metal is clay

I like to think - hope - that the work I make will last. Certainly metal and clay have a habit of being highly durable, but what I really mean is that I hope that when someone commissions a piece of hand-made work they are creating something for themselves, for life.  I recently had the pleasure of making this new 14k wedding band for a 30th anniversary—updating a slim traditional band to become a commemorative token in the client’s preferred personal style. The band is engraved with her wedding date, and my chop. My client commissioned her very own everyday heirloom. Ladies 14k yellow gold textured wedding band, engraved with date and artist's chop. Christine Pedersen. 2016. And what of future generations? Original artwork is likely to live on with them. That feels good.

Convocation seems a long time ago now, my Jewellery + Metals Program class-mates alphabetically woven into the long line of bright smiling faces being ejected from under-graduate life, out into the world. I didn’t graduate with them, but a little piece of me crossed the stage in the very specific form of a grad ring commission... concrete & graffiti. Sterling silver, quartz. 2012. I delivered it on the morning of convocation, down in the basement as the grads lined up. We joked: “With this ring, I thee graduate…”. Super-tired from finishing the piece at 3am, and with just a cruel 20 minutes for pictures, it all melted away in the pleasure of watching my friend open the box, sort of squeal (yes, she did), and take out her grad gift to herself, the piece of jewellery that she had chosen to honour her achievement. concrete & graffiti. Sterling silver, quartz. 2012. Inspired by the ACAD stairwells, this ring was made from concrete-textured sterling silver, with a...