Why Metal?

There are so many ways to make jewelry.  People make it out of everything from glass to steel, bottle caps to resin, wood to bone, and of course, precious metals.  I’ve been making jewelry since I was in second grade.  I distinctly remember my first trip to Ben Franklin’s to buy embroidery floss to make friendship bracelets for my best friends- if you remember, these were all the rage in 1995.  I made tons of beaded creations when I was a kid, making different color combinations to go with my favorite outfits.  In high school I discovered hemp, and was constantly making (and wearing) a series of chunkier and chunkier hippie-eqsue chokers.  It wasn’t until college when I started working with metal that I really felt like a jewelry designer.  So, I thought I’d share a little with you all about why it is that I love metal so much.

My favorite part about working with metal is that it allows for huge flexibility within certain constraints.  There are literally endless possibilities for design just working with the most basic tools- a saw, a hammer, pliers, files, and a torch.  I love these basic tools not only because I enjoy actually working the metal, (pounding metal is a great stress release!) but because each tools sets a parameter within which I must work.  For example, my torch can only heat metal up to a certain size, so everything I make must be small enough for it to handle.  Or, one of my texturing hammers makes one-centimeter lines when I use it to strike metal.  I have to manipulate the size and shape of my pieces to best show off the limited length of the texture. I thrive upon these limitations because it forces my creativity into new venues.  I am constantly editing my designs in my head so that I can produce them with the tools I have.  This makes for stronger, more purposeful designs.

I recently took a lost-wax casting class at a local art center.  With lost-wax casting, you can literally make any shape you can imagine in wax which can then be cast into metal.  There are no constraints.  I found myself sitting an staring at the wax without a clue what to do!  There were too many choices, too many possibilities, nothing to channel my creativity and focus.  I need my tools!  They help me give form to my ideas.

I also love the permanence of metal.  The shapes I create are made to last.  Short of running them over with your car, they will never fall apart.  There’s an amazing feeling I get when I make something that I know will last.  It sounds so cheezy, but it’s kind of like giving a little gift to the world.  Who knows how long it will be worn and loved?  It could become an heirloom and be passed down for generations.  It could be lost by one person and found by another.  It could travel to many countries and be seen my many people.

Finally, I just love the way metal looks.  I think it’s really, really pretty.