Right about here, is where the story of an incompetent garage mechanic resumes, intervening to change my direction in life from sculpture to jewelllery-making. It was the winter of 1972, and I had brought my pickup truck in to a local garage in Montreal for servicing. The mechanic didn't put the correct antifreeze mix in, and during a bitter cold spell, the engine block split, destroying the engine. I was left with no means of transporting the large chunks of raw soapstone I needed, or my finished sculptures. I had little money - those were hard times for me - and no transportation. Someone repaid a loan I had made with the smallest motorcycle known to man, a kawasaki 90 cc. I lived 15 miles outside of the city, and delivered what work I could fit on this tiny motorcycle to places in Montreal. Things weren't going too well, and I decided to rethink my situation. "What can I make that's small, and sculptural, that I can create from materials I already have?" Soapstone, wood, bone and some shells were all I had to work with... Up to this point, I did not like jewellery. I thought of it simply as an expression of vanity. However, I had recently seen a beautiful bone ring made by an Inuit, and that had given me an idea. I had a bunch of bones I'd collected for a sculptural project that would have never fit on my motorcycle. So I scrapped that idea and considered using some of the bones to make miniature, portable sculptures - in other words - jewellery. Looking at jewellery as miniature sculpture changed my attitude towards it, and I began experimenting with bone and abalone shell rings.
Ivory cloud-shaped stud earrings.
Although beautiful, bone was impractical. At this point I realized the advantages of working in silver. I approached a friend who was making silver jewellery. I bought some silver and solder from him, had a five-minute lesson on soldering, and went to work making a variety of silver and abalone jewellery. I found silver to be an excellent solution to my technical problems, and, to my great joy, my things sold. I began to realize that silver had a lot of potential. It was satisfying to work with - I had come to like jewellery!
A) "Heart Earring" in 18t gold, "Leaf Earring" in silver (Available for purchase, $45/pair sterling)
For a while I experimented with disc jewellery. These rings and bracelets had a thick silver wire core, on which silver or gold discs were strung like beads on a cord. The discs were free-spinning, except at the ends, where they were soldered onto the wire core.
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A) Bracelet; silver B) Disc Ring; 14kt gold |
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C) Bracelet; silver, lapis
D) Disc Ring; silver,
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E) "Man in the Moon"
F) Bracelet & Ring
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A) Bracelet;
silver (one of my very first
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B) Splash" pendant, 14kt gold, diamonds, mother -of- pearl. I made this in 1980 |
C) "Spiral Earrings"; 14kt gold with
gold
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