SeaDragon

SeaDragon began as an assignment for a college casting class: create 3 different pieces that join together without jump rings. The original leafy design is inspired by the Leafy Sea Dragon, a fish that camouflages itself as seaweed. The organic shapes and layered design call to mind leaves, fish fins, and dragon scales.

I returned to the project for the school's end of year design show, completing the Summer Gala piece entirely in fine silver and using it to explore kiln-fired enamels (another class) and cast-in-place stone setting, a technique I'd heard about but hadn't witnessed at the time. Even when the full sized neck piece was complete, the leftover pieces and 'mistakes' continued to intrigue me.

After graduation I couldn't work on the SeaDragon project in metal for years, lacking suitable equipment and space, but I continued to develop the digital design for a simplified and smaller piece equally elegant and fantastical. In 2021 I acquired sand casting equipment and a small beehive kiln, and began the process of bringing SeaDragon II to life.

Backstories

Pieces of jewelry are sculpture. We interact with them in 3 dimensions of space and experience all sides. So why leave the back side plain and ignored? These works explore all sides, including settings that showcase the polished front of the cabochons but add interest and a story to the back sides of pendants, bracelets, and earrings.

Chainmail

Chainmail is a fabric-like mesh formed of interlaced metal rings, and has been around for centuries. The earliest historical examples are from the 3rd or 4th century BC, and it is often best remembered as armor from the European Middle Ages. In modern times the techniques are very often used for decorative arts, and there are mail-makers everywhere, creating bracelets and earrings, neck ties and dice bags, out of every metallic material from aluminum to titanium.

I love the mesmerizing patterns formed by the interlocking rings, and I love how an endless array of patterns can be created using such a simple shape. I am exploring fine jewelry through this art of chain-making. By making chainmail items of sterling silver there is the opportunity to fabricate, to add on gemstone settings and custom accents, while the woven nature of chainmail potentially creates pieces that move like rope and drape like fabric.