar aurora family. There are northern lights that are only visible in the northern hemisphere, including Iceland, and southern lights that are only visible in the southern hemisphere. A polar aurora is characterized by colored trails dancing in the sky.

How Does It Occur?

According to scientists, this phenomenon is the result of the collision of energetically charged particles with atoms in a high-altitude atmosphere. This solar wind is then directed into the atmosphere by the Earth’s magnetic field.

A geomagnetic storm is an important part of the weather conditions of space. It is caused by a shock wave from the solar wind or magnetic field cloud. It is caused by the temporary magnetic disturbance in an interplanetary medium.

Magnetic storms are common during the solar cycle for 11 years, so the aurora borealis also evolves periodically. From 3 years during the cycle, magnetic storms are common.

What Colors Are In Aurora Borealis?

The northern and southern lights are most often fluorescent green, orange and purple with shades of red, pink, blue and yellow. These colors are created by the gases present in the air: a subtle mixture of oxygen and nitrogen.

Where Can One See It?

Aurora borealis is visible in the Nordic countries above latitude 60 ° N. Conversely, southern lights are visible below latitude 60 ° S.

Northern lights are easily visible from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the northern part of Russia. During geomagnetic storms, the aurora borealis observation zone is larger and stronger: they are then visible at lower latitudes (as in the Baltic countries) but the aurora borealis zone is more active between 10 ° and 20 ° from the North Pole.

Why It Should Be In The Must-Visit List?

You will have to move away from the locality where you are to not undergo more light pollution. Maximize your chances of seeing polar aurora while enjoying a nice dark sky. If the moon is in the sky and is bright, it will slightly hinder the visibility of the weakest auroras.

The weather is good? The sky is not cloudy? So cross your fingers, and wait. Look around you, dawn is coming soon!

Reminder: if you have a little space in your bags, take with you an insulating mat (foam, like gym mat). You can lie down and enjoy the sky without having to hurt your neck by sticking your head back. In addition, at ground level, the wind will be weaker than at the man’s height. Here you will find ideas of where to go according to your tastes (at the seaside along the Norwegian coast, tundra in Finnish lands, etc.) and ideas of road-trips.

The recommended observation period is from September 21st to March 21st, especially to the equinoxes, and ideally between 6 pm and 1 am.

If the winter months offer beautiful polar nights, snowstorms can spoil the show. In the same way, the clouds are rather troublesome for the observation: the sky must be cleared so that the aurora is well visible. So choose, according to your destination, the driest months. And, of course, it must be dark, so stay away from the pollutions of cities.

Do Sunspots Affect The Aurora Borealis?

Yes and no. The solar cycle refers to the number of spots on the surface of the sun. This cycle is 11 to 15 years old. When the sun is the most active and has many sunspots, it is the solar maximum. Conversely, when the number of sunspots is at its lowest, it is the solar minimum.

Aurora borealis is more intense and active around the solar maximum and within three to four years after this peak. During this period, they can be seen further south than usual because of the greater number of electrically charged particles reaching the Earth. However, polar auroras are not affected by these changes in solar activity. Thus, although it may be said that sunspots affect the appearance of auroras, this does not apply in regions located in the auroral ovals.

Are Animals Affected By Aurora Borealis?

It is common for dogs to fix the sky and bark during an aurora borealis. We can assume that the other animals also perceive them. Although we have no certainty, it is often reported that animals can feel things that often escape men. It is quite possible that some animals may feel the natural disturbance caused by an active aurora borealis.

Does Aurora Borealis Produce Sound?

Some people who are frequently exposed to the aurora borealis, particularly in Inuit communities, claim to have heard them produce a sound. Scientifically, it’s hard to prove, as the sound does not travel at the same speed as the light. The dawn is more than 100 km in the sky. If it emitted a sound, it should propagate at the speed of light, otherwise, it would be audible so long after the onset of dawn that you could not make a connection between the two events. Audio recordings of the aurora borealis have been attempted, with no results yet.

There are theories that state that aurora borealis electrical emissions can actually produce audible sound, but no evidence has been provided so far.

Does Moonlight Affect The Northern Lights?

It depends on the intensity of the aurora borealis. The moon can limit or even prevent their visibility when they are tenuous. Thus, in order to observe them without difficulty, it is advisable to travel during the new moon.

However, if you have the chance to witness a particularly bright aurora borealis, you will be able to contemplate it even during the full moon.

What Is The Difference Between Aurora Borealis And Aurora Australis?

The aurora borealis and the aurora Australis are mirror images of each other. When it is summer in the Arctic Circle and the aurora borealis is not visible, it is winter in Antarctica and the aurora Australis will be observable, and vice versa.

Aurora borealis are more popular with tourists because they are more easily accessible and the regions where they take place are more hospitable. In winter, the Antarctic continent is surrounded by a wide pack ice belt, making access very difficult. By comparison, the Norwegian coast, Alaska, northern Canada, southern Greenland, Iceland and the northern tip of Russia and Scandinavia are populated areas offering all kinds of opportunities for travelers wishing to admire the Northern Lights.

Are Aurora Borealis Visible From Space?

The northern and southern lights are both visible from space. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station can observe both types of the aurora as they travel around the globe. But, given space, the show is much less varied than on the mainland. Views of the Earth, the auroral structures unfold in the sky and change according to your distance from them. So from the ground, no aurora borealis resembles another. Which is not true seen from space.

This Phenomenon Is Observed On Other Planets?

There are auroral emissions on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and, presumably, also on Uranus and Neptune. The auroras on Jupiter and Saturn produce infrared and ultraviolet emissions invisible to the naked eye, but we can observe them through specific cameras. These planets may also have visible auroras, but they would look nothing like the ones we have on Earth.

The phenomenon is also observed on Mars, but on a different mode from that of other planets. Unlike the Earth, Mars does not have a planetary magnetic field.

The auroras being subject to the planetary magnetic fields, the auroras on Mars do not appear in streaks like on our planet. They are much more localized and appear only above magnetic rocks located on the surface.

Does Aurora Borealis Present Any Danger?

The aurora borealis is so high in the atmosphere that they do not pose any danger to people watching from the ground.

By itself, dawn is not dangerous, but the electrically charged particles that are produced could have a detrimental effect on technological infrastructure and devices. The particles produce an electric current that reaches the ground. In particularly extreme circumstances, this could affect high-voltage lines, oil and gas pipelines, computer networks, and cloud systems. There could also be a risk for planes flying at very high altitudes. However, very few planes are able to fly so high, and even then, they would not stay in the danger zone long enough to actually run a risk.

How To Make Enamel Jewelry

Written by Michael on September 23, 2019. Posted in Blog. No Comments on How To Make Enamel Jewelry

Enamel is a glass crystal used in decoration. It also makes enamel jewelry. Enameling is a technique commonly used in costume jewelry, it is also found in fine jewelry. It consists of heating shards of glass at very high temperatures to obtain colorful decorations.

The enamel is part of the family of glasses, so it has the same characteristics as the latter: resistance and unalterability.

When the enamel is applied to terracotta, we obtain ceramics. The use of terracotta makes it possible to handle a light and easy-to-shape material, then the enamel brings the hardness, resistance, and color.

The Enameling Process

The enameling process has four distinct steps:

The first is the manufacture of the crucible. The latter can be done by hand in refractory clay. It must be dried for seven months at a temperature of 30 ° C at the beginning and then gradually increased to 1400 ° C. This process should last eight days. The crucible is a container for cooking the enamel.
The second step of enameling is fusion. This consists of melting all the components to produce enamel.
The third stage of manufacture is the exit of the enamel infusion. After 14 hours of time, at a temperature of 1400 ° C, the enamel melts in the crucible. Then, it is cooled in a mold.
The fourth and final step in the process is grinding. This stage consists of transforming the enamel powder. Making enamels requires these steps to be followed.

Different Enameling Techniques:

This technique involves creating patterns using a flat, thin wire, bent and curved. This wire is deposited on its edge, then heated on the metal to create compartments that will then be filled with fine powder enamel.

The piece is then baked so that the enamel merges with the metal base.

1. The Champlevé

With the champlevé technique, the metal is dug and leveled by etching or hammering to create cells. These cells are then filled with enamel powder to obtain beautiful patterns once the enamel melted after cooking.

2. Inlaid Enamel Also Called Enamel In Round Bump

The enamel is applied on a shaped surface, even on carved figurines. It is applied wet but is held in place by a thin layer of organic glue.

3. Enameling With Low Reliefs

Inspired by the champlevé technique, this consists of engraving the pattern on the surface of the metal which is then covered with translucent enamel. This creates a gradient of color shades: the deeper areas become darker.

4. Painted Enamel

For this technique, the enamel is very finely ground and mixed with a fine paste with pure oil.

5. The Enamel Plique Up To Date

Here the enamel is not fused to the background, it adheres to the sides of the metal. The pattern is cut in a sheet of metal, and the enamel, wet, adheres to the cells by capillarity. This technique creates a stained glass effect by letting the light through the translucent enamel.

Enameling is a delicate technique that requires very good knowledge.

There are resins to obtain a result visually similar to enamel but without cooking. These resins can be used on almost all substrates and, once mixed with a hardener, freeze without going through the delicate stage of cooking.

However, the resins have not at all the same properties as enamel and are much less resistant than the latter.

Enamel Jewelry

The enamel makes jewelry. The enamel jewels require the fusion of the enamel powder.

For this, it is necessary to use an adequate material of high temperature (about 150 to 180 ° C). After, the jewel must be cooled.

It can melt several times when needed. Enamel jewelry is a personalized accessory.

Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” – A Deep Look

Written by Michael on September 21, 2019. Posted in Blog. No Comments on Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” – A Deep Look

Widely hailed as Van Gogh’s magnum opus, the painting depicts the view outside his sanatorium room window at night, although it was painted from memory during the day.

Starry Night depicts a dreamy interpretation of the artist’s asylum room’s sweeping view of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Though Van Gogh revisited this scene in his work on several occasions, “Starry Night” is the only nocturnal study of the view.

Thus, in addition to descriptions evident in the myriad of letters he wrote to his brother, Theo, it offers a rare nighttime glimpse into what the artist saw while in isolation. “Through the iron-barred window I can make out a square of wheat in an enclosure,” he wrote in May of 1889, “above which in the morning I see the sun rise in its glory.”

An end-of-the-world cataclysm invades Van Gogh’s Starry Night, one of apocalypses filled with melting aerolites and comets adrift. One has the impression that the artist has expelled his inner conflict onto a canvas. Everything here is brewed in a huge cosmic fusion. The sole exception is the village in the foreground with its architectural elements.

Several months after painting Starry Night, Van Gogh wrote: “Why, I say to myself, should the spots of light in the firmament be less accessible to us than the black spots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to go to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to go to a star.”

“I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.”
– Vincent van Gogh

The artist is looking down on a village from an imaginary viewpoint. It is framed by his newly-discovered motifs: at left a cypress towers skywards; at right, a group of olive trees cluster into the cloud, and against the horizon run the undulating waves of the Alpilles. Van Gogh’s treatment of his motifs prompts associations with fire, mist and the sea, and the elemental power of the natural scene combines with the intangible cosmic drama of the stars. The eternal natural universe cradles the human settlement idyllically, yet also surrounds it menacingly.

The village itself might be anywhere, Saint-Remy or Nuenen recalled in a nocturnal mood. The church spire seems to be stretching up into the elements, at once an antenna and a lightning conductor, like some kind of provincial Eiffel Tower (the fascination of which was never far from van Gogh’s nocturnes). Van Gogh’s mountains and trees (particularly the cypresses) had hardly been discovered but they seemed to crackle with an electric charge. Confident that he had grasped their natural appearance, Van Gogh set out to remake their image in the service of the symbolic. Together with the firmament, these landscape features are singing the praises of Creation in this painting.

“I have done another landscape with olive trees, and a new study of the ‘starry sky'”, was van Gogh’s way of describing the painting in his letter to Theo.

“Although I have not seen the new pictures by Gauguin and Bernard, I am fairly certain that these two studies are similarly conceived. When you see them some time I shall be able to give you a better idea of the things Gauguin, Bernard and I often used to talk about and occupy ourselves with than I can do in words; it is not a return to Romanticism or to religious ideas, no. But via Delacroix one can express more of Nature and the country, by means of colour and an individual drawing style, than might appear.”

Van Gogh is making various points here. First, his synthesis of motifs was his first echo of work with Gauguin since his breakdown. The nighttime scene (this is something that had only just become important to van Gogh) offers the visual imagination its most distinctive, unique field of activity, since the lack of light requires the compensatory use of visual memory.

Van Gogh used the memory method in his nocturnal scene; his discovery of the luminous power of darkness was a personal aesthetic discovery and needed no Gauguin as catalyst. Second, van Gogh was drawing upon his long-lost model Delacroix again, and the principle of contrast; once he paused to reflect on what he had achieved in recent weeks he found his attention drawn back to the colourist techniques which he himself had developed so far. Third, he was searching for the essence of the landscape, its very being – a way of registering its symbolic power, its vitality, its flux and constancy, all in one.

Interpretations of this painting are legion. Some claim it is a perfectly realistic account of the position of the stars in June 1889. This, needless to say, is perfectly possible. But the twisting, spiralling lines have nothing to do with the Northern Lights or the Milky Way or some spiral nebula or other.

Others say that van Gogh was expressing a personal Gethsemane; they back this up by referring to the discussion of Christ on the Mount of Olives that he was currently engaged in, in his correspondence with Gauguin and Bernard. This too may be so; it is possible that premonitions of sufferings to come are articulated in the picture.

But Biblical allegory is present throughout Van Gogh’s oeuvre, and he had no need of a special motif, least of all a starry sky, with all its associations of Arles and Utopian visions. Rather, van Gogh was trying to summarize; and his resume juxtaposed natural, scientific, philosophical and personal elements. Starry Night is an attempt to express a state of shock, and cypresses, olive trees and mountains had acted as van Gogh’s catalyst. More intensely, perhaps, than ever before, van Gogh was interested in the material actuality of his motifs as much as in their symbolic dimensions.

There had been hills in Arles too, of course. But they entered his panoramic scenes as idyllic touches. His landscapes included the harvest, passing trains, isolated farmsteads and distant towns; and the hills were simply one more detail. In Arles, van Gogh’s dream had been of the harmony of things and of the spatial dimensions in which that harmony could be felt. None of that remained. The hills rose up steep and abruptly now, menacing, threatening to drag the lonesome soul down into vertiginous depths.

"I have done another landscape with olive trees, and a new study of the 'starry sky'",

Starry Night has risen to the peak of artistic achievements. Although Van Gogh sold only one painting in his whole life, “Starry Night” is an icon of modern art, the Mona Lisa for our time. As Leonardo da Vinci evoked a Renaissance ideal of serenity and self-control, Van Gogh defined how we see our own age – wracked with solitude and uncertainty. Since 1941 Starry Night has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

10 Facts that You Don’t Know About “The Starry Night”

1) Vincent Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” in 1889 from a room in the mental asylum at Saint-Remy where was recovering from mental illness and his ear amputation.

2) Van Gogh painted the view from his east-facing window in the asylum 21 times. Although the series depicts various times of day and night and different weather conditions, all the works include the line of rolling hills in the distance. None show the bars on the window of his room.

3) The artist considered “The Starry Night,” which one day would rank among his most famous works, to be a failure, according to what he wrote to his brother.

4) Physicist Jose Luis Aragon compared the turbulent play of light and dark in such works as “Starry Night” to the mathematical expression of turbulence in such natural occurrences as whirlpools and air streams. He found they matched very closely. Two other Van Gogh paintings from 1890, WheatField with Crows and Road with Cypress and Star also feature this mathematical parallel. Aragon suggests that since the artist created these particular artworks during periods of extreme mental agitation, Van Gogh was uniquely able to accurately communicate that agitation using precise gradations of luminescence.

5) Analysts of “Starry Night” emphasize the symbolism of the stylized cypress tree in the foreground, linking it to death and Van Gogh’s eventual suicide. However, the cypress also represents immortality. In the painting, the tree reaches into the sky, serving as a direct connection between the earth and the heavens. The artist may have been making more of a hopeful statement than many credit him with. This positive interpretation of the cypress symbolism hearkens back to a letter to his brother in which the artist likened death to a train that travels to the stars.

6) In his 2015 book, “Cosmographics,” Michael Benson contends that the inspiration behind the distinctive swirls in the sky of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is an 1845 drawing by astronomer William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, of the Whirlpool Galaxy.

7) Research has confirmed that the dominant morning star in the painting is actually Venus, which was in a similar position at the time Van Gogh was working on “Starry Night,” and it would have shone brightly, just as Van Gogh painted it.

8) The moon in the painting would not have been in the crescent phase as shown at the time Van Gogh painted “Starry Night.” In reality, it would have been gibbous, or about three-quarters full.

9) Pathologist Paul Wolf postulated in 2001 that the artist’s fondness for yellow in paintings like “Starry Night” resulted from taking too much digitalis, a treatment in his day for epilepsy.

10) The painting resonates with art fans and the general public to the present day due in part to its vibrant palette and the swirling motion that seems to draw viewers right into the center of the artist’s fantastical vision.