Back to Ganoksin | FAQ | Contact

Orchidians Collaboration

Jewelry Discussion
#1

How many Orchidians “collaborate” - or are willing to get together
with someone who specializes in embellishment techniques that would
add value or esthetic appeal to what you already do? Seems to me
that it might be advantageous to both parties?

Examples:

Silver/goldsmiths with enamelists, granulators (is this a word?),
hollowware people with chasers, damascene, inlay, Keum Boo,
engraving, etc.

P.S. I don’t mean using mass finishers, platers, casters, CAD/CAM,
wax carving, mold makers, setters, or punching blanks - just
embellishment techniques…

Brian P. Marshall
Stockton Jewelry Arts
Stockton, CA 95209 USA
209-477-0550 Workshop/Studio/
instructor@jewelryartschool.com
jewelryartschool@aol.com

#2 
    How many Orchidians "collaborate" - or are willing to get
together with  someone who specializes in embellishment techniques

Hi Brian;

That sounds like a very appealing idea to me, but there are some
logistical problems. I am subcontracted for lots of parts of various
jobs, or all of a job, depending on the account. I know you said you
didn’t mean that sort of thing, but the issue I’m referring to is the
same. Collaboration, in most cases, would require either that both
or whatever parties involved work out the design issues together
(remember the recent post about carving waxes to accommodate pave?)
Otherwise, it would require that the parties involved have pretty
good understanding of what’s involved in the other arts to be applied
to the job. I have some ideas about what hand engravers or
enamellists require in terms of metallurgy and understand some of
the configuration problems such as convex/concave surfaces issues.
I’ve been told I carve very “setter friendly” waxes. That’s because
I’m usually the setter too. I’ve done some of all those techniques
you’ve mentioned, so I think I’d be able to work that way. Wouldn’t
it be great to have a collection of such artists in one place? Wow,
what an atelier!

David L. Huffman

#3

Before I get more private emails on the subject - for the purpose of
this thread - I defined some of the techniques I considered to be
"embellishment."

I too, do fabrication, wax modeling, casting, and stone setting. As
I see it - the kind of ornamentation that is done AFTER the piece
is completed is “embellishment”. (and often after the stones are
set)

I did not mean to insult any of the specialists in these fields by
not including them, I was only trying to narrow down the topic a
bit. I’ve used Daniel Grandi’s RaceCar casting company and some of
the other services here on Orchid, but I don’t think that Daniel
would claim that his work is “embellishment”?

Brian

#4

Brian-

I appreciated your question about collaboration and think it is a
great area for exploration. I trained in glass and metalsmithing and
at a certain point chose to focus on metals. I had many sketches for
chess sets, goblets, etc using both media, but never pursued them
because I didn’t have a good glass-casting partner. These days I feel
my enameling skills exceed the metalsmithing and would love to pair
up with a gold- or silversmith on some projects. I first saw such a
collaboration in the amazingly talented pairing of Irene McGuckin
(cloisonne) and Susan Wood Onstadt (metalsmith & chainmaker). Orchid
seems like a great place to make such connections (no pun intended.)

Linda Frueh
Atelier Frueh