Vestige in Carnelian

Carnelian & Reticulated Sterling Silver Earrings

Some materials seem to remember the forces that shaped them.

Warm faceted carnelian frames disks of sterling silver whose rippled, irregular surfaces were created by hand through the traditional metalsmithing technique of reticulation. Before reticulation, I depletion-gilded the sterling silver, repeatedly heating and cleaning the metal to remove copper oxides and create a fine-silver-rich surface suitable for developing the characteristic texture.

The prepared silver was then carefully heated again until its surface began to shift and buckle, forming tiny ridges, valleys, and wrinkles that could be encouraged, but never precisely controlled or repeated.

Above and below, faceted carnelian glows in shades of ember, rust, and translucent orange-red. Light passes through the stones and catches their facets as the earrings move, creating a vivid contrast with the pale, weathered-looking silver between them.

Suspended from sterling silver ear wires and measuring approximately three inches long, Vestige in Carnelian brings together two materials transformed in very different ways: stone shaped and polished to reveal its color, and silver deliberately taken to the edge of control to reveal its texture.

Because each silver disk was prepared and reticulated individually by hand, no two surfaces are exactly alike. Each disk is reticulated on both sides, allowing the texture to remain visible as the earrings turn and move when worn.

Achieving that texture on both surfaces requires particularly careful torch control. After one side has already been brought close enough to its melting point to develop the reticulated surface, the process must be repeated on the reverse without melting through the silver or destroying the texture already created.

Each disk therefore carries its own record of heat, movement, and transformation, front and back.

A Note on Reticulation

Reticulation is one of those wonderful metalsmithing techniques in which complete control isn't really the goal.

Sterling silver is an alloy of silver and copper. To prepare these disks for reticulation, I first used a process called depletion gilding, repeatedly heating and cleaning the sterling to remove copper oxides from the surface and leave behind a surface increasingly rich in fine silver.

Once prepared, the metal is heated very carefully again. Differences between the composition and melting behavior of the surface and the alloy beneath allow the metal to move, wrinkle, and buckle, creating the wonderfully craggy texture characteristic of reticulated silver.

The trick is getting close enough to make the silver move without simply melting the entire piece.

The result can be influenced by the metalsmith, but never completely dictated. Every surface emerges a little differently, which is precisely what makes reticulation so fascinating.

Details

• Natural faceted carnelian
• Sterling silver gemstone settings and components
• Sterling silver disks, depletion-gilded and individually reticulated by hand
• Silver disks reticulated on both sides
• Sterling silver ear wires
• Approximately 3 inches long
• Handcrafted in Colorado
• One of a kind