Ethical Making @ Fife College
Fife College has been an Ethical Making Pledge signatory since 2018. We spoke with Fife’s Ambassadors Oliver Ranklin and Cherie Sullivan to find out what they have been working on over the last year.
Within your workshop, what collective efforts towards more ethical/sustainable/responsible practice have been made this year?
Oliver: Within our work shop we no longer use traditional pickling acids. It has been replaced with citric acid, considered a more ethical and safer pickle substitute.
The students have all been issued with reusable towels. This has removed the need for drying items using paper towels.
The department has changed to using lead-free enamel. We now use bio-degradable wipes and use hoovers to contribute to our reclamation. Students were issued with recycled silver grain this year. Our 3D printers use biodegradable filament and scrap is available for sampling or re-use. Copper, brass and other scrap metal bins are available in the workshop.
Cherie: As a workshop as a whole, it was quite difficult to think of new ways to make our practices more sustainable/ethical. We decided to change how we pickle our metals: our lecturer contacted Ute Decker to get her pickle recipes. We used these with varied results, but decided that citric acid worked best for us. It was difficult to change the perspectives of some of the students. I’m not sure they will continue this practice in their own studio, but at least it’s been changed here.
How has your course integrated themes of ethical making into the curriculum?
Oliver: Ethical making has been integrated into the curriculum with ethical practices being discussed and plans for future lectures on ethical making to be introduced.
Cherie: Early on in the year we had a visit from Mark with Presman Mastermelt. His talk was very eye opening and engaging. This led to change in even more of our practices. We now have a separate bin for all our sweeps and new individual lemel tubs. Some of us already had lemel tubs but the newer ones were gratefully received.
Have you (or any of your classmates’) addressed themes of ethical making within your creative practice?
Oliver: Yes, ethical making themes have been addressed in creative practice with our found objects project. This means all the class have used found or recycled items.
Cherie: As an individual, I’ve tried to make my own practice more sustainable. Through experimentation of fusing my silver lemel onto sheet without the need of solder, I discovered I could make beautiful textures. I used this technique to produce a necklace and earring set for a family members birthday, it was very gratefully received. My main project has however been through my work with wax. As a jeweller this is my preferred medium. I find the waste of all the wax dust abhorrent so am in the process of collecting the dust and cut offs. I’ve experimented with melting down this waste and reusing the resulting wax. I’ve yet to cast anything using this method but plan to in the future.
My biggest personal project this year has to be the designing and making engagement & wedding rings for myself and my fiancé. As a couple we’ve tried to do this as ethically as possible by using recycled gold and synthetic stones. I preferred the use of synthetic versus mined as to my mind it’s more ethical.
What progress do you envision your course making over the coming year?
Oliver: Envisioned plans include salt water etching to replace/ remove the need for acid in this process in the workshop. Ethical making workshops will be started to discuss and try out different ethical ways to produce processes in the workshop/course.
Cherie: I’m returning to college after the summer to complete my HND. The practices I’ve learnt and used this past year are ingrained in me and will be used for years to come. I plan to continue researching how to make my business more ethical as I’m sure I’ve got much to learn. Next on my agenda is to look into sustainable packaging and promotional materials.
How has being an Ethical Making Ambassador changed your learning and practice?
Oliver: It has changed how I think about producing jewellery and I look for ethical alternatives.
Cherie: I’ve loved my year as the ethical ambassador for Fife College, it’s been so rewarding and eye opening. I’ve learned so many new things and am looking forward to seeing where this knowledge takes me.