Work Progress

This is an experiment that is still going on, and it may not end up where I had originally planned!  I have a fascination for iconic abstract designs, this bracelet started with a basic egg and dart which gained some extra flourishes along the way.

Eternal Vine

My first foray into the realm of wedding rings was for friends, a couple getting married in the midst of vineyards in Northern Italy.  An initial consultation set me off in the direction of a twisting vine graphic, eternally circling on itself.
 

The design behaved differently on each of the rings because of their diffferent sizes.  On the smaller ring the vine curled and dipped more deeply, on the larger ring it stretched and reached around the surface.

Tread Lightly

An encounter with a book about Frank Lloyd Wright's art glass led me to play with extruding his triangles and diagonals into three dimensions. I started with a chunky ring.

I had sketched the basic pattern for the ridges on the face of the ring, an interplay of slopes and surfaces.  As I carved the wax, new facets emerged on the sides creating a more organic crystaline feel.

A Toast to Angels

A friend of mine commissioned me to make a set of absinthe spoons as a gift for his brother. I was eager to take on the project and took some time to research the utensils before starting. An absinthe spoon is a type of cocktail strainer that is used in the ritual of pouring absinthe through a sugar cube. Most are abstract filigreed grilles that lay flat across the rim of a glass. I took the filigree idea and added my own twist. I'm not a religious person but I have always been fascinated by religious iconography. I created abstract designs based on the three highest orders of the hierarchy of angels: the Seraphim, the Cherubim, and the Ophanim.

I started with a sheet of silver onto which I transferred my designs. Piercing pilot holes in the sheet created new constellations - part of me wanted to leave it like this!

Each phase of piercing and sawing created striking objects. Every time I thought I might be done I would file a little more, and as the filigree became more delicate, the angels took flight.

Seraphim - six winged, caretakers of the throne of God.

Cherubim - four faced, guardians of the light and the stars.

Ophanim - fiery wheels of the throne of God.