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Back in the day I often made pieces that referred to my life...this copper and silver fused pendant represents the roadside angel that showed up when I was in a very serious car accident in my teens. ..just after we left the road...too many roads to watch to get there before the big impala sailed into the air. This a very grateful piece given how teenagers run their angels ragged. I still have this. Most of my work remains undocumented and over the years the photos I did take were dreadful things, now that I no longer work in metal I am scanning some old shots for memory salvage. |
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The beach pebbles here on the island are lovely to hold and for years I placed them in my work where ones fingers could keep in touch. These pendants are between 4 and 5 inches high and up to an inch in depth. |
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Much of my design and line came from the saw so I created a lot of silver dust. This I collected and used for more simple work like this fused pendant...the turtles were cut out of some other piece and appliqued without solder (fused) to the surface. This process was one of my recycling efforts. |
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Both the silver and the copper sheet were acid etched and the copper hammered into a lead block to shape this mask. From my west coast series. |
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For many years I had no electricity and the pieces I made then were some of my favourites as I spent so many hours with them, shaping and polishing them slowly, often on a chamois stitched to my levi knees and charged with tripoli or some other agent....this old bead was cut in half and inlaid with silver before being set into the bone with pipestone and epoxy. Most of the rings I made at this time were based on the scarab. |
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Another scarab ring...about 2.25" long. A big piece of ebony, I think from an old hair brush handle, set with a jade cabachon with a wee little piece of coral, bezel set on the sides of the shank. The tiny stones were attached to the ends of finishing nails or bamboo skewers (dop stick) to hold while I shaped and polished them. |
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Often I made pieces with bone and having moved to BC I used some local jade. A bronze alloy called nu-gold was perfect for bezels and stayed quite bright. |
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Many years ago I traded some of my leather work with a young Inuvialuit carver named Abraham who had found his way to Hornby Island for a day...he gave me a small box of fossil ivory (walrus tusk, whale teeth, narwal tusk and mastodon) from the north. These were tiny scraps left over from his large sculpture. Treasuring each fragment I used it with much gratitude in my work...Still in my possession are the creamy white remains, enough for more jewelry someday. Piano keys, hair brush handles, old clocks, pipes, combs, dinnerware and many other articles were sought and mined for materials. Abraham Anghik Ruben |
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One solid sheet of silver pierced with a jewelers saw...I tended to use #5 blades a lot...very fine. I carved this mask and took this horrible photograph. I take full responsibility. This piece is between 4 and 5 inches long, I believe. |
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I always loved the combination of silver and copper and used it frequently...this simply is a prayer and a reminder to hold... listening to the earth. |
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More fusion....these are 3 to 4 inches high and only slightly curved. |
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Most of my work while not photographed was sketched in some manner and I have dozens of note books full of my designs...this piece describes the working plan, gauge of wire, articulation of arms etc. If I find an actual photo I will add to this stew.  Occasionally my jewelry designs would cross pollinate with my painting and pen and ink work. The script is one I developed and use in most of my notes. |
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Between Harold O'Connor (and Charles Lewton-Brain) I enhanced my fold and forge formed work, in copper especially. Never met Lewton-Brain but took a course or two with Harold, who was so kind he even came to Hornby and gave a workshop in my studio! Thanks so very much. |
Sources of inspiration as powerful and ageless as Egyptian (inlay and painting), Celtic mythology, story telling, knot work and illustration and the cast bronze of the Chinese show up everywhere in my work. They were my slip stream and through study and my attempts to emulate them I learned to work with many materials, tell a few tales and make some jewelry that feels a bit ageless to me, even now.
More inspiration came through the voices of my clients, whose characters encouraged me to be bold. This silver and amber amulet was made for a fabulous friend, (now transformed) Dylis Poole. Once More Transformed came from her powerful vision and this piece celebrates her roots and her beliefs. The reverse is etched with the images from the chain of lives this transformation represents. The entire circle rotates. Just one version from the Song of Taliesin.
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| More of the copper and silver scrap fusion... |
