Necklace. Sterling, 18k. 20"L. photo: Doug Yaple
Price: $2300

Graduated Saguaro Necklace.

Every process in the jewelry or metalsmithing studio has its advantages.  Casting is a wonderful way to transform an organic material into metal. The central elements suspended in the hand forged sterling circles are sections of coral-like sea fan (or sometimes cactus skeleton) that I embed in plaster investment and burn away.  The cavities are then filled with 18k gold  and those  cast golden elements refined and then soldered into the frames.

At left is the first piece that I built in the series. Here is one of the smaller Saguaro pins.  

Ocular Series: Saguaro. Bronze, sterling, 18k gold. 2.5"

Neckpiece. Salvaged steel scrap, copper,
18k, stainless. Central element
2"W. photo: Doug Yaple
Price: $1800

State of Affairs

State of Affairs was fabricated from scraps of rust-riddled, thin steel sheet collected by a friend from the shores of Lake Michigan. I had mailed her a box of stinky, road-kill porcupine quills and I received a smaller package containing these artifacts, along with a short note in return. I had the form in mind for some time and  began working on the neckpiece within minutes of opening the box. 

I approached the steel as I would nonferrous metal, soldering and even pickling it and leaving the results up to chance. The hook was forged from a bit of stainless cut from a coil that has been laying around the studio for years. 

Neckpiece. sterling, 14k, plastic chickens and pearls.photo: Doug
Yaple

Chicken Choker

Chicken Choker is a neckpiece built for the recently published book Humor in Craft (Sciffer). It was accompanied, along with the Ring-tisserie  and Unscrewable  , by the essay And a Chicken Shall Lead Them...  which I wrote--also for Humor in Craft. 

The pun has been termed "the lowest form of humor" but I love 'em.  This particular one was just too saucily delicious to ignore: the piece just had to be made. From the person who strung the pearls and chickens to the photographer who snapped the image, the neckpiece drew immediate (if sometimes puzzled) smiles.  It's really all about the reveal.

The headless chickens were riveted into their tubes with 14k gold.

Sterling, shibuichi, bronze, gold, lens,
diamond. Pendant height 3". photo: doug
yaple

Bling

The lens at the aperture of Bling magnifies the small mellee diamond at the base.  The trick was to build in the perfect focal length between the lens and the diamond.

Watching what happens once someone in a crowd catches sight of the lens in the piece is the real fun. They can't help themselves  as they violate all sorts of social boundaries and reach across personal space to snatch the pendant up, peer through the opening and do a little focal-distance-dance as they reconcile their own eye with the lens-- all the while tethered to the person wearing the neckpiece

Bronze, sterling, 14k, 18k, copal, diamond.
Pendant elelemnt 6"H. photo: doug
yaple

Bauble

I bought a string of copal  beads, graduated from very large to small, at a jeweler's yard sale. Copal is an "unfinished": no longer tree resin, but not quite amber. I carved and poiished each bead- they smelled sweet and delicious.  

The sterling chain is hand fabricated and the "stem" between the beads is forged and fused in bronze.

Sterling, bronze, 14k rose and 18k
yellow gold, pearls. 2"W.photo:
Doug Yaple

Colony

I love the idea that mass, volume  and strength can result from the accumulation or accretion of smaller units.  This is one of the things that draws me to the Hymenoptera --bees, wasps and hornets.  A comb, nest or hive can begin with a single elelemnt and then grow until it engulfs whatever it is built on. 

The Colony pieces grow organically, cell by cell.  Each sterling tube is tapered in a collette punch block.  The degree or slope of taper is determined by the block that I use and that in turn determined how the brooch or neckpiece will grow: a more severe taper will lead to a tighter and smaller form.  Some tubes are compressed or otherwise tweaked, some are filled or capped and some just left empty. 

I always have an idea where the piece needs to go but I am always surprized by what I get.

Sterling,18k yellow gold, diamonds, neck
cable. Ball diameter: 1.75".
photo: Doug Yaple

Medusa Ball

I wove this ball from strips of striated textured sterling (rolled in the studio. My Whelk earrings led to this neckpiece which in turn led to the Sargasso Server.

Sterling, copper, ping pong balls. Hangs to waist. Pendant element
4.5"H
Price: $915

Double Parasol Neckpiece

To date, this series of manipulated ping pong balls includes brooches (Chang & Eng, Sting and Coeur), earrings and rings. Double Parasol is the first necklace. 

The ping pong ball cones have a hammer-like surface (carved with a bur) and the sterling stalks from which they hang are fused and forged.  The hand-made sterling chain can be shortened and lengthened, depending on where the catch is hooked.

Sterling, bronze, enamel on
copper.1.75"W.

Fletch

Fletch was built for the exhibition Red. The enamel is set in from the back. Entirely fabricated by hand, including the sterling chain.

The background enamel -- several different reds--was torch fired onto copper and the yellow enamel arrow then sifted through a stencil and kiln fired.

A companion brooch, Pierce , is pictured below.