ATELIER - Imperfect Shapes - Gioielli Artigianali

ATELIER

The laboratory is the place where I give shape to ideas and inspirations.
With the metalworking bench technique, I work directly on silver and gold. To create the Shades of Eggs cuff for example, I made it from a sheet of silver by sawing it off to create the details of the empty / full. Then I heated it to soften it and to reinforce its conical shape and finally, brushed it to make it opaque.

LOST WAX CASTING

The other technique that I frequently use is lost- wax casting. It is a simple method, but it requires great skill in order to obtain surprising results. This type of processing consists of making a model with a ductile material such as wax. After that, the created piece is welded to the casting shaft which is inserted into the casting cylinder then immersed in liquid plaster. This solidifies and assumes the exact shape of the wax. Finally, at very high temperatures, the metal will be injected into the casting cylinder and the wax will be lost, leaving the metal jewel in its place.

The wax used is a special wax for casting which can have different degrees of hardness and elasticity differentiated by colors.

Wax is certainly, from my point of view, the material that allows the maximum amount of artistic expressiveness and almost unlimited “room to maneuver”.

LOST WAX CASTING

The other technique that I frequently use is lost- wax casting. It is a simple method, but it requires great skill in order to obtain surprising results. This type of processing consists of making a model with a ductile material such as wax. After that, the created piece is welded to the casting shaft which is inserted into the casting cylinder then immersed in liquid plaster. This solidifies and assumes the exact shape of the wax. Finally, at very high temperatures, the metal will be injected into the casting cylinder and the wax will be lost, leaving the metal jewel in its place.

The wax used is a special wax for casting which can have different degrees of hardness and elasticity differentiated by colors.

Wax is certainly, from my point of view, the material that allows the maximum amount of artistic expressiveness and almost unlimited “room to maneuver”.

ALLOYS

The metals I love to use are bronze, gold and silver.

Bronze is a hard and not very malleable metal. In fact, I use it exclusively in lost-wax castings, as when it comes out of the casting it is a bit softer to work with, and to define the details it is perfect. I really love its warm color, sometimes tending to “red”, which looks like antique or vintage gold and this vintage patina makes it perfect for a certain type of jewelry.

On the contrary, silver is soft and relatively easy to work with. I like it because, oxidizing quickly, it takes on that vintage look that I love so much. I like the shine and brilliance only at the beginning, in jewels just finished. Then, when they are worn they become opaque and perfectly adopt the Wabi-sabi philosophy, which sees the wear of time as a precious variable, which gives beauty and uniqueness to the object.

Finally, gold, the precious metal par excellence. It is malleable, easy to work with, and it oxidizes very slowly. I love to mix it with silver because I am attracted to the contrasts between colors and materials. Together they can produce refined and interesting aesthetic effects.

I use it, like silver, both in metalworking bench and in lost-wax casting.