Okay, just WOW! Balboa Park is where I was lucky enough to see an exhibit of the Faberge eggs once long ago. And, of course, I do know the Carousel and have long loved carousels. Always wanted to make one in enamel, someday. But I think you and your dedicated people already did that beyond my wildest dreams. So, I must simplify to something more essential if ever I pass into that day dream again. But This is beyond superlative! A must see should I pass through SD again in the next little while. Perchance I will ….
This is a pendant @JimGrahlDesign made for my wife, Lisa. I sourced the stone, and re-cut it. Jim did the metalwork - inspired by his pearl baskets.
A ring for my friend, Matt Zisow. I don’t think I was involved in this one.
My wife Lisa’s “cocktail ring” - worn twice More of a show piece to showcase the metal work, the stone cutting and the unique stone sourcing. Jim and I like working together on rare stones - he does the jewelry, I do the stones. Sometimes we sell them, sometimes they just sit in the vault and are used as teaching tools.
This one is a client and friend of mine. Diamonds are not my cup of yogurt, but… compromises must be made
Hi Jim, Ted here in the UK.
I too have been involved in making items of large excess in my case
for Arab sheiks.
the 1st was a solid 24ct gold traditional home phone,
the2nd. was a scale model of the city and shrine of Mecca in solid
sterling to fit onto a 4ft sq table.
All the building profiles were struck from drop stamping dies, then
soldered together. Minarets turned up out of bar in a lathe.
Kilo’s of metal!
How many hands in your w/shop?
Regards from county Dorset
UK.
Hi Ted
Usually just me, My son, Jonathan comes in to help, and Beth Eyler (who carved the carousel animals) is here periodically.
Everyone else is on call so to speak.
I’ll add detail shots to these in time.
As you’ve experienced, projects of this scope need people with flexible skill sets, talented in their own right but willing to expand their range .
I’d love to see you post photos of your projects as well.
We had a silversmith , several towns away, doing a similar city scape , a bit larger than your scale and for an Arabic client.
It’s been 15 + tears ago. but quite the undertaking.
Best,
Jim
This only opens happy letters… Magic
This was done for a very special person, a small acknowledgement for a near lifetime of support.
Hand fabricated and forged in 18K yellow gold, sterling silver,stainless steel and accented with a natural blue topaz, cut to fit. A few pearls (cultured) and a few diamonds fill the list.
Enjoy,
Jim
(Sylvia Bissonnette ph0to)
Hi
I just always loved this shot.
The pieces are , now very rare, Paula rubilite tourmaline.
They are set in hand fabricated 18K yellow gold and platinum, with diamond and cultured South Sea white pearls.
The style is very traditional, early 1950’s, reminiscent of Cartier or Van Cleefs.
Enjoy,
Jim
Photo, Sylvia Bissonnette
Eternity… well Half an Eternity isn’t bad either…
Especially when it doesn’t turn on your finger.
This hand fabricated 18K yellow gold , platinum and diamond band will stay upright on your finger due to a shape unique to our studio I call the “stirrup” .
An old friend, Jean Francois’ Albert & I came up with somewhat similar, irregular shapes in the late 1960’s. though we were several thousand miles apart & didn’t know each other then, there are similarities.
Mine was influenced by old Egyptian Scarab rings, not quite round, they reminded me that any round ring will have the ability to spin freely on the finger (think wheel on an axle). If the shape is disrupted then it minimizes or limits the movement on the finger.
JFA & I have differing approaches, His very Square, mine with a different form.
You’ll see these pop up occasionally here, they work very well for certain designs, not so well with others.
(I’ll try to focus on the good ones…)
Enjoy,
Jim
Sylvia Bissonnette photo
t’s another Blue day…
This one is a great, un-heated, Ceylon sapphire, 3 1/2 ct., bordered by two 1/2 round diamonds with bezel set round diamonds graduating down the sides.
The ring is hand fabricated platinum with small 18K yellow gold details. The background is a hand engraved “Florentine” pattern.
Enjoy,
Jim
Sometimes it’s the piece with the story, sometimes the recipient …
In this case both.
This Bolo was made for Alex Dryer, A remarkable Journalist and photographer.
Alex was lead journalist for Life magazine at the beginning of WW2. He was the first ousted, the Gestapo broke both of his kneecaps & left him permanently crippled, dumped across the French Border. He was also the first to return, full waist down cast, in a B-52 bomber on the first US raid on Germany.
Alex was also the famous voice for Mercedes Benz , with sonorous tones and distinct articulation he voiced the virtues of these fine cars until his retirement.
Fast (ish) forward. I’m in Annenburg Center, attempting to narrate our first video… & failing miserably. Alex, being a close friend of Walter Annenburg, hobbled in, listened for a minute and promptly gave me the “slicing the throat with the hand” sign, universally meaning… “Shut Up”.
He then did a five minute overview of the project and promptly did a 10 minute narration, no script and having no clue as to who I was. (I was embarrassed…)
So as I inquired, somewhat dumbfounded, as to what this was going to cost, he responded, “Nothing, I like your work”…
My thank you to alex was the Bolo. Hand fabricated in 18K and 22K yellow gold, the Mayan serpent in reticulated 22K. The serpent surrounds an Atocha shipwreck coin from 1622 (A project I’m still involved with), the weights on the bolo are Guatemalan Black Jade trimmed in 18K as os the background for the serpent.
So when you watch the video, pay attention to the amazing talent that allowed Alex to create my studio, and myself, in a way I could have never imagined.
All photography is by Sylvia Bissonnette.
Hi
I’ve mentioned the “Atocha” ship wreck before, now a bit more of the story.
The Atocha, or, more formally, The Nuestra Señora de Atocha, was a Spanish gallon that along with her sister ship, The Santa Margurita, sunk in a hurricane below the Florida Keys in 1622. She was approximately 90 feet in length, carried 300 passengers and crew, cows,pigs, personal belongings… and over 350 million in gold and jewels, what we call “Treasure”.
I have been involved , in a way, since my birth. My father, like me, was born in Redondo Beach, California, as was Mel Fisher. They were friends.
No that seems like an easy intro for me, Given Mel and his wife Deo searched for over 35 years to find the Atocha. But that was lost on me until 1980 when I had two clients who were heavily invested in Mel Fishers “Treasure Hunt” (See National Geographic’s Mel fisher stories). These clients had some concerns about the serious amount of money they’d invested, and also had coins and artifacts they wanted jewelry mounted around.
So, I was enlisted, so to speak, to go to Key West, create a relationship with the Fishers and dig into the operating practices.
More about that in a later post, but it’s good stuff for all concerned.
I wound up, both diving briefly, and more often working in and with the museum in documenting restoration procedures and the metal art work of the era.
Soooo. more to come.
The piece shown here is made upof some of the finest coins (“Reales”) to come off the wreck, these are from the frist recovery dive, thus the earliest coins to be shown,
The center is an eight Reales, the next two, 4 reales, then two reales and the last 3 are 1 reales.
They are framed in hand fabricated 18 k gold with platinum frames around the coins (barely visible), It’s 3 dimensional, meaning the round shape you see on the front is the same on the back (think donut). These were from various mints around the new world.
The photo is taken on a copper ingot off the wreck, this would have been alloyed in Europe to create cannons for the ships.
Enjoy,
Jim
A little more of a lot of Atocha.
The advantage of being on-site when the first big recovery was made was having access to artifacts. The museum staff, and really all involved, were beyond helpful and willing to share freely.
It is quite a process, recovering precious objects that (in 1980) had been submerged in saltwater and shifting sands for 360 years.
Gold ( because of the purity of the “Escudos”, name of the gold coins, Reales, name of the silver coins), doesn’t oxidize. This makes it somewhat easier for the divers to spot, and generally, where there is one piece, their will be more.
Silver, when exposed to saltwater, attracts marine growth and often simply looks like a rock… The conservationists have to soak, strip and gently clean the surface of any silver piece recovered.
This is all to give context to the photo. The silver plate under the jewelry is from the Atocha, and the erosion of time is very clear. It, also makes a great backdrop for our jewelry, a Man’s suite, composed on a 22k yellow gold ring with a beautiful grade 1 (the best condition) Escudo, The ring in a nautical woven pattern was carved in wax & cast. The money clip, hand fabricated in sterling silver and a hand engraved frame, in 18K yellow gold holding an 8 reales silver coin. Both are complimented by a 1 reales coin with a gold and platinum frame.
The manuscript below the plate is a reproduction of the originals that were so important in locating the wreck.
More…later
Enjoy,
Jim
Sylvia Bissonnette photo
More shipwreck…with rustic thrown in…
This is another coin off the Atocha, an four reales of excellent condition.
The frame for this coin is in hand forged 22 K yellow gold, detailed with old Biwa pearls from the 1950’s. and capped with a ruby and diamond set cross.
All suspended from a very nice strand of south sea cultured pearls.
Enjoy,
Jim
HI Sharon.
Well… thank you.
Please know that I am looking through the eyes of so many that have helped and inspired me, those who taught intentionally, and those who simply triggered a thought through something they said.
Also,
I’ve had a wonderful team of people who come in to preform their specialty to add to the whole… It Takes A Village…
and again, thank you.
Jim
A little more on the Atocha, then a break.
This is somewhat representative of the “Art” end of J.Grahl Design.
(Our formal title is The Art and Jewelry of J.Grahl Design).
This piece is intended to give a feel of the distress and fear the crew and passengers experienced prior to the Atocha’s sinking.
It’s 1622, in Europe, bathing was rare, the fear of water great, the ability to swim nearly nonexistent. 300 passengers, wearing their finery if wealthy, or leathers/wools of the crew and the peons.
The smell of dirt, fear, animals and sickness…all poised on the sea’s fury and the ship’s fragility. All praying for a salvation not to come.
My intention was to capture this in an object, dark at first, then illuminating the event.
The imbedded coin representing both the gross acquisition of wealth, and the fact that it was done at the expense of the Mayan and Incan cultures that the Spanish ravaged to source the gold and silver being transported back to Spain.
This piece is made of heavily leaded glass, 3/4 of an inch thick, my artwork, based loosely on the known architecture of the Atocha (and most Spanish Galleons of this era), and living my life within feet of the sea. The glass is acid etched from the back (thank you Tom Henry) and mounted in a machined aluminum base with a tubular light inside, . The Glass panel, when lit from the bottom, disperses the light evenly throughout the piece. This piece is 15" x 12.5 " overall.
Enjoy (or in this case dwell a bit)
Jim
Art’s and Crafts style,
late 1900’s, early 20th century.
Add Rene’ Lalique (beads) and Natural Pearls.
Sometimes gems are a context, rather than a specific mineral. That is the case with the Lalique, Opalized glass beads.
These were a gift from a very aged friend before she passed. They were here “Treasures”, passed to me so I could come up with the piece she could never afford to imagine, let alone do. She was given these by her mother around 1900.
These are very rare, I’ve never seen a complete , undamaged set before. The opalized color play is really beautiful, though hard to capture in a photo.
And of course there are the pearls, Natural of origin with all the appropriate documentation., The sapphire beads are natural, un-heated as well.
This was my palate… what to create?
So my thoughts landed on the era that Lalique popularized, and a style that gently morphed into Art Noveau.
Created in 18K rose gold , oxidized to bring out the organic flavor, and accented with diamonds of the era in the centerpiece, as well as enamel details.
Wonderful photography in the first shot by Sylvia Bissonnette.
Enjoy
Jim
Simplicity…
While I always strive for it, sometimes it’s good to just test the concept.
In the mid 70’s I went on a brief tangent to explore the minimum number of components I could use and create jewelry with interest.
This was one of those pieces.
A sherry colored natural Topaz, Bar cut.
A platinum 3/4 tube as a bezel of sorts, and a wrap of 18K yellow gold for the band.
Playing with material, color and balance.
Enjoy,
Jim
This is one of my favorite suites, and one of my favorite photos from Sylvia.
The Tahitian “Black” pearls are rarely black. Their color range is akin to a rainbow, but, they are, in general, dark.
This pair of 11 mm rounds have an incredible deep steely-blue cast, a perfect match for the hand fabricated platinum ring and pendant. The pendant is suspended on an 11 mm strand of South Sea white pearls from Broome Australia.
Enjoy,
Jim
Photography by Sylvia Bissonnette
More of a show piece to showcase the metal work, the stone cutting and the unique stone sourcing. Jim and I like working together on rare stones - he does the jewelry, I do the stones. Sometimes we sell them, sometimes they just sit in the vault and are used as teaching tools.
