The Makers Summit
Spent Saturday in Greenville SC learning what I could about growing Silver Piston. Such a good time hearing how people have grown their hobbies into a passionate business.
While I was there I ran into a couple of my old students from when I was teaching at the Creative Circus. I also met some incredible people who live in Greenville doing what they love. I was also blown away by how amazing Greenville is and how much the creative community is an integral part of their rebirth over the past 15 years. Definitely need to spend a weekend up there and see more of that town.
Indian Head Nickel winners
Congrats to Danielle in New Jersey and Loren out in California. They were the winners of the January giveaway. On a side note, Danielle actually got a Mercury head dime because the Indian head ring would've been a bit too big for her ring size.
Images from LA
The editorial images that've been popping up on Instagram have been coming from LA based photographer, Bobby Prokenpek, aka Bobby Do Right. Known him for years and knew he could capture the spirit of Silver Piston jewelry.
Have to say, I couldn't be happier with what he's done.
Reticulation and the art of Wabi Sabi
Alright y'all, let's get those learning caps on. I've been working with doing reticulation on my rings and I'm sure you wondering what that is. It's an effect when you heat the metal to the point where the outside is hotter than the core of the metal and it begins to distort. As you reach the right point of heating the outer surface begins to ripple then you get a texture that's ridged and ripply.
Wabi Sabi is the Japanese aesthetic that centers on "the acceptance of transience and imperfection." When approaching the application of reticulation, a certain acceptance of imperfection has to be accepted. The rings have a unique texture but the inside of the ring won't have a perfect surface, you'll see spots where the ring was distorted. That said, most of the time you'll the seam where the rings were soldered. This part of the process. If I take off the excess solder, it'll also take down the texture. Also, sometimes the seams will have small areas where the solder doesn't fill and this is caused by the effects of the reticulation.
These are unique rings by their nature and making a duplicate texture is pretty much next to impossible. This means you'll have an individual ring that you won't see anyone else with.
Dias de Los Muertos hobo nickel
So I found a guy in Ohio that engraves coins into awesome little works of art. Hobo nickels are a traditional art form that started in the early 1900s when people would engrave nickels with nails, gravers or whatever they had to work with. They would then use these little works of art to trade for goods and services making them more valuable than a plain ole nickel.
As I was looking to find some nickels to use on my rings I came across Shane Hunter's nickels on eBay. After a few emails back and forth, a theme was agreed upon and I just turned it over to Shane to interpret. I'm really happy with what he did and we've made an arrangement for me to continue getting these exclusively.
Hope y'all dig them as much as I do.
