#wmvmetals

December, 2014 Sterling Silver, Cubic Zirconias, Quartz The ring is 5cm tall. The big stone is: 3.1cm x 2.1cm x 5cm (HxWxD)

Some more old work.

This ring was part of a series of work where I made fun of the modern commercial jewelry aesthetic. The idea came from working within the jewelry industry for a time, and becoming acutely aware of just how gaudy and ugly a lot of rings were. The stones were incredibly important for those rings, and more often than not designs would be based around shoehorning the biggest rock they could into a particular ring. So, I decided to take this idea to its next logical extreme by setting a comically large stone on top of a massive band.

Here’s a snippet from the original artist statement:

USB-Pot February, 2011 Copper, Brass, Bronze, USB stick and old mouse parts

During my time at MassART, they had an annual a cross critique with the Main College of Art. Students would prepares an object based on a theme, and we meet up to critique them all. In 2011, our theme was vessels: an object which is designated to hold something.

My vessel was a teapot with a USB stick inside it. The teapot is a very traditional metalsmithing object, one which use to be a sort of rite of passage for amateur silversmiths. I wanted to use this language to create something with a bit more of a modern twist to it, so I scaled it down and wired up a 256mb USB flashdrive to a USB cord. Now instead of holding liquid, this vessel holds information.

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Here's some more old work. I think I got the USB drive from PAX 2010. Wizards of the Coast had a booth and they gave away these rubber bracelets with USB drives in them. They had something like, 256mb capacity and came pre-loaded with an executable for Duels of the Planeswalkers.

Anyway, here's a WIP photo I found of it. (Courtesy of my shitty flip phone.)

December, 2019 Copper, brass, nickel, faux fur, tie-tacks Hair varies; metal rim is 40mm in diameter, 2.5mm thick

A series of three brooches I made for very good friends of mine for Christmas. The three of them are furries, and each brooch contains scraps of faux fur from their specific fur suit.

Since it is not quite socially acceptable to wear a fur suit to most events (business meetings, interviews, funerals, etc.) these aim to serve as the next best thing. It is a subtle nod towards this sub-culture, and as well as a potential secret handshake for those who are also part of the scene.

Funny story about the brooch in the middle: I went to college with the recipient of this brooch, and we both majored in metalsmithing. There was one assignment where everyone had to make a box out of brass sheet metal, and he chose to use an alloy called "Nickel Silver" instead.

For those unaware, nickel silver is a pain in the ass to work with for most applications, but it's a fucking nightmare if you're trying to fabricate it into a large hollow form via flat sheets, using an acetylene torch to braze it. (Colloquially known as "soldering.") One fun quirk of that metal is that it likes to bow and warp in response to being heated up, which is the exact opposite of what you want when making a square box where everything has to be fit together perfectly. But he stuck with it and finished that box. So I made his brooch out of nickel silver as a little in-joke.

I have been meaning to post more of my artwork here, so here's one:

July, 2020 Gibeon meteorite, sterling silver, stainless steel wire 54mm x 48mm x 5mm (HxWxD | Measured at the thickest point.)

Iron meteorites are hunks of metal which amble through space for billions of years. Sometimes, against all odds, these extraterrestrial objects will find their way to our small planet, where they will sit for millions of years until one of our own discovers them through chance.

If you cut one of these meteorites in half you will reveal an intricate lattice-work structure of two different nickel-like alloys. They call these “Widmanstätten Patterns”, and they are unique to every meteorite. (Meteorites are sort of like deadly cosmic snowflakes if you think about it.) These patterns are the product of phenomenal cosmic forces acting upon the metal as it aimlessly drifts through space for a truly unimaginable amount of time.

This brooch features a fraction of one such meteorite in the center of it that I cut, shaped, polished, and then etched to reveal its unique pattern. The formal aspect of this brooch was heavily inspired by the Voyager 2 space probe, as well as fictional interstellar objects depicted in retro-futuristic illustrations from the 1970s and 80s. The silhouette was designed to direct attention to the extraterrestrial centerpiece and signify space exploration through iconic design elements.

New guillotine brooch; perfect for the malcontent in your life.