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Copper

Copper Ring, I had put this ring together in 2007.  It is a more personal, conceptual piece.  It is a memorial of failure.  The smoky quartz set in the copper was a stone I had faceted myself when I had been a member of the Madison Gem and Mineral Club, years ago and taking a few classes in lapidary work.  The stone had resurfaced from among the remnants within my studio.  Unfortunately, when I attempted to set the stone in another setting, I broke the point.  So this stone, of minimal value, that I had spent hours faceting and polishing, was now of even less value.  Leading me to question the value of my skills, and my value as a jeweler or artist.  Somehow, these considerations, in themselves, felt to be of some value, so I thought that I would memorialize them in a piece specific to them and possibly create some value to this broken stone, at least as a memorial.  I also assigned myself a puzzle, in developing the setting.  I would only use one piece of 1/4″ square copper stock and split forge a setting, no solder and no heat beyond annealing the metal.  In a way, I was transferring some of my experience in blacksmithing forging techniques to small scale jewelry.  Consciously considering the working processes of blacksmithing and their relationship to jewelry metalworking processes without soldering.  Over the  years I have gravitated towards cold-working and joining techniques.  Some of this is due to my studies with Fred Fenster, at the UW-Madison, for he often used forging and hammering processes in his studio and teaching of metalsmithing.   I have also been influenced by my husband’s work as a machinist and Instrument Maker.  Now if I could find the drawings.

laimamikaliukas

laimamikaliukas

laimamikaliukas

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